Wine trends 2022

Welcome to “mindful drinking,” as consumers re-examine how much — and what kinds — of wine they drink

This is the second of two parts looking at wine prices and wine trends in 2022. Today, Part II: Wine trends 2022. Thursday, Part I: Wine prices 2022.

Call wine trends 2022 more of the same, as the wine business struggles to return to some sort of pandemic-era equilibrium. Of course, this prediction comes with the caveat that we’re in an unprecedented economic environment, where everything going on hasn’t happened at the same time before. So forecasts, usually iffy, are even more iffy this year:

• “Mindful drinking,” in which wine drinkers – any alcohol drinker, for that matter – make a conscious effort to drink less. The catch here is the definition of less: It’s just not the low- and no-alcohol and “healthy” wines that have popped up over the past couple of years. It’s also drinking less when they do drink, like two or three glasses with dinner instead of an entire bottle, as well as drinking wines that aren’t as boozy. That means lighter reds instead of 15 percent California bombshells, more 12 percent whites, and more sparkling wine – not because it’s sparkling, but because it’s less alcoholic.

• The beginning of the end of the way varietals dominate the wine business. I’m working on a trade magazine story, trying to figure out what the next big wine will be, the way it was once white zinfandel and has been sweet red blends for almost a decade. And every expert I talked to said the same thing: Wine trends aren’t necessarily about varietals any more – they’re about what one analyst called “specific consumer segments.” So while people will still look to buy cabernet or chardonnay or whatever, more and more wine drinkers will buy a wine because it’s organic or “healthy” or no-alcohol or lower in sugar. And no, I don’t necessarily believe this. But that’s what some really smart people think.

• The beginning of the end of the heavy glass wine bottle. Again, a lot of really smart people say this will happen. I’m more skeptical. This is not to say it shouldn’t happen, but I know how the wine business works, and solving the “bottle crisis” is not high on its agenda.

• More three-tier reform, as well as continued efforts from the second tier to block as much of it as possible. I’m not expecting as much here as others are; been burned once too often. But incremental progress is progress nonetheless, and I’ll settle for that.

Photo: “Look into the Future” by Reiner Girsch is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0