Cask wine sales booming in the US

Off-premise wine sales in the US are booming, especially those of the humble cask.

Market research firm IRi has released data tracked from multiple outlets and convenience stores for the 52 weeks ending January 28, 2018. 

Off-premise sales through multiple-outlet and convenience stores in the four weeks ending January 28, 2018 increased 3% versus a year earlier to $657million. January activity pushed 52-week sales 2% higher to $8.9 billion.

Domestic sparkling wine sales rose 26% in January versus a year ago. Domestic table wine sales increased 2% from a much higher base. 

It shows the top selling wine brand by a huge margin is Barefoot, with sales of $US667million, folllowed by Sutter Home at $374 million. Australia's YellowTail was in No.5 position with $267 million. 

However, the big surprise is that two of the Top 10 were boxed wines: Franzia at No.4 and Black Box Wines at No.6. Even more impressive was that Black Box sales were up 28% year-on-year.  

"What happened is there's been a shift towards the premium end of boxed wine," Food & Wine executive wine editor Ray Isle told CNBC.

This upward growth trend is forecast to rise higher yet over the next five years, with Vinexpo predicting that Americans will spend $45 billion on wine in 2021.

Cask wine sales booming in Europe

According to Amazon, sales of bag-in-box wines surged 212% last year in the UK and Australian products are leading the charge.  

Sales of Banrock Station Chardonnay were up by 150% over June and July at the online retailer. Banrock Station Shiraz saw a 123% uplift.

“As the quality and breadth of selection increases, boxed wine is becoming more popular, particularly over the summer months when it can be easily transported from pantry to picnic,” said Sebastian O’Keefe, beer, wine and spirits store manager at Amazon.co.uk.

“We have already seen the evolution from cork to screw top and our customers are clearly shrugging off the preconceptions of boxed wine and embracing the ease and environmental benefits of switching from bottle to box.”

It's a similar story in UK supermarkets. Waitrose recorded a 15% increase, while Sainsbury's sales of its own label bag-in-box wines are up nearly 10% year-on-year. Meanwhile, sales of boxed wines at Asda were up 4.83% on last year.

Cask in decline in Australia

An Australian may have invented cask wine, but there's nothing patriotic about the declining sales of goon.

According to Wine Australia, the volume of red and white wine cask sales fell by 5% in the past 12 months alone. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has also revealed a 30% drop in cask sales between 2004 and 2014. The only segment bucking the trend is pink wine, with rosé cask sales increasing by 4% in the last 12 months.

South Australian winemaker Tom Angove invented cask wine back in 1965 and it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015.

Wine Australia's manager of market insights, Peter Bailey, told ABC News: "If you went back to the eighties and nineties, cask wine sales accounted for around half the volume of sales in Australia, and that share is now around one quarter.

"I would expect that share to continue to fall."