Wine Myths: People aren’t drinking wine anymore

There’s a rumour ‘round town that people aren’t drinking wine anymore. I say this, thinking about the cool, crisp glass of rosé I’m going to have in the sunshine later today. The figures don’t lie, I suppose: Global wine consumption fell 3.3% in 2024 to 214 million hectolitres, the lowest level since 1961, according to data research and insight provider IWSR. According to their findings, the UK now drinks about 14% less wine than it did in 2000.

The trends that precede these stats are all wellness and cashflow related—people are drinking less because they can’t afford to, either financially or physically. The decline in alcohol consumption matters across the entire industry, including beer, cider and spirits, but in the wine sector, there’s something different to consider, and that’s categorisation. Mass-produced wine has customers with tighter budgets to consider, super-premium wine has an ageing demographic drinking less due to health reasons, and fewer younger drinkers taking their place.

A story in the Economist in January 2026 sought to correlate the decrease in wine consumption among folks in the UK with an increase in solitary living and loneliness, paraphrasing Chiléan winemaker Andréas Peréz: “...wine’s decline reflects something deeper: a fraying of the social fabric that once held Western societies together.”

I feel a little more optimistic. Drinkers, and this may include yourself, are choosing better quality wine over mass-produced, cheaper brands. We may be drinking less, but we’re drinking better. I may not have a glass of wine every night anymore, but I love to enjoy something special at the weekend. Investing in premium wines instead of spreading the cost out over cheaper bottles that are rising in price anyway feels savvy, and suits my palate. I’m not alone either, according to the Global Wine Trends Executive Summary. “Millennial consumers tend to be more highly involved in wine, have more experimental tastes and are happy to spend more on a bottle or a drink in a bar at a time when older consumers are cutting back on spend,” says the report. We are still drinking wine, we’re just not chugging it like perhaps we used to. Can’t say that’s a bad thing.