Shocking news came last week: the French government and the European Union will spend more than 200 million euros to destroy surplus wine. At a press conference on Friday, Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau told reporters that the funding is “intended to stop prices from collapsing so that winemakers can find sources of revenue again.” But Fesno also called on the industry, saying it needed to “look to the future, think about changes in consumers … and adapt”. This follows the felling of 9,500 hectares of vines in the Bordeaux region in June for 57 million euros.
But France isn’t the only wine region facing crisis. Last week, Wine-Searcher reported that wine sales in Washington state were down more than 17 percent since last year. The week before, Decanter reported that Australian wine exports had fallen by a third over the past two years, partly due to Chinese tariffs and partly due to falling global demand.
All of this dovetails with the latest Gallup poll on Americans’ drinking habits, released in mid-August, which found that wine was America’s least favorite alcoholic beverage at 29%, trailing beer (37%) ) and spirits (31%). Of course, the decline in wine consumption is not just a U.S. problem: In June, the European Commission estimated that wine consumption would fall 7 percent in Italy, 10 percent in Spain, 15 percent in France, 22 percent in Germany and 34 percent in Portugal.
Guys, let’s not beat around the bush. Globally, the wine industry is not doing well. But how to explain all this bad news? The easiest answer is to blame it on young people. It has been suggested that young people drink differently than their parents and grandparents. They prefer craft beer or cocktails or other beers in cans. Or they might like marijuana, or don’t drink at all.
