Baby boomers spurred the wine industry, but millennials and Gen Z aren’t buying into it, favoring low-calorie seltzers instead. Winemakers are trying to appeal to a younger consumer, but it hasn’t been easy, notes an article in The Washington Post.
What’s selling with the younger crowd? Natural wines, “emphasizing eco-friendly viticulture and minimalist winemaking. There’s a bit of anti-modernism and anti-technology ideology to this winemaking approach, but at heart it’s a counter-reaction to boomer wine and the idea of fermented grape juice as a luxury lifestyle statement. These are not your parents’ cabernets, aged in expensive oak barrels in a state-of-the-art architectural masterpiece of a winery. They are skin-fermented whites and ‘chillable reds,’ lower alcohol and lighter in color and body than we have grown accustomed to.” Smaller wineries, generally run by younger winemakers, are making these creative wines.
Read more (The Washington Post)