By Nick Thomas October 3, 2024 9:54 pm (Washington Examiner)

Wine consumption globally is continuing its downward trend, and some winemakers and other industry players are failing to see what could be an existential crisis for the nectar of the gods. 

Wine has been facing a long-term structural decline for some time. Major wine markets such as France and Italy have indeed been in such decline for decades while the United States, the world’s most valuable market for wine, appears to be in a downward cycle, according to industry body IWSR. 

The reasons for such decline are multiple, including a trend toward drinking moderation. But one key area is the apparent di culty of attracting younger generations to wine.

“The wine category is becoming increasingly reliant on older drinkers, thanks to a number of factors, including aging populations in regions such as Europe, and a challenge recruiting younger LDA (legal drinking age) consumers in certain markets,” according to an IWSR review of 2023 data. “LDA Gen Z consumers are not being recruited into wine at anything like the rate that they were ten to fifteen years ago.” 

That may partly be the fault of many wineries not making su cient effort to reinvigorate the attraction of wine. 

“Not enough wineries put an emphasis on trying to reach the next generation of wine drinkers,” said Ian Bearup, head winemaker at Millbrook Vineyards & Winery in upstate New York. “Oftentimes, younger wine drinkers are not taken seriously. I don’t see enough smaller wineries making the effort to reach a younger audience.”

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