The fat, purple, just-picked grape clusters filling a bin on the loading dock at Sauvage Spectrum Estate Winery were full of juicy promise. They had just come from the vineyards that unfurl in every direction from Sauvage, and they were headed to a crusher and fermentation tank.

These particular Mourvèdre grapes have avoided the fate of many acres of Grand Valley wine grapes that are being left to drop from the vines this fall. There is no market for them.

Wine sales have dropped 19% in Colorado since 2020 when pandemic isolation drove up the appeal of a relaxing glass of vino. So far this year, Colorado wine consumption has sagged 6.2%. 

It’s not just a problem in Colorado and in the state’s prime wine country, a valley that produces the majority of the state’s wine grapes. It’s a global dilemma that is hurting wineries and grape growers from Bordeaux to Paso Robles.

“The whole industry is wobbling,” said Kyle Schlachter, executive director of the Colorado Wine Board.

There is blame to go around.

The wine industry’s once reliable baby boomer consumers, whose old-age medications might not mix well with alcohol, are drinking less. The younger cocktail-in-a-can set is failing to universally embrace the whirl-and-sniff world of wine appreciation. And those GLP-1s, the so-called “fat drugs,” play a part. They shut off cravings for that cold glass of chardonnay as well as for what’s on the charcuterie tray.

Some in the wine industry also throw out the term “neo-Prohibitionism.” It refers to some health authorities declaring alcohol unhealthy in any amount. That follows a time when red wine, in particular, was lauded as good for the heart. 

Whatever the blend of reasons, last year in the Grand Valley’s designated American Viticulture Area there were no buyers for a third of the 500 or so acres of grapes. About 20% of grapes didn’t end up in fermentation tanks the previous year.

For the past three years, more Grand Valley grape vines have been pulled up than planted.

Some vintners say the problem hinges not on too many grapes, but on too few of the varieties vintners want. 

“We’re all kind of looking for answers,” said Kaibab Sauvage, who has been growing grapes and pioneering new varietals in the valley for nearly a quarter century. 

Sauvage said he is pivoting this year by discarding three to four bins of Mourvèdre grapes that have no buyers. He is planning to rip out one of 5 acres of his once-prized Malbec grapes. 

That predicament ripples across the Grand Valley’s 30 wineries. A few are not making any wine this year. Some are cutting back on what they produce. Some are using their vineyards as landscaping rather than productive crops as visitors to wineries expect to see picturesque vines hugging tasting rooms. 

“We’re being strategic. We’re not making more wine than we need,” said Onyx Cly-Peek, assistant manager at Grande River Vineyards, one of the oldest wineries in the state. Grande River has grown grapes since 1987, but it has sold off most of its vineyards and is down to 13 acres of grapes, Cly-Peek said.

Some vintners are quietly bringing in cheaper out-of-state grapes to cut costs. It is more expensive to grow grapes around Palisade, in North America’s highest-altitude American Viticulture Area. The terroir — the unique character that a place imprints on wine — can be tricky in western Colorado with wide temperature fluctuations and damaging storms.

And bears.

“Colorado has a lot of challenges every year, and we have to deal with them,” said Kevin Webber, the CEO and cofounder of Carboy Winery, Colorado’s largest wine operation. This year bears gobbled up a chardonnay vineyard and Carboy, a company that has bought 850 tons of Colorado grapes over the past five years, was forced to bring in some out-of-state grapes to make up for the loss.

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