First it was our politics, now it is a recent Gallup poll of U.S. drinking habits. There are just too many reasons to feel less than proud to be an American these days. Wine Business Daily has reported that this year’s Gallup poll showed a decline in wine as the preferred alcoholic beverage, giving beer the winning spot at 41% to wine’s 33%.

What is America thinking? Granted, wine was only a winner for the single year of 2005 in the history of this particular poll, which has been tracked since 1939. However, I had hoped to see this as a positive trend, with wine steadily increasing over time, not just a statistical anomaly. Anyway, I suppose the good news is that there will be more wine for those of us that do prize it above all other alcoholic beverages.

But seriously, the poll does provide an interesting insight into Americans’ drinking habits. Wine sales are increasing, but they do not appear to be at the levels they could be. With the "wine lake" (surplus wine for which there is no market) as large as it is and new regions entering the global market, the ability to boost wine consumption is important. Moreover, European wine consumption is slowly declining (no more two-hour lunches), adding to the existing problem.

It begs the question as to whether more marketing is needed (I can’t recall seeing a wine commercial during the Super Bowl), more consumer education or both. It will also be interesting to see how this poll changes in time, with the Millennials (Generation Y) taking more to wine consumption than their previous generations. Only time will tell, but the opportunity does appear to exist for the savvy marketer.