Millennials are talking but the wine industry isn't listening

In the last two weeks I watched two separate annual State of the wine Industry presentations. Both were focused on millennials and were worried that they aren't drinking as much wine as hoped.

The reasons why were all in the reports. But the wine industry is pretty much doing the exact opposite of what millennials are saying they want.

First, take a look at the two stories, then come back here and I'll explain. Here's the story from the Silicon Valley Bank report. I did not suggest or agree with this headline, but it's hard to blame my editor for trying to attract page views in a month that saw some of the largest layoffs in history for online news organizations. Clickbait helps pay my wages: Millennials now ruining wine as well

Second, here's the story from the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium. This headline is also clickbaity but reflects what was said: Wine and sex off the millennial menu

Now, forget about sex and smartphones. Let's talk about what millennials are telling the wine industry they want -- and how the industry is ignoring them

1. Millennials like healthy products

Why else would kombucha be so popular? Millennials care about what they put in their bodies.

So what's the wine industry's response?

Who other than Ridge admits adding anything -- even water?

* To fight against ingredient labeling to the death (of the industry)

We're in a world where many young people think hard seltzer -- sparkling water infused with industrial alcohol -- is healthier than wine. And no wonder, because hard seltzer at least lists its ingredients.

Industrial wineries fear having to admit all the additives they're using. They should!

Standardized ingredient labeling would reward wineries which aren't using added chemicals. However, industrial wineries have all the political power, and they're bringing the industry down with them.

Here is a hard seltzer back label. Wine isn't this honest

* In the U.S., rather than commit to organic farming, the wine industry has created a bewildering mass of "sustainability" organizations, some of which are legit but most of which are simply greenwashing.

Why do New Zealand wines keep rising in sales? Americans trust New Zealand on farming issues. It has a green image that is generally deserved.

Once again, this is a case of big, powerful U.S. wineries with minimal environmental commitment bringing down the whole industry by lowering standards and trust.

(Here's a side note: there's a very, very large family-owned California winery that 1) has its heart in the right place more often than it gets credit for, and 2) has the political pull to make a difference on both these issues. You could lead us.)

2. Millennials find their parents' wine boring

Amber LeBeau of SpitBucket blogged Wednesday on exactly this topic. But it's not as if the wine industry doesn't realize it. Rob McMillan of Silicon Valley Bank has talked about it for more than just this year. Glenn Proctor from the Ciatti Company grape brokerage talked about it this week. They know. They know!

So what's their answer? The same juice in a cooler package.

Unfortunately this has been the wine industry's answer to essentially every new market group for years. Critter labels when millennials reached drinking age. Somebody woke up and realized women buy more wine than men and voila, Cabernet with girly labels.

Here is the lead of my story from Wednesday: "Just as the wine industry is discovering that many Millennials find wine boring, new plantings of grapevines are gradually turning California from 32 Flavors into a chocolate, vanilla or strawberry state." (full story here)

It seemed so obvious to me. Industry experts were talking about how they have to change things up to be more interesting to millennials. Then, experts told us there are now huge surpluses of bulk wine in Cabernet Sauvignon especially, but also in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir -- and how those varieties are the overwhelming majority of what's being planted!

And yet, the industry experts whom I asked to connect those dots refused to do so.

Let me mention terroir for just a moment. Perhaps the most pleasant surprise for California wine in the 21st century has been how much good Pinot Noir terroir we have. There's good Pinot being grown all up the coast, and even more adequate, affordable Pinot than anyone thought viticulturally possible two decades ago.

It's actually Cabernet Sauvignon that isn't that well suited to most of California. Napa Valley, warm parts of Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains, sure, but not most of the state. It turns out Cab has a much narrower window of great terroir than we realized. But boomers like their Cabs and Chards, and boomers are still an important market, so growers keep putting in Cab in places where it's too hot or too cold. Then they have to treat it with chemicals (see point one) to make it palatable. Cheap Cabs these days taste fake to me: I won't drink them, and not because of price, because I love a cheap, honest wine (hello, Vinho Verde.)

Exciting?

As for Chardonnay, here is a deep rabbit hole: three years ago, Richard Jennings punished his palate by tasting 230 grocery-store Chardonnays. I would want combat pay. It's a long article, but I encourage you to jump to the tasting notes and tell me, if you were 30 years old and looking for something interesting to drink, how many of these would you buy a second bottle of?

Meanwhile, if you look at the wines millennials are excited about -- they are NOT heavily manipulated Cabs and Chards. Millennials like uniqueness. I did a story for Wine Business Monthly about amphora wines that hasn't run yet. One winemaker told me a few years ago he couldn't sell his amphora wines; now he can't keep them in stock. They're different. They're interesting.

There's room now for non-Cabernet reds

When I brought this up to grapegrowing moguls in Sacramento, they said that Napa Valley tried Sangiovese in the '90s and it didn't work. Try again! Maybe not with Sangiovese, because the Italians will always provide better value with that.

But here's a novel concept for California: How about growing grapes that are actually suited to the climate in your area? And then telling the world about it.

3. Millennials want a personal experience

The wine industry knows this and is wringing its hands about it. A winery in Lake County can't easily offer a hopscotch tournament to its customers in Ohio.

However, some companies have figured out how to make digital marketing seem closer-to-home, and more wineries could take advantage of what they've learned. Cameron Hughes stages events around the country, but also stays in personal contact with everyone on its mailing list. Naked Wines makes people feel like they're crowdfunding wines that are ... well, I'll just stop there, but the point is they make people feel involved in the process beyond just buying a bottle.

I sometimes tell wineries that they should take their youngest employee and put them in charge of their social media program. Allow them to interact with people. Instagram videos are the hot thing right now but soon there will be a hot new thing. Hell, I'm not a millennial: maybe there already is.

Point is, boilerplate crap about how your "handcrafted" wine is special and tastes really good, like crushed blackberries with delicious notes of chocolate and aloe vera, isn't going to impress anyone. Everyone is saying it. Companies like the Wine Group and Treasury are going to hire people who are better at saying it.

Tell us who YOU are. Why you make the wines you make. What you like to do on Sunday mornings. Be a person! And people will relate to you as one. There's a reason Josh Cellars is the fastest-growing wine in America, and it isn't the juice. People think Josh is a real person. You can't compete with high-grade image creation; what you can do is actually be a real person.

And don't be boring! Show us your hopes and dreams and pratfalls. That's all anyone wants. We want to root for you. Give us a reason.

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