COVID-19 Winery Tasting Room Impacts – Changes in Consumption and Purchasing

As reported in the previous articles, we are investigating the impact COVID-19 has had on Mid-Atlantic wine consumers, first focusing on the overall research objectives and consumer perceptions of COVID-19 precautions in winery tasting rooms, and now with a reporting of how our survey participants' consumption changed during the period of March 2020 and March 2021.

Evidence exists, both anecdotal and statistical, that consumers' purchasing and consumption habits have changed since mid-March 2020 for various goods and services, one of which is alcoholic beverages. For an overview of pre-COVID-19 alcoholic beverage consumption trends and changes through late 2020, including a breakdown by generation and type of alcohol consumed, see the article "Alcoholic Beverage Category Trends."

More recent data, collected by Gallup in July 2021, indicates that 60% of U.S. consumers reported drinking alcohol of any kind in 2021, which was lower than 2019 when 65% of respondents reported drinking alcoholic beverages (Brenan, 2021). Since 1939, when they first started tracking consumption, the percentage has ranged between 55 and 71%. Their data also indicates that 70% of consumers between ages 35 and 54 drink alcohol, followed by 60% of those aged 18 to 34, and 52% of consumers aged 55 and older. The source also reported that the "average number of drinks consumed in the past seven days" also decreased from 4.0 drinks in 2019 to 3.6 in 2021. 

Other data indicates that about 17%, or nearly 1 in 5, U.S. consumers, ages 21 and older, who participated in a March 30 to April 7, 2021, survey, indicated that they "had two heavy drinking days in a single week at least twice in the previous 30 days (Hauck, 2021)."  A "heavy drinking day" for men would be if they consumed five or more drinks in one day, and for women, it would be four or more drinks. When segmented by age range, a greater percentage of Generation X participants (age 41 to 56) and Baby Boomers (age 57 to 75) responded that they drank five or more drinks in one day than Gen Z (age 21 to 24), Millennial (age 25 to 40), and Silent Generation participants (age 76 to 93).

Of the 847 wine consumers who participated in our survey, only 3% were members of Gen Z, with the remaining split nearly in thirds among the Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomer Generations (Figure 1).

Furthermore, we segmented the Millennial generation into the two subcategories: Younger and Older Millennials as much has been reported about how the two subgroups differ in alcoholic consumption behavior.

Figure 1. Participants' Generation (Year's of Birth)

Consumption and Purchasing Behaviors Since mid-March 2020

With all 847 participants responding to the question, and that to participate, consumers had to have drunk wine at least once every three months, 42% of our participants consumed wine a few times a week, with 24% drinking wine about once a week (Figure 2). According to the Wine Market Council, consumers who drink wine "more often than once a week" are considered high-frequency wine drinkers (Stratton, 2020). When the percentages of our survey respondents who consumed wine daily and a few times a week were combined, approximately half (52%) of our participants belonged in the high-frequency wine consumption category. 

To capture purchasing behavior, participants were asked: Since mid-March 2020, how often have you personally purchased bottles or containers of wine (e.g., wine in cans, tetra packs) to consume later (e.g., to drink in your home, take to a friend's/family member's home)? Twenty-nine percent purchased containers of wine for this purpose two to three times a month, followed by 24% who made the purchase about once a month, and 22% who purchase wined about once a week (Figure 2). 

Figure 2. Wine Consumption and Purchasing Frequency since mid-March 2020

Over the course of a year, from mid-March 2020 through Mid-March 2021, it was obvious that select consumer wine consumption and purchasing behaviors had changed. While over half of participants did not change the amount of wine they purchased that was produced within 100 miles of their home (63%), nor did they change the number of glasses of wine they consumed in one sitting (53%),  51% of participants did indicate that they increased their overall wine consumption and the number of bottles of wine they purchased at one time since the shelter in place order was instated in mid-March 2020 (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Changes in Wine Consumption and purchasing since mid-March 2020

While at least half of the Gen Z and Younger Millennials, Older Millennials, and Gen X participants indicated that their wine consumption increased since mid-March 2020 (62%, 66%, and 53%), over half of the Baby Boomers (53%) responded that their consumption had not changed. For all four groups, the percentage of participants whose consumption decreased compared to the period before mid-March 2020 ranged between 11 and 13%.

Reasons for change in wine consumption

Participants whose wine consumption either increased or decreased were asked to indicate the reason(s) why their consumption changed. Response categories for this question were adapted from Vanderbruggen et al. 2020.

For the 427 participants whose consumption increased, 19% (81 participants) selected reasons for the increase. Over a third of participants increased their consumption due to boredom (40%), wanting to improve their mood (38%), they were cooking more and liked to drink wine while preparing meals (37%), and stress from negative reporting about COVID-19 (35%). For those participants who indicated that their wine consumption decreased (n=98), the primary reasons for the decrease since mid-March 2020 were the need to save money/wine became too expensive (44%), to live a healthier lifestyle (30%), to avoid feeling bad after drinking (20%), and to lose weight (19%).

References and further reading

Brenan (2021). U.S. Alcohol Consumption on Low End of Recent Readings.  (Accessed: January 2022).

Hauck, S. (2021). Americans are using alcohol to cope with pandemic stress: Nearly 1 in 5 report 'heavy drinking'.  (Accessed: January 2022)

Stratton, D. (2020). Importance of Consumer Research in a Changing Winescape. Wine Market Council. (Accessed, January 2022)

Vanderbruggen, N., Matthys, F., Van Laere, S., Zeeuws, D., Santermans, L., Van den Ameele, S., & Crunelle, C.L. (2020). Self-Reported Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Use during COVID-19 Lockdown Measures: Results from a Web-Based Survey. European Addiction Research, 26:309-315. doi: 10.1159/000510822