Today I was at a networking event organised by Studio Cru, a communications and PR agency based in Vicenza and the final speaker of the day was a somm-journalist-wineconsultant called Jeff Porter (you may have heard of him already…) and I got the chance to ask him these three quick questions about the United States market.
What’s hot?
“Light-bodied, easy to drink, red wines. Everyone loves it. It’s what I take when I go to a party. ”
Jeff said he likes to drink all his wine – red and white – at the same temperature, chilled down to around 15-16°C… apart from Champagne, which he drinks at 10°C.
What’s not?
“Unbalanced, high-alcohol, big, oaky red wines.”
… but Jeff adds that consumers are still drinking this kind of wines anymore (there is still a market for Amarone) but that the gatekeepers influencing the market trends have decided that it’s out.
What’s next?
“Canned wines.”
Yes, wines in a can.
“I’m half joking but I’m also half not,” Jeff adds.
And this is where it gets really interesting and makes me wonder if 2026 is the year that we’ll see some significant change, or if things will stay the same as they always have…… because Jeff earlier in his presentation had mentioned cans as a trend that was taking off in the USA, giving the example of sporting and event venues, or music festivals, where glass containers were not permitted and where quality wines in cans could actually become the next big thing.
Earlier, Jeff asked the audience (predominantly composed of winemakers) for a show of hands if they ferment and age their wines in stainless steel tanks, explaining that if you use that material in the cellar, why do you protest about putting wines in cans. Then, as you can imagine, a high proportion of the room was outraged by this suggestion; how dare this Yank who initially suggested a true appreciation of Italian wine now tell us to put our wines in cans, when we and our wines have roots, and authenticity, and history…….
It reminded me of a similar presentation by Robert Joseph at another networking event (wine2wine in 2018, if memory stands) where Robert (always the provocateur) was talking about the need to evolve and adapt to current markets. There was a winemaker in the third row, a lady making wine in Abruzzo, and she was horrified. Our history, our istoree, our tradition, is to make this kind of wine, why do we change.
The jist of Robert’s reply was “if you’re making wine and turning a profit every year, then continue doing that. If, on the other hand, you’re struggling to break even, then yes, you ought to start doing something differently.”
In an exchange that seems rather prescient now given the current state of affairs, Robert justified his reasoning by mentioning the dwindling number of châteaux in Bordeaux and how many were going out of business.
Now, in this day and age, in this climate, this market, it is going to be very interesting if these Italian traditionalists change their habits, either by necessity or by freewill, and adapt in order to survive this current crisis… I believe they may well make less extracted wines with less oak presence, some may change their closures (for many Italians, a screw cap is still avantguard) but I believe we still have a long way to go before cans are accepted… but who knows. Jeff might be right.
What do you think? Comments are open.
P.S. I know the featured image is pretty horrible (especially the man with one eye.) It is obviously created by AI and it is a provocation too. 😉
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