Direct-to-consumer (DtC) shipment value fell 8% versus a year ago to just under $472 million in March, according to Wine Business Analytics/Sovos ShipCompliant. While shipment activity showed its usual spring strength, the decline also marked a normalization following the tremendous growth of the past three years. Compared to 2019, shipment value was up 43%. March shipment volume declined 9% to 734,367 cases, boosting the average bottle price of shipments to $53.55. This represented a new high for the month. 

The high average bottle price is driven by the channel’s most important varietal, Cabernet Sauvignon, which accounted for 30% of total channel value in the latest 12 months with $1.2 billion worth of shipments. Those shipments were worth an average of $82.70 a bottle, well above the second most-popular (and expensive) wine, red blends, which hold 16% of the channel by value and average $55.47 a bottle. Pinot Noir ranked third, with a 15% share of the channel by value and an average bottle price of $49.53. The three varietals were also the only ones with an average bottle price above the overall average for the channel in the period of $43.99. The DTC shipment data is one of the regular Industry Metrics reported in the monthly Wine Analytics Report.

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