Market research group Mintel predicts wine sales will have risen by 2.1 percent to $27.6 billion dollars in 2009, up from $27 billion last year.

In 2008, sales declined 3.2 percent, after years of constant growth.

"In 2008, the recession was at its peak," said Garima Goel Lal, an analyst at Mintel, adding that people drank less wine in restaurants and in bars.

Consumers ditched luxury and imported wines priced at over $16 dollars a bottle in favor of bargains such as boxed and domestic value-priced wine, according to the report. Read more...