Taylor Swift, song writer, performs during her Eras Tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California, … [+]
Taylor Swift enjoys drinking wine on occasion, with sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio white wines as two of her favorites. Interestingly, recent NielsenIQ scan data on U.S. wine sales shows that “sauvignon blanc and pinot gris (grigio) were the only two varietals to show growth in the past 52 weeks,” as reported by the Wine Analytics Report, July 2024.
“White wines—led by sauvignon blanc, pinot gris/grigio and white blends—are performing relatively better than red wines,” stated Danny Brager, wine business analyst and former SVP of Nielsen’s Beverage Alcohol Practice Area for over 20 years, in an email interview.
This leads to the question of whether or not Taylor Swift, who was added to the Forbes billionaire list in October 2023 as the first musician to make the billionaire ranking primarily based on her songs and performances, could be impacting wine sales trends?
An interesting analysis conducted by writer David Morrow for Bottle Raiders illustrated that Swift mentions “wine” 19 times in her various songs. Because of this, he concludes, “… it’s a safe bet that Swift is more of a wine drinker than anything else.”
Taylor first mentioned her favorite wines in 2019 on an Ellen DeGeneres Burning Questions show. Ellen asked: “Your friend invites you to dinner, what do you bring?”
“White wine,” Taylor answers.
“What kind?” Ellen presses.
“Sancerre, pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc,” responds Taylor.
Sancerre is actually a region in France that is known for producing light, crisp and fragrant white sauvignon blanc wines. Wine from Sancerre has also given rise to much interest amongst Taylor’s fans, who are called “Swifties.” A quick search of TikTok will show hundreds of videos of fans trying “Sancerre” wine because Taylor likes it, and many of them have thousands of views, such as the one below.
But it turns out that Taylor also enjoys champagne, which some fans have illustrated in graphs they have produced of how often she mentions different types of alcohol in her song lyrics. More recently, a photo of a bottle of Gaslighter Rosé from the Sonoma Coast sitting on a counter top in Taylor’s kitchen has prompted many fans to purchase that wine and post about it on TikTok and other social media platforms. See example here.
Taylor Swift in Kitchen Eating Raisens With Bottle of Gaslighter Rosé Wine
Though it is not possible to scientifically prove that Taylor Swift is impacting wine sales trends, ever since she first mentioned that she enjoys white wine on the Ellen DeGeneres show, in a little more than a year, white wine sales started increasing in the U.S., whereas before red wine was dominating.
The chart below shows NielsenIQ scan data, illustrating that white wine sales share has increased from 41.6% in 2021 to 43.8% today in value. In the same time period, red wine sales value share has decreased from 52.3% to 50.7%. Rosé wine sales value share has also decreased from 6.1% in 2021 to 5.5% now.
White Wine Sales in U.S. Market by Dollar Share from 2021 to June 2024
But there could be other elements at play here, instead of just the fact that Taylor Swift loves white wine.
“White wines, generally speaking, more closely appeal to those seeking less calories and/or lower alcohol levels,” explained Danny Brager. “Also, a lot of the innovation around wines is appealing to consumers seeking more health and wellness as part of their lifestyle, and this skews more heavily towards white wines.”
Jon Moramarco, CEO and founder of bw166, a global alcohol beverage research firm, cites additional reasons. “As cuisine in the U.S. has changed to include more Asian and Latin foods, the mix of wines is evolving to types that pair better with these foods, which many white wines do,” he stated in an email interview.
In fact, recent reports show that Latin and Tex Mex cuisine are quickly overtaking Italian food as the most popular cuisine in the U.S. “And what type of wine goes best with Mexican food?,” asked Dalia Ceja, VP of Marketing with Ceja Vineyards in Napa Valley, at a recent wine conference. “The answer is sauvignon blanc.”
Despite the fact that Taylor Swift may or may not have an impact on wine trends, there is much speculation on the topic in publications such as Wine Spectator and The Drinks Business.
There have also been other incidents of musicians impacting wine trends, such as Jay-Z singing about Cristal Champagne and then later boycotting the brand. Rappers like Drake, Kanye West and Lil’ Kim sang about moscato in their songs, influencing many fans to try the delicious sweet wine.
In the end, there are probably many small family wineries around the world who are pleased that Taylor mentions wine in her songs, as this type of endorsement may help keep their businesses afloat.
But there are also Taylor’s many fans—the Swifties—who continue to scrutinize her every move, including not only the wines she drinks, but also the food she eats, the cars she drives, the clothes she wears…and so forth. And as one fan commented in a recent video (see below) of Taylor drinking wine after a concert, “she drinks it so elegantly.”
One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts.
Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.
In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.
Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:
User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:
So, how can you be a power user?
Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.
