Wine business in high spirits

AUSTIN (KXAN) - After a slowdown in the recession, wine sales are showing signs of a recovery.

"I think that we probably had a record December, the shop has been here for 20 years, so that's saying something, and I think we're looking at a record year," said Dan Fitzgerald, the manager of Austin Wine Merchants.

Other liquor stores told KXAN they've seen a bump in sales too, but not  back to pre-recession levels. Industry-wide, reports have sales up 5% to 10% over 2009.

"They're buying wine, not just for special occasions, but also for week in, week out consumption. And that's a good sign for us as a business," said Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald said he has noticed shoppers habits have changed.

"People are not buying on price or big name, they're looking for the underlying value," he said.

Madelyn Naber of Flat Creek Estate says that quest for value has brought more folks to her Hill Country Winery.

"We've seen continuous growth over the 10 years we've been building a business here," she said.

Her sales didn't dip during the recession, but they are growing with the wine recovery. She said the winery added about 1000 cases in the last year. That puts its total sales at about 100,000 bottles of wine.

"Times are good for us either way. We always have wine at the end of the day," Naber laughed.

"At the end of the day when you look at the numbers and say hey we're doing well, of course you're always pleased, " said Fitzgerald.