KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Recent consumer trends are starting to impact the Iowa wine industry, according to a report from Iowa State University.

The 2024 Wine Report indicates that 13 wineries have closed in the state between 2022 and 2024. The state now has 88 wineries, according to this report. Production, sales, and inventory have all decreased during this same time period.

Dr. Randall Vos is a Commercial Fruit and Crop Field Specialist for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach in Knoxville. Vos said wine consumption is decreasing globally and not just in Iowa. This is because consumers are switching to ready-to-drink beverages, like spirits, canned cocktails, and hard seltzers.

Christine Jensen of the Iowa Wine Growers Association said that consumers are looking for lower alcohol content products or non-alcoholic wines. She said some state wineries are now trying to create non-alcoholic wines to stay competitive with this new consumer trend.

Jensen said the biggest challenge Iowa wineries are now facing is the inventory that they aren’t selling, creating cash flow problems for businesses.

Vos said there is a greater supply than demand for wine in Iowa. He said Iowa has 900 acres of grapes that are devoted to wine. He said wineries that grow their own grapes are in better shape than those that purchase grapes from growers.

“They make agreements with these growers like, ‘I will buy your fruit.’ And given the market constraints, that’s challenging for them because they’ve made commitments to buy this fruit. What do they do with it when the tanks are still full?” he said.

Vos said one downside to the Iowa wine industry is not having a designated wine location in the state. Vos said many states with booming wine industries have specific locations where wineries are located, like Long Island in New York, Traverse City in Michigan, or Hermann in Minnesota.

“We don’t have a wine region where you can really market,” said Vos. “There’s wineries all spread out so that limits wine tourism a little bit for Iowa.”

Partially, this is a testament to Iowa’s ability to grow grapes in all regions of the state, but it limits Iowa’s ability to co-market between multiple wineries.

However, wineries located in tourism destinations in Iowa are not seeing the impacts of recent consumer trends because of the influx of tourists. The Covered Bridges Winery in Winterset is one example.

“[In just one day] I had people from Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, people that flew in from Sweden and were touring the Midwest, two different couples that had been to the Paul McCartney concert the night before and were heading home. So, you know, we have a big draw here, and are not reliant on just getting our locals to come down to visit us,” said co-owner Kevin Fifo.

Madison County’s tourism and Fifo’s award-winning wines keep customers coming to his winery, but he said many wineries are having to get creative with attracting crowds. Fifo said he will host music or game nights to give people more reasons to come to the winery.