According to Wine Intelligence’s Canada Wine Landscapes 2020 report, published this week, the recalled wine knowledge index of all Canadian regular wine drinkers has significantly increased in the past 5 years, from 28.4 in 2014 to 35.0 in 2019.
The wine knowledge index (0-100) is calculated based on consumer-reported awareness of wine-producing countries, wine-growing regions and wine brands for all regular wine drinkers in Canada as well as segmented into English-speaking Canadian regular wine drinkers and Québécois regular wine drinkers – all gathered in Wine Intelligence’s Vinitrac® Canada consumer surveys.
This increase in recalled wine knowledge has been driven by both English-speaking and Québécois regular wine drinkers. Most notably driving the increase in scores is that brand awareness has also significantly increased for a variety of domestic and imported wine brands across all of Canada. Some commentators have also attributed the growth in wine knowledge to the increasing availability and prominence of Canadian wine tourism experiences, chiefly in Ontario and British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley.
This trend in Canada is similar to only a few other countries – namely Japan – that are experiencing an increase in wine knowledge. Recently, Wine Intelligence’s Global Trends in Wine 2020 report disclosed data showing a macro trend of decreasing wine knowledge among a number of major consumption markets.
The latest tracking data reported in Canada Wine Landscapes also shows that Canadian regular wine drinkers are also becoming more conscious about alcohol content, especially in Québéc. Data shows that the proportion of Québécois regular wine drinkers who consider alcohol content as important or very important when purchasing wine has risen by 20 percentage points in the past five years, with a smaller but still significant 8 percentage point rise among English-speaking regular wine drinkers for the same measure during the period 2014-19.
Meanwhile, over a third of all Canadian regular wine drinkers say they are actively reducing the amount of alcohol they drink, primarily driven by those aged 19-34. This shift has also been noticed by trade experts, who report seeing an increasing demand for reduced alcohol and alcohol-free wines.
Commenting on the report, COO Richard Halstead said:
“Canada has undergone something of a renaissance in wine over the past decade. While Canadians appear to be moderating their alcohol consumption, they are appreciating wine more, knowing more about the subject and connecting with wine through local tourism opportunities in a way that wasn’t the case 10 years ago.
“This change presents a great opportunity for producers and retailers to shape a more aspirational, interesting and value-add wine experience, particularly to the younger generation of adults now entering the category.”
About Wine Intelligence Ltd.
Wine Intelligence was founded in 2002 to support the global wine industry in understanding customers better. The company conducts insights and consultancy projects with trade and consumer respondents around the world and is now established as the world’s leading research-led insights, branding and marketing strategy consultancy for the wine sector. Our active clients, who include some of the largest wine businesses in the world, now number over 100 companies and organisations.
