How the world of wine will change in 2025

It is that time of the year when I consult my crystal glass to glimpse where the wine world is going next.

Some powerful, important trends are ongoing, some wacky ones are thankfully disappearing and others are brand new.

Let us start with one thing that will stick around for the foreseeable future: climate change.

The past 10 years have been the warmest since record-keeping began and 2024 was the warmest yet, the first to breach 1.5 deg C of global warming.

So, expect severe weather events – drought, heatwaves, heavy rainfall, frost, hail and more – to influence everything from vineyard location to the varieties of grapes to farming to the quality of wines, as they did in 2024.

Vintners are persevering with adaptation solutions. Two examples: LVMH is investing heavily in regenerative farming; and Champagne Telmont, whose vineyards are organic, aims to have all its grower-partners certified by 2031.

Each year, more wineries commit to reaching net-zero carbon emissions, such as the Greek estates that joined the International Wineries for Climate Action organisation last year.

The global decline in wine consumption continues, too, though it appears to be slowing in the United States, according to Mr Jon Moramarco, founder of market-research firm bw166.

Will pop culture boost demand? A late December episode of The Simpsons (1989 to present) featured a million-dollar bottle of red Burgundy and a wine fraud scheme. Yes, it satirised wine and wine snobs, and threw in insider jokes, but it also romanticised the beverage.

Overall, the high cost of living, new drinking habits, health concerns about wine and international politics will all affect what you imbibe in 2025.

Here is what else I see in my crystal glass.

1. No-alcohol vino will achieve luxury status

In 2024, more top winemakers got into the no-alcohol wine business with premium, better-tasting, more sophisticated bottles, like the US$120 (S$165) French Bloom La Cuvee, a 2022 vintage sparkler crafted by a noted Champagne maker.

There is also the Missing Thorn line-up of alcohol-removed wines from Napa wizard Aaron Pott. De-alcoholisation technology is improving, so expect many more good examples to arrive in 2025.

Bordeaux is on trend. Two chateaus on the Right Bank have already released no-alcohol labels and will add more in 2025.

A group of winemakers in the region recently opened a facility to remove alcohol. And November saw the opening of Bordeaux’s first no-alcohol wine shop.

Italy is joining in as well, with the agriculture minister signing a law in November greenlighting alcohol-free production.

Demand for these wines is increasing, with reports that drinking any kind of alcohol holds health risks. This is partly why data from a 2024 IWSR strategic study showed 61 million new consumers bought into the no-alcohol category from 2022 to 2024.

2. You will be drinking more white wines, especially chenin blanc and blends

White wines outpaced reds globally in 2024, and not just sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio. White malbec from Argentina is a thing, as is white pinot noir from Oregon.

Other grapes are also in line to gain buzz. For 2025, I am bullish on under-the-radar dry chenin blanc, which combines sauvignon blanc’s bright, crisp freshness and versatility with chardonnay’s complexity and ageability at a lower price.

In its home territory, France’s Loire Valley, plantings are predicted to eventually overtake sauvignon blanc, according to trade magazine The Drinks Business, because chenin keeps its acidity and freshness even amid global warming.

The grape is making a comeback in California, and giant Chateau Ste Michelle in Washington state is exploring the best places there to make flagship examples.

3. Wine bottles will get lighter for luxury brands

Thick, super-heavy bottles are on their way out as more wineries recognise how bad they are for the environment. The weight of the glass and the cost of transport account for 29 to 50 per cent of a wine’s carbon footprint.

Until now, lighter-weight bottles have mostly been used for inexpensive wines. So, it is a big deal that the 2022 vintage of Bordeaux’s highly rated Chateau Pontet-Canet will arrive in a 750ml standard bottle that is 315g lighter than in the past, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 39 per cent.

Argentina’s Zuccardi is putting all its top wines, including those costing US$200 and more, in lighter 570g bottles – down from 900g – starting with the 2022 vintage.

Some wineries are going further. The Catena Zapata Vista Flores malbec premiered in a 380g bottle. Expect many more producers to follow suit in 2025.

Still, you will not see a grand wine in Frugalpac’s Bordeaux-style “bottles” made from 94 per cent recycled paper – even though, at 83g, they are five times lighter than a standard bottle.

Bonny Doon was the first US brand to use them in 2024 for its pink wine, Carbon Nay, and more are coming.

But drink up, because the bottles can be kept for only a year to 18 months. BLOOMBERG