Top Takeaways: 2023 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report

Sovos ShipCompliant recently released the 2023 Direct-to-Consumer (DtC) Wine Shipping Report with our partner, Wines Vines Analytics. This look-back at 2022 is the most comprehensive, complete and exclusive collection of data and insights on the state of the channel. While 2022 saw the first-ever decline in either—let alone both—value and volume of shipments, the DtC channel still retained 12% of total off-premise sales value of domestic wine, showing a maintained share from 2021.

About the data

The Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report takes shipment data from more than 1,300 U.S. wineries’ shipments to consumers each month, totaling more than 41 million shipments over the course of 2022. As we gather information, each shipment is edited for submission for governmental tax and reporting requirements, and all elements are validated by standardized tables. The verified data is submitted to a proprietary model built on a database of 11,000+ wineries that is updated monthly by Wines Vines Analytics.

2023 report highlights

Taking a deep dive into findings from 2022 value, volume, shipments by month, average bottle price, winery region, production tiers and varietal, the 2023 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report finds outcomes both surprising and anticipated. Here are some notable takeaways:

• 2022 was the first time in the report’s 13-year history that either DtC shipment volume (-10.3%) or the value of shipments (-1.6%) fell, and the first time a year-over-year decline in both measures has been seen. Of course, these outcomes must be looked at in the context of continued consumer and winery responses to the pandemic-induced market conditions in 2020 and 2021, paired with the roller coaster economic climate in 2022.
• The DtC market in 2022 kept pace with its 2021 performance in terms of share of value in the overall off-premise U.S. wine market at 12% (compared to the 12.1% share in 2021), even as that pie shrank from $34.8 billion in 2021 to $34.3 billion in 2022.
• The DtC channel’s outcomes were protected in part by the performance of more-expensive wines. Wines priced at $100 or more increased their volume by 7.8% and those with an average bottle price over $200+ grew in volume by more than 20% in 2022. This helped the channel maintain its share of off-premise domestic sales, even as wines under $30 dropped in volume by 17.5%.
• For the second year in a row, the Rest of California region (Mendocino, Lake, Livermore and Temecula counties and the Sierra Nevada region, plus all other areas outside the Central Coast, Napa County and Sonoma County) significantly outperformed the overall DtC shipping channel. The Rest of California had the smallest drop in volume in 2022 (-3.0%) from 2021, while the value of DtC shipments barely moved with just a 0.1% dip.
• Cabernet Sauvignon was a bright light in a challenging year, showing a 5.7% increase in value of shipments and a 7.2% decrease in volume shipped—lower than the average decrease in the channel.

What’s on the horizon?

Tune in for our free webinar on February 23, where we will dive deeper into data and takeaways from the 2023 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report. Register here for the live discussion.