Every segment of the wine industry, from super premium to jug wines, is seeing slowing and sluggish sales. When it's all added up, the industry was down 8.7 percent last year. That directly affects more than 400,000 California jobs still fighting back from Covid."And this business is like six or seven years of up years and two or three down years, and I see this in that kind of down two or three years," said Deepak Gulrajani.
When they do drink, they go for many other choices including hard seltzers, hard ciders, canned cocktails and other spirits and brews. "In the wine industry right this second, there are about two-thirds that are doing less than zero growth in sales. And, then there are about a third that are doing a little bit better," said McMillan.In the mid-nineties, the baby boomers latched onto wines, which allowed the industry unbridled growth for three decades.