The overall fragility of the marginal wine drinker segment is highlighted by the long-term trend among them for growing preferences of other forms of beverage alcohol over wine. In the 2003 Merrill Research study, only 50 percent of marginal wine drinkers stated that they actually preferred wine over beer and spirits. Marginal wine drinkers have trimmed their wine consumption levels overall in the past three years. Some of this is due to a segment of marginal wine drinkers achieving core wine drinking status, but increased marketing efforts by beer and spirits brands are also claiming a share of the.
