It’s Time to Go Where the New Consumers Are Congregating

Instead of one more formal wine tasting, consider a fourth space event.

In 2024, Wine Institute of California did something the entire wine industry has been waiting for — in-depth, highly professional research into how young people of drinking age perceive wine.

What they discovered, as Honore Comfort, Vice President of International Marketing, revealed in an interview with Areni Global, is that young people are generally open to it.

“They have a very positive perception of wine,” she said. “That wine is about sharing with others and celebrating a special occasion. It belongs at the dinner table. If you’re going over to someone’s house, you show up with a bottle of wine.”

But while they recognise the value of wine, it’s not yet part of their world. As Honore says, wine tends to follow “ the very traditional norms of the things that we do with winemaker dinners and consumer tastings”. In other words, wine goes to where people who are already engaged congregate. It doesn’t go where new wine lovers might be found.

In other words, it’s time the wine community went to where new consumers like to hang out, rather than waiting for them to come to wine.

Instead of yet one more formal wine tasting, consider these places for your next wine event.

Additional Resources:

• NCNN ep3: Cultivating Togetherness: In Conversation with Honore Comfort
• NCNN ep 2: Lose the Mystery, Keep the Magic: In Conversation with Sir John Hegarty
• NCNN ep 1: The Luxury Strategies: In Conversation With Jean-Noël Kapferer
• The Equation of Dreams: What Makes a Luxury Brand Desirable?
• Connecting With a New Generation of Wine Consumers
• Debunking the Myths About Young People and Fine Wine