The future of wine: what might the next 50 years have in store?

It’s a chilly evening in 2074, The Society’s bicentenary year, and you’re looking forward to a well-earned glass after a long day. What will you be picking out?

Perhaps you’ll finally crack open that stylish 50cl tube (made from a complex patchwork of recycled and recyclable polymers) you’ve been saving? 57% of the wine is comforting full-bodied cabernet sauvignon from a highly regarded new vineyard in Norway; the remainder is from cabernet’s Bordeaux heartland, but the grapes here are hybrid varieties grown to better withstand the current climate in this part of France. Their suitability for blending, and even their picking dates, were selected by an AI-powered wine bot you’ve been following for some time.

You’ve loved everything this bot has recommended so far, but perhaps this one’s a bit extravagant for a weeknight, so you find yourself switching on your faithful drinks dispenser instead. Like a kind of vinous inkjet printer, it takes cartridges, and you’ve just had a trusty drone delivery of some fresh ones to make your favourite blend. It hits the spot.

Congratulating yourself on your excellent taste, you download the blend’s QR code to your phone. You’re meeting a friend at a bar later in the week, and you plan to impress them by pouring them a glass of your blend from the bar’s own drinks dispenser. You hope their blend, which you’ll doubtless be made to try afterwards, won’t be too much of a chore – you've always found their efforts a little over-reliant on the ‘medium-bodied shiraz’ capsule...

Half a century from now, Wine Society members may well look back on the above and laugh at how wrong these predictions turned out to be, but they are far from wild guesses given what we know now, in 2024. And with the final tranche of wines in our 150th anniversary Generation Series attempting to gaze into a crystal ball and pick out what we believe to be some of the wine trends to come, it felt an opportune time to talk to our buyers and experts about what they think wine, and wine enjoyment, might look like in the next 50 years.

A white-knuckle ride ahead in the vineyard

It might be easy to view the wine glass half-empty when considering the topic at face value: wine is facing a huge number of challenges. As an agricultural product, it’s already being shaken up by a changing climate along with a host of socio-economic factors, ranging from economic tremors to a consumer base drinking less alcohol.

As our Director of Wine Pierre Mansour says, however, ‘Wine production has always had to adjust over the centuries – the Bordeaux of 50 years ago was very different from the claret being made today. We’ll see existing regions adapt and new areas develop in tandem. It’s all good for quality, which has never been better. Members will try new styles and try new wines from new regions, and that’s exciting.’

What sort of new regions? ‘Higher-altitude vineyards in hotter regions will be increasingly sought-after, but areas that weren’t previously on our radar will come into play as well. For our Generation Series, we looked at Scandinavia and China, for example: the quality-value ratio wasn’t quite right for it yet, but 50 years from now, things might be different. One area where the quality absolutely is there, of course, is England. The recent rise of English still wines, combined with provenance and local sourcing becoming an increasingly important trend, led us to source a fantastic chardonnay  for our Generation Series.’

Burgundy buyer Toby Morrhall agrees that ‘climate change would be uppermost on my mind’, and that vineyards, and the way we classify and tend them, will have to adapt. ‘Historically the best-quality wine regions in the northern hemisphere had vineyards situated at the northern limit of ripening for each grape variety to maximise hang time, so sugars and phenolic substances ripened together in the cool of the autumn but before the rains came. But some of these south-east facing sites are now ripening at the end of August, and there can be problems with grapes attaining sugar ripeness, but with tannins that are still green. Today, some less historically favourable expositions and cooler sites are now producing better-balanced grapes. It is often required to modify pruning and training to allow more shade. Long term, there may be requirements to plant grape varieties further north or in cooler sites.’

Vineyard systems aren’t the only thing having to change; so too are the nature and frequency of the decisions wine growers have to make, in all areas of what they do. Buyer Tim Sykes told me his most recent visit to Bordeaux made him reflect on ‘just how many decisions the châteaux are having to make on an almost daily basis. Do I seed the space between the vines to improve soil health and biodiversity? If so, what are the implications during a particularly dry spell? How should I prune this year? Should I continue to be organic having lost 80% of my crop to mildew last year? Which of the multitude of environmental certifications is the most appropriate for my vineyards? With climate change should I be planting different varieties?  Everything is becoming increasingly unpredictable, and vital decisions are having to be made all the time.’

Picking, packaging and personalising the wines of the future

Tim’s conclusion was that ‘there is an accelerating need to be adaptable’, and with adaptability comes innovation, something Pierre is adamant about the need for. ’Wine has not been that innovative as an alcoholic product compared to other categories. Frankly, it now has to be. One example we’ve been looking at is cross-regional and even cross-country blending: trying to create a wine that tastes delicious and that offers something different.’

Not all our buyers believed cross-regional wines would become a marked trend over the next 50 years, but it does present a potential, interesting option for winemakers.  As Pierre noted, ‘the long-held belief is that the greatest wines have to come from single terroirs, and while we believe single-site wines will continue to be important, this new category presents an interesting counterpoint to challenge this idea.’

Another challenge to the established order of what makes a great wine is the grape varieties used. ‘We’ll see grapes not previously regarded as ‘noble’ varieties starting to produce cracking wines,’ says Pierre. ‘We’re seeing it already, in fact. Aligoté in Burgundy (another wine included in our Generation Series) springs to mind: a high-acid grape that more growers are turning to due to climate change.’ Sarah Knowles MW, buyer for Italy, is excited by the potential for white grapes in the south such as falanghina, fiano and grillo. ‘They seem to shut down when the temperature hits 40C and can make lovely, fresh wines.’

Then there’s the subject of hybrid grapes, one of which you can also find in our Generation Series Sauvignac. Matthew Horsley (who buys our range from England, where seyval blanc counts as perhaps the best-known example of this type of grape) explains: ‘Unlike a normal crossing between two vitis vinifera species such as pinotage (pinot noir x cinsault), hybrids are the result of a crossing between two or more vitis species such as vitis vinifera with vitis labrusca or ruparia. The result is an entirely new grape variety with characteristics from both (or multiple) typically designed to counter a particular malady, such as susceptibility to drought, excessive heat or cold, downy or powdery mildew, or botrytis.

‘For some time now, hybrids have been looked on fairly negatively, typically confined to the outer limits of viticultural possibility where seasons and growing conditions are too harsh for the less resilient vitis vinifera varieties we know and love. But with greater knowledge and improved handling, these hybrids are now capable of producing something genuinely interesting.  And with climate change increasingly affecting harvests, and with increased disease pressure due to uncharacteristic weather patterns, the need for disease-resistant varieties able to withstand such unpredictable weather events is ever more appealing.’

Thankfully, opinions on hybrids are slowly changing. Recently a select few varieties including floréal, sauvignac and sauvignier gris have been permitted use as blending or ‘accessory’ varieties among the wines of the Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur appellations. Although I don’t predict your bottle of Cru Classé Pauillac will be 100% cabernet noir anytime soon, their appearance in blends, especially for white wines, is already being seen.’

What these wines of the future will be packaged in is of course another thing liable to change significantly. Simon Mason, our head of wine sustainability, is convinced that whether the industry ends up favouring cardboard, plastic or yet-to-be-invented materials, one thing that will change is the size. ‘The apocryphal story about the 75cl size becoming the default to begin with is because of the size of glass-blowers' lungs: if you could start from scratch, which we can, in an era where people are going to be drinking less alcohol, which they will, the consensus seems to be that 50cl will become the standard.
 
‘Packaging reuse is another thing I hope we’ll see more of: if a UK-wide consensus could be reached, we’d make great strides in reducing emissions. A ‘closed-circle’ shared-use system between retailers and consumers may well be on the way in the future. You buy a standard container of a wine, you drink it, you return the container to another retailer if you wish, and so on.

‘The other big trends to look out for are low and no-alcohol wines and drinks – the increases in technology mean it’ll be much easier to reduce alcohol with much tastier results – and an increase in consumer choice and empowerment. If you’re a wine drinker in the UK, the combination of reuse schemes, new varieties and new categories is going to give you much more choice.

‘You’ll still have winemakers making wines, of course, but it’s not out of the question to then have these used as components to be blended by others, whether sommeliers or indeed consumers, to come up with personalised wines. Whether it’s using technology to create something bespoke that you can enjoy in any establishment that has that tech, or blending wine with other drinks in the way we see now with cocktails, there are many exciting possibilities. Imagine having your ideal wine, anywhere you want it.

Château-GPT?  Artificial Intelligence in wine

As The Society turns 150, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence is seldom far from the headlines, with a general consensus that we stand on the cusp of an historic and dramatic effect on our world. What this will look like for wine remains a matter of conjecture in most regards, but our experts had several ideas and thoughts.  Indeed, Ricard Giner-Sariola from our Committee has written a fascinating article on what AI might mean for The Wine Society. 

‘It’s going to mean much better vineyard management for one thing,’ says Pierre. Simon agrees: ‘At this early stage, we can take advantage of it by feeding it data: if you want to reduce the use of spraying, for example, AI could study satellite imaging and suggest changes, such as planting different disease-resistant grapes, or honing in on areas that do or don’t need as much intervention.’ Matthew is also mindful of AI drones’ potential, enabling as they could ‘extremely detailed mapping and early spotting of vine diseases.’

Simon concludes that, ‘For the moment it is about responding to specific issues, rather than harnessing it for a more creative approach in winemaking, blending or things like that.’ One thing everyone can agree on, however, is the potential it has to change the industry, like so many other areas of our lives, is huge. We already use some elements of AI on our website to help personalise experience for members: it certainly does not feel too far-fetched to suggest that in 50 years from now, AI could select and serve personalised wines and products, too.  

Of course, this only scratches some of the proverbial surfaces of what might be in store. Anyone reading this at The Society's 200th AGM may find themselves spitting out their AI-generated personalised blends in incredulity that we didn't even mention the trading of NFTs revolutionising the fine wine primeurs market, or the use of genetically modified grape varieties; or that drones were only mentioned in passing, when they’ve already replaced the tractor entirely. Whatever the next half-century holds, however, we look forward to providing our members with the most delicious of what it has to offer.

>> Discover a taste of the future with our Generation Series wines.