The American Wine Industry Has an Old People Problem

The state of the American wine industry is grim, according to a closely watched report that annually analyzes its trajectory. Winemakers and advertisers are missing out on younger consumers, the report says, by failing to produce wines that fit their budgets and neglecting to reach out to them with targeted marketing campaigns.

The newest edition of “State of the U.S. Wine Industry,” which has made recommendations for more than 20 years, found that the only area of growth for American wine was among consumers over 60, said its author, Rob McMillan, executive vice president of Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, Calif., and a longtime analyst of the American wine industry. The biggest growth area, he said, was among 70- to 80-year-olds.

As it has in recent years, the report urged the wine industry to do a better job of appealing to younger consumers, who have many more beverage options today than baby boomers did in their formative years. Among those are craft beers, small-production spirits and craft cocktails, hard seltzer and other new beverages, like hard kombucha and cannabis drinks.

The problem, in Mr. McMillan’s view, is not so much wine itself but the marketing. He believes that the wine industry as a whole has to take steps to inspire curiosity and intrigue about wine, and to highlight aspects that he said would appeal to younger generations.