This is my reply to therealkristenmarie post on Instagram
Her title was “NEW BLOG POST!” Do you think wine brands are striking out with younger generations?
This is a very interesting subject and something that I have thought about since I was first involved in the wine business. I started working in the Wholesale and Retail side of Wines in the early 1970’s
I then spent the next 35 years working with IBM. But during that time, I still kept involved with wines. I ran countless number of private wine tastings at my house or at someone’s else. I ran wine tastings for a local wine shop on Saturdays. Plus I coordinated many gourmet Wine Dinners, each with a specific them for over a 100 people.
When I finally retired from IBM in 2009, I went back to my roots. I started working as a Wine manager for a local wine retail shop. Part of my retirement package from IBM, I was allocated money to spend on retraining. I seriously thought in officially becoming a sommelier. We all decided against that, for two basic reasons. At 60, what was I really going to do with a sommelier’s title and the fact that I’ve been involved with wines, was trained by a sommelier, researched, read, visited and of course drank wine, I had a very good knowledge of wine. Then again you never have enough knowledge about wine.
I’d like to break down the wine customer into different categories. First, I will go with the 21 to 35 age group, and those that have almost zero knowledge to those that are sophisticated wine drinkers
Back in the 1970’s, wine was really just started to show up in retail shops. Prior to this, it was almost all hard alcohol and cordials, along with a few jug wines. A few wine shops did carry some of the European classics, but that was not the norm.
People loved sweet wines. They were easy to drink and affordable. Those were the hilight days of Boones Farm Apple Wine, Ripple and Bala Hai. The sligthly more educated drinker would go for the Mateus and Lancers Roses from Portugal, or the sweet semi-sparkling red Lambrusco from Italy.
These were the wines that sold and marketing did a great job. Billboards, commercials, ads, etc all really made those wines something to look for.
Then in the 1980’s, there was a slow trend trend to American wines. Gallo had always had their jug wines, but know the 5th or half gallon was coming out. The wines from the Lake Niagara region of New York State produced semi-sweet wines from the native lambrusca grape (the Foxy grape) Widmer and Taylor Lake Country wines made easy to drink and very affordable wines.
In the beginning of the 1990’s, there was what I saw a new trend towards wine.
People still gravitated to the sweeter wines. Especially the easy drinking Rhine and Moselle from Germany. What ever wine shop you were in, you would always see displays of Blue Nun Liebfraumilch and Zeller Schwarze Katx (The Black Cat).
Right before the millennium, wine names like Merlot, Shiraz, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Grigio became a household and restaurant name. I was so happy to finally see the end to the American wines labeled Chablis. Chardonnay was in the limelight
Mid 2000 and early 2010’s, people seemed to become more interested in wine. They wanted to know more about wine, they sought out some education, drank different types. Almost all of the retail shops offered free wine tastings.
Today, I think the wine industry is at the top of its game. Between the advertising, promotions, wine tastings, etc different wines are being focused to all different age groups. One of the biggest changes I believe that made a huge impact was the introduction of the Wine Blends! The Reds and Whites, they were so easy to drink, not too dry, not sweet, not much tannin (not many people knew what that was) Almost all the big name wineries have added one, two more blends to their product line and that is good – It has addressed every age group.
I also like to break down wine into three categories
A) New to Wine. These are the people that are first venturing out to wine, many of them, do not even ask for help at wine shops, instead they seek out wines by the look of the label! The price range is generally under $10
B) Enjoying Wine. These are the folks I love to work with. The are beginning to enjoy wine and are eager to learn more. I try to set them up with the various wines by Grapes, Styles and Countries., then go back to the same grape from different countries, etc. I encourage this group not to spend more than $20 for a bottle of wine and suggest the $7.99 to $14.99 range. There are so many nice wines in that range
C) I want WINE. These are the people that will drink just about anything. They are not interested in what kind of wine it is, where its made from or anything. Their price range is from $0.50 to $3.99. Heck, we all might have started there. My go to wine when I was 19 was Ripple, at .49 cents a bottle.
The key for the industry to me is to gear its focus on theses 21 to 35 age group. They are going to be the people, once they like a wine, will continue and grow their knowledge. We shouldn’t have to worry about the over 50 age group. Not because they are to old, but there are already set on hard liquor or are already knowledagble wine drinkers.
Stay away from gimmick. Working in retail shops, I’ve seen too many cheezy signs, displays from the wholesaler trying to push a wine.
The industry will grow even more when their focus is not only in providing quality wines and reasonable prices, but to educate the consumer.