Rethinking the Wine Industry的动态

Link to charts for your perusal: - https://www.statista.com/statistics/802183/annual-pay-employees-in-the-uk/ - https://www.statista.com/statistics/528577/uk-population-by-generation/

Great point, and thank you for sparking this conversation—this is exactly the kind of discussion I love being part of. The issue goes beyond what stage of life people start drinking wine. A few years ago, I remember speaking with producers who told me, “Gen Z is young—when they get older, they’ll drink wine.” But the same people who said that now have their wineries up for sale. Gen Z is challenging the norms in every industry. Expecting them to simply accept the traditions of the wine world is an illusion. Thinking they’ll learn to drink wine the same way past generations did—like learning to drive a car—is another illusion. Because if you go to San Francisco, you’ll see cars without drivers. Things aren’t just evolving; they’re shifting dramatically. The Stone Age of information—where keeping order and hiding inconvenient truths was the norm—is ending. The AI era is here, where data is more valuable than money, and personalization can happen at scale. Waiting for Gen Z to “grow into wine” is a dangerous gamble. By the time they’re ready, your business might not be around to serve them.

Wine culture is something people ease into as they grow older, build experiences, and develop their palates. Instead of worrying about Gen Z’s current habits, the industry should focus on being accessible and welcoming when they’re ready to explore.

I'll be a bit blunt bit this is wishful thinking. While the price is definitely a barrier (they keep rising, driving the industry growth while consumption keeps declining), Gen Zers are just not drinking alcohol. Beer, Wine, Spirits, Hard Seltzer you name it—they aren't interested because it's a facts-driven generation that's prioritizing their most precious assets: their health. Another contributing factor is the rise of cannabis and cannabis-derived products; The wine industry is no longer competing with other alcohol categories, it's fighting for a share of consumer occasions and rituals. There are now more daily cannabis consumers than daily alcohol consumers in the U.S. and I wouldn't be surprised to see the same trend in the UK since 80% of Gen Z support its legalization. A good read about it and the reasons for the switch: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/30/health/marijuana-versus-alcohol-wellness/index.html So all in all, while I admire the positivity, I think the wine industry is gearing up to a hard reckoning.

Perhaps there needs to be an Adopt a Gen Z Campaign for when they are ready to drink wine. Buy Now, Drink Later :)

Unfortunately hope is not a strategy

I agree in many aspects. My goal with Clarity is to introduce a younger audience who are already interested in wine but feel they have no clear path to learn about it. I didn’t set out to convert Gen Z who don’t like wine to wine but to bridge a gap for those who are curious and would love to learn more in a relatable and engaging environment. I focus more on aspects that could be altered to help those learn more. Gen Z are also increasingly spending a lot more money on wine and make up over 50% on-premise sales. Insights on their choices, behaviour and feelings about the world of wine are incredibly interesting and useful for those looking to target this audience. Importantly Gen Z includes drinking ages from 18-28 as of 2025. I’m increasingly hearing from more and more in their late twenties about the lack of engaging information available to them. I think it’s a really interesting topic of discussion, of course as you said more will venture into the world of wine as they get older as has been the case for a long time!