The category loosely defined as “wellness” or “better-for-you” wines has taken off over the past half-decade, drawing a variety of players all eager to tap into the desire for healthier lifestyle choices. Twelve leading brands combined for an 14% increase in 2023, reaching 2.07 million cases, according to Impact Databank. Volume of those leading 12 brands has more than quadrupled since 2020. 

The audience for better-for-you wines is generally younger—Millennial and Gen Z drinkers—and is often comprised of people who desire to maintain social interaction and enjoy wine while adhering to health values or goals, says Treasury Americas president Ben Dollard. Treasury has found success with Matua Lighter ($12 a 750-ml.), a lower alcohol, lower abv version of its popular Matua wine brand. 

“We’ve found that most consumers still purchase traditional wine for various occasions, but they’ve now added no and low-alcohol wines to their repertoire among other ways of practicing moderation,” Dollard says. “Overall, we’ve seen demand increase in this space. Sober curious trends have continued to grow, flexibility has become a key purchase motivator, and generally more options are available and more visible.”

Scheid Family Wines was one of the early players in the field, launching Sunny With a Chance of Flowers ($12-$20 a 750-ml.) in 2020. Executive vice president Heidi Scheid says the combination of health and wellness became a focal point for many consumers in all product categories, and the early success of White Claw, with its prominent calorie statement on the front of the package, led her to channel efforts in that direction on the wine side. Sunny With a Chance of Flowers gained considerable traction right away, and was quickly met with competition. “We were one of the first ones out of the gate and now it feels like every week there’s something new,” Scheid says. “It just points to the strength of the category.” 

While the competition initially was welcomed “because one wine does not a category make,” Scheid notes that things have now become a bit crowded. “Because we were an early entrant, we do have an established base, and we’re a little bit different, just in the name alone,” Scheid continues. “It’s not all about being better for you. It’s really about your mental state. Sunny With a Chance of Flowers is a wine of positivity. And that seems to resonate very well.”

Brand Proliferation

While brands like Sunny With a Chance of Flowers, Fitvine from O’Neill Vintners & Distillers, and Liquid Light from Ste. Michelle Wine Estates laid the groundwork for wellness wines, they’re now faced with serious competition as major brand franchises make inroads into the category. Several of today’s top-performing brands were nascent or non-existent just four years ago. “There has been a rush to innovate in that space, and we’ve seen a proliferation of new items come onto the scene,” says Brie Wohld, vice president of marketing for Trinchero Family Estates. “It’s shifted the dynamic quite a bit. The brands that were playing in that space early on were brands that tended to be solely focused on that type of low calorie, low alcohol proposition. Then we saw a lot of the bigger brands start to get into the space—Kim Crawford, Cupcake, Meiomi, and Yellow Tail. That shifted the dynamic within the landscape quite a bit as we saw consumers who were familiar with some of those big brands show interest in maybe entering the category through brands they already knew.”

Trinchero has taken a page from that playbook with the launch of Ménage à Trois Light ($10 a 750-ml.), a 90-calorie, 8% abv red blend, which debuted exclusively at Target this spring. “It’s a brand in the red blend space that consumers know and trust,” she says. “I think for those who are interested in trying a new low-calorie option, they may be likely to trust a brand that they already know to give them a truly delicious red wine experience, but with less calories and alcohol.”

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates is also broadening its footprint in low-calorie, low-alcohol wine with the launch this year of Chateau Ste. Michelle Light Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc (each $13 a 750-ml.). “We know there’s a growing number of consumers wanting to make healthier lifestyle choices who are looking for lighter options in wine,” says marketing director Tim Cannon. The new entrants contain 80 calories, zero sugar, and 9% abv. “We’re fortunate that Washington’s unique growing conditions allow grapes from select vineyards to reach full flavors at lower sugar levels. Grapes picked at naturally lower sugar levels produce less alcohol in the wines, which helps us to achieve the lower 9% alcohol with minimal alcohol extraction after fermentation.”

Kendall-Jackson Lower Calorie Chardonnay ($15 a 750-ml.) was launched in 2021 “but last year was when it really took hold,” says Marcelo Aguero, executive vice president of marketing and DTC at Jackson Family Wines. The consumer adoption has been so strong that the company is expanding its lower-calorie range with the launch of a Sauvignon Blanc and a rosé this year. The rosé will be smaller production with distribution focused mainly on California, Aguero says, while the Sauvignon Blanc has been released nationally, hitting the market last month.

Gallo has ramped up its presence to include Starborough Starlite ($12 a 750-ml.), a 90 calorie, 9% abv Sauvignon Blanc. The company’s Black Box Brilliant ($23 a 3-liter box) comes in with even lower impact at just 70 calories per serving and 6.5% abv. In summer 2023, Gallo acquired Bev, a woman-owned brand specifically targeted at female consumers. The brand has a higher 100-calorie count and 11.9% abv, but contains zero sugar and is gluten free, carrying the motto “Made by Chicks and Good Dudes,” notes Gallo’s senior marketing director Adrienne Daniels.

Francis Ford Coppola Winery entered the fray early this year. The winery added Vibrance Pinot Grigio ($15 a 750-ml.) to its Diamond Collection. Vibrance Pinot Grigio offers a similar flavor profile and the Diamond Collection Pinot Grigio, but with 80 calories, 8% abv, and 3 grams of carbohydrates per 5-ounce serving. “The demand for low-calorie, low-abv wine offerings has skyrocketed over the past year,” says Mary Wachowicz, marketing director for the Coppola portfolio. “Super-premium wines ($11-$15) are a booming segment within the light wine category, claiming a sizable 40% share of total dollar sales as the best-selling light wine price segment.”

Consumer Patterns

In the midst of all the product activity, marketers are scrambling to figure out the consumer behaviors that drive purchases. Do better-for-you wine consumers stick in the low-calorie, low-alcohol segment or do they sometimes drink traditional wine? And how does non-alcoholic wine fit? “We’re noticing that wine drinkers look for different products to fulfill different needs at different times,” says Gallo’s Daniels. “The wine someone chooses for a weeknight gathering with their friends is often different from the wine they choose for a date with their partner that weekend, for example.” Trinchero has found that there’s lots of movement from consumers, Wohld says. “We’ve segmented this consumer base of non-alcohol or low-alcohol drinkers into three different groups—the substituters, the abstainers, and the traditionalists,” she says. “A lot of these folks are operating in a very fluid way. Where they fit into the segmentation probably changes for a lot of them, based on the occasion. They consume regular abv drinks, but they’re seeking moderation at times through some sort of swap out with either no- or low-alcohol options.” 

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates also has comprehensive consumer data. “Moderation is a trend among all ages,” says Cannon. “Younger ages are more likely than older cohorts to switch between full alcohol and ‘light’ or low/no-alcohol products either in the same occasion—‘blenders’—or across different occasions—‘substituters.’” Citing research showing that consumers who purchase “light” wine often purchase other beverage alcohol, Cannon adds, “This suggests they aren’t purchasing light wine exclusively but instead for certain occasions.”

And some better-for-you wines are allowing marketers to reach an entirely new audience. “About 41% of the consumers who’ve purchased our low-calorie Chardonnay are new to the Kendall-Jackson franchise,” notes Aguero. “For us, that’s probably one of the most rewarding things about launching this entry, because it is all about reaching a new audience and a new drinker.”

On-premise Push

One aspect of the lighter wine category that puzzles some marketing executives is the reticence of restaurants and bars to get on board. Wellness wines have made some inroads in the on-premise, of course, but not to the extent that many expected. Low- or no-alcohol and/or low-calorie entrants seem like an obvious fit when “lighter fare” menus are prevalent and there is ongoing concern about driving after drinking. 

“The on-premise has been slow to it, which was surprising to us because I think there’s a great opportunity for low-alcohol in the on-premise given that lot of people drive to restaurants and they need to drive home,” says Scheid. “There’s a big difference between drinking a 9% wine and drinking a 14% wine. We really thought there was going to be some opportunities, especially for restaurants that might have brunch menus, but we haven’t seen it thus far. We’ve had interest, but just not a lot of action.”

The “lighter fare” menus create an inviting entryway, says Jackson Family Wines’ Aguero. “Some people are looking for a little bit lighter fare when they’re out, and some restaurants, especially on the national account side, designate certain areas in their menu accordingly,” Aguero explains. “I see that as an opportunity, as this segment evolves and grows, where patrons of those accounts can find a [lighter] wine accompaniment to go with the lighter cuisine they’re offering.” 

Wohld suggests the lack of on-premise penetration might be due to a lack of knowledge about the category. “If there’s a consumer who’s a wine drinker and is choosing to have a lighter menu option and still wants a nice adult glass of wine but wants lower calories, maybe non-alcoholic wine is the right choice for that person,” she says. “If we can educate people that options exist and give them things that really taste good, I think there will be a lot of interest from the consumer base.”

Wohld points to data showing that a significant percentage of consumers intersperse drinking full abv wines and low- or no-alcohol wines, depending on occasion. “If we can crack the code on more placements on wine lists and on menus, I think people will be pleased to have options when they want to moderate their consumption,” she says. Last year, Trinchero launched a 187-ml. bottle for its Fre non-alcoholic wine brand ($13 a 4-pack). “We think one of the major hurdles for on-premise has been the idea of risk,” Wohld says. “A lot of restaurateurs are concerned about potential waste if they serve non-alcohol wine by the glass because they don’t know what the volume or the velocity of orders will be. We’re pretty excited about what we think this single-serve offering from Fre might do in terms of increasing non-alcoholic wine by the glass listings in restaurants.”

Whether the on-premise will adopt better-for-you wines on a broad scale remains to be seen, but marketers are clearly bullish on the category overall. “This is certainly a space we are keeping a close eye on and we expect it to grow,” says Cannon. “As we all know, the last few years have been disruptive and stress levels are at an all-time high. This has led consumers to pay more attention to both physical and mental health, focus on ‘me time’ and be more mindful about their food and beverage choices.”