A Rosé future in the world of wine

Date:

S.W. and Rich Hermansen
Guest Writers
wine@lbknews.com

Rosé wines have rapidly gained popularity during the last decade among French wine buyers, both in volume sold and relative to the volume of red wine sold. All this despite the fact that many French males over 40 years of age consider Rosé too delicate for occasions other than beach, swimming pool, and garden parties. Today, one of every three bottles of wine sold in France contains Rosé, and younger men are buying their share,
French Rosé sold in the USA has also increased both in volume sold and relative to sales of red wine, although volume sold by the top eight brands has decreased between 2022 and 2023. A crude summary of 2022 and of 2023 unit sales shows a decrease of just less than 3%:
This summary of 2022 vs. 2023 sales obscures two interesting stories that data could tell about the present and likely future of Rosé wines in the US market: 1). the fickle nature of cute brand names and celebrity connections, and, 2). the impact of commodity price competition in agriculture markets.