Champagne house strikes, why Gen Z isn't drinking, China tariffs, Provence's first cru

Before I get to global news, some site news – Jancis Robinson, our editor-in-chief, has made #2 on the list of the 100 most influential people in the UK wine market compiled by the publication Drinks Retailing. Congratulations to everyone who made the list!

In addition, we’ve expanded our team by bringing on Josh Greene, previously the owner and editor-in-chief of the US publication Wine & Spirits. He will be working on expanding our reach in the US from his base on the east coast.  

Strikes at LVMH and Pernod Ricard

On 1 May Reuters reported that LVMH had warned employees that it planned to shrink its wine-and-spirits workforce by around 10%, equivalent to 1,200 employees. A representative for LVMH told the Financial Times that business had returned to 2019 levels and so staffing would as well.

Just-Drinks reports that on 13 May employees from Veuve Clicquot, owned by LVMH, protested the cuts while other LVMH employees gathered at Moët & Chandon to discuss possible courses of action.

Meanwhile, the same day, employees of Mumm and Perrier-Jouët, owned by Pernod Ricard, gathered outside Mumm to protest both a failure to increase salaries during annual negotiations as well as the potential sale of Mumm.

While these two protests don’t seem linked, both are caused by a downturn in wine sales which is necessitating businesses to shrink operations, ultimately resulting in staff reductions.

Why Gen Z drinks less

Until now, one of the most popular theories for why Gen Z is drinking less has been that they are more health conscious. A new report published by RaboBank suggests that the true culprits are mobile devices, social media and a change in demographics. The report details how the rise of cell phones has created a landscape where teenagers and twenty-somethings have fewer in-person social interactions – which is when most drinking would occur. Cell phones have also made it easier for parents to track their underage children, and have made it more likely that photos or videos of drinking may end up on social media, with negative outcomes for a student’s personal, academic and/or athletic life, so most Gen Zers are having their first experience with alcohol later in life. Gen Z is also a much more diverse group than previous generations and Black, Asian and Latino consumers historically drink less than white people. Additionally, women now outnumber men in the 25-and-under bracket of alcohol consumers – and women, when they drink, tend to drink about half as much as men do.

If you are at all involved in wine sales (or interested in social sciences), I highly recommend you give this report a read.

US–China tariff war cools

On 12 May the US and China agreed to lower tariffs imposed on one another for 90 days. The US will reduce the tariff on Chinese goods from 145% to 30% while China will reduce the tariff on US goods from 125% to 10%.

According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), China was the third largest market for US wine in 2024 after Canada and the UK, and it was the fastest-growing market. In addition, US wine producers buy a large amount of China-made glass. Lowering tariffs on both sides is decent news for the wine industry but tariffs still remain far higher than they were prior to when Trump took office.

Provence’s first cru

The Syndicat Côtes de Provence currently recognizes five Dénominations Géographiques Complémentaires or DGCs – which are, in essence, highly regarded subzones. These are Sainte-Victoire, La Londe, Fréjus, Pierrefeu and Notre-Dame des Anges. According to an article published in Decanter on 13 May, the Sainte-Victoire DCG (shown on the map at the top of this page) has achieved cru status. This seems to be strictly a legislative change with no additional requirements of the sub-zone.

2024 Bordeaux en primeur announcements continue

Coverage of 2024 EP continues in our forum with announcements on Leoville Barton, Gloria, Chevalier, Beychevelle and others. The most intriguing announcement was from Mouton-Rothschild who dropped prices by 22.2% compared with 2023 – this puts their EP price well under current market value – which is the way EP is supposed to work!

That’s all for this episode of the wine news. If you enjoy this newscast and would like to see it continue, please subscribe to JancisRobinson.com. And if you have breaking news in your area, please email news@jancisrobinson.com.

This is a transcript of our weekly five-minute news broadcast, which you can watch below. You can listen to it on The Wine News in 5 Podcast. If you enjoy this content and would like to see more like it, please subscribe to our site and our weekly newsletter.

Map at top courtesy of Vins de Provence.

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France Champagne US wine market China Provence Bordeaux 2024

Samantha Cole-Johnson