Wine Conversations: How Do We Get More People Interested in Wine? (VI)
Accessibility, anecdotes, activities and adventures
Welcome to our very first "Wine Conversations", a new feature spotlighting a wine-related topic and transforming it into an evolving conversation between multiple wine writers across Substack. This month's topic is one of the most pressing for the wine industry in 2025, given the ongoing decline in consumption, sales, visits to wineries, and as the alcoholic beverage of choice for many consumers:
How do we get more people interested in wine?
I was honoured (and a little intimidated) to be asked to participate in this conversation by of If you’re not already subscribed to lots of other wine stacks, it may be useful to know that this post is part six of a seven-part series. Let’s quickly recap!
Dave kicked off the conversation with his emphasis on inclusivity and innovation, while
implored us all to have more fun with wine (a sentiment I should really get behind in all aspects of my life). The brothers came up with what I thought was a genius cross-selling opportunity between beer and wine drinkers, and reminded us that wine is a luxury product that many people (especially in the US) can’t actually afford. In response, research maestro called for improvements in the quality of wine at the lower end of the market. And now it’s my turn!Clearly a lot has been said already. So I’ll preface my contribution by saying that I’m coming very much from my own context: living in the Netherlands, and speaking from my experiences in writing, organising tastings and working part-time in a wine shop.
Some Dutch stats
Before I started thinking about this, I wanted to get some hard numbers on the Dutch market. Are people turning away from wine per se, or are they not drinking as much alcohol in general? The trend shows that alcohol consumption in the Netherlands has decreased significantly since the turn of the century, from around 10.75 litres (of pure alcohol) per capita in 2000 to around 8.71 litres in 20201. In parallel, wine consumption has gone down from 18.8 litres of wine per capita in 2000 to 16.9 litres of wine per capita in 2022. In demographic terms, more women drink wine than men, while older people (aged 50+) tend to drink more wine than younger generations (who prefer beer, spirits, cocktails or no-lo drinks)2.
Quality over quantity
That said, Millennials and Gen Z-ers who do drink wine tend to be interested in organic, biodynamic and/or natural wines, which aligns with their prioritisation of sustainability and the environment. So perhaps one answer is to focus on quality over quantity. And of course we’ve seen this touted as the solution to many of our consumerist culture woes: fast fashion, AI-generated text, factory-farmed meat, and now wine.
There may well be a point here: given that this group isn’t awash with cash, that means buying fewer bottles of better quality, more expensive wine rather than getting wasted on Yellowtail. And we can’t really complain about that, can we?
The four As
So let’s assume that there is a cohort of beverage-curious people out there, who may or may not fit the exact demographics discussed so far but who could be persuaded to get interested in high-quality wine. How do we do that? I’ve structured my ideas under “the four As” (this is an unfortunate side effect of spending too many years as a corporate copywriter, coming up with six strategic pillars, five core values and a partridge in a pear tree).
Make it accessible
Make it an anecdote
Make it an activity
Make it an adventure
Make it accessible
Wine suffers from an image problem. Old-school wines used to be the preserve of stuffy, middle-aged white men. New-school natural wines have been hijacked by the hipsters. As wine writers, we need to make it clear that wine is for everyone: reducing our use of wine jargon, promoting good-value wines as opposed to just high-end bottles, and reaching people via their preferred media (like Substack!).
At the same time, restaurants and bars could help accessibility by heavily curating their wine lists: very few people want to be confronted with a bible-length book of wines they’ve never heard of while they’re just trying to enjoy an evening out with their friends. A well-chosen selection of a couple of dozen bottles would do just fine, so long as the wine list fits with the food menu or the style of the bar.
Culturally, the Dutch do not tend to be backward in coming forward. But still I see some reticence among would-be wine drinkers to ask questions in shops, bars or restaurants. Wine shops would do well to signpost their offering, so customers understand how to navigate the store. (Are the bottles arranged by region, style, price or something else?) Restaurants could improve their wine lists by offering more information than simply proper nouns and vintages. (What does the wine actually taste like and which dishes might it go with?) And training is crucial: again, a shorter wine list helps massively here, as there’s far less information for your sommelier and servers to remember. (You can hire people like me to help with this.)
Make it an anecdote
When I was working in the wine shop, my chances of selling a wine were ten times higher when I had a story to go along with it. And by story, I don’t mean some complicated narrative about old bush vines, dry harvesting and lees ageing. I mean a simple anecdote like: “I had a tapas night last Saturday – we drank this and everyone said it reminded them of their holidays in Barcelona.” My personal recommendations went a lot further than I thought they would. So make your stories personal!
By extension, encourage the people you’re speaking with to make their stories personal too. I am endlessly telling people there are no right answers when it comes to wine. At a recent Mindful Wine workshop I ran, the participants went off in all sorts of associative directions – inspired by a spice stall at a Turkish souk rather than “secondary aromas of cloves and nutmeg”. They came up with stories of their own about the wine, entirely personal to them.
Make it an activity
I got this idea from another of my favourite (non-wine) Substacks:
. The dilemma was about how to host potential new friends when you’re new in town, but the advice could equally apply to a wine event. And tying into what Maria said last week, let’s make it fun!How about a games night: Risk and Riesling, anyone? Or a Pizza and Pinot Pairing: order three different pizzas and eat them alongside a Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. Pretty soon, everyone will have picked their favourite combination, and if you’re feeling nerdy you can throw in some fun facts about varietal mutations and alternative names for all those grapes in different countries. (Or not.)
Make it an adventure
The first draft of this article was written while I was sitting in Rayleigh & Ramsay – one of my favourite wine bars in Amsterdam because they have over 100 wines stored in temperature controlled, vacuum-sealed wine dispensers. You get to wander around like a kid in a sweet shop, choosing your own adventure by the glass, half glass or tasting sample. It’s like a mini-voyage of discovery from the comfort of 50 square metres of cosy wine bar.
But you needn’t seek out a specific bar to recreate the experience. Whenever I organise tastings, I generally set out pairs of wines to be tried next to each other along a theme. Friends who are not that into wine are always staggered at the differences between the same grape from different regions (or vice versa). It’s never about being able to identify the wine – it’s about being able to identify what you like.
And at the end of the day, that’s what actually matters to 99% of would-be wine drinkers: enjoying what they’re drinking, and having fun doing it.
Next up, it’s
from – stay tuned! Would you like to get involved in the Wine Conversation next time around? Send a message to and he’ll work his magic.References and links to further info:
1. World Bank data via Trading Economics: https://tradingeconomics.com/netherlands/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-liters-of-pure-alcohol-projected-estimates-15-years-of-age-wb-data.html
2. USDA report on the Dutch wine market: https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=The+Dutch+Wine+Market_The+Hague_Netherlands_09-11-2001.pdf
3. Meininger’s wine trends in the Dutch market: https://www.meiningers-international.com/wine/power-lists/11-trends-dutch-market
4. The link between the rise in skinny jabs and losses in the drinks business: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/26/skinny-jabs-are-turning-slimmers-teetotal-and-drinks-companies-are-feeling-the-loss
Four As for your foray into wine. Love this! There's a really cool wine bar in London that also has countless bottles on tap that you can try in any quantity (from a tiny sip to an overflowing glass). Such a great concept to allow people to taste the breadth of what wine has to offer.
I love the idea of the theme nights (of course 😂).