Recent alerts of a looming wine shortage aren’t making Gainesville residents put away their wine glasses quite yet.
A report released by Morgan Stanley Research last week showed an upcoming undersupply of about 300 million cases of wine, CNN reported.
The shortage could be attributed to higher demand, poor growing conditions and a decrease in vineyards, USA Today reported.
But Nigel Smith, a UF professor who teaches Geography of Alcohol, doesn’t think there’s going to be a wine shortage.
“It’s just going to shift the wine-growing areas to diversified regions that didn’t … grow grapes before,” he said.
Smith said the industry used to be dominated by France and the Mediterranean region.
Now, he said, Chile, Argentina, California, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are all big producers.
“I don’t see any major impacts in terms of prices and supply,” he said.
Bunky Mastin, co-owner of local The Wine and Cheese Gallery, is not worried about the projected shortage yet.
The shortage won’t be an issue now but might be down the road, Mastin said.
He said there are many different sources around the world to get stock from.
“It’s not a problem because there’s so many wines out there,” Mastin said. “If we had serious droughts, then maybe it would be a problem.”
Every year, there are problems, sometimes oversupplies when grapes are plentiful, and sometimes shortages due to droughts or heavy rain, he said.
The gallery won’t change to alternative beverages anytime soon.
“We’re a wine store,” Mastin said.
Corrine Bullock, a 21-year-old UF applied physiology and kinesiology senior, is a fan of penny wine at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s. If the price went up, people would probably be less likely to go, she said.
“A wine shortage would most likely end penny wine as we know it,” she said.
A version of this story ran on page 3 on 11/4/2013 under the headline "Locals show little concern about wine shortage"
