The volume of wine shipped direct to consumers increased 7.2 percent over the previous 12-month period, while the value of shipments increased by 10.3 percent - far outpacing the rate of growth for the overall wine retail sector.

The Direct-To-Consumer Shipping Report is available for download, click here. ShipCompliant provides wine and spirits suppliers and importers with a suite of web-based software to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations for direct and wholesale distribution.

The report looks at numerous aspects of the winery-to-consumer shipping channel, including shipments by winery size, shipments by product price-point, shipments by geographic location of origin, shipments by wine type, destination of shipments, and monthly shipment trends.

"The importance of the direct-to-consumer shipping channel for wineries can't be underestimated," said Jason Eckenroth, president of ShipCompliant. "Based on this report, that importance continues to grow as more and more wineries augment their other distribution channels with the high margin sales that come through the direct shipping channel, as well as build their brands and establish important relationships directly with individual consumers."

Among the findings in the report are:

• Four States Get The Most Wine: California, Texas, New York and Florida account for 54 percent of all shipments from wineries.

• Three Varietals Account for Bulk of Shipments: Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay account for nearly 60 percent of all wines shipped during the period.

• Larger Wineries are Increasing Their Shipments: While medium-sized wineries account for the majority of volume of wines shipped, larger wineries saw the greatest percent increase in volume of wines shipped.

• Napa Valley Dominates. Shipments of wine from Napa wineries account for 50 percent of the value of the direct shipping channel, while accounting for only 34 percent of the volume.

The report is based on millions of transactions that ultimately led to direct shipments to consumers and that were originally run through the ShipCompliant compliance platform between August 2011 and July 2012.

Source: ShipCompliant