DTC Shipments Decline from Record Highs

9 percent. Oregon had been a standout in terms of DTC growth in recent years but in 2022 the state’s wineries saw value decline by more than 2 percent to $279 million and volume fell 9 percent to 509 million cases. The biggest decline in shipment volume, 14 percent, occurred among shipments by Sonoma County wineries, but Sonoma had seen phenomenal volume growth of 38 percent in 2020 followed by a 2 percent increase in 2021.

While total value and volume rose and fell in dramatic fashion over the past three years, the regular trends historically seen in the DTC channel remained in effect. For example, the market still hit its traditional, seasonal highs in value and volume in March and October and the regular lows during June and July. This consistency can also be seen in shipments by winery size. Small wineries, defined by Wines Vines Analytics as producing between 5,000 and 49,999 cases, have long been the backbone of DTC shipments and these wineries accounted for 47 percent of all shipment by value in 2021 and 48 percent, or $1.83 billion, in 2022. By volume, the key difference in 2022 can also be seen in total shipment volume of small wineries that fell 14 percent or roughly 519,000 cases. Limited production wineries, or those making fewer than 1,000 cases, also saw an 18 percent decrease in total volume to 152,000 cases but these wineries only account for 2 percent of total channel volume.

In another similarity to the total U.S. wine market, growth in DTC has been bifurcated by price and the overall decline in volume is even more dramatic when segmenting by price. By value, total shipments of wines priced less than $50 fell 13 percent to $1.55 billion while total value of wines priced more than $50 rose 7 percent to $2.59 billion. The most expensive price tier of more than $200 grew by 32 percent to $664 million. By volume, wines priced more than $50 increased 1 percent to 2.11 million cases while those priced less than $50 fell 14 percent to 5.37 million. Lower priced wines do account for a significantly higher share of volume with wines priced less than $50 accounting for 74 percent of all cases shipped and 70 percent in 2022. By dollars, wines priced more than $50 accounted for 58 percent of total channel volume in 2021 and that share grew to 63 percent in 2022. While the 166,927 cases of wines priced at more than $200 accounted for just 2.2 percent of channel volume, they claimed 16 percent of total value.

The top destination states also remain similar to previous years, with California accounting for 33 percent of shipment value at $1.35 billion followed by Texas with 8 percent share at $341 million and Florida at $267 million or 6 percent value share. Shipments to Ohio grew by 10 percent in value from $64 million to slightly more than $70 million and volume also increased 13 percent to more than 131,000 cases. The Buckeye state was the exception as every other major state saw declines in both dollars and cases with California shipment volume declining by 5 percent to 2.34 million cases. WBM