Moscato: The Gateway Wine For People Of Color?

(OPB) - The wine of the moment — well, the last few years, actually — has been moscato. And its rise has been astronomical.

"I've been following the wine category for over ten years," said Danny Brager, the Senior Vice President of Beverage/Alcohol Practice at Nielsen. "Frankly I haven't seen anything like it at all."

Nielsen doesn't just track TV. Brager's group follows retail wine sales. According to Brager, the number of moscato brands has doubled in the last three years. And it's not over yet. Brager says sales of moscato will keep growing, at about 25 percent a year.

But almost all of the big press about moscato and its new-found fame seem to forget one thing about the wine and its consumers: race.

Moscato's Hip-Hop [and R&B] History

Brager says you would typically describe the average wine drinker as older, white, upper-income, equally split by gender. Not so with moscato drinkers.

"Much more African-American," said Brager. "Much more Hispanic. Much younger. Much lower-income. Much more female."

Brager says African-Americans are three times more likely to drink moscato as opposed to some other table wine.

That's believable, especially if you listen to hip-hop. As long I can remember, some rapper has been name-dropping some type of alcohol in his or her song. For a while it was the champagne, Cristal. I distinctly remember the liquer, Hypnotiq, being big when I was in college. Ciroc vodka is trending a bit right now. But moscato has trumped them all