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Why Aren ’ t Younger by MARINA VELEZ
Consumers Drinking Wine ?
Why does the wine category struggle with Millennials and Gen Z ? It ’ s a pressing question as the industry enters potentially treacherous waters in 2024 and ahead .
The wine industry had been on an upward trajectory since 1997 , averaging growth levels over 2 % through 2018 , according to data from The Beverage Information Group , the data partner of Beverage Dynamics . However , the rate of growth has decelerated since 2004 . Why ? Baby Boomers began drinking less wine — and less alcohol in general — while younger consumers continued to explore other beverage alcohol categories . As consumers increasingly switched between categories , wine volume has remained mostly flat since 2018 . Growth remained stalled in 2019 , but rebounded in 2021 , as the on-premise returned with Covid−19 fading . But , after bars and restaurants initially re-stocked their inventories , sales of wine decelerated while sales of spirits rose .
Then in 2022 , total wine contracted by −2 % as volume consumption returned to normal pre-pandemic levels .
Selling wine has become more challenging as aging baby boomers are drinking less overall and nearing retirement age when typically , their spending declines . Gen Xers and Millennials have grown up in an entirely different world . Beers now come from thousands of small breweries and in a huge
24 Beverage Dynamics • Spring 2024 www . beveragedynamics . com