Ryan Robinson, Director of Education, Brescome Barton and Worldwide Wines.
By Ryan Robinson, Advanced Sommelier-CMS, WSET Diploma and WSET Educator
Reality shows that wine consumption is on the decline in the United States. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Certain wine categories are seeing success. If you were to put two wines on a shelf at the same price with the same grape, region, and similar label, how does the consumer choose which one to buy? One sells out in a week, the other just sits there collecting dust. For many years the easy explanation was price, brand recognition or ratings in the retail segment. But that’s not really what’s driving sales or no-sale anymore. It’s a story and stories sell!
Not the story buried on the back label that nobody reads, but the kind that can be explained in 15 seconds. The story that a server can repeat tableside without hesitation and a story that a customer actually remembers when they shop or drink again. Wine isn’t just competing on quality, or price; it’s competing on identity. A story-driven wine doesn’t need to be complicated. Most of the time it comes down to three things; where it’s from, who made it and why it matters.
Take Tenuta delle Terre Nere from Etna. You could talk about Nerello Mascalese, soil types, elevation, all of it and lose your customer immediately as their eyes glaze over. Or you can just say volcanic vineyards on an active volcano, high-altitude farming and a producer focused on individual vineyard sites. That’s memorable. It creates imagery and that sells.
This is something I’ve been sharing and focusing on through my podcast, “The Art of Wine Storytelling” on Italian Wine Podcast. The idea is pretty straightforward. Wine doesn’t connect with people because of technical details alone; it connects because of the curated narrative. Attilio Scienza talks about this in his book “The Art of Wine Storytelling,” where he frames wine as more than just a product. It’s culture, history, and geography in a glass. When you start looking at wine that way, the way you sell it shifts completely.
What’s interesting is how much this matters right now. Wine consumption has slowed a bit, and everyone knows that. But what’s actually happening is people are becoming more selective. They’re not walking away from wine; they’re just making more intentional decisions. True, they are drinking less, but they’re drinking better. Wines that don’t have identity, the ones that could come from anywhere, are starting to feel that pressure.
Bulk wines rely on price and familiarity, and that only goes so far especially in a market like Southern New England where customers are still engaged and willing to explore if it makes sense. On the floor this method resonates in a very real way. Staff sell what they understand. If they can explain a wine, they will sell it with confidence. If they can’t, they default back to the same safe options every time. That’s why Italian and Spanish wines continue to perform so well here. Not just because they pair with food, but because they come with built in story. The regions, the families and the deep history entrenched in the vineyards. It’s already packaged in a great story, yearning to be shared.
For distributors and suppliers, this changes the role of sales reps. It’s not enough to walk in with a book and talk about pricing. Buyers don’t need more SKUs: They need direction. They need wines that their staff can get excited about and actually sell. That means leading with story instead of tasting notes or a tech sheet. Instead of alcohol percentage and oak regimen, start with something usable such as where it’s from, who makes it, and most important, why it matters. That’s what builds a memory and memories are what bring customers back.
For buyers, there’s a real opportunity here. A tighter, more intentional list will outperform a bloated one every single time. Wines with identity create momentum while they also give staff confidence. Confidence turns into sales. In service or in a retail store, if the only thing you can say about a wine is the price, you’ve already lost. Price-driven selling creates price-driven customers, and those customers will always chase something cheaper. Fact: The moment you devalue a brand, price post, or discount (where allowed), that becomes the new acceptable price.
A story changes this dynamic. It builds connection. At the end of the day, wine is still a people business. The producer matters, the story matters, and the person selling it matters just as much. The wines that are winning right now aren’t just well made, they’re well told. And in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, that’s not just a trend. That’s where things are going.
Ryan Robinson is the Director of Education for Brescome-Barton Inc., and Worldwide Wines in Connecticut, an Adjunct Professor at the University of New Haven, and is the Principal at SommCentric, a beverage education and consulting agency. He is a member on the USA Wine Tasting Team, representing the United States and the World Wine Tasting Championships and holds the credentials of Advanced Sommelier-CMS; WSET Diploma and WSET Educator in Wine, Sake and Beer; Rioja Wine Educator; VIA Italian Wine Ambassador; Wine Scholar Guild Educator and Italian and Spanish Wine Specialist; and Certified Scotch Whisky.
