Full Belly Files | Diet Drugs vs. Wine?

Last week’s newsletter about the growing concerns over slowing sales in the wine industry triggered quite a few responses from you Full Belly Filers. The most eye-opening one came from James Minton, who works for Visit Santa Barbara. Though he helped gather some of the stats I used last week, Minton was clear to assert that he was just emailing as a reader, not as a representative of the travel bureau.

“Is it possible that the rapid increase in use of weight-loss drugs could be changing consumption by some of our best customers?” he asked.

Minton is speaking from personal experience. “For 20 years, it was my love/compulsion to eat and drink well that caused me to pack on the pounds,” he explained. “I was definitely a strong customer of local restaurants, wineries, and even grocery stores.”

After starting to take a weight-loss drug called Zepbound last December, he’s watched his monthly food spending bill be cut almost in half, from $1,300-plus to $790 on average.

More dramatic was how his spending habits changed. Prior to the drugs, he only spent 23 percent of the food budget on groceries. Since starting on the drug, he now spends 62 percent of his food budget on groceries. In other words, he’s eating out at restaurants way less. (He’s apparently very diligent about budget monitoring as well! I shiver at tracking my own habits so acutely.)

Regarding the wine industry woes, he’s not drinking as much either. “I think I’ve had about four or five alcoholic drinks total since my prescription started,” he said.

Minton sent along a link to this study on spending, and then I found a number of articles discussing this impact to the beverage industry. Here’s one by CBS on weight-loss drugs as an alcohol addiction treatment. Here’s another by Sarasota Magazine (with plenty of links to other stories as well) that makes direct ties to the impact these drugs may have on alcohol sales, particularly since they tend to be taken by the wealthier, wine-drinking classes. (I’m starting to think that the cited prediction of a 1.8 percent overall decrease might be a bit modest….) And here are reports by both NPR and the New York Times on Ozempic’s ability to curb alcohol cravings.

“Obviously, a focus group of one is the start of a pretty bad theory,” said Minton. “However, it seems plausible those with access to these very expensive drugs could also be some of our best customers with high household income. I’m not aware of the current percent of Americans using these drugs, but they seem to be gaining steam.”  

It’s certainly a plausible explanation for the overall decline in wine and alcohol sales in general. It’s hard to complain too much about that — alcohol, after all, is the cause of many societal and medical ills. But at least when it comes to wine, the pleasures of a glass here and there can certainly outweigh the downsides. I expect many more stories about this link between diet drugs and wine sales to come out soon, and I’ll be reading.

See Me Talk

I’ve got a few speaking engagements coming up on the calendar. Here are some:

• S.L.O. Coast Wine Classic: If it’s not sold out, this is your last chance to buy tickets for this weekend’s S.L.O. Coast Wine Classic. I’ll be running panels for their annual shebang, happening at a ranch in the hills behind Pismo on April 6. Info and tickets here.

• Rhône Rangers: The champions of American-grown Rhône-style wines like syrah, grenache, viognier, and about two dozen other grapes are gathering at SOhO in Santa Barbara on Tuesday, April 9. I’ll be moderating a daytime panel for the industry side of the affair, but the public can taste 100-plus different wines from more than 20 producers from 5-7 p.m. that evening. It’s just $45 to dive into those known varieties as well as more obscure grapes like clairette blanche and counoise. Click here for tickets and details.

• Saunters & Sips: I’ve mentioned this one before, but the Sta. Rita Hills Wine Alliance is bringing pinot noir, chardonnay, and more cool-climate wines back down to seaside Santa Barbara with this second annual tasting event on April 13. Here’s the story I just wrote about it. The 2024 version will be at the Carousel House in Chase Palm Park on the waterfront, and I’ll be running a couple of panels while the tasting is going on. Info and tickets here.

• Taste of Santa Barbara Wines: The wine-focused part of the weeklong Taste of Santa Barbara event in mid-May, this year’s event will be hosted again at the Presidio, where I’ll moderate some casual chats in the chapel as dozens of wineries pour on the historic grounds on Saturday, May 18. Early-bird pricing (two tickets for $150; code: TOSB24) is ongoing until April 7. Click here for details.