Red white wines may control the world market, but the thirst for white wine is growing.
© Foley Wines|Led by Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, white wines are consuming into red’s market share.
For many years, white wine was seen by many as– Burgundy fans, prevent your eyes– kinda wimpy.
During these benighted times gewurztraminer was broadly relegated to the pink-ladies-who-lunch-on-poached-salmon ghetto. At finest, white wine was seen by those less-informed souls as a type of warmup before it was time to drink the real stuff– red white wine.
Real enophiles have constantly taken white wine seriously, of course. White Burgundy, select German Rieslings, premium California and French Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc from valued terroirs and manufacturers have actually long been acutely sought after, cellared and cherished. The very best ones likewise retail upon release for well over $1000 a pop.
And it appears that the remainder of the world may lastly be practically ready to catch up. While that isn’t the kind of bustier-popping declaration that sets pulses raising and influences large vineyard replanting schemes, it is the sort of thing smart producers, importers and retailers need to take notice of if they want to be on the ground floor of a market-shift in the making.
The (often rather subtle) information
Wine sales have remained in a depression over the last few years, with a 5.2 percent reduction in general red wine sales year over year, according to Nielsen IQ. White wine currently holds about 29 percent of the marketplace, and considering that 2017, gewurztraminer has actually increased its market share by two portion points.
While white wine sales as a whole have actually decreased 5.2 percent, gewurztraminer sales have declined by 3.4 percent.
Development in the gewurztraminer classification, on paper, seems to be across the board, with some signs of premiumization on the horizon. The average system rate increased from $13.80 in 2017 to $15.40 in 2022; surprisingly, the fastest-growing subcategories on Drizly are less-prominent ranges like Niagara, Aligoté, Cayuga and Macabeo.
In addition to purchasing more white wine, customers appear eager for more information about it too. Here on Wine-Searcher, we’re not seeing the typical shift from searchers for white to red white wine throughout nippier weather condition. (And the whites they’re looking at are pricier: click prices were up by for Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling by 4, 14 and 30 percent, respectively.)
White on red
Regions that were when red or dead, are now discovering space in their vineyards for white grapes.
“The last 2 journeys I have actually been on in red white wine conventional locations– Rioja, where white wines sales have doubled in the previous ten years, and the southern Rhône and Provence, where gewurztraminers were all the buzz in quality domains like Nimes and Luberan– are actively broadening their white production,” says Evan Goldstein, master sommelier and president of Cycle Wine Solutions.
Certainly, Rioja stalwarts like Valdemar Household, El Coto de Rioja and Baron De Ley, are expanding their footprint in the white wine market significantly.
Jesús Martinez Bujanda, Valdemar’s fourth-generation winemaker, started concentrating on whites in the 1980s, with the first Maturana and White Tempranillo varietal wines; but it wasn’t till just recently that development truly started to accelerate, states Marisa Alonso, Valdemar’s director of marketing.
Considering that 2014, white wine production at Valdemar has actually increased 64 percent, Bujanda says, including that wine lovers are linking most with “barrel-fermented white, single vineyard” wines.
El Coto de Rioja and Barón de Ley, both of which run under the Baron de Ley Grupo umbrella, together have about 2000 acres of grapes under vine. At El Coto, about 25 percent of production is now white, and at Baron de Ley, white represent about 10 percent of the line, states El Coto’s export director for America, Sergio Soriano, adding that, considering that 2010, they have tripled their sales of white wines throughout the board.
Both wineries will underline, if not broaden their financial investment in white, with plantings of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo, which the Rioja Red wine Board just recently approved for inclusion in Rioja wines.”We have 10 different gewurztraminers with various designs,” says Soriano. “We have whatever from the really aromatic, fresh and crisp like the Coto Blanco, which is the No. 1 white Rioja on the planet, and more traditional and complicated Barón de Lay, a mix of Viura, Garnacha Blanca and Malvasia.”
The aromatic alternatives are entrance whites for younger consumers who then become interested in exploring other varieties and aging techniques, he says.
In Paso Robles, wine maker Ryan Pease states he never believed he ‘d be so focused on whites at his winery, Paix Sur Terre.
“I meant whites to be a little part of our program, but every year I need to make 20 percent more to meet need,” Pease states. “Our production is now half gewurztraminer and half red wine. We find the bright and fresh styles carried out in stainless steel are in very high demand. Folks are truly gravitating to low-alcohol, low intervention, bone dry white wines.”
Gewurztraminer are likewise, he keeps in mind, “really cashflow friendly, affordable to make and quick to market”, another factor more vintners might be aim to the white.
Moving desires
It’s not a news flash that individuals are consuming their wines younger these days; the concept of cellaring wine for years merely doesn’t suit many people’s more mobile, reside in the moment lifestyles.
© Shutterstock|Significantly, consumers are aiming to lighter, more versatile, food-friendly white wines.
“Nobody seems to be cellaring much anymore, which suggests that there’s more of a requirement for white wine that can be delighted in almost immediately,” Goldstein says.
Sonoma and Napa vintners are finding inroads in red white wine country, through classic– and some lesser-known– Bordeaux white ranges and barrel aging.
Wine lovers who want it both methods– the wine is white, with much of the qualities of red– gravitate toward aromatic whites, especially ones fermented or aged in barrel, as is done at Aperture Cellars in Sonoma.
“Our Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc have an extraordinary richness with well-developed texture, assisted by our special aging regime. That is stabilized by our cool websites, which highlight sensational level of acidity in the red wine.”
At Napa’s Cliff Lede, mainly understood for its Cabernet Sauvignon, director of communications Jason Lede states that their success with the Bordeaux-style Sauvignon Blanc convinced them to release a premium ($125 a bottle) Marla Blanc, a mix of old-vine Semillon, Sauvignon Vert, Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Musqué this year.
“We find our more youthful demographic is willing to explore and attempt brand-new things while still delighting in the classics,” Lede says. “We’re still at the early stages of the Marla offering, and we just produced 60 cases this year, but we’re anticipating seeing where this will go,”
Sometimes one effective release causes another; sometimes, it takes years for a red wine to get in touch with a thirsty market. Rebeka Wineburg, wine maker at Napa’s Quintessa, states they released their very first white in 2006, and were surprised by the significantly passionate action recently.
“We have always found an audience for our Sauvignon Blanc, Illumination, among market specialists,” Wineburg says. “But in the previous three years, the need has increased greatly as the marketplace for white wine with body and texture, but likewise freshness, grows.”
The Lighting now represents 25 percent of Quintessa’s yearly sales.
Worldwide palate, lighter food
In areas like Rías Baixas in Spain, where 95 percent of the vineyards in the DO are planted with Albariño, and 4 percent are committed to primarily whites like Caiño Blanco, Loureiro, Treixadura, Torrontes, and Godello (the staying 1 percent is planted to red), wineries are finding an eager new audience in the United States.
Last year, exports to the United States grew 13.5 percent by worth to $18.9 million. Eva Minguez, director of marketing for the DO, pins the strength of the growth on the profile of the red wine among specific sectors.
“Our Albariño continues to be a major draw for American customers with its crisp, fresh and fruit forward taste buds,” Minguez says. Once they understand and like that fresh and enjoyable profile, they likewise begin digging much deeper.
“We’re delighted to see more interest in richer designs with prolonged lees aging,” she states “Sommeliers and other on-premise experts have actually told us that the different styles make it simple for them to advise them with a diverse range of foods.”
Producers in the New and Old World are discovering that the prevalent pursuit of a more diverse, lighter diet is likewise driving the marketplace’s thirst for a variety of gewurztraminers.
“I believe one major thing that is sparking the rise of still whites is excitement around pairing food with wine,” states Nicole Marchesi, winemaker at Oakville’s Far Niente Winery. “Individuals are getting more imaginative with food pairings, and with gewurztraminer, it’s a lot more approachable and flexible for pairings of any nature.”
Global food and plant-based meals are easier to pair with whites than reds, says Valdemar’s Alonso.
“Asian food sets extremely well with gewurztraminers,” says Alonso. “Vegan and vegetarian food are also easier to pair with white wines.”
What white wine lacks in tannins, it more than offsets in terms of texture and flexibility. Plus, they’re more affordable to make, much faster to market and simpler to couple with modern-day way of life and food preferences.
The continued and quickly accelerating increase of white wine appears, upon closer assessment, unavoidable.
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