U.S. wine market: sales of the leading sparkling wine and champagne brands 2018
Sparkling wine
Sparkling wine belongs to the overall wine category and seems to be garnering more and more consumer attention. Accounting for a wine category volume sales share of about 5 percent in the United States, the fizzy drink is characterized by a high amount of carbon dioxide and a white or rosé color. The original example of a sparkling wine is Champagne, but this term is only allowed to be used for sparkling wines which have been produced in the French Champagne region. In comparison to Champagnes, sparkling wines tend to be sweeter due to higher sugar levels. This sweeter beverage profile and lower price points made more consumers gravitate to them.
Besides protected certificates of origin such as Champagne or Crémant, there exists a large variety of sparkling wines. In Spain, for example, the term Cava is used for the white- or pink-colored bubbly drink which is mainly produced in the Penédes region of Catalonia. Italian sparklers have illustrious names such as Prosecco, Asti or Lambrusco. Prosecco is produced in the North-eastern wine region Veneto and consumers can find both fully sparkling and lightly sparkling wines on the market.
Known as the largest wine-consuming country, shoppers in the United States primarily bought Korbel, Cook’s and La Marca sparkling wine brands in 2017.