Wine brands are turning to everything from Shark Week and NASCAR to professional wrestling and social media humour as they seek to win over younger consumers and reverse a prolonged decline in sales.
What wine pairs best with Shark Week? Does a pinot noir have enough acidity to cut through the mud of a Tough Mudder race? Is a bold cabernet the right companion for a night spent naming dead rodents after an ex-partner? And is a wine called SEX too provocative — or not provocative enough?
Absurd as these questions may sound, they reflect the challenge facing wine marketers as they grapple with falling consumption and increasingly elusive customers. How younger drinkers respond could determine whether an industry long associated with tradition and exclusivity can secure its future.
“That self-important way that wine can refer to itself — we’re really trying to turn that on its head,” said Helen Kurtz, chief marketing officer at The Wine Group. The company hopes brands such as Cupcake Vineyards will appeal to a generation raised on Frappuccinos and convenience-store BuzzBallz.
“It’s about taking ourselves less seriously because that’s what this consumer is demanding,” she said.
The strategy includes pairing MD 20/20 — yes, it is technically wine — with World Wrestling Entertainment events under the slogan “Mad Dog Enters the Ring”, while promoting its Fuel by Franzia boxed wine range through NASCAR with the tagline “Full Throttle Flavour”.
Alcohol consumption has been declining across much of the market, a trend that accelerated after the pandemic. Several factors are driving the shift, including older consumers adopting healthier lifestyles, Generation Z gravitating towards low- and no-alcohol alternatives, and the growing availability of products such as cannabis.
Each segment of the alcohol industry, worth around $560 billion in the United States, is responding differently. Spirits producers have found growth in ready-to-drink canned cocktails. The wine industry, however, faces a unique set of challenges — many of its own making.
For newcomers, particularly consumers in their twenties, wine can appear intimidating and inaccessible.
“You’ve got a number of friction points with wine that are particularly significant for younger consumers,” said Christian Miller, research director at the Wine Market Council.
Wine has long been associated with expensive bottles, complicated terminology and tasting notes that can sound baffling to casual drinkers.
From labels to descriptions featuring “notes of asphalt and barnyard”, the industry has often projected an image that feels distant from younger audiences. Wine trends have also tended towards stronger, more challenging styles that may not appeal to consumers accustomed to hard seltzers and sweeter drinks.
According to a report by British household goods company Lakeland, fewer than one-third of Generation Z households own a corkscrew. Even trying wine can be difficult: unlike spirits, which can be sampled by the glass or as miniature servings, most wines require the purchase of an entire bottle.
As a result, a growing number of producers are abandoning traditional wine culture in favour of more approachable branding, straightforward language and playful marketing.
Price matters, too. Industry observers suggest the sweet spot lies between $8 and $20 per bottle. But messaging may be even more important.
“It’s about using contemporary communication to sell something that’s been made for centuries,” said Charles Smith, founder of House of Smith, whose portfolio includes brands such as Kung Fu Girl Riesling and SEX Rosé.
“My mantra is to communicate the language of wine to everyone because not everyone speaks wine. The wine should reflect the consumer who is going to buy it.”
Some brands are seeking relevance through unusual partnerships.
Bogle Family Wine Collection has embraced this approach with its Juggernaut Wines range. The bottles feature striking images of apex predators — sharks, grizzly bears, orcas and lions — rather than the vineyards and elegant landscapes traditionally associated with wine labels.
The company has also taken its products into spaces not typically linked to wine.
For the past two years, Juggernaut has sponsored the gruelling Tough Mudder obstacle races. It has also partnered with zoos that host events allowing visitors to name dead rodents and insects after former partners before feeding them to animals.
This year, the brand has teamed up with Discovery’s Shark Week. One of its chardonnay labels features an aggressive-looking great white shark and promises “just the right amount of bite”.
“The audience for Shark Week aligns really well with who we know our consumer to be,” said marketing director Jessica LaBounty. “It’s another way of meeting people where they already are, rather than asking them to come to us.”
The broader goal is to bridge a generational divide that has left wine struggling to connect with younger consumers.
Many younger drinkers simply do not talk about wine in the same way previous generations did. A popular social media meme contrasts a Millennial marketing team discussing terroir and full-bodied flavours with a Generation Z team summarising wine in two words: “It’s giving… yummy.”
For brands such as Bread & Butter Wines, the focus is on creating a relaxed, approachable image.
Its slogan, “Don’t overthink it”, encourages consumers to pair wine with everything from candy charcuterie boards to Thanksgiving leftovers sandwiches. Even chips can become a wine pairing suggestion, accompanied by prosecco.
“The number one goal is to stand out on the shelf because it is such a crowded space,” said Caitlin Ward, the company’s brand and digital marketing director. “A bit of sass is one way to do that.”