Seven ways wine will change in 2021, from pink prosecco to live-streamed experiences and sustainable production

2021’s big pink drink is likely to be prosecco rosé – more than 100 labels have sought US approval and a couple are already on shelves now

Get ready for the rise of the robot sommelier: this month, two London restaurants unleashed robots which ferry bottles and glasses of bubbly to customers

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A vineyard in Alentejo in Portugal. The country is expected to be seen as the wine country of 2021. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:15pm, 31 Dec 2020Updated: 8:15pm, 31 Dec 2020

Where to start? Covid-19 upended all our wine appreciation habits, shifting how we buy it (online more than ever), how we taste and learn about it (virtually), and where we end up drinking it. (Not at parties, bars, and restaurants.)

Thankfully, many cities considered wine shops to be essential businesses. Wine has been a great connector this year, as we’ve shared glasses with friends virtually and travelled by proxy to regions we can’t visit.

Surprisingly, the pandemic didn’t change what we put in our glasses all that much. Rosé is still hot. So is hard seltzer (flavoured carbonated water with alcohol), sales of which, along with canned cocktails (both, ugh!), grew 43 per cent during 2020. Bubbly is still going strong, with more countries than ever producing great examples (read: Brazil).

The earliest harvest ever in Burgundy, France, and devastating fires in California wine country in the United States for the fourth year in a row reminded people that climate change is a truly serious issue, and inspired new wine initiatives to save the planet.

I’m betting 2021’s big pink drink will be prosecco rosé.

Expect many of 2020’s trends to evolve in 2021 – the health-and-wellness alcohol-free drinks boom, the canned and boxed wine movement, wine from extreme regions – helped along by new digital and AI technology innovations, even if everyone really dreams of returning to sharing wine with others outside their homes.

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