Top Stories of 2025: It Was A Year of Pain From Vineyards To The Tasting Room To The Wine Store Shelf
Wine Surplus in California: What’s Next for Consumers?
Last year’s California wine adventure was a wild journey. Winemakers struggled with a glut of acreage, too much grape and not enough consumer interest. Many winemakers struggle to make a profit. This pain will ultimately lead to winery closures and mergers. And, cheaper prices for you.
| ‘It’s a tough situation for dreamers who love creating wine and sharing it. But as many wine makers tell us, this tough patch for them is a boon for wine lovers seeking deals.’ |
Distributors, conglomerates and and private equity companies are vacating the market as profits tank. One of California’s larger wine distributors, Republic National Distributing (RNDC) closed their California operations. Private equity companies are starting to leave grape on the vine as Sycamore Partners liquidated Château St. Michelle, selling it to Wyckoff Farms and Winery. Trinchero Family Wine & Spirits acquired Mumm Napa (think bubbly) from Pernod Ricard. The list of ownership changes continue to grow.
Drive around wine country these days and you’ll see plenty of for sale signs advertising vineyard acreage, wine making facilities and tasting rooms. Bulk wine for sale on the open market sometimes sells for the cost of growing and harvesting it.
Too often grape fails to find a home no matter the price.
Attempting to end discounting the industry is adjusting to declining demand. The 2025 wine grape crush appears to be 2.5 million tons, the smallest in a quarter-century. This compares with an average of 4 million during the mid-2010s. But, the discounting continues even with declining grape harvest amid a glut of wine in storage tanks, barrels and bottles.
There are many reasons for the decline. The biggest falls upon the Boomer generation. They drove consumption higher over the past 20 years but are now aging out of wine consumption. Then, Gen Y is slow to replace Boomer’s level of consumption. According to Demographer Ken Gronbach, “Gen Y Millennials are slow at everything. Slow to date, mate, marry and start a household. Detroit will feel this soon. Millennials are 21 to 40 years old with the peak on the young end. There are 88 million of them so wine will pick up soon and not look back.”
But, with today’s strong headwinds, most categories of alcohol are struggling with oversupply today. One example is Jim Beam whiskey closing their Claremont, Ky production facility to shrink inventory. No reopening date is set.
Are we becoming a society of teetotalers?
This downturn has driven most of our stories and your interest this year. Stories from 2025 explain the depth of pain along with the cause of the pain. As we’ve written about the decline we’ve pointed you to places you can find good wine for better prices as growers, winemakers and distributors look to find a home for what is estimated to be 1 trillion bottles of excess wine in the US. These bottles need to be destroyed or offered at discount pricing to recoup costs.
Here are your top five stories of 2025
2- The Joy And Economics of Complimentary Wine Tasting In Paso Robles
3- California Wineries Are Selling Out or Closing Up: Will Your Favorite Remain Open in 2027?
4- California Wine Tasting: Navigating Weekday Closures
5- Another Trailblazing California Winery Bites The Dust: Closing Edna Valley Winery
It’s a tough situation for dreamers who love creating wine and sharing it. But as many wine makers tell us, this tough patch for them is a boon for wine lovers seeking deals. Half price case sales are all the rage in wine country these days.
Some notes on our wine ranking system.
Bill & Erin Hodge write about California Wine, the estates & winemakers producing them and educational information about Vino. Living in California Wine Country provides a front row seat to the places you want to visit the most here in the Golden State.
– -✰ means -What’s next on your list of wines
-✰ means -Not liking it too much
✰ means -We’ll drink this wine, especially if it’s hosted!
✰+ means -You’ve got our attention and we might buy this wine.
✰+ + means -We’re hooked and we’re going to buy this wine.
When you see -✰/✰+ with a slash, it means we disagree.
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