Now is the time to double down on the businesses that you love

It’s no secret that the global wine industry is in the midst of tectonic changes. The signs are everywhere.

Last year, California produced its lightest crop in 20 years. Two years ago, France allocated $200M to destroy surplus wine and to support producers. More recently, France said its current wine crisis was “one of the most serious in history.”

Closer to home, news in the industry is similarly glum. One need only scroll through Facebook or Instagram to see a steady drumbeat of producers signing off as the market gets considerably more competitive.

To be clear, the wine industry is not going away. People are drinking wine and will continue to drink wine. However, who those people are and how many of them there are is changing quite dramatically. Additionally, the industry is going to have to work its tail off going forward to grab the attention of every customer it can, as it competes with spirits, ready-to-drink offerings, beer, marijuana, infused products, and growing abstinence and prohibition movements.

For some, this might come as a shock. In the last 25 years, we have lived through a Golden Age of Northwest wine. The number of wineries has grown astronomically, acreage has commensurately increased, quality continues to rise, and related businesses have flourished. This next series of years promises to be considerably more challenging.

For people who love wine and love the industry, it will likely be difficult to watch. Many of us enjoy wine because of the way that it intersects with our senses, with family, friends, food, art, agriculture, culture, history, and society. Wine has been made for at least 8,000 years, and there truly is little else in the world like it for its richness of touchpoints and intersections and for the way it builds community.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, though, we see wine as far more than just another product. We have thousands of local wineries, most of which are small, family-owned businesses.

We are blessed with the ability to create real, meaningful relationships with growers, winemakers, and tasting room staff. We have the opportunity to talk to the people who grew the grapes and interact with the people who made the wine. In that way, wine is unlike almost anything else that we buy.

For wineries, now is the time to lean into your relationships with consumers, wholesalers, retailers, and media members. Every part of the wine industry is relationship-based. Those relationships are more important now than ever.

For consumers, now is the time to redouble your support for the wine-related businesses that you love and cherish. This includes wineries, small retailers, restaurants, and, yes, even sites like this one.

Even with your increased support, many of these businesses are at risk of closing in the coming months and years. The headwinds in the industry are that strong. However, without your focused support, many of them, many of us, really stand no chance.

So, I urge you, double down on your support for the wine-related businesses that are most important to you. What does this look like?

Go visit tasting rooms. Purchase wine direct from wineries. Join wine clubs. Those are the single most impactful things that you can do to help small wineries. But don’t stop there. Buy wine at your local wine shop. Go to your favorite restaurant or wine bar and buy a glass of local wine. Subscribe to sites like this one if you haven’t already.

Do not think for an instant that just because these businesses are here today they are guaranteed to be here tomorrow. They are not, and, more than likely, many will not be. The only way many of these businesses have a chance is with your full, sustained support right now and in the months and years ahead.

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