THE BIG IDEA A TALE OF TWO MARKETS
WINE SEEMS TO be in a very confusing place right now. If you follow news at all, you've probably read plenty of gloomy assessments: Young consumers are drinking less alcohol than previous generations, and those who do are favoring spirits, ready-to-drink cocktails, hard seltzers—that is to say, almost anything other than fermented grapes. Such headlines might make you think the end is near for the wine industry, which is stuck in a doom loop and fervently hoping that the older members of Gen Z suddenly develop a taste for fine Bordeaux and Burgundy.
And yet the top of the market is soaring. In 2023, Sotheby's Fine Wine and Spirits division had its best year ever, taking in a record $159 million—a million more than in 2022 and representing 73 percent growth in just three years. Nickwine and spirits, says that lower prices due to cyclical course correction in the secondary market created more opportunities for buyers to purchase at auction and that he expects to see strong sales through the end of 2025. “There is definitely more confidence in the market at present than we saw at the end of 2023 and signs of more market activity,” he notes.
