Once, not so long ago, cracking open a bottle of wine likely meant something big. A birthday was being celebrated or a fancy roast was in the oven. It was the stuff of occasions.
Today, a glass of chenin or shiraz might be poured alongside a takeaway on a Wednesday night, shared over a braai or enjoyed after a long week simply because the slog is done. The wine hasn’t changed nearly as much as the consumer has.
For years, much of the conversation around South African wine has focused on declining consumption. According to the nonprofit SA Wine Industry Information and Systems (SAWIS), wine consumption per South African aged 15 and older fell 13.6% between 2015 and 2025, from 10.06 litres to 8.69 litres per person.
And yet, over the same period, consumption of ready-to-drink beverages rose 43%, while sparkling wine grew 85%. Given those stats, the more interesting question then is not simply whether people are drinking less wine, but how the role of wine and alcohol more broadly has changed in people’s lives and what that means for the future of the category.
“An industry favourite debate is whether declining consumption is temporary or structural,” says Ankia Niemann, marketing lead at Robertson Winery. “From our perspective, it’s less about declining consumption and more about changing consumption. Consumers are making different choices, drinking on different occasions and looking for different types of products. The market isn’t standing still and neither should we."
Wine has a new role to play
That distinction suggests that consumers haven’t simply turned away from wine. Instead, the conventions that surround the drink are changing.
They’re choosing wine for occasions that would once have “belonged” to other drinks. They’re balancing quality with affordability. They’re drinking more mindfully but also more instinctively. And perhaps most importantly, they’re making choices that reflect their own lives rather than the traditions of the category.
Moderation is becoming part of the picture too. The global drinks data and insights group IWSR published research in 2025 which found that 58% of South African legal-drinking-age consumers had abstained from alcohol for a period during the previous six months. This was up from 53% a year earlier. Rather than abandoning alcohol altogether, consumers are becoming more considered about when and how they drink.
For wine producers, understanding those shifts is becoming just as important as understanding what happens in the vineyard.
Kay Orlandi of marketing consultancy 3Verse believes that wine today is competing in a very different environment. “Wine isn’t only competing with other wine any more,” she says. “It’s competing with ready-to-drink beverages, spirits, ciders, cocktails, alcohol-free alternatives and even the decision not to drink at all. Wine needs to earn a place in the moments that matter to people.”
There is also no single modern wine consumer. Analysis by consumer insights business Eighty20, drawing on MAPS research covering 20,000 South Africans, shows clear generational differences in drinking behaviour. Younger generations, particularly millennials, are considerably more likely to consume alcohol than boomers, while preferences also differ across age, gender and income groups.
Consumers are increasingly creating their own moments rather than waiting for big celebrations. They’re drinking a glass of the good stuff as they cook dinner, for example.
Confidence over complexity
Rather than diminishing wine, this presents an opportunity to reconnect the category with everyday life. That doesn’t mean abandoning what has always made wine special.
Unlike many consumer products, wine has history. It reflects place, people and generations of craftsmanship. Those qualities remain central to South African wine’s identity and are a large part of what continues to attract consumers to the category.
But consumers rarely begin with terroir or tasting notes. They begin with something far simpler, like “Will I enjoy this?” or “Will the people I’m sharing it with enjoy it?” Only then do provenance, heritage and expertise deepen the experience.
“Heritage, craftsmanship and terroir will always be part of wine’s foundation,” says Niemann. “But today’s marketing needs to start with the consumer, not the producer. In a world overflowing with information, relevance is one of the most valuable things a brand can offer.”
Orlandi believes that confidence is becoming one of the category’s greatest opportunities.
“People don’t need wine to become simpler,” she says. “They simply don’t want to feel intimidated. The opportunity isn’t to remove what makes wine special but to remove the unnecessary barriers that stop people from exploring it.”
The same thinking applies to innovation. For many years, innovation in wine has often centred on the bottle itself. Yet increasingly, innovation is being measured by something far more practical: does it make wine easier to choose, easier to enjoy or more relevant to the way people live?
As Niemann puts it: “One tongue-in-cheek comment we’ve heard from retailers is that ‘wine innovation is often just a label change’. Real innovation should create genuine value for consumers, not simply look different on the shelf.”
Evolution, not reinvention
None of this suggests the South African wine industry should reinvent itself. Wine remains one of the country’s great success stories. It combines remarkable diversity with generations of expertise, producing wines that continue to compete confidently on the world stage.
The challenge is not to change what makes South African wine special. It is to ensure those qualities remain meaningful to a consumer whose life looks very different from the one it did even 10 years ago.
“We don’t need to change who we are,” says Niemann. “Our opportunity is to become better at connecting with people. We need to tell our story in ways that are relevant, engaging and meaningful to today’s consumer.”
Wine has always been part of how people come together. The occasions may have changed, but consumers aren’t rejecting wine. They’re simply making it their own. And that may be the most encouraging trend the category could hope for.
