A View To Wine’s Future At Southern Glazer’s WineForward Symposium
With the wine industry at a crossroads, Southern Glazer’s convened thought leaders from the business at its inaugural WineForward event on Monday, held in Denver ahead of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America Access Live event. Fittingly, industry legend Mel Dick, president of Southern Glazer’s wine division, opened the proceedings with a video in which he acknowledged current challenges to the wine category, but insisted that “we will keep innovating, finding new ways of selling, regroup, and keep punching with our wine-forward strategy.”
Southern Glazer’s president and CEO Wayne Chaplin set the stage for the day’s speakers, noting that wine is seeing evolving demographics and consumer preferences reshape the market. He exhorted attendees to innovate, collaborate, embrace change, and “plant seeds for the future. By leaning into collective intelligence and challenging the status quo, with wine industry collaboration we will ensure that wine remains not just a timeless beverage but a vibrant and thriving experience.”
Mark Chaplin, recently named president, commercial sales at Southern Glazer’s, introduced the lineup of speakers, including Danny Brager, owner, Brager Beverage Alcohol Consulting; Dan Kleinman, chief brand officer, Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits; Ted Seburn, vice president of sales, Gallo; Keith Colbourn, EVP and chief marketing officer, Total Wine & More; Nik Modi, managing director, RBC Capital; and Cindy Leonard, EVP and general manager, fine wine, Southern Glazer’s.
Danny Brager kicked off the presentations with a data-driven look at the state of the business. The industry is currently in “choppy waters,” he explained, with consistent declines across trade channels indicating a demand problem. Brager pointed to an “over-assortment” of products that risks confusing consumers, and said retailers and distributors will need to focus on “the right SKUs” to gain traction.
While much of the industry decline is occurring at the lower end, Brager observed, two-thirds of wine volume in the U.S. is still sold below $11, and 82% is sold below $15, so entry-level wines will need more attention from marketers if they’re to continue serving as the first step on the ladder for future premium wine consumers.
Dan Kleinman of Deutsch Family noted that drinkers aged 21-39 are more promiscuous with their choices, drinking across multiple categories, and wine needs to increase the frequency of its occasions with these consumers. The challenge is that the younger cohort prefers drinking in larger groups and “high-energy” occasions, and considers wine to be for more intimate, relaxed settings.
Deutsch Family has made inroads with younger consumers, however, with offerings like Josh Cellars Seaswept, which Kleinman said has been aimed to compete in typical beer and RTD occasions. The company has leveraged trial through music festivals and influencer marketing to bolster Seaswept and other Josh wines and has seen marked success. “Seaswept was the top wine innovation of 2024,” he pointed out, with 35% of volume coming from consumers under 40. More broadly, Josh Cellars—which depleted nearly 7 million cases in the U.S. last year, according to Impact Databank—saw 38% of dollar growth come from under-40 consumers in 2024.
Ted Seburn of Gallo told the WineForward audience it’s “essential to talk to consumers in their own language” in order to usher them into the category. He also identified on-premise pricing as a potential barrier to gaining new drinkers, noting that average wine by-the-glass prices are now about $13, on par with the average for cocktails. That’s a direct challenge for wine, for which by-the-glass makes up 70% of on-premise volume.
Seburn urged retailers to put high-velocity brands up front for consumers, and set stores for everyday occasions rather than special occasions, while removing under-performing SKUs. The three tenets to success moving forward, he explained, are to build brands, make wine more accessible, and improve the purchase experience both online and in brick-and-mortar. It will take a collective three-tier effort to meet those goals, Seburn said, concluding, “We can either choose to live together or die alone.” —Daniel Marsteller
We’ll have more on Southern Glazer’s inaugural WineForward symposium in the second part of this feature.
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Tagged : Deutsch Family, Gallo, Southern Glazer’s, WineForward
