The global wine market is selling fewer bottles but working harder on every one of them. 

In 2025, global wine consumption fell 2.7 percent to 208 million hectolitres, down six million hectolitres on 2024 and now roughly 9 percent below its 2014 peak. Since 2021, consumption has been contracting by around five million hectolitres annually, pointing to a structural shift in how, when and why consumers drink wine. 

For producers, the response has become increasingly clear: premiumise or pivot. 

Fine wine still represents just 1.5 percent of global volume, but accounts for around 11 percent of total market value, an unusually sharp reminder that margins matter more than mass. Across major markets, producers are focusing on higher-spending consumers of legal drinking age, particularly older drinkers with stronger purchasing power and more established wine habits. The over-55 cohort is becoming increasingly central to demand. 

Regular wine drinkers declined by around five million between 2021 and 2024, with younger consumers showing a clear preference for craft beer, agave-based spirits, ready-to-drink beverages (“RTDs”) and no- or low-alcohol alternatives. The latter has become a category in its own right: the global no- and low-alcohol wine segment exceeded USD 2.5 billion in 2023 and continues to expand at roughly 8 percent annually. 

“Less frequent socialising, rising health consciousness and changing generational preferences are all reshaping demand.”

Senior Manager at a food and beverage company, LatAm

Consumer habits are evolving well beyond product choice. “Less frequent socialising, rising health consciousness and changing generational preferences are all reshaping demand,” commented a senior manager at one Latin American food and beverage company. “As Millennials and Gen Z become more influential in the category, alcohol competes with a wider range of lifestyle and spending priorities. More consumers are managing health conditions or taking medication that limits alcohol consumption.” Among younger groups, growth in gaming and online betting has also shifted discretionary spending and social habits in ways that leave wine competing for a smaller share of the wallet, and fewer drinking occasions. 

That pressure is being felt globally, but particularly among producers long associated with volume-led export strategies. The senior manager noted, “The main challenges have been price and volume. Price has always been an issue, as an example, Chilean wine has struggled to move away from the low-price segment internationally.” Volume has softened just as producers are trying to move consumers up the value chain. 

“The main challenges have been price and volume. Price has always been an issue, as an example, Chilean wine has struggled to move away from the low-price segment internationally.”

Senior Manager at a food and beverage company, LatAm

Large beverage groups are adjusting accordingly. Capital is increasingly being redirected toward spirits and RTD categories with stronger growth and more flexible positioning. Distribution is consolidating, portfolios are tightening and lower-performing Stock Keeping Units (“SKUs”) are being removed to protect margins. The focus is less on broad shelf presence and more on commercial efficiency. Put simply: fewer labels, better economics. 

For now, supply is helping to keep the market balanced. Global wine production in 2025 is estimated between 227 and 232 million hectolitres, up slightly on 2024 but still below historical averages for the third consecutive year. That has helped prevent oversupply and kept pricing relatively stable despite weaker demand. Temporary pressures — including post-pandemic destocking, lingering supply chain disruptions, inflation and new trade measures including ongoing tariff pressures in the US–Europe wine trade — have added friction to pricing and export planning. 

The investment landscape tells a similar story. Across Europe and North America in the first nine months of 2025, beverage M&A activity shifted sharply away from smaller mid-market deals, which fell around 30 percent year-on-year in volume, toward a handful of major cross-border transactions worth a combined USD 30 billion. Total deal count dropped to decade lows, while total deal value tripled. 

Wine is not disappearing. It is becoming more selective; commercially, strategically and demographically. The volume-led growth story that defined previous decades is giving way to a more concentrated market built around premium positioning, disciplined portfolios and fewer but higher-value consumers. 

For producers and investors alike, the next vintage may be less about pouring more into the market and more about knowing exactly what deserves a glass.