If you’ve read the wine headlines lately, you’d think wine is over. Younger generations don’t drink it. Wellness concerns have people cutting back. Baby boomers are aging out of the market.
But according to Dr. Liz Thach, President of the Wine Market Council and one of the world’s most respected wine researchers, that story is incomplete. Turns out younger generations ARE drinking wine
On this week’s Sip Sip Hooray podcast, Liz joined us to share brand-new research from the Wine Market Council — and the picture she paints is far more nuanced, and far more hopeful.
Liz is a Master of Wine, an educator, author, and longtime professor who lives at the crossroads of wine, business, and culture. She asks the big questions about how wine is made, sold, and enjoyed, and she has a gift for connecting what’s happening in the vineyards and boardrooms to what ends up in our glasses.
Recent Wine Market Council research finds Millennials are now the largest wine-drinking generation in the U.S., surpassing Boomers faster than expected. Gen X remains steady. And Gen Z? They do like wine — they just drink it differently.
Liz gives us an insight into her organization’s forward-looking research on the U.S. wine consumer buying habits, attitudes, and trends for 2026.
More on the Wine Market Council 2025 U.S. Wine Consumer Benchmark Segmentation Survey.