WHITE WINE LEADS CATEGORY SALES GROWTH

The white wine category posed higher sales growth than red and blush wine in the four weeks to August 26, 2006, according to ACNielsen data.

In the 4-weeks ending August 2006, white wine jumped 11.6% while red and blush increased 8.5% and 6%. Domestic wine grew 10.6% in that 4-week period, trumping imported wines which were up 7%. South African wine (up 63.7%) posted the most growth for imports, followed by New Zealand (up 46.6%) and Argentina (up 32.8%).

Pinot Noir (25.7%) is by far the fastest growing red wine while Pinot Grigio was up a whopping 22.2%.