Millennials and Wine

What do you think are some of the top ways Millennials find out about new wines? Same ways as Boomers and everybody else?

I’m thinking they learn about new wines they may want to try maybe in this order:

  1. Friends
  2. Retail pros
  3. Online or Social Media

Suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,
Frank

I’m guilty of being in the aforementioned demographic. My personal ranking would be:

  1. Online (wine news, blogs, and message boards)
  2. Books/Decanter Magazine
  3. Occasionally friends

the most recent report i read noted how Millennials wanted to make a “connection” with the wine/winery. to me that would equate to meeting and interacting with the owner/winemaker at various events (think moderately to low priced festivals, organized tastings, etc.). second would be social media (Twitter and Instagram probably ahead of FB at this point).

Dining out is likely a big source of new wine knowledge, especially when it is a restaurant that has a Millennial friendly vibe (organic, local, trendy, etc). These restaurants seem to feature less mainstream wines and opt for eclectic or unique.

In the same vein, but sorta not really, I think Millennials are increasingly going with spirits. Wine is in decline with young people. At least, in my experience running restaurants.

My Millennial finds out about new wines when I supply them to her. She just got several Oregon PNs from me. All new to her. I am still her wine supplier and probably will remain so for some time to come.

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-Some inherited their parents’ love of wine and take advantage of tasting with their club memberships, so nothing new per se
-Many discovered wines via a day of tasting in wine country (we’re in the Bay Area)
-Some join wine clubs that send mixed cases

I’ve seen market research showing the highest percentage of Millennials, by a considerable margin, stating that wine is their alcoholic beverage of choice.

Some interesting statistics from a quick Google search:

Millennials of legal age, though only representing one-fourth of adults over 21, account for 35 percent of U.S. beer consumption and 32 percent of spirit consumption according to Nielson. The Wine Market Council reports that they consume 42 percent of all wine in the U.S.

As a fellow millenial, I second this.

Although I buy a lot of wines just out of curiosity - unknown regions, unknown varieties, a producer that seems interesting (based on short googling / website) etc. I also have a lot of friends who arrange tastings all the time (as do I); this way I get to taste a lot of interesting stuff and find new, interesting wines and producers.

I’m a millennial and neither friends nor retail pros had anything to do with my wine discovery. It so happened that I was (still am) hugely into nice restaurants, and visited a couple of places that had some magical wines by the glass (e.g. 2006 Yquem at one place). These wines created some amazing experiences (millennials love experiences!) and ever since then it has been a tireless effort on my part to have further experiences at that level. Having said that, I’ve introduced many millennials to magic of aged Bordeaux (+Sauternes) over the past few years, so there is definitely something to friendships being a pathway

I have an Instagram((@chicago.wine.dude) • Instagram photos and videos)wine blog and most of the people who follow me are millennials.

My order is below:

  1. Social Media
  2. Wine Experience(Going to Napa or their local wineries)
  3. Dining

Millennial here. For me:

  1. Online
  2. Family
  3. Friends in the business from previous trips

I wonder if that’s more a function of the choices they have in a restaurant. In many restaurants one can get a cocktail/spirits drink that you wouldn’t make at home vs a BTG wine one could have at home (while paying the retail bottle price for that glass) . So they might skew towards spirits in a restaurant whereas they drink more wine at home.

:stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue:

Social media is the biggest one and then friends. Possibly wine subscription boxes, but doubt most subscribe due to costs?

Wine educated millennial here. To find new wines I usually do research on Google and Youtube to discover new “terroir” that I haven’t tried. As for making a decision on what specific producer/bottle to try, I use a combination of Vivino, Wine Searcher, and Cellartracker for more education/information before I make a purchase.

I still haven’t tried buying wine online and tend to refrain from trying suggestions unless they are from my trusty wine pimp.

  1. Online
  2. Wine Pimp
  3. Friends

Being a millennial myself I could just add that visiting/living in a wine region can do a lot to your decision making when it comes to discovering new wines to try. Once you have spent a couple of months in Burgundy, Piedmont , Toscany you find our
T very quickly what kind of wines you tend to like and you just go from there

Another millennial checking in, I recently got into collecting as a hobby after befriending a local winemaker and learning about the process. Since then, I’ve joined a few maker lists and deal sites (Lastbottle, etc.) and i’m trying wines from as many different regions as possible, picking up a bottle or 2 to put away when I find something I like. For me, the thought of putting something away for 20+ years to enjoy later is a lot of fun. Needless to say, I now have a rapidly expanding off-site storage locker.

i am a millennial, but not a proud one. i have a cellar with around 200 bottles. i’ve been into wine long enough to really be done exploring regions or going into stores to shop. i like instagram to follow people whose taste is similar to that of mine. trying out wines these people have opened and enjoyed have which i am not yet aware of is enjoyable to me.