This a result of the pandemic and the return to normal consumption and the bloated market pricing.
Abject_Engine2150
Let’s hope it means the prices will come back down…. 🤞🏼
Ill-Quote-4383
I think younger people are drinking less but also wine is extremely uninviting to newcomers generally speaking. There’s a lack of knowledgeable people who are also friendly and willing to take some time with newer people to show them the ropes.
There’s even a decent amount of affordable domestic wine that are good but finding them and having them presented in a proper way is tough.
Dry January is also killing places. I’m possibly selling tea to a big liquor store soon to expand their NA offerings while trying to maintain that wine experience.
Edit: grammar
Advanced-Team2357
Wineries shifted to premium wine tastings during Covid and have never shifted back to making visits more approachable. They’ve essentially reduced their own foot traffic over 5 years.
DevelopmentSelect646
Bourbon too, and craft beer.
jwfowler2
I can’t relate.
CrustyToeLover
Been the opposite where I am. Wine sales are consistent, but beer basically all brown liquor sales have tanked
IfNotBackAvengeDeath
These dopes are blaming weed and mocktails while the price of a drinkable bottle of wine has gone from $20 to $40 overnight
FruitSquatch
Americans started appreciating their own local wine industries during the pandemic, and now local wines have clout and people want to drink wines from their areas. As a Colorado winery, I keep selling out of my wines, and I think people appreciate the difference in our wines from California wines.
Ireallydontknowmans
Every luxery good is facing this problem. If you look at fashion or watches, they are all declining. People cut their cost at things you dont need first
strokeoluck27
Wine Spectator mag just ran an article about this same fact. Industry sales are down. They’re estimating 8-10% of vineyard acreage will be pulled out. Adjusting supply to match demand is Econ 101, so that makes sense. But I am hopeful that it also drives down the cost of land in wine country so that over time the underlying costs result in more reasonably priced wines.
I’m no industry expert, but I have yet to see many of the $40-$100 Napa cab wineries lower retail prices. However, I do notice: 1) Higher quality wines on sale at Costco. 2) Winery club deals offering quite a discount to move product now and then.
throwawayaccount0327
Ozempic is partially responsible.
trey_jacobson
There are many contributing factors to the decline but much of it is related to two aspects, in my opinion: (1) wine is confusing to those without a basic understanding of varietals, pairing, and quality. Imagine that you walk into a grocery store that displays 200 different bottles of different types and wildly different prices. It can be daunting to many. Google doesn’t help. That is why many non-wine drinkers focus on bottles and brands that they KNOW are tasty.
(2) Restaurants-which area large part of the wine market- seem to be increasingly greedy when it comes to wine. In some situations, it is offensive. In the US, it was customary for a price (by the glass) equivalent to the wholesale price of the bottle. The entire bottle might be twice retail/store price. Some restaurants are pushing the limit, charging 3x wholesale for a glass, with mediocre bottles at 3x-4x retail. The prices for common, widely distributed wines are insane. There is no doubt in my mind that the average patron is less inclined to buy wine when dining.
I’m sure I’m not alone amongst this group to share that we’re now FAR more likely to eat at home with our own wine than dine out.
grapegeek
I live in Woodinville, WA home to about 125 tasting rooms/wineries. I’m out of the industry for a while but friends still in say foot traffic and sales way off from a peak about ten years ago. Boomers dying off and next generations getting stoned more and drinking less. Huge gluts of grapes in the state. But funny that prices don’t come down.
SDtoSF
When inflation has causes restaurants bills to go up and expected tip is now 20%-25%, then yea a 20 dollar bottle of wine in the market becomes 80 at the restaurant plus tax and tip, pushes it to 100. For most consumers that’s just not worth it for 4 drinks, and they’d rather just get 2 cocktails at 15/each.
At a higher level, I think the wine industry spent decades creating this high end vibe with a bunch of rules around wine. Like, what wine to drink with what food, can’t drink wine if it’s been opened longer than 1 day, etc and now the consumer is deciding against the friction.
2h2o22h2o
Hell I wish I could drink more. I have three dozen bottles of nice Burgundy and Bordeaux and I just can’t drink it. I can have a glass but even that makes me feel like trash. I’m half considering just giving everything away as gifts to people.
sun4moon
I’m not sure about other places in the world but, where I live, drinking in general had declined. I only have a glass or two each week, typically. I have 4 kids, 3 are legal age here and only one of them has a drink once in a while and it’s never wine. The youth aren’t into it anymore, which is good in my opinion. The steady decline in drinking and the steady increase in cost (taxes) is really hurting the wine business.
That said, I just bought 4 bottles yesterday.
Iratenai
I feel like wine retail sales and wine sales for on premises consumption should also be two different conversations. I’m <1 hour from Napa and my wife and I were just there yesterday to pick up one of our quarterly membership allotments. After doing our tasting/pickup, we went to a restaurant that’s more of a locals spot than a tourist spot, and admittedly focuses more on beer than wine.
My wife wanted to stick with wine though and a glass of Banshee Pinot Noir was $13… I have a mental block of buying a glass of meh wine for the wholesale price of the bottle. I know that’s what restaurants have to do financially to make it work, but when a pint of quality craft beer is $8 by comparison…
Maybe there needs to also be some more innovation in delivery systems as well that allows BTG programs to be more affordable. For example more producers putting good wine in 3L bag in a box so the wine oxidizes more slowly. Bedrock does that format with their Ode to Lulu Rose and Frog’s Leap has done it with their Flycatcher red blend.
Disastrous_Square_10
It’s more than one thing. Generationally, the new generation is drinking less. More people are health conscious and it’s normalized so say you don’t have an off button. People are on Wegovy and weight loss drugs and for many, your desire is to drink less. Inflation is crazy high, in 2020, for Napa at least, no one made a whole vintage so companies made insurance claims that were paid pennies on the dollar and those that weren’t liquid enough had to just take it versus fighting so everyone raised their prices, the glut of grapes from 2023 and 2024 are just beginning to hit and no one can sell their contracts, and lastly it was an election year and people always clutch their purses a little tighter during those years. More than one thing to blame here.
Same-Space-7649
Young people are just not drinking alcohol to the extent their parents and grandparents did anymore. This is true in Europe and the United States.
speel
Wine also kinda complicated to the average person for anything outside of the major brands. Call me crazy but I think it would be neat to have a nutrition type of label on bottle to tell you what’s in it, where it’s from who made it, tasting notes and other identifying information.
Demacavelli
Don’t worry, I just got a 20% off coupon for total wine and more when purchasing 8+ bottles. I will turn this data around
Z28Daytona
What is the wine industry doing to increase sales ?
Advertising? Sales ? Overall price decreases? Direct to consumer discounts via clubs, decreasing tasting price to encourage sales/club membership? Maybe an industry MSRP at restaurants to increase on premise sales ?
I don’t see much from them in these areas.
RADMFunsworth
I’m doing my part to help! 🥴
phlipout22
So champagne will finally go back to a more reasonable price. Right?
jay_sun88
Well, yeah! I’m paying more for auto insurance bills instead 😒
OutOfIdeas17
There are multiple factors as to why this is true, but if I can put the tinfoil hat on for a minute: pharmaceutical companies are the ones funding anti-alcohol propaganda (medical studies, news articles, media, etc).
There is a concerted effort to demonize wine & spirits so people don’t stray from their subscription based medicine. They can’t have people pausing the meds to have a drink, or they might discover they can be fine without them.
Katiroth
Foot traffic is down considerably for Missouri wineries. Online sales are meh for my for my own. We are even low priced (Our cheapest bottles are 9.99) and that doesn’t seem to be helping.
We’re moving into lower AVB wines, as that seems to be where the trend is heading. But we’ll see.
Damocles-Rising
*sigh* no it isn’t. Look at trend data. It’s going up globally — the size of the wine market is expected to grow by 5% CAGR until 2030.
wip30ut
definitely generational trends… i’ve been to a few holiday parties hosted by 20-somethings where there were ZERO bottles of wine on the table, just hard liquor or seltzers, not even craft beer. And i’ve noticed that the ppl who seem to buying wine at supers or even Costco tend to be middle-aged 50+ age bracket. Even my Millenial foodie friends who were casually into wine a few yrs back and have cut back because they’re now parents with kids under 10. Wine just slows them down & hampers being focused & attentive with their children.
30 Comments
This a result of the pandemic and the return to normal consumption and the bloated market pricing.
Let’s hope it means the prices will come back down…. 🤞🏼
I think younger people are drinking less but also wine is extremely uninviting to newcomers generally speaking. There’s a lack of knowledgeable people who are also friendly and willing to take some time with newer people to show them the ropes.
There’s even a decent amount of affordable domestic wine that are good but finding them and having them presented in a proper way is tough.
Dry January is also killing places. I’m possibly selling tea to a big liquor store soon to expand their NA offerings while trying to maintain that wine experience.
Edit: grammar
Wineries shifted to premium wine tastings during Covid and have never shifted back to making visits more approachable. They’ve essentially reduced their own foot traffic over 5 years.
Bourbon too, and craft beer.
I can’t relate.
Been the opposite where I am. Wine sales are consistent, but beer basically all brown liquor sales have tanked
These dopes are blaming weed and mocktails while the price of a drinkable bottle of wine has gone from $20 to $40 overnight
Americans started appreciating their own local wine industries during the pandemic, and now local wines have clout and people want to drink wines from their areas. As a Colorado winery, I keep selling out of my wines, and I think people appreciate the difference in our wines from California wines.
Every luxery good is facing this problem. If you look at fashion or watches, they are all declining. People cut their cost at things you dont need first
Wine Spectator mag just ran an article about this same fact. Industry sales are down. They’re estimating 8-10% of vineyard acreage will be pulled out. Adjusting supply to match demand is Econ 101, so that makes sense. But I am hopeful that it also drives down the cost of land in wine country so that over time the underlying costs result in more reasonably priced wines.
I’m no industry expert, but I have yet to see many of the $40-$100 Napa cab wineries lower retail prices. However, I do notice:
1) Higher quality wines on sale at Costco.
2) Winery club deals offering quite a discount to move product now and then.
Ozempic is partially responsible.
There are many contributing factors to the decline but much of it is related to two aspects, in my opinion: (1) wine is confusing to those without a basic understanding of varietals, pairing, and quality. Imagine that you walk into a grocery store that displays 200 different bottles of different types and wildly different prices. It can be daunting to many. Google doesn’t help. That is why many non-wine drinkers focus on bottles and brands that they KNOW are tasty.
(2) Restaurants-which area large part of the wine market- seem to be increasingly greedy when it comes to wine. In some situations, it is offensive. In the US, it was customary for a price (by the glass) equivalent to the wholesale price of the bottle. The entire bottle might be twice retail/store price. Some restaurants are pushing the limit, charging 3x wholesale for a glass, with mediocre bottles at 3x-4x retail. The prices for common, widely distributed wines are insane. There is no doubt in my mind that the average patron is less inclined to buy wine when dining.
I’m sure I’m not alone amongst this group to share that we’re now FAR more likely to eat at home with our own wine than dine out.
I live in Woodinville, WA home to about 125 tasting rooms/wineries. I’m out of the industry for a while but friends still in say foot traffic and sales way off from a peak about ten years ago. Boomers dying off and next generations getting stoned more and drinking less. Huge gluts of grapes in the state. But funny that prices don’t come down.
When inflation has causes restaurants bills to go up and expected tip is now 20%-25%, then yea a 20 dollar bottle of wine in the market becomes 80 at the restaurant plus tax and tip, pushes it to 100. For most consumers that’s just not worth it for 4 drinks, and they’d rather just get 2 cocktails at 15/each.
At a higher level, I think the wine industry spent decades creating this high end vibe with a bunch of rules around wine. Like, what wine to drink with what food, can’t drink wine if it’s been opened longer than 1 day, etc and now the consumer is deciding against the friction.
Hell I wish I could drink more. I have three dozen bottles of nice Burgundy and Bordeaux and I just can’t drink it. I can have a glass but even that makes me feel like trash. I’m half considering just giving everything away as gifts to people.
I’m not sure about other places in the world but, where I live, drinking in general had declined. I only have a glass or two each week, typically. I have 4 kids, 3 are legal age here and only one of them has a drink once in a while and it’s never wine. The youth aren’t into it anymore, which is good in my opinion. The steady decline in drinking and the steady increase in cost (taxes) is really hurting the wine business.
That said, I just bought 4 bottles yesterday.
I feel like wine retail sales and wine sales for on premises consumption should also be two different conversations. I’m <1 hour from Napa and my wife and I were just there yesterday to pick up one of our quarterly membership allotments. After doing our tasting/pickup, we went to a restaurant that’s more of a locals spot than a tourist spot, and admittedly focuses more on beer than wine.
My wife wanted to stick with wine though and a glass of Banshee Pinot Noir was $13… I have a mental block of buying a glass of meh wine for the wholesale price of the bottle. I know that’s what restaurants have to do financially to make it work, but when a pint of quality craft beer is $8 by comparison…
Maybe there needs to also be some more innovation in delivery systems as well that allows BTG programs to be more affordable. For example more producers putting good wine in 3L bag in a box so the wine oxidizes more slowly. Bedrock does that format with their Ode to Lulu Rose and Frog’s Leap has done it with their Flycatcher red blend.
It’s more than one thing. Generationally, the new generation is drinking less. More people are health conscious and it’s normalized so say you don’t have an off button. People are on Wegovy and weight loss drugs and for many, your desire is to drink less. Inflation is crazy high, in 2020, for Napa at least, no one made a whole vintage so companies made insurance claims that were paid pennies on the dollar and those that weren’t liquid enough had to just take it versus fighting so everyone raised their prices, the glut of grapes from 2023 and 2024 are just beginning to hit and no one can sell their contracts, and lastly it was an election year and people always clutch their purses a little tighter during those years. More than one thing to blame here.
Young people are just not drinking alcohol to the extent their parents and grandparents did anymore. This is true in Europe and the United States.
Wine also kinda complicated to the average person for anything outside of the major brands. Call me crazy but I think it would be neat to have a nutrition type of label on bottle to tell you what’s in it, where it’s from who made it, tasting notes and other identifying information.
Don’t worry, I just got a 20% off coupon for total wine and more when purchasing 8+ bottles. I will turn this data around
What is the wine industry doing to increase sales ?
Advertising? Sales ? Overall price decreases? Direct to consumer discounts via clubs, decreasing tasting price to encourage sales/club membership? Maybe an industry MSRP at restaurants to increase on premise sales ?
I don’t see much from them in these areas.
I’m doing my part to help! 🥴
So champagne will finally go back to a more reasonable price. Right?
Well, yeah! I’m paying more for auto insurance bills instead 😒
There are multiple factors as to why this is true, but if I can put the tinfoil hat on for a minute: pharmaceutical companies are the ones funding anti-alcohol propaganda (medical studies, news articles, media, etc).
There is a concerted effort to demonize wine & spirits so people don’t stray from their subscription based medicine. They can’t have people pausing the meds to have a drink, or they might discover they can be fine without them.
Foot traffic is down considerably for Missouri wineries. Online sales are meh for my for my own. We are even low priced (Our cheapest bottles are 9.99) and that doesn’t seem to be helping.
We’re moving into lower AVB wines, as that seems to be where the trend is heading. But we’ll see.
*sigh* no it isn’t. Look at trend data. It’s going up globally — the size of the wine market is expected to grow by 5% CAGR until 2030.
definitely generational trends… i’ve been to a few holiday parties hosted by 20-somethings where there were ZERO bottles of wine on the table, just hard liquor or seltzers, not even craft beer. And i’ve noticed that the ppl who seem to buying wine at supers or even Costco tend to be middle-aged 50+ age bracket. Even my Millenial foodie friends who were casually into wine a few yrs back and have cut back because they’re now parents with kids under 10. Wine just slows them down & hampers being focused & attentive with their children.