Season 2, Episode 4: Let Them Drink Wine

Release Date: December 12, 2025

Is the tasting room dead? This has been a topic on everyone’s mind through 2025. The 2025 year has been a year of great discussion and concern amongst wine industry members. While sales dropped in 2024, it is likely that the 2025 year may be similar or worse in terms of decreasing sales. However, there are beacons of light shining through that may highlight areas of opportunity for wine brands to pivot. Virginia and I spend this episode talking about pivot opportunities, the current statistics regarding the wine economy, the advantages of direct-to-consumer operations and various ideas we have on how wineries can better engage with consumers of all generations. Enjoy.

Links for things mentioned in this episode:

• Statistics Regarding the State of the National Wine Industry
  • California’s production Fell in 2024 to about 508 million gallons. This is the lowest that it has been since 1999. (Citation 1, Citation 2)
  • As of 2024, the U.S. produced about 647 million gallons. In comparison, in 2017, the U.S. produced just under 890 million gallons of wine produced. (Citation 1, Citation 2)
  • Two primary suspected causes of consumption decreases from a national perspective:
    • The Boomer generation, which traditionally purchased a lot of wine, is getting older. (Citation)
    • The national wine industry is sitting on an inventory glut, especially since 2020. (Citation)
  • Across the U.S., about 32% of winery owners surveyed felt that their business’s financial health was still “good” through 2024. (Citation) Again, the 2025 data has not been released yet.
  • On a positive note for direct-to-consumer (DTC) wineries, surveys found that DTC wineries were able to be more flexible in sales compared to large national wine brands. (Citation)
• Social hurdles engaging with wine:
  • Gen Z is difficult to market wine to.Tasting room rules. We talked about this rhetoric in a previous episode, “Are Tasting Room Rules Killing the Vibe?” (Season 2, Episode 2)
  • “Not being the right type of wine drinker.” This closes off consumers from further engaging with wine openly. Even Denise faces this social nuance as a wine professional because she works with wineries across the U.S. that make wines of all styles and kinds.
• Denise’s observations (from the perspective of a winemaking consultant) of the 2025 year for wineries across the U.S. (many of whom are around that 10,000 case/year of annual production)
  • Many winery owners were oblivious to wine sale drops across the U.S. The focus was always on their individual operation.
  • There is a lot of discussion about how wine drinkers do not want to interact with the tasting room anymore and that the focus is not on the wine. Discussions are heavily centered around the loss of sales. Many wine industry professionals have expressed sadness on how the idea of a tasting room is dead. In Denise’s opinion, the version of the tasting room that is not generating good sales is the expectation of an individual coming into the tasting room, tastes the wines, buys some bottles and leaves. Virginia noted that this rendition of a tasting room has been slowly dying for years.
  • Many winery owners are feeling that it is necessary to integrate food into the tasting room.
  • There is a lot of frustration around the World Health Organization (WHO) and their current stance on alcohol consumption.
• Pivoting Opportunities for Wineries
  • Stop inhibiting where wine can be consumed. While this is a part of a larger issue surrounding the wine industry’s expectations on where wines can be consumed, if other alcoholic products are available, there is no reason why wine cannot be there, too. Example: sporting events. The industry, as a whole, could work more at integrating wine at sporting events and making it commonplace for people that enjoy wine to drink wine while they are attending a sporting event.
  • Be a part of the community: There are lots of ways that wineries that make quality wines can integrate with their community. If you are having issues with wine quality, please consider a DGW Membership or Client opportunity. We can help you improve wine quality within one vintage season.
    • Sip and Shops
    • Partnering with local book shops
    • Partnering with local restaurants and other alcohol establishments
    • Community/local festivals and fairs
  • Small Winery Events: These are events that are smaller in nature, but create community engagement keeping the winery top of mind.
    • Book clubs in which the winery is the hosting location where a book club meets and discusses a book they are reading. The winery can either lead the book club or host one started within their community.
    • Small business meeting sites. Many small business events (e.g., meet and greets) require hosting locations. Make sure you are working with your local government sectors or Small Business Associations to see if you can become a venue for entrepreneurs in your area.
    • Craft night (e.g., crochet, knitting, macrame) where you are the hosting site for a popular crafting activity in which attendees bring-their-own craft. Or, you can sponsor a local artist to use the tasting room space for crafting. Examples of this would include holiday crafts, flower arranging, wreathe making during the winter months, Mother’s Day crafts, etc.
    • Something family oriented so that parents can be at your winery and feel comfortable. Even something like a “Kids’ Korner” can go a long way when it is filled with popular toys (e.g., Wiki Stix, coloring, Magnatiles, etc.) and even “snack packs.
    • ”Story Hours during off-hours for kids while moms/dads have an opportunity to hang out. This can be useful for stay-at-home parents that need places to take their children.
  • Larger Annual Events: These usually require a significant amount of work, but they can become something that the community annually looks forward to on an annual basis. We’re going to talk more about some examples of this through Penns Woods Winery (PA) and their annual events. Popular, on trend things right now: Halloween, Christmas lights on property, or off-season events.
  • Stay aware of what is popular for all generations. Things that are very popular in younger generations right now: KPop Human Demon Hunters, Taylor Swift, and Wicked. Some brands are really leaning into this and it seems to pay off for them.
  • Collaborative Marketing (Event + Social Media Marketing): The goal is that you are doing something to create a buzz within your wine community to connect with those that follow a brand. This is not the immediate sale, but it does connect with people.
    • This can include things like participating in food drives or toy drives. Wineries can provide discounts for number of items that a customer brings into the winery, some wineries are hosting sites for food box pickups, or wineries could provide a financial match to what their community generates in donations.
    • Other ideas include a “Tom the Turkey” competition that allows the winery to engage with the winery. The winery organizes the competition, but it gives people something fun to look forward to.
    • Local art galleries or art competitions. Again, there are various ways to do this that allow for both marketing opportunities and consumer engagement. Virginia also talked about Plein Air events with artists.
• Wineries are in the hospitality business. Wineries have to remember to be friendly, nice, and welcoming. Traditionally, the hospitality industry has been well integrated into tasting rooms. Hiring a hospitality manager or reviewing hospitality norms could be beneficial for your wine brand.
• Wine quality matters in highly competitive markets like now. DGW works to improve wine quality for wineries of all shapes and sizes, making it convenient and affordable. If you need help managing wine quality for your operation, please consider contacting DGW today ([email protected]).