Who Are the Customers For Wines Over $20?

(Wine-Searcher) - Want to identify a high-end wine drinker in the United States? Look for the guy drinking the bottle of assyrtiko.

While wines from most countries are purchased both by high-end and value-conscious Americans alike, Greek wines are the preserve of the first group – which is mysterious, because most Greek wines aren't that expensive.

"We talked to sommeliers and high-end buyers in New York and there's definitely something there," said John Gillespie, president of the Wine Market Council, during the release of its annual report last week.

"There's a large number of sommeliers and bloggers who are interested in wines from Greece. That's how these things happen. Now there's interest in indigenous varieties from Turkey. Any successful wine starts this way now: from the blogs and sommeliers."

The Wine Market Council studies U.S. wine consumers and has begun to focus on the differences between people who buy high-end wines – defined as wines on sale for more than $20 – and those who don't. Gillespie says $20 is the true demarcation line for high-end buyers, because "the same people who are buying wines over $20 are the people buying wines over $30, over $50, over $100."

Gillespie also sees them as a bellwether. "We know that the high-end wine buyers are much more sophisticated, and have tried and tasted many more wines than others," he said. "They are sort of in the middle between the level of sophistication of the trade and the level of sophistication of average consumers. But it is my feeling and observation that they are a great 'leading indicator' of where tastes and trends are going, so I personally think this is very good news for the people selling wines from Greece."