Wine sales continue to suffer throughout the pandemic
Apparently pandemic drinking wasn’t enough to save the wine industry’s slowing sales. U.S. wine consumption in 2019 was either very flat or slightly down, depending on which source you ask. It’s the first time it hasn’t grown in 25 years, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. During the week of March 15 when some of the first stay-at-home orders were issued, retail wine sales skyrocketed up 66 percent by value year-over-year. But the increase in sales during the pandemic’s early months most likely represented panic buying—it didn’t last. The big booze winner of 2020 wasn’t a big winery or distillery—it was hard seltzer, which exceeded $4 billion in sales last year.
