National Drink Wine Day may have come and gone, but for many pinot noir enthusiasts, there’s still a reason to celebrate. The price of wine is dropping, and it’s expected to hit its lowest level in five years.
For that, you can thank California grapes. With more efficient harvesting methods benefiting thousands of new acres of grapevines in the Golden State, the United States has almost more grapes than it knows what to do with. Jeff Bitter, the president of Allied Grape Growers, told CNN that his industry “overshot demand” for wine.
“Until 2015, wine shipments had grown, almost predictively, for two decades,” he said. “The slowdown in growth has caught the industry by surprise.” And this gets us to the most interesting cultural trend: For the first time in 25 years, wine consumption has actually dropped. The slowdown is bad news for grape growers but good news for buyers.
Why are fewer people pouring a glass of merlot at the end of the day? It’s not because they’re drinking less, but because they’re opting for liquor and hard seltzer instead. Rob McMillan, executive vice president and founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s Wine Division, says wine is popular with an older demographic, but millennials just might not be as into it as baby boomers are. For wine sellers, “hoping millennials will adopt boomer values as they age — and, as a result, move away from spirits and gravitate to wine — just isn’t a sensible business strategy,” he wrote.
The shrinking demand for wine will eventually change the way it’s created and marketed. But for now, wine lovers can appreciate one perk of their diminishing demographic. While millennials are downing their raspberry White Claws, baby boomers can enjoy their cheapest chardonnay in years.
