The wine industries of the world are in disarray. Years of decreasing consumption in what used to be high-volume markets were partly masked by an increase in the consumption of lower volume but more expensive products.
That trend reversed in the post-Covid-19 years, though there were clear signs even before then that millennials/Gen Z were not replacing baby boomers as ready-made answers to the vignerons prayers.
The effect of this pattern can easily be seen in the statistics of the greater Bordeaux region. Vineyard areas decreased 30 in 30 years, while the number of growers more than halved in the same period.
At the same time, prices for the best estate wines increased beyond the wildest dreams of producer avarice: in hard currency terms the launch price for Lafite Rothschild went up 2,200 in the 40 years from 1982 to 2022.