Sales Are So Low, California Wineries Are Burning Their Vineyards

(nytimes.com)

14 points | by lxm 16 hours ago ago

5 comments

  • expedition32 15 hours ago ago

    American wine is one those things that is easy to boycot. Unlike oil or HBO. Too bad it hurts a blue state and nobody in Washington will shed a tear over the Californian farmers.

    • toomuchtodo 15 hours ago ago

      US alcohol consumption is at record lows, driven by Gen Z. There is a downward trend globally.

      > For the first time in Gallup’s trend, a majority of Americans, 53%, say drinking in moderation, or “one or two drinks a day,” is bad for one’s health. Just 6% say it’s good for one’s health, while 37% believe it makes no difference. Today’s belief that moderate alcohol consumption is unhealthy follows increases from 28% in 2018 and 39% in 2023 to 45% a year ago. By contrast, from 2001 through 2011, the percentage with this view hovered near 25%, roughly equal to those who considered drinking beneficial.

      https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj.r1247

      https://news.gallup.com/poll/693362/drinking-rate-new-low-al...

      https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption

      • jerlam 13 hours ago ago

        Wine also seems like it's one of the hardest alcoholic items to sell.

        There's lots of it but people who don't know wine struggle to learn and understand the differences. There are tons of indistinguishable brands. Wine is associated with fancy dining instead of fun and parties.

        • pseudohadamard 10 hours ago ago

          That's because, once you get past the low-end rubbish wines, there isn't actually much difference. Look up Rudy Kurniawan, the wine forger, who sold tens of millions of dollars of fake super-high-grade wines, certified by wine experts as genuine, that were actually just random stuff he'd bought in bulk and filled into bottles with fake labels. He only got caught when he sold more Chateau something-or-other than actually existed. Apparently the only way to tell a $500,000 bottle of wine from a bottle of $5 wine is by analysing the label.

          After he was released from jail he went back to counterfeiting wines as a party trick, but this time letting people know they were fake. Most people can't tell which is the real one and which is the fake.

        • general1465 12 hours ago ago

          > Wine is associated with fancy dining instead of fun and parties.

          That's true. When I have started mixing some cheap red wine with cola (kind of normal in many parts of Europe) my American friends were looking at me like I am committing heresy.