Is Wine….Cheugy?

When did wine become so uncool and what is the industry doing about it?

I recently asked my 25-year-old sister who she thought of when she thought of wine. I expected the common tropes—Barolo-sipping Wall Streeters and stuffy Septuagenarians sitting on a cellar of Château Lafite.

“Wine moms,” she said, flatly. “The suburban Millennial ones, who do yoga and need their mom juice.” 

I put down my glass.

According to the news, wine isn’t cool. Gen Z—the youth—aren’t drinking our bottles. They’re sipping White Claws, prebiotic and probiotic sodas, and partaking in marijuana. And, because of it, wine sales are slumping. Wine is this generation’s cigarette, says the San Francisco Chronicle. The industry is Boomer-centric, argues Fortune.

Winemakers, marketers, and brand bigwigs are worried. If children are the future and they aren’t drinking wine, what does that mean for the rest of us? And when did wine get so uncool?

Defining a Generation

Before we blame youth for wine’s downfall, it’s worth pointing out that these are, well, kids. Half the generation isn’t of age, and the other is just old enough for keg stands and college parties. Is anyone surprised they haven’t picked up a penchant for Rutherford Cab?

This is all put further into flux by the fact that Gen Z is a COVID generation. The oldest members of the generation turned 21 mid-pandemic. The stay-at-home rules and social distancing of COVID-19 skewered proms, freshman years, and other right-of-passage moments, and stripped Gen Z of formative drinking experiences. Instead of backyard parties and coming-of-age blow-outs, many Gen Zs turned 21 quietly, on a screen.

“We lost so many cross-generational social interactions and other experiences that shape the way people learn how to drink,” says Sophia Miller, a WSET Diploma Candidate and digital assistant account manager at Colangelo & Partners. “Things paused and there’s now a large lag to catch up.” 

The mental health reverberations of COVID hit this generation hard. 73% of Gen Z report feeling alone either sometimes or always. 86% of Gen-Z consumers believe their mental health is as important as physical health and 70% consider binge drinking as a very risky activity.

“We’re the loneliest generation,” says Jess Druey, the 26-year-old founder of Whiny Baby Wines. “More than anything, Gen Z is looking for ways to get off their phones—they’re isolated and craving interactions.”

And the industry hasn’t really been there to embrace them.

Our Own Worst Enemy

“There’s a stigma surrounding wine—an idea that [one needs] both income and years worth of knowledge to understand what they are drinking,” says Alex Cuper, wine director of El Che Steakhouse & Bar and Brasero in Chicago. “People see movies like ‘Somm,’ with wildly intelligent individuals obsessed with wine, or $1,000 bottles of wine that just aren’t attainable on a normal salary.” 

“The exclusionary nature of the wine industry is really to blame for everything,” says Bernadette Machard de Gramont, a writer and partner in consulting firm One For All Winemaking. “For years, this industry was—and, in some cases still is—very much fueled by old, white, rich men. It’s not an environment that people seek out on purpose.”

“I think a lot of people look at wine with a certain age group or lifestyle in mind,” says D’Onna Stubblefield, general manager and beverage director of Philadelphia’s Bloomsday. “Ok! I’ve finally reached the age of 40 and bought a house. I should start caring about Chablis!” 

Wine brands haven’t done much to help this. “So many wine brands have yet to tailor their marketing strategies to resonate with the interests and values of younger consumers,” says Anastasia Semionov, the bartender-turned-marketer behind @BoozySpells. Other brands are downloading TikTok and adding slang into Instagram captions. It can be awkward—how do you do, fellow kids? 

“I find people are throwing spaghetti at a wall trying to trap a new consumer,” said Jennifer Locke, CEO of Crimson Wine Group, during an SVB panel. “If I make a $65 Cabernet Sauvignon, why am I going to pivot to make a $10 canned wine? It doesn’t make sense to my core consumer. People need to understand who you are and what you stand for.”

Unsurprisingly, kids see right through them. Authenticity is a key value for Gen Z consumers—“Gen Z won’t tolerate anything that smacks of fakeness,” says wine writer Martin Skegg of Sunday School Wine. They’re excited by sustainability and fueled by connection. “They’re drinking not for the sake of drinking, but out of thoughtfulness and intrigue,” says Skegg. “They want wine that has substance, that’s made by ‘real’ people, that has a story to it.”

Hitting the Marks

If you can hit those key values, it’s easier to win young drinkers over. 

Druey has built her brand around Gen Z tendencies, like connection and authenticity. Whiny Baby’s labels peel off and can double as stickers (excellent free marketing) and she asks her social media following to vote on new blends and bottle names. “You need a unique experience if you want to remain in the ecosystem of relevancy,” says Druey. It’s paying off—Whiny Baby recently won Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars. 

Cokie Ponikvar, the Gen Z sommelier behind @CokiesWorldofWine, has over 400,000 Instagram followers. She finds there aren’t really people in wine who communicate to young wine lovers without oversimplifying information or making the category exclusive and unapproachable—people are catching on. 

“As an industry, we need to work on our marketing,” Ponikvar notes. “We need to empower young people and make them feel comfortable enough to pursue an interest in wine. It doesn’t take much to get Gen Z excited about wine, it just takes the right approach.”

29-year-old twins and natural wine enthusiasts Ryan and Chris Goydos have amassed tens of thousands of followers on their Super Vino Bros Instagram and TikTok. They don’t flex their knowledge or flaunt baller bottles—they’re inquisitive, curious, and cool with not knowing everything.

The natural wine category has been an olive branch for new drinkers. Dua Lipa drinks natural wine now. Natty wine bars exist from New York to downtown Napa, Toronto to Tokyo. They pour orange, hazy whites, and chilled reds, or maybe sparkling wine crafted by wild makers who communicate with the cosmos.

Naysayers will say it’s a fad, that the natural wine movement prioritizes sense of place over quality winemaking. Advocates will argue it’s a return to winemaking roots—replanting of indigenous grapes and focusing on farming practices over cellar work.

Dig it or not, it’s getting people to drink wine, and it’s getting people to think about wine. 

“I think wine has become homogenized,” says Mike Traynor, proprietor of Prince Edward County’s Traynor Vineyards. “The bar for quality wine has been raised globally, but what has happened is it is now a sea of sameness. The younger generations value experience and diversity. When everything is the same, nothing is special. At that point, flaws become interesting, unique flavors spark the imagination.”

Lila Patinkin, a Gen Z PR coordinator at Field Day PR, fell in love with the category via the natural wine world. “I felt like I was playing a small role in a movement that brought together eco-consciousness, community, inclusivity, creativity, and storytelling. I now have so many friendships that started in natural wine bars! Maybe it’s my bright-eyed optimism, but there’s a whole community of Gen Z folks slaying their way to wine enthusiasm.” 

But maybe we’re overthinking it. Do we care that wine is cool? “Sure, wine is still cool,” says Tyler Balliet, author of Rebel School of Wine. “It’s just not underground, or exotic anymore. Red Wine Supernova is the song of the summer. Taylor Swift walked off the stage of her final American Eras Tour show holding a glass of white wine.” He remembers scouring Manhattan to try and find a decent wine bar decades ago. “Now, you can get wine at any grocery store, dive bar, or gas station.”

And was wine ever even cool to begin with? “I’m not sure it ever was,” says Cedric Nicaise, sommelier and co-owner of The Noortwyck in New York City’s West Village “Wine is interesting, it’s celebratory, it’s delicious. But it’s also expensive, it’s cerebral, and there’s an elitist edge.”

It also depends on your definition of cool. I was in the jazz band in high school and got straight As in history. Of course I think the nuances and history of fermented grape juice are super cool. But was I cool to my classmates? I’d rather not answer that!

“Wine is cool, but cool is subjective,” says wine writer Sedale McCall. “Is anime cool? Yes to a lot of people. Marvel/DC? Really cool to some, couldn’t be less interesting to others. Wine is its own type of cool.”