The Best Selling Wine in the U.S?

You may be surprised by the answer to this one but the winner is Australian import Yellow Tail.

According to A.C. Nielsen Yellow Tail sells millions of cases a year of its $8-10 per bottle wines.

It was introduced to the U.S. in 2001 and by 2005 became the first wine ever in the U.S. to sell more than a million cases in one month. Why? An adroit and clever advertising campaign was a big part of it. The product, in my humble opinion, is nothing to write home about. But since when has that mattered to American consumers who have made the dreadfully tasting but constantly advertised Domino’s Pizza the number one pizza seller in the USA. Go figure right?

Another big seller is the famous “2 Buck Chuck” referring to the wines sold by Charles Taylor at Trader Joe’s stores across the US. Taylor got started by buying up unused grape “must” from various high end US producers. He then made his own wine from the must, selling them initially for $2 per bottle, hence the derivation of the name.

There’s also been a big surge in South American malbecs in the US during the economic downturn of the past few years. Not surprisingly, most are priced at under $15 per bottle.