Episode 111: The Millennial Wine Mind and Market
Wine guru and certified sommelier Andrew Villarreal is on hand for a Millennial Moment to give us some insight into the millennial wine mind. We’re chatting over bourbon, beer, and some serious amber wine, while discovering how the wine market is evolving in response to a significant sector of the population’s purchasing preferences. Andrew gives us a peek at his ‘new’ Chicago. He also explains what a naked lady on a Cadillac and $10 have to do with any of this. Click play, pour a glass, and join our chatter.
In Our Glasses:
Steph: “I’m not having wine, but I am drinking it in a govino glass. I’m drinking the Avery Brewing Co. Out of Bounds Stout. There’s a couple amusing things on this can too. First there are black diamonds on it with a skiing theme and at the top it reads “experts only”… so I think I’m qualified (or not). Then on the underside where the date stamp is it reads “if carrots got people drunk”. That’s hilarious! Avery Brewing is in Boulder.”
Andrew: Coenobium Ruscum 2012 a bend of Trebbiano, Malvasia, Verdicchio. 
You can see the awesome golden color of this wine in the screenshot below. This is what’s known as an “amber wine” and it is made by Cistercian nuns in Vitorchiana, Lazio, about an hour and a half north of Rome. In fact, Coenobium is Latin for convent. It is fermentation on the skins (the way red wine is made – and why it’s red) that gives it the amber or orange color. It should be noted this is a joint venture with Giampiero Bea of Montefalco fame in neighboring Umbria.
Val: Blade and Bow Bourbon. This is a solera matured, straight bourbon whiskey. In fact, this bourbon is the last of that bourbon produced at the old Stitzel-Weller facility that closed in 1992 and reopened about three years ago. We actually got to visit last year!
Some other cool juju – each bottle has a key attached. There are five keys to collect, each representing the five steps of bourbon production that hung on the door at the old Stitzel Weller facility.
“Speaking of keys, we have the key to the Millennial brain today, as Andrew, our real live Millennial is joining us for a segment I really want to call … ‘The Millennial Moment with Andrew’.”
Main Discussion: Andrew Villarreal, CS, on Millennials and Wine
Andrew was the wine buyer and alcohol inventory manager for Trader Joe’s in Illinois and Georgia for 8 years, where he fell in love with wine. His curiosity of the wine world led him to start taking wine classes with Wine and Spirits Education Trust, Society of Wine Educators, Wine Scholar Guild, and finally Court of Master Sommeliers. He is currently spread way too thin and working with Round The Table Hospitality group as a server, bartender, supervisor, and sommelier. He doesn’t truly know what free time is, but if such a thing exists you will find him playing frisbee, gardening, or enjoying quality time with friends over a bottle of … wait for it… wine. He loves sharing his wine knowledge with one and all!
Andrew had a lot of great insight on how Millennials are influencing the wine world, how they are manufacturing, blending, and marketing wine. Our discussion was centered around the following piece:
How Millennials are Influencing the Wine World
By Andrew Villarreal, CS
Thanks to an email from SevenFifty.com regarding a trade-only tasting, I was invited to attend a wines market launch meeting. The wine was “Prophecy” and the marketing team had invited sales associates, distributors, and sommeliers to see the proverbial red carpet rolled out. The meeting was filled with facts and figures concerning the cost of bringing the wine to market. Millions of dollars went into market research from the price, to the picture on the label, to the taste of the wine. It was really interesting to see and hear all the information. Something that was striking to me was how many times the marketing team kept mentioning Millennials.
Who knew Millennials made up the largest buying demographic for wine in the U.S.? Consumer Reports showed in their 2015 study people ages 21-29 made up 27% of all wine buyers, and people ages 30-36 bought 23% of wine in the U.S.. Prophecy hired Victo Ngai, popular for being named one of the Forbes 30 under 30 award winning illustrators, to design their wine label. Their motive for doing so was to get a fresh view on how Millennials see wine labels. They wanted to capture the typicity in their wines as well as tell a story.
Victo Ngai presented about a dozen or so images which were then tested to see which ones drew the most emotional response from people. It seemed that the Millennial age group almost unanimously voted for their four now signature images. During the tasting portion of the luncheon, the Prophecy team showed a compilation of individuals who participated in the study and they said they wanted a wine that was familiar to them, like something they have had before. With this information, the wine makers strove to create something smooth, easy drinking with a little residual sugar to round out the palette.
Their Pinot Grigio was similar of so many Pinot Grigios (fresh and fruity). Their Sauvignon Blanc was very typically of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc: high acid, grapefruit, lime on the nose, and light-bodied. The wine makers made sure to listen to their largest demographic and went to work.
I can only imagine Apothic did similar research group sessions where they heard the demands of Millennials saying they want their wine dark and jammy, hence “Apothic Dark,” or rich and smooth yielding “Apothic Red,” or something fresh and lively leading to the “Apothic White Blend.” Millennials are known for their brand loyalty, and big companies know this. If you put something in front of our faces early on, we are more likely to support that brand for a lifetime. Just look at the ever controversial debate, Coke versus Pepsi. Once people have committed to a brand, they are hooked for life, and Millennials are no different. It’s just that Millennials are a little more free spirited. They want to see what the world has to offer before settling down, i.e. wines from Chile, France, Portugal, Australia, etc. Big companies are very concerned with how people vote with their dollars and they want to see people keep voting with their dollars for the product they are putting out, which is why focus groups, market research, and ongoing studies are so important to them. So what if a company spends nine million dollars on focus groups to get a wine label just right? That’s an investment that’s going to pay off many times over in the end.
Millennials have this adventurous spirit that drives them to find the right wine for them and that’s why the wine world is scrambling to meet the needs of this large group. Wines are now being made with less oak and more residual sugar, funky wine labels, and funny names. Millennials are shaping the wine world with every bottle they buy, for better or for worse. I’m guilty of this myself. I don’t think I have tried the same bottle of wine in the last seven months because I am out there trying something new, different, funky, and unique to find that perfect bottle for me. I have settled on a few grape varieties that I absolutely love, Riesling and Chenin Blanc for white wine and Cabernet Sauvignon and Old Vine Zinfandel for red wine. Being a perpetual student of wine, I may never settle on one label. I want to try them all! Consumer Reports said in 2014 there were over 137,000 different wine labels in the U.S. So it looks like I have my work cut out for me!
Steph: “This is kinda anecdotal and fun… I casually interviewed my cousin Frances and her hubby Brian a couple days ago when we were chillin on the patio before the Kentucky Derby. Frances and Brian live in Denver, are both in their early 30’s and like drinking wine.
“Frances first told me, without hesitation, that she wished she could do most of her wine buying on Amazon with everything else. Brian said he shops for fun labels, and Frances corrected him and said he focuses on terms like “organic”. Both of them said they shop for wine by location/country, specifically when they are in a wine shop. Frances said it perfectly, “I really want to go to Argentina, so that’s the wine I want to get tonight.” Brian agreed with me when I described it as traveling-in-your-wine-glass.
“Then we talked about wine in cocktails. Neither of them have had much wine in cocktails other than mimosas and Champagne cocktails. They described cocktails as something they go-out to experience because they don’t make them at home. However, if there were more wine cocktails on the menu, they’d be down for ordering them.”
For more reading on the topic:
Check out Cathy Huyghe’s article in Forbes on “How Millennials Talk About Wine, In Their Own Words.” You may remember her from Episode 97, Hungry for Wine with Cathy Huyghe.
Factoid: May Wine
Andrew: “Speaking of adventurous palettes, for the factoid section, let me tell you a little about May wine. May wine is a traditional wine prepared to be drunk during the Mayday festivals of Germany and Austria with a long history stretching way back to the pagan days. Picture people dancing around the maypole with flowers in their hair and wine in their glasses. It is typically a white wine of some sort, somewhat off dry, and is aromatized with fruits and/or herbs. A common herb used for this purpose being sweet woodruff. Sometimes, strawberries are thrown in the wine to impart their essence and add to the festive nature of the drink. Now doesn’t that sound like something you would want in your glass right now? ”
For more information on May Wine (or Maiwein)
Wino Radar:
Val: “Because I’ve (lost my damned mind) chosen to go back to school full time, I’ve not been focusing on too much else, however, I am working on the next SWE certification summit, currently scheduled for June 3rd at 10:00 am central time. We’ll be talking about Austria, more specifically, From Ausbruch to Zweigelt: the Wines and Spirits of Austria.
“There will be a Zweigelt taste-along.” How’s that for Saturday morning fun?! And I’ll tell you I’ve already learned more about Austrian Sekt than should be legal. We’ll link it all up for you – and although you need to be a member to attend Certification Summits, the SWEbinars are open to everyone, so check it out!
http://winewitandwisdomswe.com/swebinars-2/certification-summits/
Andrew:
- August 10-12 SWE Conference Portland
- Texsom August 12-14
Steph: “Well speaking of Portland, I saw a restaurant and wine list recommendation in the weekend WSJ. Andy Fortgang, the wine director and owner at Le Pigeon in Portland suggests dining and drinking at Davenport because their wine list is full of “great gems” and an inventory of well-aged and well-priced bottles. Might be something for us to check out while we are there for the SWE conference.
Shoutouts:
Steph: I’d like to say thanks to our W25 Community on FaceBook! Jump over to our private FaceBook group and get in the action!
Andrew: David Glancy MS and Kristin Campbell from San Francisco Wine School Thank you for helping me explore the world of wine in a comprehensive easy to understand and fun loving way. AMA Waterways for a first class river cruise down the Danube, I wanted for nothing. The food was great, the service staff was top notch, and the informative guided city adventures were priceless!
Andrew’s Embarrassing Wine Story:
Val: ” … we can’t end the show without hearing your most embarrassing wine story.”
Andrew: “I had just joined a new wine tasting group and we had just introduced ourselves and I found myself in a room of Certified Sommeliers, wine bloggers, wine shop owners, and here I am telling everyone I have been studying wine for 6 years and I am a Certified Specialist of Wine, French Wine Scholar and a Certified Sommelier and someone asked if I have ever seen an Ah-So. It just so happened that, the year before a friend of mine had gotten me one for Christmas and I had been practicing with it for months and here was my chance to use it in front of a big crowd and the worst happens. So many things went wrong, first it was a plastic cork, second, I had pierced the cork and wine was slowly dripping out of the cork and then I wanted to get a better grip on the cork so I pushed the Ah-so deeper and the cork fell into the bottle. Trying to recover from all this I tried to serve the wine anyway but the cork stopped the flow of the wine and just as I slightly lower the bottle the cork moves out of the way and the wine comes shooting out of the bottle and all over the table. Did I mention the wine was red?!?! Yeah, red wine everywhere! Thank God everyone was laughing and patting me on the back and said almost in unison ‘Better luck next time’.”
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