California wine sales drop

By Kevin McCallum
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 2:51 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 7:25 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — California wine shipments dropped in 2009 for the first time in 16 years as major U.S. wine companies looked overseas for the cheap wines that cash-strapped consumers increasingly crave.

Overall wine consumption in the U.S. rose 2.1 percent last year to 323 million cases, a positive trend that bodes well for the industry long-term.

But California wines lost ground as sales fell 1.6 percent to 236 million cases, a drop of 4 million cases, according to widely-watched figures issued Wednesday by Woodside wine industry analyst Jon Fredrikson.

“It was ugly,” Fredrikson told wine industry leaders gathered in Sacramento for the annual Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, the nation's largest wine industry trade show. “Many people I have talked to said it was the worst year in their history.”

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