Greg Sherwood MW: Fewer moments shared, less bottles moved

For many in the wine industry, Dry January sharpens focus. Whether abstaining or not, commentators, critics and key players find the month prompting reflection. January, by its nature, invites a pause: a time for questioning, reassessment and examination before any potential reset.

But I suppose, after we have already had to endure three to four years of ‘rabbit in headlight’ style commentary from so much of the wine trade media as they finally caught up with the new realities, it is refreshing that we are finally hearing a slightly more nuanced, thoughtful, critical analysis of the problems besetting the wider global wine industry.

Over the pass months, pretty much every commentator on Winemag’s books, including myself, has shook the proverbial tin and thrown down the witch doctor’s chicken bones in an effort to try and read the signs of what the future holds and establish whether the wine trade is genuinely a declining or dying industry like so many pessimists suggest.

Inevitably, column inches have been devoted to the usual suspects: the cost-of-living crisis; healthy-living trends; affordability (or the lack thereof); the complexity of the category; shifting Gen Z preferences; global oversupply; the rise of abstinence movements; and, not least, some incisive, literary examinations of wine’s messaging and marketing – and the industry’s sales structures – by our very own editor (see latest piece here). All are thoughtful, well-argued and commendable contributions to the debate.

But like most complex subjects, there is rarely ever just one cause of the problems we are all experiencing vividly. Too much of what we do in the wider wine industry, from vineyard to table, is intricately intertwined with the complexities of our day to day lives and lived experiences. Interestingly, it is perhaps this very intricacy that has led some commentators to question the validity of the above shopping list of problems potentially lying at the root of wine’s declining demand and consumption.

For me, the key concept above is… “the complexities of our day to day lives and lived experiences.” I’ve certainly written before about how modern life just seems to get faster and faster and more technologically complex, to the point where some people out there are genuinely struggling to keep up with this pace that has become the ‘new normal’ often contributing to metal health challenges.

While I might have studied business and economics as my major subjects at university, the common thread throughout my university education was my fascination with sociology and psychology and how it affects the decisions we take on a daily in our own lives, but also the decisions we are forced to make in many complex business environments. Sadly, I reached all my requisite credits required for my degree one course short of the additional credits I would have required to make psychology my second major.

For me, the fascination surrounding the business of wine is only matched by the complexities of the psychology of wine and the end-consumer. Needless to say, I have recently been deeply intrigued by the ‘new’ prognosis being espoused by mainly non-wine trade commentators, trying to explain away the decline of wine consumption. As it turns out, we are all just becoming more lonely and detached individuals in our day-to-day lives.

My first introduction to this ‘hypothesis’ was from a recent article penned in The Economist magazine titled, “Falling wine sales reflect a lonelier and more atomised world” published online on the 15 January 2026. This article was subsequently referenced repeatedly on several other social media platforms by numerous commentators, most of them in agreement with the fundamental assertions.

Then, finally the good news – that wine was not indeed dying, just the connection part was. The real culprit had finally been identified – we are all lonelier and more disconnected from one another than at any other time in modern history. Wine was built for long interactive lunches and dinners, family gatherings, shared tables and shared experiences, both simple and complex social rituals of togetherness that has served as the glue that has held communities and friendship groups together for generations.

Wine, quite simply, is falling victim to “an atomized world” as The Economist labels it, where people increasingly live alone, eat alone, work from home alone, order in takeaway meals alone, and have traded the social interaction of friendship groups and wider socialising for solitary screen time and endless ‘doom scrolling’ on social media accounts. Pretty heavy stuff indeed.

Here’s where the commentary gets interesting. If we accept the assertion that wine’s power was always primarily about connection, then maybe, the answer to declining consumption is not simply about adapting to this lonelier world but getting all the key wine industry players to help rebuild the connections that have been lost? Makes sense to me.

From a marketing perspective, this shifts the strategy then in a slightly different direction, away from more bulk discounting, dumbing down of wine offerings, pushing volume over value, and trying to cater more generally to the singular, more lonely, insular, individual consumer. Surely, we should be doing the exact opposite, drawing new wine consumers into a more colourful world of fine food and wine, deeper connections, social interactions, and allow them to become part of the story of wine once again, or as one observer stated, “less focus on bottles moved, more focus on moments created!”

Italian journalist David de Ranieri concludes, “Generally speaking, wine is a powerful engine to boost and share that special atmosphere that in Italy we call ‘convivialità.’ It is something that slowly and permanently wraps everybody together, breaking down formal walls and roles, enhancing personal relationships. Simply, that special feeling that makes you say ‘We had fun! What a good time we enjoyed, such nice people we met.’”

When you read it so simply in words like this, I almost feel embarrassed by the way modern society has decided to embrace this lonely, isolated existence over a more sociable, interactive, connected one. In the same way scientists are now discovering that childbearing is maybe not as hot wired into our DNAs as we thought, maybe humans are also slowly unlearning the benefits and rewards of deeper social connection? That would not be good news for wine consumption. You can expect to hear much more about this hypothesis in the months ahead.

• Greg Sherwood was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and as the son of a career diplomat, spent his first 21 years traveling the globe with his parents. With a Business Management and Marketing degree from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Sherwood began his working career as a commodity trader. In 2000, he decided to make more of a long-held interest in wine taking a position at Handford Wines in South Kensington, London, working his way up to the position of Senior Wine Buyer over 22 years. Sherwood currently consults to a number of top fine wine merchants in London while always keeping one eye firmly on the South African wine industry. He qualified as the 303rd Master of Wine in 2007.