Lockdown wine consumption increase

A European study released on 25 May concluded that the frequency of wine consumption “increased markedly” in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal during the lockdown period.

Promoted by the European Association of Wine Economists (EUAWE) and the Wine and Spirits Chair at the University of Bordeaux, the survey aimed to understand how confinement, during the Covid-19 pandemic, affected the behaviour of European wine consumers.
Portugal participated in this work through João Rebelo, Researcher at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), in Vila Real, and vice-president of EUAWE.
In this first study, the survey took place between 17 April and 10 May, based on 6,600 responses obtained until 30 April in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal.
The academy from Trás-os-Montes explained “that the sample is not intended to be representative of the population of the countries studied, but rather to correspond, above all, to the population of consumers of wine and other alcoholic beverages”.
In the conclusions revealed by UTAD it appears that, in the four countries, the frequency of wine consumption “increased sharply” with confinement, while beer and spirit consumption “decreased”.
The highest frequency of consumption occurred in the age group between 30-50 years and, distinctly, less among young people, and it was in France that this “increase was more pronounced”.
Supermarkets were, during confinement, the main place for purchasing wines, while personal cellars became the “second most important source of supply”.

The results show, however, “a reduction in expenses on alcoholic beverages, especially on spirits”, and that the “average purchase price of wine has decreased significantly”.
The French are the most “prone to store wine before drinking it”, especially in households with at least two children, a trend that “allowed to consume more than respondents from other countries” during confinement.
80 percent of respondents said they did not use the ‘online’ purchase option while “8.3 percent of Italians, 6.6 percent of Spaniards, 5.2 percent of Portuguese and 4.6 percent of French people bought wine for the first time via the Internet”.
During this period, there was also an “explosion in the phenomenon of digital tasting”.
The results show that “anxiety generated by the pandemic was a driving factor in the consumption of alcoholic beverages in all countries”, with respondents also expressing “a very strong fear of the economic consequences of the health crisis”.
In this sense, it can be considered that factors such as “loneliness, unemployment and low income” can be attributed to the increase in the frequency of consumption of alcoholic beverages.
However, confinement meant that those who like “wine mainly for wine” drink “more often” than others.
For social reasons, sharing with friends, tastings and collective tastings “tended to decrease or stagnate”.
About “70 percent of respondents believe that it is necessary to favour the purchase of local wine” in this period of crisis, a result that points to the need for producers to learn to “seduce and welcome local buyers, but also to anticipate smaller export markets”.
The “high consumption of wine in personal ‘stocks’ will lead to a “replenishment of stocks emptied during confinement, so the authors of the survey suggest that they “foresee a resumption in the purchase of more expensive wines in the short term”.
The conclusions of this preliminary study point to an “eventual change in consumer behaviour and habits”, a consequence of Covid-19 that the “wine industry must be aware of”.