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WineRelease.com informs wine enthusiasts about upcoming North American wine release dates.
WineRelease.com's January 2022 Subscriber Study Results
I love surveys and I love data so I was excited to get the results.
154 WineRelease.com subscribers participated in our survey. A huge thank you to all who participated, I really appreciate the time you took to help create this survey.
Many of the questions, including those around wine buying, wine critics, WineRelease and wine closures were also asked in 2009, 2012 and 2015.
We repeat these to note differences in responses over time and to validate the current results are statistically reliable.
Questions about wine clubs were asked this year to help wineries understand what features/benefits are valued by our audience.
Below are the results (not all responses add up to 100% as some respondents skipped questions and/or numbers are rounded up or down).
Also note verbatim comments from the survey are included.
The only comments that were deleted were "see above" or those which included personal information (hello to the dental assistant who cleaned my teeth years ago and then subscribed to the newsletter).
Wine Buying Questions
Verbatim comments
We spend a lot on wine each year. I can’t tell you if we spent more or less the past year since I don’t have a budget.
Wines have become too expensive and monochromatic in taste.
More keto-centric diet.
Switching to more whites and lighter reds
Although I am trying to consolidate on superior wines I prefer
Wine prices increased
reducing the amount of wine I buy
running out of room
Decreasing slightly because I am now retired.
...but now levelling off as inventory decreases.
Becoming to expensive.
Lowering intake for health reasons. Covid lockdown was like a wine night almost every night.
Already have too much wine!
Lack of employment due to COVID.
Drinking cellared wine
Only because of the increasing wine prices and shipping charges Wineries are charging.
Who knows?, couldn't tell you within $5000 what I spend on wine each year.
We belong to more than a few wine clubs, and those prices are increasing. We are also adding bottles to shipments, or purchasing extra bottle when we use will call.
It's still too large.
Verbatim comments
Preston Vineyards, Tablas Creek, and interesting Costco bottles.
Have to pay more to secure all
I am purchasing less expensive every day drinkers, but my cellar wines are more expensive.
De Negoce is a game changer
Buy a 'House Red and White' ($15-20/bt.) plus cellar selections up to $75/bottle.
Decided to move upmarket and buy above my traditional price points. Include Flowers and Hirsch Pinots from Sonoma. Ridge Chard Brunellos
More experimental higher cost reds. White same.
Although I am buying smarter and from a more concentrated set of producers
Buying from Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa fantastic values on older vintages that wineries can't keep on their winery shelves.
Buying only a couple of times a year now from mailing list.
See above answer. Wineries are increasing their prices, and we are still buying a lot of wine.
Fewer but better bottles.
Verbatim comments
WHITE Wine Verbatims
Don’t drink white
Not buying
Have not purchased a bottle of white in the past month.
Chards in that range at least, mixed whites or something like an Albariño less.
It's a wide range, but mostly more expensive.
Haven't bought any.
RED Wine Verbatims
I never buy cases, only individual bottles (and rarely more than one of the same bottle).
wine purchasing department.
Closer to 20 plus.
Verbatim comments
I never buy cases, only individual bottles (and rarely more than one of the same bottle).
wine purchasing department.
Closer to 20 plus.
Verbatim comments
Between weather, vacation, and illness, I’ve only bought a few bottles in the last two months.
Wine Club buys.
It's spring release season
January very slow month for wine shipments. However, we did pick ups in Napa and Sonoma for winter shipments, so probably at least this much wine.I’d have to look at an inventory sheet to give you a better answer.
Verbatim comments
If by cases, you mean bottles x 12.
180 cases.
Too many
Verbatim comments
Haven't counted
I don't keep track
I work for Plumpjack
Hard to recall ...
Not sure.
Unsure. I am familiar with most of them, but there are probably one or two that are new each time.
Have read it much lately since already have too many allocations, not clubs
Verbatim comments
Haven't really kept up with that.
Not sure
Wine Critics and wine scores
Verbatim comments
Sometimes I use the scores when something sounds interesting and I don’t know anything about the wine. But mostly I go with producer or recommendation by a friend or wine merchant. There are too many people putting out wine ratings so I only use a few.
only if its a new wine that i have not tried or know anyone that has tried
They are an indication to potentially look at something but nothing else
Depends on the critic. Where I have five my palate aligns with their tastes, yes I might buy a wine they give a high score to. In the case of others (Suckling) their reviews are meaningless.
Certain ones, some I discount there score automatically. They tend to give higher scores every review.
To a certain extent
avoid the low scores
Sometimes, but for foreign wines I look at the importer, and for a lot of wines, I will ask at stores I trust what they recommend.
I'm not hung up on scores, but when a wine/winery is new to me I look for scores by critics who I feel have a similar palate/style preference to me.
I have to admit that I don't always have time to read all the reviews so I will answer with neutral on most
Only a little
Not exclusively. Producer/importer/retailer of everyday wines also is a guide once I learn their pallet. E.G. Eric Solomon and Garagiste are my primary sources.
Obviously, a 95+ score warrants my interest. A sub-88 probably knocks it off my radar.
It's more about finding a wine critic who's tastes are similar to yours. Then you know the odds are you will enjoy a wine that the critic gives a high score.
In terms guiding me on what to expect.
Sometimes.
Scores by themselves rarely influences me, but scores ALONG WITH commentary/flavor description is very determining in a purchase decision.
Just a base line. A guide to how many to purchase. Sometimes lower scores mean they will be more readily available on the secondary market well below the release point.
But use CellarTracker more than any critic
Not 100%, they just give me a partial idea of a wine.
Sometimes, depending on the source.
Only in the sense that it may validate or give me even more reassurance that what I'm about to buy is good . But I would have purchased the wines regardless of scores (personal faves, keeping vertical going etc), so doesn't influence my actual decision of whether to buy or not buy. I don't go out of my way following or looking for scores.
But only a couple of them!
only marginally
When buying unknown wines
Sometimes
But I read collector comments and do other research.
Not really, if a wine I like gets great scores then fine, if not I don't care I still like the wine
Only as a general guide. I don't care if a wine is 90 pts or 93 pts.
Verbatim comments
do not read most of these
Tend to buy based on long history with vineyard and experience with the wines.
Do not value Suckling reviews but highly respect Stuart Pigott who works for JS. His German reviews are really great, great palate.
Haven't even heard of many of these but there is no "n/a"
On my screen, the n/a button was not visible.
neutral was selected if I did not know the source
Prince of Pinot - high confidence
Only read Wine Spectator
All neutrals are NA as that was not a choice in this survey.
I don't follow the majority of these sources enough to have a well-informed opinion.
Verbatim comments
K&L newsletters, Costco Wine Blog
Get access to Wine and Spirits, Wine spectator
John Platter
Drinkrhone -JLL, Inside Burgundy
I am not aware of some of the above wine resources, so thank you for listing all of the. I am going to check investigate some of them.
Wine Searcher and Cellar Tracker are my primary sources for info/ratings/opinions.
Wine Clubs
Verbatim comments
On mailing lists - not wine clubs
These are "lists" for releases in my case
have in the past
mailing list not really a club
I have belonged to winery clubs, but not clubs that send you who knows what wine.
Not sure you can ship wine into Kentucky
I buy from Garagiste and Last Bottle when they have a "Marathon".
dropped wine clubs and have allocations only
I use to belong to Amista in the Dry Creek Valley, but no longer subscribe. I do buy one off bottles thought.
In general I hate wine clubs. Most are crap. Most my wines I buy now don’t offer “discounts”
Drew out of mendocino
8 in Napa, 2 in Sonoma, 4 Sierra foothills, 4 in South County.
It's mostly wines that are low quality.
Verbatim comments
store website.
Wine Closure Information
Verbatim comments
This is a guess. They seem to happen to us in bunches. No spoiled bottles for a long time then several close together.
Very very very rarely smell tainted wine
Much less than it used to be for sure!
less than 1%
I think this is a silly question clearly biased towards the use of natural cork. There are way too many variables.
It’s getting worse!
less than 1%
Verbatim comments
For aging, you need something that will breath. Synthetic corks and screw tops are fine for wines you will consume early, not for aging though.
If talking about short to mid-term aging (say up to 10 years), I haven't noticed any issues with alternative enclosures to natural corks (though my experience has been limited) so I don't think I'd be adverse to them. I have not had any that have been aged long-term (beyond 10 years) so have no idea as to their performance. I do like the popping open a cork though!
You need to define "synthetic cork". Are you talking about Diam10, or plastic turd??? I'm totally fine with Diam, but absolutely hate plastic pucks
Fine wine in a box is ideal.
Verbatim comments
I really don't care what enclosure is used. Alternatives to natural cork are probably better so far as TCA is concerned, but I'm fine with natural corks anyway. Only thing I'm not keen on is bag-in-box. It's not so much the type of enclosure per se, it's more that I associate that with bad wine. This may not be entirely true within the industry, but that's the perception I have in my mind.
Cork for Chards, screw cap for less expensive whites such as Sauv Blanc.
Verbatim comments
Cork taint is more from the wineries cleaning process.
Screws have permeable liners and therefore breath
Screw caps should be on all wines that don’t need to age
Breathe or oxidation?
Verbatim comments
After seeing both Shafer and Ramey shift to Diam, I'm starting to get more comfortable with composites (at least Diams)
Verbatim comments
Importer
Video and photos for wineries, long time wine enthusiast.
Importer
Retired after 35 years in the wine biz in various wholesale sales capacities.
My own wine business
Collect
Wine writer/critic
marketing/education
Wine maker, wine marketer, wine writer
Go to school for winemaking
I buy investment grade wines for my daughter
Verbatim comments
Decided to do this one anyway.
Any overall comments you wish to provide?
Verbatim comments
My wine buying is down not by choice, be because I am laid off after 38 years for exercising my legal right to obtain an exemption to the Covid vaccine. My employee (United Airlines) is violating Federal Law by not providing a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. Their idea of a reasonable accommodation is being suspended without pay or benefits.
Interesting survey. It made me think about my preferences and introduced my to some sources I was not aware of.
Why are California wines (mainly Cabernet) getting so expensive!
Great newsletter but don't always have the time to read.
Cheers!
Since the early 1980s, the industry has made few inroads in growing the wine consumer base. The Napa Valley is now over-priced Disneyland for adults complete with "ATTITUDE"...I avoid it like the plague. My purchases have moved to Europe. Drink what you like as cheap as you can. No tolerance for the bells and whistles of the Marketing Dept. nor overpriced, over-the-top, "bigger is better" styles.
I appreciate the Wine Release. Thank you
Perhaps consider including a monthly feature to encourage spending more time on your site, i.e. "New winery to watch", Varietal description - i.e. The History of Pinot Gris, AVA description - i.e. The History of Sonoma, details of consumer trends (like the annual report from Silicon Valley Bank), or general wine news i.e. an interview w/Lisa Perotti about her new venture?
I am mainly a higher end consumer. Wine is definitely my avocation. So, yes, I’m interested in finding out as much as I can Re wine. New ideas for storage, new enclosures, recommendations, etc.
Thanks again to all those who took the time to participate, especially the 15% of subscribers who are not fans or hate to participate in surveys. Survey responders received access to this survey on February 10.
Neil
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