Wine Prices Are Dropping—Here’s Why

Stopping by the local wine shop on your way home from work today? That bottle of red, white, or rosé might be a little cheaper than it has been in the past—and not (necessarily) because today is National Drink Wine Day. According to CNN, the price of wine is on the decline due to a grape surplus in California and a decrease in demand across the country.

Jeff Bitter, president of Allied Grape Growers, told CNN that demand had grown pretty consistently for about 20 years before abruptly slowing down in 2015. That surprising decrease, combined with especially plentiful grape harvests at northern California vineyards—which were partially the result of improved harvesting techniques—has forced the market to drop its prices.

"Since it takes up to five years to bring wine to market from the initial planning stages of planting a vineyard, it makes hitting future demand very complicated,” Bitter told CNN. “In this case, we overshot demand.”

Prices will likely stay low for a few years while vineyards figure out how many acres of vines they need to match consumer demand. Meanwhile, the rest of the wine industry will be trying to figure out how to increase demand by targeting a seemingly indifferent demographic: Millennials.

Rob McMillan, founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s wine division, explained in the annual report on the state of the wine industry that this price drop could be one way of tacitly encouraging Millennials to choose wine over other types of alcohol.

“Acute oversupply will allow for better-quality juice in lower-priced bottles, which will improve value and may provide an incentive for some Millennials to become more consistent wine buyers,” McMillan said in the report.

Whether or not you’re a wine drinker yourself, you can still enjoy learning a little something about everyone’s favorite fermented fruit juice—here are 10 facts you might not know about wine.

[h/t CNN]