Consumers will carry on drinking wine despite recession: survey
UK Survey by Decanter Magazine Richard Woodard Despite the economic downturn consumers will not cut back on wine but will trim household budgets in other areas, according to new research. The survey of 1,000 regular wine drinkers in the UK, carried out by Wine Intelligence on behalf of the Wine and Spirit Association (WSTA), found that consumers would rather cut their spending on sweets, chocolate, beer and soft drinks. More than 60% did not consider wine to be a high priority for cutbacks, while less than half of those surveyed did not believe that wine had become more expensive in the past six months. This was in stark contrast to their perceptions of other categories, such as bread, fish, poultry, cheese and coffee. But the survey comes as wine prices are being forced up by a combination of excise duty increases and escalating production and supply chain costs. 'The message is that wine will not be the first thing to go for the majority of wine consumers,' said Brian Howard ...
