Usually, the grapes that grow in Garret Schaefer’s California vineyard are destined to become fine wines, but not this year. Fifty hectares or 400 tonnes of grapes have been left to rot in the vineyard due to oversupply and there is not enough demand.
“They’re turning into raisins. They’re just going to fall off,” Schaefer said.
Global wine consumption dropped to the equivalent of 3.5 billion bottles in 2023, according to the International Organization of Wine and Vine.
Schaefer attributes the decline to inflation. The price of a liter of wine rose more than 13% in just the past five years, according to the Federal Reserve Board of St. Louis. Sales also took a hit this year after the World Health Organization declared it so no level of alcohol consumption is safe for people’s health. And there is a generation of young people who just they don’t drink alcohol as much as the baby boomers.
Brianda Gonzalez is a young consumer shunning traditional winesaying that she realized that drinking it regularly was not good for her.
“My dad is a bartender by trade, but a few years ago, he got sick. So that meant he had to cut out alcohol. So I went down this whole non-alcoholic drink rabbit hole and I was fascinated with the category,” said González. he said
Their preference now is non-alcoholic beverages, which are sold in their stores in California. Sarah Chacon and her sister Helen are among her steady stream of customers.
“I don’t drink wine. I’ve never really been a big fan of wine, but I like an alternative,” said Helen Chacon.
Sarah Chacon said she has scaled back for “health reasons.”
In California, where 80% of the country’s wine grapes are grown, the effects have been spectacular.
For more than 50 years, Don Worley built his business around the removal of diseased vines. These days, growers hire him to clear their fields. Heavy machines tear row after row of vines from the ground. A tractor can clear about 30 acres in a day, Worley said.
“What did it cost that guy? $20,000 an acre, maybe? Now he’s throwing it away,” Worley said.
In all, Schaefer says he has uprooted 60 acres, a third of all the vines his family has grown since 1894. The people who worked the land are also gone.
“We used to have six to eight full-time employees during the year. We’re down to two,” Schaefer said.
The problem can only get worse. Experts recommend uprooting another 50,000 hectares, or 8% of all remaining vineyards in California. It’s a new reality here: much more painful than simple sour grapes.
