I mean these are all valid points, and the author provides some ways to “reverse ensh*ttification,” but none of this is new or groundbreaking information.
Aside from during the pandemic when there was literally nothing else to do for most people aside from sit in your house and get shitfaced, wine has been in decline for nearly a decade. The producers know it, the distributors know it and now the consumers know it.
I don’t think we will see some tidal shift that reverses trajectory without some major changes to how alcohol is perceived and sold, particularly in the USA. The 3-tier system is arduous and prohibitive to smaller companies, but the major players (and government) aren’t going to change it.
I don’t like pointing out a problem without offering a solution, and I currently don’t have a solution so I’ll stop here.
Uptons_BJs
I’m not sure if this is truly reflective of the wine buying experience in 2025. Unless you’re obsessed with only the tip top most in demand appellations and producers, the wine buying experience has never been better.
Like, it’s not just the bottom has fallen out of the wine industry, even top top producers are impacted. Prices are coming down, and has been for years.
I’ll use the example of Beaucastel. They have to be pretty much one of the most famous Rhone producer right? For the last three years, prices for beaucastel has gone down for me at my government monopoly.
If even absolute top tier producers have seen their prices go down, we’re living in a buyers market
Qumbo
> a resurgent, political, neo-temperance movement
Anyone know to what this is referring?
fddfgs
It’s all a lot simpler than this: the barrier for entry (in terms of price) is too high for young people. Old drinkers are passing on and they’re not being replaced.
4 Comments
I mean these are all valid points, and the author provides some ways to “reverse ensh*ttification,” but none of this is new or groundbreaking information.
Aside from during the pandemic when there was literally nothing else to do for most people aside from sit in your house and get shitfaced, wine has been in decline for nearly a decade. The producers know it, the distributors know it and now the consumers know it.
I don’t think we will see some tidal shift that reverses trajectory without some major changes to how alcohol is perceived and sold, particularly in the USA. The 3-tier system is arduous and prohibitive to smaller companies, but the major players (and government) aren’t going to change it.
I don’t like pointing out a problem without offering a solution, and I currently don’t have a solution so I’ll stop here.
I’m not sure if this is truly reflective of the wine buying experience in 2025. Unless you’re obsessed with only the tip top most in demand appellations and producers, the wine buying experience has never been better.
Like, it’s not just the bottom has fallen out of the wine industry, even top top producers are impacted. Prices are coming down, and has been for years.
I’ll use the example of Beaucastel. They have to be pretty much one of the most famous Rhone producer right? For the last three years, prices for beaucastel has gone down for me at my government monopoly.
If even absolute top tier producers have seen their prices go down, we’re living in a buyers market
> a resurgent, political, neo-temperance movement
Anyone know to what this is referring?
It’s all a lot simpler than this: the barrier for entry (in terms of price) is too high for young people. Old drinkers are passing on and they’re not being replaced.