Trends of the Last Decade
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| Rosé is usually marketed towards females -- a mistake |
Pink wine is the trend of the past few years. At one time it was all cheap and sweet and consumed by the occasional wine drinker. You'd buy it for your aunt, for a picnic, or in college (and find that the night didn't end so well). Then "the French connection" changed the way many Americans thought of rosé. It was dry, or nearly dry, and made from quality grapes by quality wine makers, and it cost more than eight bucks. Along with this came cute names (Ruby Vixen) and cute sayings (rosé all day).
The colors and sweetness make for different styles. A Grenache rosé will be different from one made from Sangiovese.
It's the new drink for summer. It's also a good wine for folks who don't like wine and is a better choice than the sweet wines listed in the next section.
Sweet Wine
This isn't really new to this decade, but is more prevalent now. Gallo is big on this trend with its Barefoot label and Apothic red blend that have a ton of sugar. It's sort of a slightly upscale Thunderbird or MD2020. The Prisoner and Meiomi wines, both big sellers, are also quite sweet.
This has always been something with the American palate, one used to soft drinks. These wines act as gateways to what I'll call real wines (drier -- meaning not sweet). But regardless of what I think these wines are huge sellers.
A lot of premium wines, especially Zinfandels, have gone higher alcohol and maybe some residual sugar. But even without sugar left in the wine the big fruit and big alcohol give a sweet, soft impression. These premium wines are also big sellers.
Natural Wine
The most controversial term of the last decade. Along came a group of wine makers and consumers that didn't like all the additives put in many modern wines and wanted to go au naturale. It really became a new philosophy in wine making. The problem is there's no legal definition to what constitutes a natural wine so it means different things to different people. In short it means minimal intervention in the vineyard and wine making. So what exactly does that mean? Well, that's where the problem begins with the internet warriors who all have different opinions. Should these wines be organic? Vegan? What stuff can you add and still be natural?
The controversy doesn't mean you should avoid wines labeled natural. Just know there are a few wine companies trying to cash it on the term because they can throw that word on a bottle and charge more.
Orange Wine
This is a recent trend that may or may not stick around. When you make red wine you leave the skins in contact with the juice for a couple weeks. This is where the color and much of the flavor and tannins come from. White wines, traditionally, do not sit on their grape skins so they don't pick up much color, tannin, or flavors from the skins. Orange wine is basically wine wine made like a red wine. BTW, rosé is a red wine made like a white wine.
So these wines get a orange-ish color and pick up flavors from the skin contact you're not used to in a typical white wine. Expect bigger flavors than a typical white wine and even some tannins.
Online Reviews for Shopping
There are online reviews available for everything. Whether you need a new refrigerator or a bottle of Chardonnay there's no need to believe the salesperson. You can stand at the retail shelf with your phone and look up reviews to see what people like.
Trends That Didn't Happen
Some things looked like they might catch on, but didn't take off in a big way.
Americans still aren't too sure about premium wine without a cork even though other closures are better.
Alternative Containers
Cans and small boxes (like Tetra-Paks) are selling better than a decade ago, but haven't exactly caught fire. We're still stuck on the heavy, 750 ml bottle with a cork and a paper label.
Alternative Varieties
Wine writers, the pros and the amateurs, will push some lesser known varieties like Albarino or Tempranillo, but they don't quite take over the wine world. We're still pretty much stuck on Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. In the past decade some Rhone varietals along with Pinot Noir have grown, but the Rhones not that much and Pinot started its rise before this decade. If you're stuck in that Chard/Cab/Merlot rut give some of the dozens of other types of wine a try.
China
About a decade ago during the depths of the Great Depression there was lots of talk about the growing China wine market that was going to buy huge amounts of American wine. Yeah, other countries were thinking the same thing. While China does import our wines it's not a huge piece of the market. China peaked at about 4% of U.S. exports -- then came the tariffs.
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