Do the Wealthy Know Wine?
The is a market research organization that focuses solely on the wealthiest 10% of Americans. They produce several publications with the goal of providing market feedback on what wealthy spend their money. On December 6, the Luxury Institute released their Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI), which includes the top deluxe table wines.
Deluxe tables wines, according to the report, are wines in the $10-$13.99 range. 13 wines were tested, and the clear lead in this category among those surveyed was . ranked second, and third.
Does the report really have any significance? From a consumer perspective, does this affect the average wine drinker? Maybe. Maybe not.
It does tell marketers which wines might do well in higher end markets, though only having 13 wines from which to choose may limit the real value of that. There must be hundreds of wines in that range. However, Ferrari-Carano has proven to be a well respected winery, delivering quality wines in more than one price range.
The wineries represented in the survey were: Ferrari-Carano, Greg Norman Estates, Guenoc, J. Lohr Estates, La Crema, Marques De Riscal, Robert Mondavi Winery, Rodney Strong, Santa Margherita, SIMI, Sonoma-Cutrer, Sterling Vineyards, and Toasted Head. As much as one might want to knock this list, the selection is solid, and represents mostly easy-to-find wines across the country.
So do the wealthy know more about wine than the other 90% of the population, or do they just go after lower priced wines from vineyards they know? This is a great excuse for a wine party; sample a $10-$13.99 bottle from each of the vineyards in the survey, and see if you and your friends rank the wines the same way the country’s wealthy do!
(Image from the Luxury Institute website.)
This study would seem to bring up more questions than answers. First, Deluxe table wine is $10 - $14? What do we call the levels above and below? And, actually, how did they define “table wine”.
In addition to the options listed, was there a “None of the above” or an “Other” option? In other words did they have to choose something from the list - that could really skew results.
How were the participants selected? Somehow I just don’t see the top 10% of the wealthiest people being that anxious to answer which $10 bottle of wine they prefer. If they self - selected (asked to take part or opted in to a pop-up or email survey) that would also skew results.
I guess the results might be considered interesting but I’m not sure they actually tell us anything at all.