Wine Isn’t Dead, and the Super Vino Bros are Proving It

Somewhere in New Jersey, two 29-year-old brothers are playing a game. No, it’s not Fortnite, FIFA, or Palworld. The game these guys are playing is more like a contest of critical thinking, analyzing, and discovery— an indulgence of the senses by testing the precision of their palates and general consumer knowledge. It’s a grown-up take on “name that bottle,” or as those in the wine world like to call it, blind tasting.

If you aren’t already one of the thousands of viewers who watch them play it on their super popular social media handle, @SuperVinoBros , then perhaps you should be.

What started as a Covid hobby created by twin brothers Chris and Ryan Goydos, the Super Vino Bros account has taken the wine world by storm. With a massive (and growing) following across social media platforms — more than 71,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 60,000 on TikTok — the Goydos brothers have become a source of entertainment and insight for novice wine drinkers and enthusiasts alike. They share their musings of wine, what they’re drinking and loving, and the occasional adventure in blind tasting, with one brother trying helplessly to guess the grape and home region of a particular wine poured by his brother. Viewers find humor and comfort in the fact that neither Chris nor Ryan Goydos has accurately predicted a single wine yet. After all, these guys aren’t wine professionals. They don’t have any wine accolades or special training and certifications. They’re just two dudes who “like drinking wine and hanging out with each other,” according to Ryan Goydos.

“We would be doing this even if we didn’t have a camera in front of us,” he says.

Perhaps it’s their relatable and down-to-earth approach that’s drawn so many young drinkers to their digital journal. At a time when headlines continue to suggest that winemakers are “ struggling to attract Gen Z and Millennial drinkers ” and purport claims of young people being more interested in hard seltzers, marijuana, or forgoing alcohol altogether in exchange for sober, wellness-influenced lifestyles, the content created by the Super Vino Bros, and the high engagement their viral videos rack up, suggests otherwise. Hundreds of thousands of people tune into their content on TikTok, many leave comments on their IG posts, and dozens flood their DMs with messages of support and periodic pronunciation corrections.

“ I’m pleasantly surprised and really thankful that people are receptive to the content we make ,” says Ryan Goydos.

What’s clear, from the brothers’ point of view at least, is that wine, in fact, is not dead — at least not in the way that some reports insinuate. The Super Vino Bros’ peers and drinking-age Gen Z folks interacting with wine are merely doing so in a completely different way than that of older generations.

“ I feel like our parents viewed wine as a luxury, something that you enjoyed if you were successful, had a house in the suburbs, and could go out to Napa Valley every once in a while and taste at these big chateaux and mansions ,” says Chris Goydos. “ We don’t see wine as this inaccessible luxury item but rather something that comes from the Earth and should be accessible to more people .”

The Super Vino Bros focus on natural wine, juice made with sustainable practices in mind by producers focused on making low-intervention wine on a smaller scale. You won’t find them drinking mass-produced bottles in their videos, and they aren’t doing reviews of hyper-commercialized wines. “ One common theme with younger people is that we are very disillusioned with big business and very disillusioned with the status quo and how things are done. And wine, especially in the United States, has been super commoditized for so many years ,” says Chris Goydos. Through their content, the Super Vino Bros highlight wines made with “ effort and heart and soul. That speaks a lot to me and other people my age ,” adds Chris Goydos.

“ Younger generations want to know where their products are coming from. We want to know what we’re putting in our bodies. And so, I think it’s less about people drinking less. People are just being more focused on drinking more artisan products ,” adds Ryan Goydos. “Minimal intervention, just well made products.”

Although the brothers consider themselves fans of wine and the industry surrounding it, as opposed to actual influencers, the Super Vino Bros have positioned their social media as a place for young and old drinkers to discover the intricacies that make wine so unique. They explore less-talked-about regions like Jura in France and Georgia. They share the fascinating stories and histories behind some of the most exciting players in the natural wine world. They take viewers with them to shop for low-intervention wine at under-the-radar retailers in New York and New Jersey, and they tell them where to go for quality sips in places like Miami, Lisbon, and Amsterdam, among others.

“ We try to really show how unique and special certain wineries and places are and focus on the people who make the wine, who run the shops and restaurants, the people who make the wine lists ,” says Chris Goydos. “ Those are the kind of people the industry relies on, and the thing that social media can do to contribute to the culture of wine is to share those amazing stories of the places and people who produce the wine we like .”

While there’s no doubt that wine maintains a luxury edge and holds a place in the minds of some drinkers that requires suits, cellars, and stacked bank accounts to enjoy it, the Super Vino Bros are all about showing a side of wine that’s more practical and enjoyable for any and everybody. Despite how it has been viewed and used by older generations, wine, in general, is one of those safeguards of individuality, a realm in which the mom-and-pop shops, family-owned small businesses, and operations have fostered a reputation for releasing high-quality products made from the Earth safely and ethically. Wine doesn’t have to be stuffy. It can be fun, approachable, and of high quality, all at the same time. There is an aspect of wine culture shifting to focus more intently on that, and the Super Vino Bros and their followers are a part of that movement.

“ Wine is definitely not dead, and the passion that people in the wine industry put into it has let it survive this long ,” says Chris Goydos. “ It’s still here, and people are still very interested in it .”