Wine sales soar in Gillespie County

GILLESPIE COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - Americans are raising their wines glasses more than any other group of people around the world, says a new study by the trade show Vinexpo and International Wine and Spirit Research .

Research revealed that in 2011, Americans consumed the equivalent of 3.73 billion bottles of wine. Italy, France and Germany were the other top ranking countries for wine consumption.

The study surveyed 114 markets and 28 producer countries, but consumers don't have to trek too far to find wine sales are soaring.

At Torre di Pietra , a winery in Gillespie County , sales are up 20 percent this January compared to last January.

"We have more people buying three or four bottles of wine at a time," said owner Ken Maxwell.

Maxwell, thinking he needed to do something to boost sales, actually reduced the price of his more expensive red wines by about 20 percent on the first of the year. One bottle that retailed for $34 is now $29.

"I thought it would get us selling more bottles on average," Maxwell added.

Even though prices are reduced, Maxwell is selling more bottles and making more money than last year. He attributes the trend to an uptick in the economy and more favorable political rhetoric.

"People hear things in politics about how bad the economy is and do not want to buy," he said.

Contrary to most people thoughts, the drought did not hurt grape growers, but actually helped them bottle a better product in terms of flavor . With smaller grapes due to less rain, the skin to juice ratio was smaller, allowing more tanins to be released into each grape. 

"What did hurt us was that with smaller grapes, we had less volume," Maxwell said.

Not to worry, most vineyards had stockpiles of wine still aging and are not running low. 

The flavor of the wine is what lured the Larson family to drive to the vineyard from Dallas. Following a wine tasting event, the Larsons purchased three bottles of wine for $110.

"The taste just gets better every year," the couple said.

The couple, who consider themselves wine lovers, did not factor in price when making their purchase.