For years, wine was "surging, surging, surging" in sales. Now, NBC News reports that health worries, changing demographics, and alternative offerings are among the reasons that sales of wine have dipped 6% from 2023 to last year, continuing a "long-term decline" and creating an "existential threat" in the industry. Part of the issue, per Fortune, is the wine sphere is "boomer-centric," meaning younger generations are turning away from wine, and from drinking overall: An August 2023 Gallup poll showed 62% of young adults under 35 drink alcohol, compared with 72% just 20 years earlier.
The cost of wine is another issue, as it typically comes with a steeper price tag than other alcoholic beverages—since 2000, the average cost of a liter of wine has risen from $10 to $14. "People's budgets are just really tight these days," says wine industry expert Mike Veseth. "So wine is feeling the crunch." What's been luring younger imbibers away from the fermented grape libation: premixed beverages, for one (usually much easier to open than a wine bottle); nonalcoholic beer, wine, and spirits; and legal cannabis.
"Pot is taking a big chunk out of it because it's just another part of the party puzzle," Gary Decker, a liquor store owner in Syracuse, New York , tells NBC. "It's one other thing that people can do." Boozy beverages that are pretty much in the same boat as wine in terms of declining sales include beer, cider, and spirits, though wine is suffering the most, according to the NIQ marketing research firm. Still, winemakers aren't throwing in the corkscrew just yet, despite the challenges. "Is it really time to retire an 8,000-year-old human beverage?" California winemaker Martha Stoumen asks NBC. "Really? Are we gonna let it go extinct?" (More wine stories.)
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