Wine Fads and Trends

Things change in the wine industry. There seem to be as many trends and fads as you find in the fashion industry.

FADS
Short-lived, undeserved enthusiasm

• Blue wine or any other fake color
• Wine with any other unnatural, weird characteristic like coffee added to wine, wine aged in whiskey barrels, wine made with hops. etc.
• Natural wine won't be around unless the promoters figure out a way to come up with a legal definition. It seems like this should have been done awhile ago.
• Moscato - There was so much of it a few years ago and it was so bad. What else would you expect, but for people to move on to something that tastes good?
• Rosé - Sorry fans, but the quick rosé boom shows all the signs of a typical fad that eventually flames out. This doesn't mean these wines will go away. It just means they will go back to being a summer selection. There will be no more "rosé all day every day."
• Pinot Noir? It came on so fast and has gotten so expensive that I'm just waiting for the "Merlot crash."
• Every other wine region of any other state that claims to be the next Napa Valley. Well, it ain't happening. And I expect most of those "future" Napas didn't even make it to fad status.

TRENDS
Doesn't mean these will stay around forever, but they won't die anytime soon

• Wine in cans & wine on tap. A small, but rapidly growing piece of the market.
• Screw caps have been around for awhile, just not in the U.S. It's a very slow process trying to replace cork, an inferior, but traditional closure.
• Organic and sustainable will stay around as people are truly interested in doing their part to help the planet. I'm not so sure about the science plus religion of biodynamic farming. We'll see.
• Higher alcohol wines have been taking a chunk of the market and winning awards for more than two decades so it's safe to say this is not a fad. It's just another option for consumers.