Millennials and La Dolce Vita

The buzz in the wine world over the past two weeks has been the grim news from Silicon Valley Bank’s annual State of the Wine Industry Report, which shows overall wine consumption is down and the industry is failing to reach younger potential consumers. The report shows that consumers over 60 are actually increasing their purchases. But the under 60 crowd and especially millennials are just not that into wine. Rob Mcmillan who authors the report takes the industry to task for failing to advertise or develop advertising appealing to young people. But one factor I don’t see mentioned much are the demographic differences between baby boomers and millennials. The baby boom generation was 28% percent non-white. The millennial generation is 40% non-white.

The issue of course is not race but culture.

The food and taste revolution in the U.S. began to slowly build in the 1950’s but accelerated rapidly in the 1970’s and beyond. Soldiers returning from Europe after World War II brought some European tastes home with them. Vacation travel to Europe became routine for people who could afford it and aspirational for people who couldn’t, and those people had children who grew up viewing European taste as a symbol of the good life—La Dolce Vita. The emergence of a wine culture in the U.S. was part of that revolution. The contemporary wine industry was built on that cultural background.

Hopefully, we boomers passed some of that wine country aesthetic to our children. But the generations coming after us have substantial cohorts who do not share that cultural background or particular aesthetic vision of the good life. Their parents come from parts of the world (or parts of our country) where grapes don’t grow well or have only recently begun to develop a wine culture. The wine country aesthetic may have its attractions to them but it isn’t deeply embedded in how they think about their lives. It isn’t what their parents aspired to—it doesn’t feel like it belongs to them.

It seems to me that is the problem that the wine industry must overcome. But that is a tall order. Cultural heritage isn’t something you can instantly conjure with a snappy ad. It runs deeper than just grabbing their attention. It’s about what feels like home.

I’m not confident there is a solution to this.