Wineries NAICS 312130

Apr 29, 2025 - Boycott Impacting US Wineries

• Canadians are boycotting US wine in retaliation for President Trump’s tariffs and taunts about making Canada “the 51st state,” NBC News reports. Canada in March removed all US-made wine and alcohol from liquor/wine store shelves and from restaurants across the country. The boycott, which began in Ontario and has spread to Canada’s other provinces, is another blow to the US wine industry already hobbled by declining consumption and competition from alternatives. “Canada is the single most important export market for US wines with retail sales in excess of $1.1 billion annually,” Robert Koch, the California Wine Institute’s CEO, said in a statement. Moreover, tariffs on imports from Europe and China are raising costs for inputs, including bottles, barrels, and corks, making it even harder for wineries to stay in business. Canadian tourists are also boycotting America, reducing traffic to tasting rooms.
• Shifting population demographics, consumer trends, and a surplus of wine grapes are among the headwinds facing the struggling wine industry, which is responding with layoffs and winery closings, The Independent reported in February. Bronco Wine Company – the California winemaker behind retailer Trader Joe’s bargain wine brand Charles Shaw (aka Two Buck Chuck) will layoff 81 employees at its winery in Stanislaus County, in April, SF Gate reports. In a WARN notice the company said the layoffs were “part of a strategic restructuring plan to enhance operational efficiency and adapt to the challenging headwinds in the wine industry.” Bronco isn’t the only winery impacted by the decline in wine consumption. According to The Independent, wine makers across the world are feeling the effects, with at least three California wineries — Carlisle, Edmunds St. John, and Vinca Minor – all announcing closures.

• Vintners hoping 2025 will bring an end to declining wine sales are likely to be disappointed, but the rate of decline in sales may slow, Wine Business reports. “It appears we’re seeing a slowing of the declines, but the market hasn’t flattened out or started to recover yet,” Jon Moramarco, founder of the market research firm bw166 and partner and editor of Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates, which tracks the US wine market, told WB in December. The wine industry continues to struggle with excess supply and weak consumer demand. In 2023, total domestic wine market volume measured 377 million 9 liter cases, and it appears total market volume will have declined by up to 5% by the end of 2024, according to bw166. Still, value may increase by 1% this year to remain close to 2023’s total of $107 billion due to inflation and modest growth among premium brands.
• Employment by breweries, wineries, and distilleries grew 5.9% in January compared to a year ago, even as US wine sales extended their multiyear slide. In 2024, US wine sales declined about 6% from 2023, according to the industry data group SipSource. Wine sales are drying up amid shifting demographics, health concerns, new competition, and economic forces, experts say. Meanwhile, the producer price index for wineries, which measures prices before reaching consumers, was relatively flat in 2024, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. And at the retail level, the average cost per liter of wine in the US has been falling since mid-2021, according to Federal Reserve data.