The Wine Industry is at a Crossroads

Consumer behaviour is shifting, economic headwinds are mounting, and the old playbook isn’t cutting it anymore. But for those of us who have dedicated our lives to this industry, this isn’t a crisis—it’s a reset.

Over the past week, I’ve been diving into reports and discussions shaping the industry’s future: The Economist’s Health Warnings About Alcohol Give Only Half the Story, Southern Glazer’s WineForward Symposium, the ProWein Business Report, the SVB US Wine Industry Report, The Wine Institute’s Zillennial Study, and Silver Oak’s Success Playbook.

It reinforced what I saw first-hand at ProWein Shanghai—a market in flux. Importers weren’t just struggling with stock; they were struggling with relevance. A new generation of drinkers isn’t rejecting wine—they’re waiting for a reason to embrace it. The real challenge? Making wine feel easy to choose, easy to enjoy, and part of their world.

So where does that leave us—the ones who live and breathe wine? Most of us don’t have the luxury of waiting this out—let’s act now.

• Make wine about occasions. Consumers don’t shop by varietal, region, or vintage—they shop for moments. If we don’t build our messaging around when people drink wine, we’re handing that space to beer, spirits, and RTDs.
• Simplify or die. Too many SKUs. Too many back labels packed with jargon. Confusion is costing us sales. Take a hard look at your portfolio—what’s pulling its weight, and what’s just taking up space?
• Reposition price, don’t just discount. Premiumization is stalling, and trading down is real. But this doesn’t mean slashing prices—it means giving consumers a reason to spend. How does your wine stack up next to a $14 cocktail? A $20 craft gin? Tell that story, or let someone else win the spend.
• Make the path to purchase effortless. The biggest competitor to wine isn’t another wine—it’s indecision. How easy is it for someone new to wine to confidently buy yours? If the answer isn’t “very,” there’s work to do.
• Drop the gatekeeping. Younger consumers aren’t avoiding wine because they don’t care—they’re avoiding it because we’ve made it feel complicated. The brands winning right now are the ones making wine fun, social, and accessible.
• Now’s the time to move. We can wait and hope consumers come back, or we can meet them where they already are—through formats, messaging, and experiences that actually fit their lives.

Wine isn’t going anywhere, but how we sell it needs to shift. We don’t need another strategy deck, another premiumization seminar—we need to make decisions that get more people drinking wine, more often, in more ways.

This is a reset. Let’s use it.