Campaigns to Help Consumers Connect Over Wine
The state of the wine industry continues to be that people aren’t drinking enough wine. Total wine volume declined 4.5% to 315.7 million 9-liter cases in 2025, according to the 2026 Wine Handbook, published by the Beverage Information Group.
That amounts to a loss of 14.9 million cases from the prior year and the category’s fourth consecutive annual decline. The back-to-back decreases recorded in 2024 (-3.6%) and 2025 represent the steepest annual volume losses in recent history, underscoring the significant challenges facing the U.S. wine industry.
A key issue for the category is that younger people aren’t embracing wine the way their parents did. It also doesn’t help that their parents, and grandparents, are moving or have moved past their peak wine-drinking years. What to do to stem or reverse the wine decline?
Come Together, A Community for Wine, has created a few wine advocacy campaigns including Come Over October and Share & Pair Sundays. Founded in 2024 by wine writer and author Karen MacNeil, Gino Colangelo of Colangelo & Partners, and Kimberly Noelle Charles, DipWSET, of Charles Communications Associates, the company aims to tell the story of wine’s historic and contemporary role as a beverage that brings people together.
A new national consumer survey conducted by Come Over October in partnership with LocalWineEvents.com finds consumers associate sharing wine with fun, friendship and connection. Nearly half (41%) of respondents said that having a specific occasion or reason to gather, such as Come Over October, would make them more likely to host a gathering with wine.
Now entering its third year, Come Over October is a national campaign built around a simple invitation: Ask a friend or friends to come over, share some wine and make time for one another during the month.
Come Over October, a national campaign started in 2024, aims to encourage people to invite friends over to share some wine.
Findings from the 2026 Wine & Gathering Study, which included 1,553 respondents across two surveys, point to opportunities for the wine industry. People may be drinking differently, but they’re still looking for reasons to connect around wine.
When asked what would make them more likely to host a gathering with wine, 44% of the survey respondents cited easy recipe and food-pairing ideas, 41% said a specific occasion or reason to gather, and 32% said wine recommendations for different budgets or occasions.
The study also indicated a link to the presence of wine and perceptions of social connection. In the two surveys, respondents were shown versions of the same dinner image — one group saw guests drinking wine, the other saw them drinking water. Those shown the wine version were more likely to describe the people as close or old friends (48% vs. 38% that saw the water version), the atmosphere as warm and relaxed (73% vs. 65%), the occasion as special or memorable (25% vs. 16%), and the gathering as generous and well hosted (21% vs. 13%).
With so many competing beverage alcohol options, from spirits and cocktails to beer and hard seltzer, as well as CBD/THC drinks, emphasizing wine’s role with food can be a differentiator. Share & Pair Sundays, which concluded its second annual nine-week run in June, celebrates the ritual of gathering around wine and food. More than 13,000 winery events took place from May 3 through June 28 this year to bring together consumers, wineries, retailers, restaurants and hospitality partners around shared experiences.
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