If Central California’s Santa Ynez Valley, in Santa Barbara County, is known for anything, it’s summer.
Of course, it’s not as famous as Napa or Bordeaux, but this bucolic region of rolling hills dotted with majestic oaks produces excellent pinot noir, chardonnay and syrah. Remember the movie “Annes,” about two sad sacks who wander through wine country complaining about merlot and their love lives? The movie sunk the reputation of Merlot for decades and dramatically raised the reputation of pinot and was filmed almost entirely in and around Solvang, Buellton and Los Olivos.
Truckloads of wine enthusiasts flocked here after the Oscar-winning film was released 20 years ago, and they haven’t stopped. But they have changed, in one important way: today’s tourists are less interested in summer these days.
Across the industry, winemakers and wine merchants are horrified. Sales fell 2.6% globally in 2023 from a year earlier and 3% in the US.
Younger millennials and Gen Z are drinking less alcohol overall, and when they do, they’re distracted by all kinds of consumer competition, from beer and craft cocktails to spirits.
A boom in demand during the early years of the pandemic led to a frenzy of overproduction, and now a glut, at the worst possible time. In July, California’s Vintage Wine Estates, one of the country’s largest wineries, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is liquidating its assets.
As the dust settles, regions that once could count on a steady stream of wine lovers year-round have been forced to pivot and tell a different story about why wine country is still worth visiting.
In the Santa Ynez Valley, that’s not a hard sell. The region is stunningly beautiful, six charming towns linked together by winding roads and gravel cycling paths and daring hikes into the surrounding mountains – or into the vines themselves.
“The farm walk is just wonderful,” said Samra Morris of Alma Rosa Winery, which now offers guided walks to guests. “You’ll see deer, ivy growing, wild turkeys running past you, and mist engulfing the mountains.”
Solvang’s Danish roots are on display throughout the city, from its blue-and-white architecture to an impressive collection of dangerously delicious pastries with brunsvigers and fastelavnsboller, but it’s also home to no less than three restaurants in the Michelin Guide, one of to whom it is a Bib Gourmand.
“Younger generations want experiences; they don’t want to go sit in wood-paneled tasting rooms inside and closed,” said Anna Ferguson-Sparks, who handles marketing for Solvang. “They want views, grass around them, farm animals. They want to move, to eat in a wine environment.”
The valley has always been a big cycling draw – Lance Armstrong once trained here and many professional cyclists still live here – but there has also been a healthy amount of summer tourism. But Corey Evans, who owns Santa Barbara Wine Country Cycling Tours, says lately his customers are less likely to be interested in alcohol after the ride, so he’s expanded the options.
“We’re especially getting the younger crowd who don’t drink at all, so instead of going to a vineyard, we’ll set up in a park, or an apple orchard, and do a local farm-to-table lunch. picnic,” Evans said. “We’ll sometimes customize the tours with olive oil flavors or cupcake flavors.”
On the Central Coast, visitors to Paso Robles’ Linne Calodo aren’t necessarily less frequent, but they come at less predictable times, said winemaker Matt Trevisan. He is convinced that winegrowers who dedicate themselves to the craft not just as a business venture, but as a way of life, will have no problem surviving the modern moment.
“People have always come here to ride their bikes, on relatively traffic-free roads,” Trevisan said. “Going out to the village is a pleasant experience. The kitchen scene is also great. You go outside the city to a small town. I like to share this experience with other people. Wine has been around for thousands of years. It’s not going anywhere.”
“We’re especially getting the younger crowd who don’t drink at all … so sometimes we’ll customize the tours with olive oil tastings or cupcake flavors.”
Corey Evans of Santa Barbara Wine Country Cycling Tours
In Napa, winemakers who make sparkling wines that are naturally lower in alcohol and higher in acid are finding themselves in demand, said Allison Wilson, director of vineyard operations at Domaine Carneros.
“Boomers are really into buying their own wines and having a wine cellar and aging them,” says Wilson. “I think the younger generations have less patience and less money, to be honest. They’re drinking what they buy.”
There is also an effort to make the wine drink market a little wider. In 2022, J Vineyards launched a program called Shifting the Lens, which pairs minority chefs with winemakers for twice-yearly residencies that culminate in a dinner series that pairs unlikely cuisine with wine.
The August residency featured Los Angeles chef Rashida Holmes, who matched some of her Bahamian favorites with various J wines.
It’s happening outside of California, too. Oregon’s Willamette Valley was recently ranked among the top U.S. destinations for wine country biking, and neighboring McMinnville has several shops that offer analog and e-bike rentals for visitors to ride dozens of trails that wind throughout the valley.
Each year, there are harvest festivals with music, vendors and family-friendly activities.
“People are coming for more than just wine,” said Heather Miller of Inn the Ground, a luxury ranch-based property near Carlton in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
The inn offers free tours of the farm to anyone staying on the property, and recently added a stronger tour that ends with a plate of food, including preserves and local meats. “They are walking, taking day trips to the coast. The wine country is well located for people who are touring Oregon to stop for a few days on their way to another country.
In Walla Walla, Wash., while summer is still the biggest tourist draw, visitor interests have changed, says Morgan Davis, general manager of the Finch, a boutique hotel that features a series of bike storage lockers around the property.
In 2023, the hotel began a new collaboration with Kickstand Tours, providing the company with a base camp to launch tours that start and end at the hotel. “We’re seeing a fundamental shift in tourism,” Davis said. “There is more focus on outdoor recreation, arts and culture, food and agritourism. We have vast countryside, perfect for free riding on e-bikes and road cycling, as well as the virtually untapped foothills of the Blue Mountains.”
Mike Martin owns Walls Vineyards and a restaurant in Walla Walla, but he gets it — he moved here for the golf, not the wine.
“There’s a lot of cycling, mountain biking. Bluewood Ski Area if you hit it on the right days is a fantastic day of skiing,” he says. “There’s hiking, biking, golf, world-class fly fishing. It’s as much an outdoor paradise as it is a place to eat. and drink.”
While wine is facing what Martin called “demographic headwinds,” people are still drinking wine, he said, just differently. Visitors spend more time at fewer wineries, which “raises the bar for places like Muret to make things more immersive,” he said. “We added a food program to our tasting, which is already a pretty immersive side-by-side five-glass tasting with the option to add our Pášxa wines. It’s not designed for people to pop in and out.”
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