Wine and Gender?

We've spent a fair bit of time in class talking about the different wine consumption habits of different generations, but we haven't talked about other ways to focus in on the consumer pie. So, I started to wonder what other categories consumers can be split into that would provide more precise information on who is buying wine and why. I started googling and quickly found that gender is one such factor.

There are several studies, market reports (some of which want you to purchase the download), and news articles about gender and wine purchasing.  The most concise one I found is here. It contains the following: 

"According to a report on the US wine market conducted by the Wine Market Council, young people in their 20s and early-to-mid 30s now drink almost half the wine bought in the US. And, get this: among high-frequency wine drinkers under the age of 30, women are out-purchasing men two-to-one when it comes to wine."

Another article made the following claims,

"First off, men only make up about 41% of consumption by volume, while women claim a much heftier 59%. But interestingly, men tend to be the bigger wine snobs. Whereas women spent about $1 billion in pursuit of high-quality bottles, men racked up $1.8 billion doing the same thing."

It is hard to say why women, especially young women, are buying wine more than their male colleagues. Regardless, well done ladies. You're getting more wine, and for WAY cheaper!