The alcohol industry thrives, year after year on everyone's weakness for their favourite tipple and it is always trying to invent new ways to lure us in to buy their products and get us hooked. For some time, women have been the target for the alcoholic beverage industry, as merchants have begun to realise that the demand for alcohol among females is now huge.
Nowadays women are drinking more than ever before, and from an early age. Research done in the UK states that women between the ages of 16 and 24 drink over 21 units of alcohol a week, whereas the Government advised limit is 14. It must be said that in Britain there is a culture of binge drinking that is well reported, but the amount that women drink in the rest of Europe is also rising. In recent years, a huge demographic shift has meant that women across Europe are now choosing to stay single well into their thirties and enjoy successful careers before settling down with a family.
In line with this change of lifestyle, the drinks market recognised it needs to start focussing a large part of their marketing on successful, single women who enjoy to spend time drinking with their girlfriends as opposed to being chained to the kitchen sink.
A French wine merchant called Sublimelle is explicitly targeting women in a bid to cash in on the market. It claims that women and men appreciate wines differently and it boasts a range of "silky harmonious wines... that tend to reflect the image of women and their peaceful contribution to society." Quite how the wine does this, it is unclear, but Sublimelle claims to attract women's distinct sense of aroma and taste. In the UK, the retail giant Marks and Spencer is also getting in on the act, with its new range of Pink Port which it claims will revolutionise the port market and also attract more female buyers, however professional tasters claimed it tasted more like vodka and cranberry than anything faintly resembling port.
In the past research has been done into methods of wine tasting, and it has been found that women are largely better at recognising a fine wine than men, thus assuming that women have different tastes and are looking for something a bit different when they choose what to drink.
The Office of National Statistics in Scotland claims that men prefer to drink with their friends, first and foremost, and their partner second. However, women who have a partner would firstly choose to drink with them in a cosy, romantic setting and will most often choose something that will suit both tastes. The beverage market isn't necessarily barking up the wrong tree by targeting single women who drink with friends, but there is also the fact that women often equate alcohol with romance, so the "couples market" should definitely not be left in the dust.