Orange River Wine Cellars

Women buy more wine than men

Women buy 80% of home-drinking wine

November 26, 2009 by douglasgreen

According to recent research ,  British women choose and buy eight out of every 10 bottles of wine that are drunk at home. The study also found that  a third of British women who enjoy wine as a treat at the end of the day admit that they prefer to drink it alone – in the bath.

The data, the result of industry research among more than 1,300 British women aged between 18 and 60, overturns common perceptions that men take the lead in wine buying, and reveals that in many cases women are far more influential.

Six out of 10 women in Britain said they drank wine at least once a week. And the same proportion said they preferred red wine to white or rosé.

Most women said they enjoyed drinking wine because they liked the taste (80%) and because it went well with food (70%). But despite appearing knowledgeable about wine, the majority choose to ignore its health risks. More than half see it as a “healthier” alternative to other alcoholic drinks such as beer and spirits, while the same proportion said they were not deterred by the government’s health warnings.

When it comes to choosing wines, women said they were driven mainly by price (74%), followed by the type of grape (64%), the country of origin (55%) and more superficial trappings such as the label (42%). Six out of 10 (61%) said they chose wine on their own, with women in the UK noticeably more independent in their choice than their peers elsewhere in the world.

These study results will probably be much the same for the South African market as grocers become more significant wine retailers .

Posted under: Orwcellars