Imported vs. Domestic Wine Prices Executive Summary We compare prices of more than 200 popular domestic and Imported brands of wine over the course of 3 years in 5 geographIcally separated U.S. markets. Average prices for domestic versus Imported wines were calculated at the supplier, wholesaler and retail levels for both 750ml and 1.5L bottle sizes. We found that average prices of Imported wines were higher than those of the domestic wines in every market, at each level of distribution, in each year, and for both sizes. The current retail price advantage of domestic wines across the five state markets in the 750ml size averages 31.6%. In the 1.5L size this advantage is 39.3%. Based on our research, we conclude that the leading domestic wines have a price advantage over the leading Imported wines. Imported vs. Domestic Wine Prices Introduction This study compares prices of domestic and foreign wines in five U.S. markets--New York, Florida, Illinois, Colorado and California. The purpose Is to determine whether, the dominant Imported wines are selling at prices less than, about equal to, ог greater than those of the major domestic wines. At the wholesale level we gathered prices in each market for November of 1981, 1982 and 1983. At the retail level we monitored prices during October and November of 1983. Supplier prices in Maryland In November of these three years were collected and used basis for that level's average prices. as the This study emphasizes overall pricing averages and patterns rather than price comparisions among individual wine lines. Our goal Is to reach a conclusion regarding whether prices of Imported wines are higher or lower than those of domestic wines, not to make precise estimates of the magnitudes of any observed differences. Methodology We selected brands from the large domestic wineries and wine marketing groups, and from high-volume import lines of wines. In the Import group, each of the top-ten brands is included. Sixteen of the top-twenty brands make up the sample. All told, the Imported brands used for the price comparisons account for about 64% of the imported table and sparkling wine volumes. In the domestic group, we selected high-volume brands from 11 wineries, including those from each of the 10 largest U.S. wineries. The wineries on our list supply an estimated 62% of the U.S. wines. The wineries and wine lines included in this study are shown below. Because each winery and wine line sells many labels, the lists of domestic and imported labels included in the study are much longer than the lists above. We tracked prices of 185 with prices for both domestic labels and 52 imported labels, 750ml and 1.5L containers recorded when available. The entire list of wine brands whose prices were tracked appear In the Appendix. We compared prices between domestic and imported brands at three levels of the distribution chain: 1) Supplier-to-wholesaler prices, represented by the 2) Wholesaler-to-retaller prices, represented by the |