WINE SALES SLOW IN DECEMBER

December is a big month for the wine industry and 2006 was no exception. According to IRI supermarket scanner data interpreted by Merrill Lynch’s Christine Farkas, table wine dollar sales rose 8.9% in December, although down slightly from the 10% increase in November and YTD. Table wine volumes rose 5%, a little shy of November’s growth of 5.6% but much higher than the 1% increase in December 2005.Christine describes 2006 as a year with “good table wine volume growth,” up