1994 to 2014: Two Decades of Wine

April 1, 2014, marked my 20-year anniversary with ABC Fine Wine & Spirits. Things sure were different back then, but things haven’t changed much since then, either! I began with ABC in 1994, a year which marked a turning point in wine consumption in the United States. Really it was in 1991, the year that 60 Minutes reported the French Paradox (though, oddly,  America was in a 15-year wine consumption slump leading into 1994), but nearly every year since 1994 wine consumption in the USA has grown. We now consume more wine than any other country, much of it our own (nearly 75%) and plenty of it from just about everywhere else on the globe. I think I read somewhere recently that although we are the top consumer, we rank down around 30th in consumption of wine per capita.


These past 20 years have been amazing… challenging and never boring. Watching new regions trend—new grape varieties taking off is as exciting to watch as seeing other regions and varieties lose popularity is saddening. It got me thinking about some of these trends we have witnessed in the past two decades. I can’t think of any good analogy, but a bulk of the business has remained a sort of constant, while in the periphery (where the exciting stuff takes place) we have witnessed ‘flash in the pans’ and a fair amount of ‘who’d of thunk it’s’… here are some from my memory bank, if you remember!


The more things changes… Some things were destined to burn out and fade away. Why? I guess we are always looking for the next big thing, until it is embraced by the masses, then we move on, and so do the masses! Remember White Zinfandel? Moscato has come from the way back of the pack to grab the reigns of the popular sweet category. What about Merlot? Nobody cared, then you could not keep the shelves full, then we moved on to the next big thing… Pinot Noir.


As long as I could remember, Pinot Noir was supposed to be the ‘next big thing’ and we kept waiting; well now… It really is the next BIG thing!  How about a few other memories? Surprises, like sweet red wines including Dornfelder and Sangue di Giuda. California field blends, Pinot Grigio, Argentine Malbec and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc…and the beat goes on…and the beat goes on.


…the more they stay the same… Some are here to stay! California Chardonnay is a behemoth and has been for the better part of these 20 years—probably will keep plodding along regardless of all of our efforts to get folks to try something new in addition to their stand-by. California Cabernet, more precisely Napa Cabernet, will probably never fade away. Like Chardonnay, they are good…and we know the brands, we grew up on them…and did I say they were good? And we should not forget generic wines, or jug wines. As hard as it is to write about them, they more than any other wine category define the wine landscape in every country, America included. It’s the people’s wine, like it or not. It is much more fun selling Bordeaux or Barolo (and they are easier to carry out, too) but those heavy 3.0L bottles help keep the doors open!


Stay tuned, more changes are just around the corner! China making wines? Yep! Syrah finally gets its attention? Let’s hope!


Shayne Hebert, Central Florida wine supervisor. Follow me on Twitter @abcwineshayne.



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