Prosecco drives healthy sparkling wine sales in US

(ANSA) - Rome, December 2 - An increase in Prosecco sales of more than a third in the US is driving healthy growth in the Italian sparkling wine market, experts have said.
    Sales have gone up by 35 per cent in North America, while the average price of a bottle has risen by more than 36 per cent to around $12, wine expert Danny Brager said at the launch of Italian wine company Wine 2 Wine. The growth has lead to a six per cent increase in sales in the US of Italian sparkling wines, a category which makes up half of all Made In Italy exports.
    Brager, US senior vice president of the alcoholic beverage department at Nielsen, a global information company, said "the demand for Prosecco is greater than for Champagne throughout the year, except for Christmas".
    "The growth in Prosecco has occurred without eroding the market share of other sparking wines," he said. "It is winning over one in three people who have never tried Italian sparking wine." Some 45 per cent of US consumers say they drink sparking wine only at home, while 12 per cent say they consume the alcoholic drink only in a restaurant. Sales of draught wine, on beaches and in less informal locations, are growing.
    Brager said that in general US consumers tend to follow trends among their friends.
    "Consumers in the United States love simple messages regarding wine; they are scared of anything complex and they drink what their friends drink," he said.