Booze sellers toast holiday sales effervescence

T’is the season, and to amplify the holiday feel, plenty of people are heading to the liquor store to stock up on Thanksgiving wine and Christmas spirits. Glazer’s is one of the main liquor distributors in the state, and Category Analyst Mike Brosonski says about 30% of Glazer’s wine sales take place from the months of October through December, with the majority around Thanksgiving. “White wine tends to go with the turkey,” he says, noting that store promotional displays hit the floor around Halloween, helping inspire sales. Similarly, 30% of liquor sales take place during OND, he says, with most of that done the week before Christmas through New Year’s Day. Sales of champagne get particularly bubbly just before Jan. 1. Statewide, Brosonski says New Orleans has a sales edge with its “on-premise presence” of booze, meaning the host of restaurants and bars that liberally leverage libations. Overall, he says per-capita alcoholic beverage consumption skews higher in the state than elsewhere. Regionally, he says south Louisiana represents 60% of Glazer’s business. Amato’s Winery in Independence, which ferments local blueberry, strawberry and other fruit wines, and two muscadine wines, distributes through Glazer’s. Owner Henry Amato says his cranberry wine, made with Washington state produce, is popular around Thanksgiving. “Wine sales in Louisiana for us start with the first cool snap,” he says. “Fruit wines go well around the holidays.”—Todd R. Brown