A tale of two wine cocktails

Three separate waves in the wine world are creating a similar trend. One wave is rooted in economics, one in history, and one in health. The effect of these waves is the same: interest in wine cocktails is rising.

The Spanish tale

“We have [employees] here who do a lot of research about consumer trends, why things happen, what is in the mind of the consumer,” said Eugeni Brotons, the global marketing director for Gonzalez Byass. What the researchers found, said Brotons, was that because of the 2008-09 economic crisis, there was a change in consumer drinking habits in the south of Europe. “Instead of going for dinner and then to the pub, then the disco, all of which is very expensive,” they started changing how they were being social, said Brotons.

The reason was primarily economic. “You spend a lot of money for dinner with some drinks, discos, tickets.” Not only is talking with friends over a drink cheaper, but in Spain, going for drinks is one of the key drivers of consumption, said Brotons.

In the four years following the financial crisis, unemployment in Spain reached 24.6%, with youth disproportionately hit: 52% of people under 25 years of age were out of work. Yet people could not stop meeting up with their friends, said Brotons. They just needed a less expensive way to do it. And that, said Brotons, “is the place of Vermouth. There are a lot of cocktails with Cognac, with Champagne, but these are very expensive products.” Vermouth, on the other hand, was relatively inexpensive and served simply—on ice, with a splash of soda water. Quite often, they were enjoyed on the terraces of cafes and vermuterias—bars specializing in Vermouth.

Because it was cheaper to have aperitivos at lunch or before dinner than to have drinks in a nightclub, people began meeting during the day – a habit that continued once hardship had passed.

Of course, one of the greatest verifications of a trend is when one of the multinational beverage corporations start believing in it. In 2018, Diageo bought the boutique Vermouth producer Belsazar. That year, their annual report said: “Through data and insights, we have identified a shift from late-night drinking to more casual occasions that often include food and an increase in new types of consumption occasions, such as festivals. The rise of the aperitif occasion also reflects this trend.”

While economics played an important role in the emergence of Vermouth as a popular social beverage in Spain, history was a factor, too. Spain has a long history with Vermouth, as does France and Italy. “This is something our grandparents did in the past, so there is a kind of going back to the basics, of history,” and by replicating a tradition their grandparents had, consumers felt a stronger connection to their culture amid uncertain times, Brotons said.

Although Spain has slowly recovered from the crisis, the drinking habits of its citizens has not changed. “Crisis makes people learn things,” said Brotons. People learned they could be social in a less expensive way without sacrificing the pleasure of having a drink. Now that the 2008 crisis has passed, the popularity of Vermouth is still growing because the consumers, Brotons said, remember what they have learned. “That’s something that keeps in their mind.”

The aperitivo drinkers in the vermuterias of Barcelona and Madrid are not enough to fuel Vermouth’s growth in popularity. Although Spain has a strong connection with Vermouth, it isn’t the only country where demand is growing. According to financial website MarketWatch, the global Vermouth market is projected to grow annually by 5.64% between 2019 and 2023, to an estimated $14bn.

Another wave contributing to the rise in Vermouth consumption is the popularity of cocktails and cocktail culture, combined with the movement towards less alcohol consumption worldwide.

“To dive into the historic side of cocktails we could say that Vermouth could be one of the founding pillars of the cocktail scene,” says Richard Gillam, spirits brand ambassador for Caves Wengler, and founder of Liquid Playground in Singapore. “One of the reasons I think that bartenders are loving Vermouth is because of the robust flavours they possess whilst also having a lower alcohol content which is currently a hot topic with the ‘no and low’ movement,” says Gillam.

No- and low-alcohol consumption, around the world, is certainly gaining traction because of changing attitudes and values. According to reports published by IWSR, 52% of alcohol consumers in the US are, or are trying, to reduce their alcohol intake. In the UK, its 65%; in Spain, 95%. A normal Vermouth and soda aperitivo—75ml of Vermouth with an equal amount of soda water—equals just over one standard unit of alcohol per serving, while the same measures of gin and tonic water equals three units.

Italian aperitivo

“Let me say that, of course, the elephant in the room at this moment is the spritz,” said Matteo d’Agostino, global trade marketing manager for Valdo Spumanti in Italy. While the Aperol spritz is nothing new in Italy, said d’Agostino, it “has become a global trend” in the past decade.
The Aperol spritz, made with a combination of Prosecco, Aperol, and soda water, saw an increase in popularity after 2008, for much the same reasons as Vermouth rose in Spain – after 2008, nightlife declined. “Nightlife moved from the night [in] restaurants and wine bars, to earlier in the day,” said d’Agostino. People started socialising at the end of work, before the beginning of dinner.

The popularity of the spritz spread to France, where the surge in demand was dramatic – and which introduced Prosecco to an audience notoriously chauvinistic about their own wines. Today, France is the fifth biggest market for Prosecco, “but five years ago, it was never mentioned in our records, because Prosecco was not imported to France,” said d’Agostino. “The key to that market was the spritz.”

Aperitivo culture spreads

Outside of Europe, the desire for similar wine cocktails to the spritz or Vermouth aperitivo revolves primarily around healthy living and lifestyle choices.

“Bars now are into sustainability and shim cocktails,” said Edriane Lim, senior bartender at The Bar at 15 Stamford in Singapore. “Consumers indulge in shim cocktails because they are usually light, easy-drinking, and they give you just the right amount of buzz.”

Shim cocktails, or simply “shims”, are cocktails made without high ABV hard liquor. Instead, shims rely on the use of lighter alcohols such as Vermouth, Sherry, Port, sparkling wine, or still wine as the liquor base. A lot of ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails, pre-mixed and sold in cans, are shims, including wine spritzers, which are rapidly increasing in popularity. Wine companies such as Barefoot and Concha y Toro have released canned wine spritzers to capture this market – according to the IWSR, the sector was worth $8bn in 2019, and is tipped to grow at a compounded annual rate of 39% until 2022.

The IWSR also reports that the reason consumers are switching to low-alcohol beverages like spritzers is the perception that the drinks are healthier. This is also one of the reasons Vermouth is seeing increased popularity in the Americas.

There is another factor that has helped drive the popularity of drinks such as Vermouth cocktails and the Aperol spritz. “Barcelona is a very touristic area,” said Brotons. Tourists come to Spain, see the locals enjoying the aperitivo on terraces and in tapas bars, and the tourists “like to experience the same”. They take the experience and enjoy it at home, which is something that expands and makes the trends last longer, said Brotons.

It was the combination of economic hardship and health awareness that fueled the growth of Vermouth cocktails and the Aperol spritz. Given the enormous impact of Covid-19 on the world economy – whose effects can only be guessed at – the wine-based cocktail trend isn’t likely to go away any time soon.

Not only that, but when people emerge from lockdown, the first thing they will want to do is go out and have a drink, while watching the pennies.
“It’s not an expensive experience,” said Brotons of the way the Spanish drink Vermouth. “It’s a nice social experience.”