Data shows that American wine is in decline as consumers spend and drink less.

Losses continue to pile up for the American wine industry.

U.S. wine sales fell about 6% last year compared to 2023, according to data from industry data group SipSource. The drop is the latest in a long-term decline in demand for wine in restaurants, bars and stores, which some are calling an “existential threat” to the industry.

Wine isn’t the only alcoholic beverage that has fallen on hard times; NIQ data shows sales of beer, cider and spirits have also fallen. But the fall in wine is stronger and the entire industry is aware of this change.

“Wines have gone up and up and up all these years, but in recent years they’ve gone down,” said Larry Duke, owner and operator of Schumer’s Wine and Liquor in Manhattan since 1978.

The wine industry received a boost in 2020 when Covid-fueled lockdowns and stay-at-home orders boosted demand. But this increase proved to be short-lived.

Mike Veseth, a wine industry expert and author of several books and The Wine Economist newsletter, pointed to generational trends to explain the decline in wine consumption.

“The baby boomer generation has embraced wine,” Veseth said. “We imagined that subsequent generations would continue to do this, but that’s not the case.”

A 2023 Gallup poll confirmed this theory, showing that younger Americans were drinking less than previous generations.

The decline in demand comes as a second Gallup poll, taken in August, showed that more than 4 in 10 Americans now think alcohol is unhealthy. On Jan. 3, the U.S. surgeon general released a report warning that alcoholic beverages should carry cancer warning labels.

Experts say that when younger consumers indulge, they choose pre-mixed, ready-to-drink options. In fact, premixed drinks are one of the few areas of the alcohol industry experiencing growth.

Wine, which comes in a large bottle and may require a corkscrew or additional glasses, is at a disadvantage compared to the convenience of premixed drinks.

“It’s not that they don’t like wine,” said Christian Miller, research director at the Wine Market Council, a research-focused nonprofit. “It’s because they drink a much wider variety of other things.”

Gary Decker, owner of Vinomania in Syracuse, New York, said legal marijuana has also lowered demand for wine.

“Pot takes a big part of it because it’s just another part of the party puzzle,” Decker said. “It’s another thing people can do.”

Adding to the list of obstacles: non-alcoholic beers and spirits. Industry data shows a recent marked increase in sales in the sector.

Soft drinks are beneficial not only to those wary of the health risks of alcohol, but also to the businesses that serve them.

“Retailers love them,” said Bump Williams, who runs an alcohol industry consulting business and has worked in the industry for at least three decades. “If a retailer sees one of their customers who has had too much to drink, they can give them water and they don’t make any money from that. Instead, they can offer them a mocktail.

Alcohol-free wines have not yet caught up.

“Dealcoholized beer is booming and the quality of the best dealcoholized beer is excellent,” Veseth said. “Wine is lagging behind.”

“How do you reproduce the taste? asked Dale Stratton, an industry veteran who is managing director of a wine consultancy. “I just haven’t seen a solution in the wine category that effectively does this.”

Wine is one of the most expensive alcohol choices and is getting more expensive. Since the turn of the century, the average price of a liter of wine has increased from $10 to $14.

“People’s budgets are really tight these days,” Veseth said. “Wine is therefore feeling the crisis.”

These factors point to tough times ahead for the wine industry, although experts are divided on the extent of the difficulties.

“It’s not business as usual,” Veseth said. “It’s an existential problem. Even though the industry will continue, big adjustments will be necessary for that to happen. »

“Wine has been there forever,” Stratton said. “The wine category will continue to be there. And while we face some challenges right now, the wine category has been around forever and will continue to be.

Although the industry is slow to adapt to these challenges, winemakers are not ready to give in.

“Is it really time to retire an 8,000-year-old human drink? said California winemaker Martha Stoumen, owner of Martha Stoumen Wines. “Really? Are we going to let it disappear? It seems like we might want to think of this as a culture.