Areni Global: ‘We have to find a way to make wine consumption safer’ for women amid spiking fears
Women may be steering away from wine due to fear of spiking, student focus groups have told a new report – making it imperative the industry finds a way to make it safer to consume wine.
During the research for Areni Global’s The New Fine Wine Consumer: How people under 40 find their way into fine wine report, focus groups with students revealed that several female student who joined university groups such as the Bacchus Society did so because they liked wine but that these the groups were “the only safe place” to consume it.
Speaking on a zoom call presenting the report, Areni Global’s co-founder and executive director Pauline Vicard outlined the anecdotal evidence that respondents had given saying these kinds of groups were the only place that they felt safe drinking wine because they had either had their drinks spiked or associated being spiked with wine, because it is usually poured at the bar and hard to keep tab on once it makes its way to the table and then you can’t close it.
“We had some young women telling us that when they go out, they take pills instead because it’s actually easier than having to look at my glass of wine all evening,” she said. “They don’t want to have to look and be careful about what they drink,” she said.
Felicity Carter, editorial director at Areni Global, who was involved in the research, noted that young people – both men and women – were very worried about risk of being spiked and filmed, particularly in a compromising or sexual context.
Vicard warned that these fears needed to be taken seriously.
Partner Content
“If we don’t want to not lose a whole generation of consumers and young women, we have to find a way to make wine consumption safer,” she said. “When it comes to fine wine, it might just be a case of pouring at the table or reviewing this kind of hospitality process.”
Vicard also argued that student clubs were an excellent place to find and build engaged consumers but at present they were ” extremely underused” by the industry. ” Keeping in touch with the students as they grow up is actually quite significant,” she pointed out. “The amount of people who go and talk in front of those students, but don’t do anything after that, such as building a young talent club or things like this. To me, one of the first lever is to be in touch with those students.”
This was particularly important when the traditional pathways for young professionals are being undermined by the growth of AI. Since 2018, increasing adoption of AI has caused a shrinkage in entry level professional roles, she argued. “The pipeline that transforms high earning graduates into professional… is shrinking.”
Spiking
Between May 2022 and April 2023, the police received 6,732 reports of spiking, which included 957 needle spiking reports and although it has been added as as standalone criminal offence under the UK’s Crime and Policing Bill, it is thought that it still goes underreported, often because victims “don’t see the point”.
As reported by the Drinks Business last year, in 2019, police recorded around 1,900 spiking incidents nationwide, but fewer than 100 prosecutions followed (City of London Corporation, February 2025), with delays in reporting, difficulties collecting forensic samples and the prevalence of alcohol as a spiking agent complicating matters. A 2024 survey funded by Drinkaware and conducted by Anglia Ruskin University, found that 11.3% of adults had reported being spiked at some point in their lives, with women (13%) more frequently targeted than men (9%) (Drinkaware Monitor, 2024). A review by the City of London Police found that 91–92% of spiking incidents happened in licensed premises, with female victims accounting for 72–76% of cases.
Related news
All the medallists from The Global Cabernet Franc Masters 2026
