It’s tempting to answer this with straight-up ‘no’. It doesn’t take a genius to realise if new customers don’t replace old ones, there’s something to worry about.
But what I don’t think is particularly worth worrying about is ‘young people’. The wine trade has been worrying about this for so long that those young people aren’t even young anymore. Case in point: we’re still discussing millennials even though some of us recently turned 44 (and no I can’t work out what’s worse, my age or millennial status!).
It’s just a hunch, but for the most part I think the conversion from young people to young people who drink wine happens relatively organically – they’re just not quite as young as they once were.
I’m not sure it’s productive to concentrate on the number.
So, I’m not sure it’s productive to concentrate on the number. Just because someone isn’t buying much wine at 25 doesn’t mean they won’t at 35. Using 20-something behaviour as a guide to future choices is flawed, because – thankfully – we evolve. For example, I no longer get upset about a flatmate drinking my last bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz or buy cases of wine with Barclaycard points (with hindsight, both rather unhinged choices).
I reckon the more pressing issue is the rising number of teetotallers (a term that sounds rather old-fashioned now) driven in part by the current, and frankly exhausting, obsession with productivity and self-improvement. Then again, it depends on who you talk to – I have friends with teenage children, and work with young people at festivals and events, and according to them all the main vices are still present and correct.
Natural wine is often praised for engaging the youth in a way that conventional wine has not, and the usual reasons offered are ‘stories and provenance’, and an interest in what they put in their bodies. Of course, it’s hard to take anyone who says this seriously if they smoke, vape or take drugs.
While it is probably true that the stories and perceived authenticity (and non-trad labels?) of natural wine are a big part of its popularity, almost all wine has a story. I don’t necessarily think natural wine has better or more interesting stories – perhaps it just appears that way because the people selling and drinking them know how to use social media properly! We all love a good underdog tale, too, and natural winemakers have that in spades (alongside, in plenty of cases, good wine).
Young people have been doing the opposite of their elders since the dawn of time.
It’s also not surprising that they’ve embraced wines that were pitched as new and different. Young people have been doing the opposite of their elders since the dawn of time. It’s how fashion works. It’s also narrow-minded to assume that how a niche demographic in London drinks, bears any reflection to the rest of their age group across other parts of the country. It’s like using the cast of Made In Chelsea as a sample group for getting on the property ladder.
Overall, it’s unrealistic to think that a significant number of people in their 20s are going to buy wine on any sort of serious basis, but you can start to capture their intrigue, especially with events and strategic partnerships.
I’m not going to spell out what these could look like because that’s really something I should be paid for! But I can tell you they wouldn’t include a 0% wine. The 0% Wine Society? Just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Could chefs with youth audiences fold wine into their content?
Food content is huge on TikTok and YouTube. Could chefs with youth audiences fold wine into their content and image (or maybe they do?). What we don’t need more of is Brooklyn Beckham in conversation with an auction house talking about his collection of First Growths.
Lifestyle is absolutely something wine should lean into. Wine is the OG lifestyle product. The industry forgot this – that is until natural wine turned up along with its cool bars and bistros that have been hugely successful in harnessing and monetising lifestyle, as well as engaging adjacent youth-centric scenes such as music and contemporary art.
Alternative formats have vastly improved with the next generation on their radar. Wine on tap just sounds cool, ideal for venues that wouldn’t normally serve bottles such as gigs and festivals; Insta-friendly box wines; and the iconic (and much-copied) Bagnum, by Le Grappin in Burgundy.
This might be wishful thinking, but I wonder if the health angle can be tapped into. Surely this polarised new temperance era we’re suffering must tire? Hashtag continental lifestyle goals? As ever when trying to impress, it’s critical not to appear desperate (says the women who just wrote ‘continental lifestyle goals’). There is nothing more tragic than an older person trying too hard to relate.
Moreover, as an industry, I wish we’d stop giving ourselves such a hard time about it all. I know it’s a stereotype, but young people tend to move onto the next thing – I know I certainly did – and so perhaps they aren’t the most reliable of customers anyway.
One thing you realise when you’re about to go on for your second act is that not only have you been a proper adult for quite some time now but you’re still – if you’re lucky – only half-way. In other words, you’re older for a lot longer than you’re younger. And if wine’s core audience is older, aka 35-death(!), that’s a much bigger share of the market.
Surely something to drink to?
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