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| Economy | |
| 'Bloodbath' hits wine country as millennials and boomers abandon alcohol | |
| 2026-03-12 | |
[FoxNews] California vineyards shrink as producers combat oversupply, falling demand.
The trend has contributed to more than $1 billion in lost U.S. wine revenue last year and a roughly 6 million-case drop in production, according to industry data and reports. Across California in particular, major producers and family-run wineries are shuttering facilities, laying off workers and even ripping vineyards out of the ground amid oversupply and falling demand, the New York Post recently reported. Jackson Family Wines ceased production at its Carneros Hill facility in Sonoma in February, resulting in 13 layoffs, while E&J Gallo shuttered its Ranch Winery in St. Helena and cut nearly 100 jobs across Napa and Sonoma counties. Mission Bell Winery in Madera is set to close March 31, laying off more than 200 employees — while smaller producers such as Subject to Change Wine Company and Valley Farm Management have shut their doors as well. The weakest-performing wineries saw sales fall by about 10% in 2025, while the top-performing group still managed to grow, according to Silicon Valley Bank's 2026 State of the U.S. Wine Industry Report. California's total vineyard footprint was estimated at 477,475 acres in 2025, according to the California Association of Winegrape Growers, down from about 600,000 acres in recent years, based on earlier state estimates. At least 20% of California's wine grape production from bearing vines was not harvested and crushed in 2025, Forbes reported in November. "It's a bloodbath for all grape growers across California," Stuart Spencer, executive director of the Lodi Wine Grape Commission, told Forbes. "It is the worst market condition growers have seen in their lifetime." Shifting drinking habits are largely to blame. Older wine enthusiasts are aging out of the market and are not being replaced at the same rate by millennials and Gen Z, experts say. WHY ALCOHOL HITS YOUR BODY HARDER AS YOU AGE, EVEN IF YOU'RE DRINKING THE SAME AMOUNT "The mid-20s to late-30s demographic has historically been a very important dining and drinking segment," Andrew Principe, a James Beard-recognized restaurateur and co-owner of Pulcinella in New Orleans, told Fox News Digital. "A significant slowdown of alcohol consumption within this group has been noticeable." | |
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