Trend Forecasting: Natural Wine in 2023!!
Some things you can expect to see in wine in 2023: like vermouth! And the resurgence of old school-made-cool.
2023 on the horizon, can ya believe it!? It’s time for my yearly forecast. Feels like just yesterday I was telling you about fruit wine.
You may or may not know this, but I studied Trend Research in my post-graduate program in Barcelona. I was basically taught to analyze and map behaviors & then apply theories in order to understand society and consumption. And let me tell you, once you see it, you cannot unsee it. So naturally, I apply it to everything.
This week, I’m applying it to natural wine and, given what we know, what can we expect in the industry in 2023. Here are two trends I’m forecasting for the next year. Feel free to come back in 6 months and let me know I was right :)
AN ODE TO TRADITIONAL NATTY WINES
In 2023, we can expect to see the aesthetics around natural wine begin to change. Natty wines are known for being the antithesis to buttoned-up, ‘traditional’ and conventional wines, with their cute labels and bright juicy colors and more experimental techniques. Next year however, I think we’re gonna see shift toward more traditional wine styles, as well as in branding.
With more producers and brands in the market than ever before, AND a growing consumer audience, winemakers want to be taken seriously (especially the ones known for their cutesy colorful brands). This will reflected in their presentation and their wine making. In trend research, we call this: a contra-trend, or a response to a trend which has gone mainstream (in this case, the light hearted, casual natural wine aesthetic).
We’ll see more brands experimenting with high-brow editions to their portfolios, where winemakers will flex their winemaking skills to show us that they’re more than just chuggable, chilled reds. I’m noticing a lot of admiration for the Eric Kamms and Frederik Steen’s & other Old World wine geniuses, so I think we’ll see more producers trying to refine their style in ways that liken them to the GOATs.
With this new sophistication will come simpler, more minimal label designs— again an ode to the French bros: script font, Old-Word vibes, kinda like this:
With less emphasis on the label, producers are gonna let the juice do the talking. And it’s kind of a flex tbh. very BDE lol. So, goodbye orange wine as a marketing tactic. Hello to Alsatian-style wines. And truthfully, I think this is where we’re gonna see who’s who in the American low-intervention wine market. Those who can do these types of wine well, will stand out against those who are still riding the juicy-juice trend.
WINE + BOTANICALS! BOOM!
The biggest trend in wine we’ll see this coming year though, is definitely: WINES MADE WITH BOTANICALS. We’ve seen a lot of fruit wines in the last couple of years (wines made of pears, berries, apple etc—refresh your memory HERE). The evolution of that will be to level up fruit wine with botanicals! Think: flowers, herbs, berries, seeds! Some wineries have plenty experience in this and we’ll see them continue to shine, but we’ll also see producers experimenting with their own versions of wine infused with various botanicals and herbs to expand our taste horizons and create another layer of flavor profile and technique.
These are most commonly referred to as Fortified Wines, or wines that are made with some kind of spirit. Examples of fortified wines include: sherry, port, vermouth, marsala’s, etc. Because they’re fortified with a spirit, they last a bit longer than your average wine bottle and they’re known for being heartier in ABV (like, 15% or more). They might not be an everyday wine, but we can expect to see them around more.
I especially see a movement toward the resurgence of vermouth and other aromatized wines, or a wine infused with herbs, florals, and/or spices. This is done without a spirit, and thus has a lower ABV and puts them in a subcategory of fortified wine.
Once thought of as “grandpa wines” (truly though—my grandpa loves a fortified), they’re great to sip before or after dinner and are especially great now that we are finally in the era of the dinner parties and apertivos. These wines create an intersection between wine and cocktail; and vermouth has played an interesting role in the crossover of wine to cocktails because it’s found in many of our favorites: martinis, spritz, Negronis, and more. If you find yourself sipping these, then you’ve already been introduced to vermouths. And if you ordered a bottle of Como La Flor, then you’ve already started sipping aromatized wine. ;)
These are my predictions for 2023! I think there’s gonna be a lot of incredible innovation happening in the next year and I’m excited to see where it takes the industry. Make some space in your wine fridge for some fortified wines, some vermouth and explore this exciting (not-so-new) side of wine.
Thanks again for being the best group of supporters and wine friends. I love you and may your holidays be merrrryyyy and brighttttt. Salud!