Demand decline improving with stabilization on the horizon Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, today released its 2026 State of the US Wine Industry Report. Widely regarded as the leading source of market trends in the premium wine sector, SVB’s 25th annual report provides an analysis of current market conditions, success strategies, and forecasts for the year ahead. The 2026 report estimates the following industry sales totals for 2025: Total volume of ~329 million cases (down from 335.9 million in 2024) Total value of ~$74.3 billion (down from $75.5 billion in 2024). The wine industry is moving through a multi-year demand correction, largely driven by value wines at the under $12 price point. Industry sales in 2025 declined 2.0% (by cases) and 1.6% (by dollars), yet both represent improvements compared to 2024. The industry ended the year with both profit margin compression and higher levels of inventory. The premium industry will likely experience its

Please join us on Thursday, January 15 for a live, virtual event to review findings and analysis from our 2026 State of the U.S. Wine Industry Report. Our panel of wine industry experts will present findings from the latest SVB State of the U.S. Wine Industry survey and discuss market sentiment, ongoing business challenges and share success stories. In this year’s session, we will: Examine the biggest impacts on U.S. wineries’ financial health. Analyze the ongoing shifts in consumer behavior. Investigate the relationship between wine supply and emerging threats. Explore the sales strategies currently used by leading brands. Our panel of wine industry innovators hosting this discussion include: Rob McMillan – EVP & Founder, Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division Janie Brooks Heuck – Managing Director, Brooks Wine Kristin Marchesi – Managing Director, Metis Mergers & Acquisitions Matt Owings – COO & CFO, Rombauer Vineyards Virtual Event Details

Sales Trends and Predictions, Consumer Motivation, Wine Club Retention, Navigating Wholesale Distribution, Wine Marketing Winners, and MORE! Join us Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Santa Rosa, CA, for this one-day event focused on delivering insights, advice, and predictions from industry leaders and winery executives from thriving brands sharing their strategies for succeeding in this competitive landscape. The Symposium program will open with a keynote address by Ben Dollard, President of Treasury Americas, and continue with topics that cover insights into customer demographics, industry sales trends and predictions, luxury wine consumer motivations & behaviors, converting website traffic into revenue, wholesale channels success, wine club retention, and more! Session panels will host speakers from notable brands that include Clif Family Winery & Farm, Customer Vineyard, DaVero Farms & Winery, Distinguished Vineyards, Far Niente Family of Wines, Knights Bridge Winery, L

Afternoon Brief, April 3rd

North Coast Wine Challenge Top Honors Go to Italian-Inspired Red Blend from La Storia: A Sonoma County red wine beat out 1,093 other entries to win Best of the Best...

Afternoon Brief, December 28th

California Wine Consolidation Ramps Up to Close Out 2023: Consolidation is nothing new for the wine industry, but the pace of change has accelerated in recent years as interest rates have risen, costs of labor and supplies have jumped, and demand for wine has softened...

Afternoon Brief, October 20th

Sonoma’s Toad Hollow Vineyards Acquired by ‘Masters of Guerrilla Winefare’: Unoaked Chardonnay pioneer Toad Hollow has been sold to WarRoom Cellars for an undisclosed sum...

Afternoon Brief, September 13th

New Wine Market Council Study Shows How Consumers Are Shifting in the Wine Category and Desired Price Points: Lately the wine news has been filled with reports of declining wine consumption in the U.S. Because of this, Wine Market Council (WMC) launched a new research study to investigate why this is happening and what types of wine and price points are still desirable...

Afternoon Brief, September 1st

Introducing the Newest AVA in California: Winters Highlands: Winters Highlands has been designated as the newest American Viticultural Area (AVA) by the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)...

Afternoon Brief, August 29th

E & J. Gallo’s Luxury Wine Group Announces Acquisition of World-Renowned Rombauer Vineyards: E. & J. Gallo’s Luxury Wine Group announced today that it has reached an agreement with the Rombauer family to purchase Rombauer Vineyards, producer of critically acclaimed wines from Napa Valley, Sonoma County, the Sierra Foothills, and the Santa Lucia Highlands...