Trends show millennials remain vital demographic for wine trade

By Hamish Graham

Published: 24 March, 2025

A suite of consumer trends revealed by the IWSR shows that millennials, those born between 1980 and 1995, remain a key consumer demographic for the wine trade in the years to come.

Despite younger generations moderating their alcohol consumption, millennials remain highly involved in the wine category and report drinking more at a time when the average drinker is cutting their wine consumption. This trend has been identified in key markets by the IWSR including in the UK, the US, Australia, Brazil, France and India.

Commenting on this trend, Richard Halstead, COO consumer insights and custom analytics at IWSR, is bullish on the extent to which this demographic can buoy the wine trade in the coming years.

“Millennials who drink wine regularly report buying more expensive wine than the average for the market as a whole. Attracting more of these consumers into wine – and hanging on to the ones already there – will be an important future driver of value in the category.

“Millennials also experiment with a wider range of beverages, which is both an opportunity and a challenge for a brand owner looking for loyal customers,” he said.

Despite the importance of this demographic for the vitality of the wine sector in the future, the IWSR believes that the general trend towards moderation is one that is set to continue. IWSR data shows that sales volumes are declining in all of the world’s top 10 wine markets, including in the key Chinese market which has seen still wine sales volumes fall by almost 100 million cases between 2018 and 2023.

Adding to this pain is the fact that 80-90% of consumers who have reduced their wine intake say they expect to maintain this or reduce it further. Halstead believes this trend is one that is likely to cement itself into a new normal in the coming years.

“Moderation is likely to beget more moderation, as the old cultural norms around consuming alcohol to fit in start to disintegrate”, he commented.

Although moderation has been largely driven by health concerns surrounding alcohol, financial challenges have played their role too. IWSR’s consumer research highlighted 28% of people said they were moderating to reduce their expenditure on wine, while the global sales volumes of wines priced at value level or below has fallen by 27% between 2021 and 2023.

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