The Astronomical Rise of White Wine Isn’t Just A Fad. Here’s Why.
Recently, Chris Baker, president of Brassfield Estate Winery in Lake County, California, got a call from a major grocery. Their Pinot Gris is flying off the shelves—can you make more?
Jamie Rubin, the sommelier consultant at Southwark and Ambra, ran into a similar problem: He couldn’t keep white wines on the list. “In May, we basically stopped selling reds,” Rubin says.
Recently, consumers seem to have been craving one thing: crisp white wines.
Sauvignon Blanc sales are surging. New Zealand’s exports of white wine grew 20% in the year ending June 2023. According to NIQ, while other wine sales remained stagnant or dropped, white table wines were the only category to see growth.
In red-ruled Piedmont, legendary brands like Pio Cesare and Ceretto are putting their weight behind white grapes like Arneis and Timorasso. In Napa, Sauvignon Blanc is growing in popularity and pedigree, with Chenin Blanc following suit. Then Gallo snatched up Rombauer, a Chardonnay house, and Dan Petroski’s “white wines only” brand Massican.
The moving target here is trendiness—something that can change with the seasons or last years. So, is white wine’s growth a quick blip, or indicative of more seismic cultural and viticultural shifts?
Unpacking the Fad
Baker thinks there’s a few things at play driving the growth.
Firstly, alcohol has been on the outs lately. With the WHO pushing anti-alcohol messaging, it’s understandable that drinkers flinch at high-abv reds. “Beverage alcohol has been under a microscope,” says Baker. He notes that white wines, especially high-acid, low-alcohol varieties like Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc, appeal to consumers who are navigating conflicting alcohol consumption messaging.
“Of course, it also helps when Taylor Swift mentions white wine 19 times in her songs,” he laughs.
Stephen Ott, who imports Mexican and Portuguese wines via Nossa Imports and has seen Vinho Verde sales spike, believes new demographics are pushing white wine sales. “In the past, high-end steakhouses, the country club dining room and the private collector’s cellars encouraged a focus on reds that pair with steak,” he says. “Now, this generation drinks wine at music festivals, camping trips and pools—white wines lend themselves better to these activities.”
Today’s drinkers also pair wine with a world of flavors. Look at this year’s James Beard Best New Restaurant nominees: Thai, Filipino, Mexican, Senegalese and a California seafood restaurant. The flavor profiles in these cuisines happen to work particularly well with white wines. “There’s an ever-broadening diversity of culinary traditions represented in restaurants,” says Ott. “White wines tend to have a broader pairing versatility. It’s driving sales.”
Moemu Seo, head sommelier and wine director at Bangkok Supper Club in New York City, has found customers have leaned hard into white wines with dishes her restaurant serves, ones that highlight acid, heat and aromatics.
But beyond food, she’s found today’s wine drinkers are just savvier. “Millennials and Gen-Z are curious drinkers—they ask questions and are open to suggestions.”
Move over Nebbiolo
Aiding in white wine’s ascension: red wine regions like Piedmont, Argentina and the Napa Valley are expanding their image to include not just excellent reds, but high-caliber white wines.
Langhe producer Ceretto is betting on Arneis, another ancient white grape from the region. “We’ll always be associated with Barolo and Barbaresco, but over the past several years we’ve seen a marked increase in interest in white and sparkling Moscato wines,” says Roberta Ceretto, director of marketing and communication and co-owner of Ceretto. “We believe this change is from people traveling more, and understanding different cultures and approaches to life, including a more holistic view of food and wine.”
When Pio Boffa, former patriarch of Pio Cesare, launched their Chardonnay in 1985, he called it PiodeLei: for the ladies. At the time, Chardonnay was virtually unknown in Piedmont—it was only drunk by, well, the ladies.
Now his daughter, winemaker Federica Boffa is waiting for her Timorasso, a native white variety, to age before it’s released for the first time. In the interim, she’s happy to direct drinkers to their new Barbaresco Sauvignon Blanc. It started as a favor—a Roman restaurant begged for a Sauvignon Blanc. They made it, loved it and committed.
Napa’s Next New Thing
This transition is happening all across the globe.
Cabernet has long been king in California, but its domination is beginning to wither. Sonoma County leads with the most Sauvignon Blanc acreage in the state. And, in Napa Valley, plantings of the crisp white grape are up 40% since 2000.
Other varietals are benefitting from the newfound interest in whites as well.
At Pine Ridge Vineyards in Napa, Colleen FitzGerald makes both Chenin Blanc and Viognier. She’s excited by how trendy white wines have become. “Napa has been so focused on Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s delicious, but I’m glad we are expanding outside of the norm,” she says.
“We also can’t ignore that the climate is changing,” she continues. “The varieties that have thrived in Napa may not be the best varieties to grow anymore. We should always be changing, adapting and experimenting with our vineyards and winemaking.”
Avery Heelen, winemaker at Larkmead Vineyards in Calistoga, is gearing up to release a Chenin Blanc. It’s one of the first grapes to graduate from her research block—a three-acre vineyard planted to help understand how non-Napa grape varietals interact with the valley’s changing climates.
In the interim, she’s quietly been releasing Tocai Friulano—under 100 cases and only for wine club members. She guesses the vines are over 100 years old, as they were already established when the family bought the property in 1948.
Both projects are exciting for her. “I see Tocai as the valley’s past and Chenin is a projection of our future.”
But neither project will start a shake-up of Larkmead’s current offerings. Napa is Cabernet land, and with the increasingly meteoric price of grapes, white wines aren’t fiscally promising.
So, she’s being careful, planting white wines as the soil dictates. “We just had a parcel of Cabernet taken out—it’s cool, wet and not an ideal soil for the grape,” says Heelen. “But that plot would be pretty good for white wine.”
White Wines and Climate Change
The attention on whites is exciting for Megan Cline, who oversees Cline Family Cellars in Sonoma. “It gives us even more motivation to keep making the wines we love—Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay—and experiment with varieties that typically would have gone into blends,” Cline says. They’re working on planting more white grapes. “It helps avoid the risks associated with wildfires, like smoke taint.”
In 2020, 40% of Pinot Noir crop was dumped or abandoned after catastrophic fires hit the west coast. Because of this, many winemakers pivoted—picking quickly and pressing the Pinot Noir into a white wine to avoid the smoke-tainted skins.
And this style—which includes still blanc de noirs, white Malbecs or golden Pinot Noirs—is growing outside fire years. Why? It’s a good use of leftover fruit and adds color to an all-red line-up.
Tony Rynders of Tendril Cellars in Oregon’s Willamette Valley makes white Pinot Noir every year. It’s expressive, age-worthy, and fills a gap between his Chardonnay and red Pinot Noir.
At Cline Family Vineyards in Sonoma, they’ve been making Grenache in a white wine style, purely for fun. “We serve it chilled,” says Cline. “It’s become a huge hit.”
Exploring the White Side of Red Regions
Like Piedmont and Napa Valley, other historically red-lead regions are starting to explore the potential of their white wines.
Spain’s Ramón Bilbao just released a new white, an early-harvest Verdejo, in response to growing demand for bright, fresh whites. "It is important to address the new demands of today's consumers with a lighter, fresher style and lower alcohol content,” says Rosana Lisa, the director of innovation at the winery. “Creating new styles to respond to this new demand is key to continuing to break barriers.”
In Argentina, Bodega Argento & Otronia just released their first white Malbec.
In the Rhône Valley, the Gigondas appellation has just allowed white wines into its fold. “We’re planting new plots of white grapes,” says Jean-Marie Amadieu, general manager, Pierre Amadieu. “We’re fortunate to have cool terroirs that lend themselves to white grapes, and we’ve had the demand from our distributors and customers for white wines,” Amadieu says.
They specialize in the white grape Clairette, which they’re reviving after the varietal fell into obscurity. “It was forgotten for so long because it didn’t meet market demands, but now it’s adapting to the climatic upheavals we’re experiencing,” he adds, noting that it produces regular yields and it’s fairly resistant to disease, drought and heat.
Bordeaux’s Château Fourcas Hosten is planting Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon to future-proof production. Even producers in the historically all-red appellation of Medoc are experimenting with whites. “We have the terroir to yield complex, exotic and fresh white wines on limestone,” says Chateau Fonplegade general manager Eloi Jacob—so, they’re using the plot to explore and practice biodynamics.
He’s excited by the potential. “White wines will help the wines of Bordeaux to stay on consumer’s radars,” says Jacob.
Unsweetening Dessert Wines
The rise in crisp white wines is also affecting white dessert wines. Sweet-centric producers are exploring the dryer side of their offerings.
In Andalucia, a cottage industry of cool producers, including Ramiro Ibanez of Cota 45 and Raúl Moreno Yague who makes wines under his eponymous label, are crafting unfortified wines from Palomino Fino. They offer all the salty, savory notes of sherry, but in a lighter, lower-abv format that appeals to new generations.
In Hungary, Royal Tokaji has been investing more in dry Furmints. It’s demand-based—their dry wines are getting a lot of attention—but also they only make honeyed, botrytis-infected Aszu in the best vintages. Why not make dry wines in the interim?
Alsace isn’t new to the world of dry white wines. But during the late ’90s, they lost that plot as hot vintages hit and sweeter, more extracted wines grew in popularity. “Those off-dry wines are pleasant for one glass, but it’s less common to have two glasses or a bottle—there’s too much sweetness,” says Foulques Aulagnon, the export marketing manager for Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d'Alsace.
“As the new generations come in, there’s been a huge revival of dry white wines from Alsace,” says Aulagnon. Understandable—they’re light on their feet, fresh on the palate, low-ish in alcohol, and pair well with a world of food. “We’re not making these wines to be mode [trendy],” he adds. “They just are.”
More White Wine Coverage
- The difference between white and red wine glasses, explained.
- Meet Gouais Blanc, the “Cassanova” of cultivars that is behind many of your favorite varietals.
- Explore aromatic white wines from California’s central coast.
- Get to know skin-contact white wines.
- We rounded-up expert-recommended dry white wines for cooking.
- Furmint, the Hungarian white grape, is often used in sweet wines but its dry side is equally alluring.
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