U.S. wine brands court younger drinkers with cans, memes, celebrity tie-ins

Wine companies in the United States are pushing deeper into pop culture, new packaging and unconventional partnerships as the industry tries to win over younger drinkers who are buying less wine than previous generations. The shift comes as global wine consumption weakens and as producers face a mix of structural pressures, including higher prices, health concerns, an aging core customer base and stronger competition from craft beer, ready-to-drink cocktails and no-alcohol beverages.

The pressure is especially visible in the United States, where wine sales fell about 6% in 2024, the sharpest drop in decades, according to SipSource data cited by industry observers. Overall consumption is down nearly one-fifth from its 2021 peak. The problem is not only lower volume. It is also the age of the people who are still buying. By 2023, only 6% of Americans in their 20s described themselves as regular wine drinkers, while millennials, though now ahead of baby boomers among wine consumers, remain less loyal and more willing to switch to other drinks.

That trend has widened a strategic divide between producers that continue to rely on the traditional language of wine and those trying to strip wine of its formal image. In much of Europe, and especially in Italy, producers still lean on the classic message of place, history, native grape varieties and family tradition. In the United States, many companies are betting that this approach speaks mainly to people who already understand wine. To reach consumers who do not, marketers are testing products and campaigns designed for different settings and different habits.

One of the clearest examples is format. Bev, a California brand founded in 2017 by Alix Peabody, built its business around canned wine, bright packaging and a message aimed at a younger, more inclusive audience, especially women. The company promoted low-sugar products, fewer calories and lower alcohol levels at a time when direct-to-consumer sales accelerated during the pandemic. In 2023, E. & J. Gallo Winery, which had already been distributing the brand, acquired it outright. The deal was widely seen as a sign that canned wine had moved beyond a niche experiment. In the United States, the number of canned wine brands has grown from around 40 in 2016 to more than 230.

Marketers are also turning to partnerships that would once have looked out of place in the wine business. In late August, KFC opened a pop-up wine bar in Shoreditch, London, called “Coq au Vin” in collaboration with La Vieille Ferme, the French wine label owned by the Perrin family. The partnership grew out of online attention around the wine’s nickname on TikTok, “the chicken wine.” The menu paired popcorn chicken with rosé, spicy wings with red wine and chicken tenders with white wine. Tickets, priced at £15 for 90-minute sessions, sold out quickly, suggesting that a joke or meme can be converted into real demand when it is tied to an experience.

Other brands are using design and sponsorships to reach consumers outside the usual wine channels. Bogle Family Wine Collection created Juggernaut Wines with labels showing sharks, bears and orcas instead of vineyards or cellar scenes, and tied the brand to Tough Mudder obstacle races. This year, through a partnership with Discovery’s “Shark Week,” the brand also released special shark-themed packaging for its chardonnay. The strategy is simple: meet potential buyers where they already spend time rather than waiting for them to seek out a tasting room or a specialist wine shop.

Language is another front in the industry’s effort to reset its image. Charles Smith, the founder of House of Smith and a former rock band manager, has built wine brands with names such as “Kung Fu Girl Riesling” and “Sex Rosé.” His approach is based on the idea that wine should speak in the language of the consumer rather than in the vocabulary of insiders. The bottles are positioned as accessible and easy to understand, in contrast with a category that can still feel technical, expensive and rule-bound to younger shoppers.

The most cited case of storytelling through packaging comes from Australia, where Treasury Wine Estates created 19 Crimes, a brand inspired by the British transportation of prisoners to Australia in the 18th century. Each label features a real convict from the period. Through the “Living Wine Labels” app, the figures on the bottle appear to come to life and tell their stories using augmented reality. According to the company’s reported results, sales climbed from 4 million to 18 million bottles in 18 months. The brand later expanded the concept with celebrity and entertainment tie-ins, including Snoop Dogg’s Snoop Cali Red and a label linked to “The Walking Dead.”

The common thread in these efforts is a belief that younger consumers are not rejecting alcohol only because of health concerns or price. Many in the trade now argue that wine also suffers from practical and cultural barriers that other categories do not face in the same way. Spirits are easy to try at a bar in small pours. Ready-to-drink cocktails and canned beverages are portable and familiar. A standard bottle of wine usually requires a larger purchase, and even basic service rituals can create friction. According to a consumer trends survey by the British home goods company Lakeland, fewer than one-third of Gen Z households own a corkscrew.

Price remains another obstacle, especially for entry-level drinkers. Industry observers say the $8-to-$20 range can still attract younger buyers, but only when the product also looks and sounds approachable. That means clear branding, less formal language and packaging that fits occasions outside the dinner table. Cans, single-serve options and visually bold labels are all part of that shift. So are campaigns that avoid talking first about tannins, appellations or cellar potential.

The changes do not mean that terroir, appellations and heritage have lost value. Those ideas still matter in established markets and in the premium segment, where authenticity and origin remain central to how wine is judged and sold. But as U.S. sales data continue to point to weakness among younger adults, more producers appear willing to test a different playbook, one that treats wine less as a ceremony and more as a consumer product competing in the same attention economy as every other drink on the shelf.