There’s something going on in the industry beyond the “Is a glass of wine a day good for your health” debate. Production remains constant, but bottles remain in the cellar because there is no one to drink from.

We drink less wine. According to data from the International Organization of Wine and Vine (OIV in its French abbreviation), global wine consumption in 2023 amounted to 221 million hectoliters. This represents a significant decrease compared to 2017, when consumption reached 247 million hectoliters worldwide.

The evolution of global wine consumption. Source: OIV.

significant decline. As noted in Axios, this means 3.5 billion fewer bottles of wine are sold worldwide. The decline caused consumption to fall below levels almost 25 years ago, as seen in the OIV chart.

But not so much in Spain. This global decline has not been reflected in Spain, where consumption has rebounded, according to the Observatory of the Spanish Wine Market (OeMv). There was a total growth of 2.2% in consumption in July 2024; This is a modest figure, but one that certainly offsets the global trend somewhat. Spain’s consumption remains more or less constant: in 2020 it was 10.3 million hectoliters and is expected to be 9.76 million hectoliters in 2024.

New generations are not very interested. Mike Veseth, analyst and president of The Wine Economist, explained that the generation that traditionally consumed the most wine, at least in the United States, was the Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964. Now this generation is buying less wine, ” and it is not being replaced by younger generations.

Alcohol is not cool anymore. We were already talking about the “Sober Curious” movement, which turned teetotalism into a trend in 2019. Being sober became fashionable, and campaigns such as “Dry January” were launched in the UK to abstain from drinking alcohol for a month. These initiatives eventually moved to many European countries, and in other countries such as Canada or the Czech Republic they were replaced by “Dry February”.

And wine is expensive. Another possible reason for the decline in consumption is that inflation negatively affects the wine industry. The price has increased, and according to Veseth, this means people can replace it with cheaper drinks, whether alcoholic or not.

extreme measures. According to some experts, Spanish wine is in a dead end, and experts are beginning to propose the unthinkable: dismantling thousands of hectares of vineyards; something that already happens in other crops, such as orange trees, almond trees or olive trees.

Image | Denis Sousa

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