Wine delivery service Different Drop has released the wine consumption habits of Sydneysiders during isolation over the last two weeks. It seems whilst we’ve all been self-isolating, not only are we drinking more wine, Sydney’s suburbs all have very different tastes.
The Eastern suburbs are proving to be the biggest spenders on wine, spending an average of 23% more per bottle than other parts of the city. The Easties are enjoying vast amounts of autumn red wines with Pinot Noir and Shiraz topping their tipple of choice, followed closely by Riesling. Not bad.
Meanwhile, North Shore residents are loving their Chardonnay right now, ordering a massive 56% more the rest of the city! Furthermore, the North Shore is also enjoying the big reds, with locals purchasing 30% more Shiraz and 35% more Cabernet Sauvignon than the East and Inner West, reflective of a more traditional palette.
I actually live in the North Shore and my sister and I just stocked up on a whole lot of different chardonnays to pair well with HIMYM – we want to drink with Barney and Robin, not just watch them! I also surveyed my North Shore friends when participating in a ‘Zoom and drinks’ sesh last night (and later playing Cards Against Humanity on House Party) and over half of them were sipping on chardonnay!
The Inner West of Sydney are ordering more lighter reds as over 20% of all wine purchased was Pinot Noir or Pinot/Gamay — a trend that would have been unheard of 10 years ago. As usual, Sydney’s Inner West continues to be ahead of the curb on the latest wine trends. The Inner West is also drinking the most natural wines compared to other suburbs.
In these challenging times, Different Drop has also noticed that people are really spoiling themselves with some higher end wines while they are confined to their home. Who can blame them? Arguably this is a re-allocation of finances where people have cancelled their holidays, aren’t spending money on dining out, therefore are now looking to find smaller luxuries that they can treat themselves to at home. Whilst that holiday to Barcelona may be off the table for this year, they can still order some tasty wines to drink with their households.
Different Drop are also seeing a large spike in mixed pack sales as people opt for a selection as well as more unusual wines. It seems Sydneysiders are looking to explore and try new things they would normally try in a bar or restaurant. (If I’m being honest, rather than exploring I’m more going for a trip down memory lane by spoiling myself with double blacks. Yikes!)