It's Beer Over the Finish Line First, Follow Closely by Spirits, with Wine Taking Up the Rear

A look at who's sustaining the U.S. wine industry and the dark clouds ahead

For the first time in at least 30 years, more Americans cite spirits over wine as their favorite alcohol. The way it plays out is like this: 37% of drinkers choose beer as their favorite; 31% choose spirits; and 29% choose wine. Those following this kind of information saw the writing on the wall back in 2019, which, it turns out, was some sort of inflection point for alcohol sales.

It’s the annual Gallup Survey of Consumption Habits that they have been conducting in its current form since 1992. That year beer was WAY out ahead of its two competing alcohols garnering 47% of Americans saying it was their favorite alcohol, while 27% said wine and only 21% said spirits.

Beer appreciation has been on a steady, slow descent from 1992 until 2005 when it was cited as the favorite alcohol by only 36% of Americans. 2005 happened also to be the year that wine was actually cited by more Americans than beer as their favorite. That anomaly was corrected the net year when beer retook the lead.

Meanwhile, from 1992 until 2019, spirits stayed in a narrow range of 18% to 24% of American drinkers who pointed to bourbon, vodka, gin, and other spirits as their favorite alcoholic beverage.

Something happened in 2019. I don’t know what it is. But 2019 can be marked as the year Americans started to turn away from beer and wine and toward spirits. In the 2019 Gallup survey, Spirits rose from being the favorite of 19% of Americans the year before to being cited by 29% of Americans—an unprecedented jump by one type of alcohol in the 30-year history of this consumption survey. That same year, 2019, beer went from 42% to 38%, while wine went from 34% to 30% in the survey.

Where wine is concerned, you have to ask, who’s sustaining its sales during this time of woe? The answer is middle-aged and middle/upper-income female college graduates. Who is not pulling their weight? That would be young, lower-income males with only a high school diploma.

Gallup breaks down its survey results by a variety of demographics that include gender, a White/Non-White racial binary, age, education level, political affiliation, and income level. All tolled, Gallup breaks out 16 different demographic categories in its Consumption Survey. In only three of those demographic categories is wine cited as the favorite alcohol: Females, College Graduates, and $100,000+ Income. That’s it.

Wine is in a slump and those who in the past would have gravitated toward the beverage of grapes are today choosing tequila, bourbon, and vodka. The reasons for this, I think, are many. It’s not one thing. However, if pressed to name the single most important factors for wine’s decline in the consumer polls, I’d point to the rising cost of excellent wine and the increase in choices of alcoholic beverages.

Unless something miraculous happens with the American economy in the last quarter of the year, we are going to see another year of negative growth in wine sales. We are going to again see older, higher-income folks leading the way while younger folks stick with spirits. What wineries and wine retailers in the U.S. need, is a whole lot more rich, college-educated women.