<- Back
Comments (240)
- alexandre_m> while young people are drinking less alcohol due to health and financial concernsMy observation is that gen-z spends less time socializing in real life, and drinking remains a social habit for the most part at a younger age. While they drink less, cannabis, vaping and psychedelics are on the rise.It's a nice claim to say they are more responsible, but it tells an incomplete story.
- legitsterMy parents live in a massive fruit growing region of the country. Just this year, 2 of the major packing firms in the county both declared bankruptcy. It's not just the trade war, but years of shrinking seasonal workers that fell off to a trickle as well.The knock on effect is massive. The seasonal workers supported a large permanent workforce - and more importantly tax revenues in the county are collapsing.But the really important thing to understand is that once the industry is gone, it's gone for a long time. The other markets competing with the US are already expanding their industries to fill the void. Once those trees are planted, they produce fruit for several decades to come.
- anonundefined
- hadlockI noticed Trader Joes was selling champagne grapes the other day. Things must be really, exceptionally grim. France has been stockpiling wine in state owned warehouses (to keep it off the market) and paying farmers to tear up their vineyards.
- dluanBecause of years of trade war, American wine industry is taking a beating around the world and a lot of Australia, NZ, and South Africa is picking up that slack. Even niche producers like Chinese and Japanese wine industry are very quickly maturing into real home-grown industries. The biggest market for California has always been Asia, and it's been near impossible to stumble into Opus One the way you used to be able to in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, etc.Old world has always been able to be flexible, eating these kinds of punches by pivoting into NA or brandy during gluts, and demand has less fluctuations. This contraction, like a lot of everything else happening in the US, maybe was already coming because of some trends overlapping, but policy threw gasoline onto a combustible and fragile situation.
- d_finchSeems like the craft beer and cocktail scene is really eating into wine's market share these days. Tough pivot for growers.
- djmipsPerhaps demand is going down abroad due to people eschewing US products.
- ortusdux
- jnainaI'm Gen X. I lived my best life in the 80s and 90s, socializing, partying (frat boy years included), with alcohol as the main social lubricant. After Covid, almost everyone in my circle stopped or cut back on going out to bars and drinking, me included. It wasn't the price of drinks. Something about the lockdowns simply rewired the social norms (and our brains).I feel for the farmers. I still miss a nicely chilled Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc now and then.
- vondurIt’s amazing how much more land in the central coast area is now dedicated to growing grapes.
- jnmandalCertainly not declining consumer spending. Couldn't be that
- Gonxa6282They can sell them to me instead, I could be eating grapes all year long.
- anonundefined
- neomWasn't SGMA always the big long term problem for them anyway? I recall reading some time ago many are looking to pivot to solar farms.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Groundwater_Manage...
- programmertoteNot sure how the extra supply for grapes affect retail prices of grapes for regular consumption. But at Costco in Southern CA, the price of grapes have been fairly stable (~$5.99 - $7.99) over the last year or a little more.
- pfdietzThis thread reminds me: I need to make a concord grape pie. It's the season for it.
- 1-6Let's just say it as it is... Wine is 'supposedly' an acquired taste but for most, it tastes bitter and not enjoyable for the cost. Tastes shift and luxury items from yesteryear no longer makes a strong statement about affluence to this generation.
- PadriacI know a duck who might be willing to buy some.
- iharuyaI don't mean to dismiss wine as something people can appreciate almost like art, but sometimes the pricing does feel a little absurd.I once had a red from Franciscan, made from a vineyard right next to Opus One. To me it tasted remarkably similar, yet it cost more than 30x less.
- driverdan[flagged]
- anonundefined
- vehemenzI’ll believe it when wine prices go down. Prove it!
- jan_m_savagesimple: dry them into raisins, export.
- 1970-01-01If demand is down globally, sell the land already. People will do everything except the hardest thing.
- toomuchtodoIf you’re a domestic US wine lover, now is a great time to be buying if you have the space to store it.
- SwellJoeWhile I enjoy a glass of wine every now and then, I'm not going to lament the decline of an industry producing alcoholic products; it's inarguably good that younger generations are drinking less. Sorry to the farmers, but profiting off of increasing public health risk maybe should be a precarious business. I'm not gonna get upset about tobacco farms shutting down or having to switch crops, and alcohol is just another addictive and harmful substance (I've known more people who died due to alcohol than any other substance, one in a drunk driving accident, one due to liver failure, two were alcoholics who died by suicide...can't be certain it was the alcohol, but addiction certainly didn't help their situation).But, also, the income of younger generations has been crushed so much, the ones that do still drink can't afford expensive luxury booze. Decent wine is an expensive way to drink alcohol.
- yunicc[flagged]
- thot_experiment[flagged]
- shmoil[flagged]
- rayinerWe shouldn’t be farming things in California.
- beej71An NA wine that wasn't completely horrible might ease the burden a bit.