IN THE AGE OF E-SHOPPING, BUYING AT WINERIES IS BACK IN FASHION IN THE USA. DIRECT SALES WENT OVER THE 2 BILLION DOLLAR MARK, AND 60 MILLION BOTTLES IN 2016. SMALL BUSINESSES DID VERY WELL AS DID TOP WINES, PINOT NOIR AND ZINFANDEL, ABOVE ALL

In the age of e-shopping, which now accounts for a large portion of world trade in many different sectors, from fashion to food, purchasing wine at the wineries is back in fashion in Silicon Valley land: the United States.
For the first time, in 2016, direct sales exceeded the 2 billion dollar threshold (2.33 billion US dollars, to be precise), equivalent to 60 million bottles sold to individual consumers, either directly at the company's wine shop, or shipped home after a visit to the winery, which means a 17% increase over 2015 in volume and an even higher increase in value, at + 18.5%.
This is the faithful reflection of premiumisation that, US portal "Wine & Vines" (www.winesandvines.com) report revealed, it is becoming an increasingly important trend on the American wine market. Of course, direct sales only represent 8.6% of the entire US wine market, but growth, driven also and especially by wine tourism, on which the American wineries have always counted in Napa Valley and Oregon, is constant, particularly for high-end wines (around 20 US dollars a bottle) of small companies.
There is also an interesting disparity emerging in terms of variety. A quarter of the orders in wineries is Pinot Noir, double the share compared to the "real market", worth 12.5% of total purchases, and same for Zinfandel, representing 9% of direct sales, and critics are saying there will be a big comeback for what has always been, historically, an iconic grape variety of viticulture in the US.