wine X
help out the little guy and get an education.
get a subscription.
The Autobiography of Wine X
Or Explaining Rain...to people who don't know what water is
by Darryl Roberts
How could I have been so stupid! It was my first ad agency meeting. The premier issue of Wine X had just come out and we had pissed-off just about every Baby Boomer on the planet (not intentionally... okay, maybe). The line in the sand had been drawn: wine geeks on one side; everyone else on the other. You either "get" what Wine X is about, or you don't. No middle ground. None.
My ad sales director and I were sitting across from a media buyer in New York. We had just done our dog and pony, and she had that typical "deer caught in the headlights" glazed stare. (We got used to that look, trust me.) She was trying to digest something that she didn't understand, that went totally against everything that she knew (or thought she did). Then we heard those infamous five little words that would shape our destiny: "Young adults don't drink wine." To which I replied, "Exactly."
I'll come back to our confused little Bambi in a moment, but let's back up a bit. What the hell is "Wine X" and why the hell would some moron produce a wine-oriented magazine for young adults. "Young adults don't drink wine," remember? Well, here's my sad, pathetic story.
X: The Scarlet Letter
I had "discovered" wine in my mid-twenties. Until then, never touched the stuff. But a trip to wine country one long weekend in 1986 and I caught the bug. Upon returning home to Los Angeles I wanted to join a tasting group, but the only tasting group around was Les Amis du Vin. To join that group you had to be more than 100 years old, have an ascot permanently attached to your neck, and stare into your glass of wine for an hour as if seeing the Virgin Mary. (Not exactly what I was looking for.) I also wanted a publication to read to further my knowledge. But everything on the newsstand was either trade-related or aimed at my parents. So, I started my own tasting group and a small newsletter to keep my comrads "informed."
Skip forward. After producing television for seven years (and living to tell about it) I decided to escape LA while I was still alive and move north... to Sonoma County. I had this idea that made a lot of sense (to me, at least) and so I decided to research its feasibility. That idea was Wine X.
Yes, I know. Young people don't drink wine. I'll get to that.
It was 1993. Generation X was a hot topic. Douglas Coupland labeled my generation with a scarlet letter. The media was "discovering" 80 million people, which someone aptly described as "Like suddenly discovering Europe." Marketing machines had shifted from Baby Boomers to this strange, new, disenchanted generation, whose attention span lasted long enough to watch mindless MTV, listen to nihilistic and unharmonious rock and rap music, and disavow solid American values and conventions, like marriage, religion and employment. Well, marketing machines other than the wine industry. They happily remained stuck in the 1980s.
With all of this attention on my generation, I was convinced that a wine magazine targeting young adults was a great idea. However, since I would be funding this little endeavor myself, I really wanted to make sure it would fly. After all, young adults don't drink wine. So, I did some research. A lot of research. And here's what I found.
Boom and Bust
According to the Wine Institute, per capita wine consumption grew steadily from 1940 through 1968 at an average of about one percent per year. This can be attributed to an increase in the adult population, taking into account both domestic growth (babies born here in the states) and an increase in, what I term, "Euro-transplants" or those immigrating to the United States from Europe, who consume wine regularly as part of their daily habits.
Then, from 1968 to 1986, an anomaly in per capita wine consumption occurred, not only here in the United States, but globally. During these 18 years, per capita wine consumption increased to a growth rate of about seven percent per year - seven-times the average. Then, from 1986 through 1996, per capita wine consumption fell an average of four percent a year, dropping a total of 25%.
So what happened?
Well, to understand this, we simply have to look at what happened in the mid- to late-60s. The sudden growth in wine consumption in this country, and globally, was the direct result of the Baby Boomers "discovering" wine. Baby Boomers didn't want do what their parents were doing. They didn't want to drink what their parents were drinking. And their parents, for the most part, were drinking beer and spirits. So, they decided to adopt a beverage that they could call their own. And what they adopted was wine. Wine became the new thing. Wine was hip. Wine was cool. It was groovy to order Chablis or Burgundy in a restaurant. You could buy a gallon of wine for a couple of bucks and drink it every day.
So, we have a generation adopting a product and drinking it on a daily basis. That's important. But the more important and significant factor here is that Baby Boomers were drinking wine on a regular basis when they were in their 20s.
And this is significant because - and if you remember anything from this article, please remember this - people form their consumption habits (and most brand loyalties) for life in their mid- to late-20s. Meaning, if a person drinks scotch on a regular basis when they're 28 years old, they'll be drinking scotch on a regular basis when they're 58 years old. Equally, if they're not drinking scotch (or wine) on a regular basis at age 28, there's very little probability that they will be at 58.
That's the reason Baby Boomers are the major consumers of wine today. They established their consumption habits drinking wine on a regular basis while they were in their 20s. And, that's the reason we saw a big shift (almost 40%) of wine consumers moving from under 35 years old to over 35 years old between 1985 and 1996. It was simply the Baby Boomers aging.
Okay. So what? Young adults don't drink wine.
I know, I know. I'm getting to that.
Myths and Excuses
Now, I had three hurdles in front of me, what I like to call myths or "excuses" that the wine industry marketers have manufactured to keep wine a Baby Boomer beverage. In reality, it's more like an excuse not to work hard. Hey, face it. It's hard to sell something to someone you have nothing in common with. So why do that when you can sell it to your peers? Besides, according to the powers that be, wine marketing is an oxymoron. We don't need to market wine. We don't make enough to satisfy the demand as it is, right? (Oops. Someone forgot to tell the wine marketers about the whole "wine glut" thing.)
Anyway, the three myths:
1) Young adults have no money
2) Young adults' palates aren't sophisticated enough to "appreciate" wine (obviously Baby Boomers are super-humans, the only generation able to appreciate wine in their 20s)
3) My favorite: like every generation before them, young adults will simply grow into wine
The CliffsNotes reality check:
1) According to the ad agency J. Walter Thompson: "Generation X spends 10 percent more on everything than Baby Boomers do, whether it's cars, washer machines, soap, travel or alcohol [...] they spend 10 percent more on everything except wine." In the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 to 34-year olds spend 51% more on alcohol than those 35 years or older.
2) One word: Globalization. Look at what young adults are eating and drinking today. (Interesting note: in 1965, when Baby Boomers were in their "formative" years, there was only one flavor of coffee in this country: coffee)
3) Grow into Wine? Where and when has this ever happened? If this were true, Baby Boomers would be growing into wine right about now. Wrong.
My three years of research basically concluded that -- and listen close Bambi -- it's not that young adults aren't interested in wine, it's that the wine industry isn't interested in them. And that if we give young adults something to relate to, a comfortable, identifiable "place" where they could learn more about wine and how it can become a part of their lifestyle, they'd adopt it, too. Imagine that.
So, in June 1997, Wine X was launched with the intent of increasing the wine consumer base in this country (and world-wide) to include those aged 21 to 35 years old. We counted on the wine industry recognizing and understanding this huge potential market. We counted on the restaurant industry understanding that the more comfortable their waitstaff is with wine - most waitstaff being in their early 20s - the more wine they'd sell. We counted on the endless endorsements we received from the lifestyle press, from sources such as Business Week and The Today Show, stating that "This is the time to market wine to young adults." We counted on the fact that were named one of the most notable magazines launched that year by Samir Husni (the Robert Parker Jr. of magazines), out of a field of 870. We counted on...
Too much. Waaaaay too much. I forgot I was dealing with the wine industry, an industry still stuck in the 80s. They don't want to market wine to young adults. Young adults don't drink wine.
As it turns out, our strongest asset -- our ability to successfully deliver a niche magazine to young adults -- turns out to be our biggest problem. The wine industry doesn't "get" it. They don't understand Wine X. And why would they support a magazine (and a demographic) that they don't understand?
What they don't understand is that they're not supposed to "get" it. If they did, I wouldn't be doing my job very well. Wine X is specifically written and designed for a 25-year old. For the same reason the typical 50-year old marketing director doesn't watch MTV, they don't understand our magazine. Why should they? It's not written (or designed) for them. It's not written for my parents. Not for wine writers. It's a niche consumer magazine for the average young adult. It features young adult culture -- music, fashion, books, DVDs, travel and some wine education -- and grafts wine onto it. Hey, if young adults don't drink wine, they probably won't pick up a "wine" magazine.
We've all seen what happens when an industry continues to only market to itself and existing customers. Can you say glut? And it's not a cycle as most industry "experts" want you to believe. It's the result of flat consumption growth for the past 10 years, while production has grown at an average rate of 15 percent per year. Yet, at the same time there's all of the recent data showing that young adults are 84 percent more likely to spend $20 or more on a bottle of wine than their parents. Data proving that young adults will instantly become core consumers if we simply get them to drink wine while they're in their 20s (read: we don't have to baby step them through years of white zin abuse and spend billions of ad dollars on them). If we simply pay attention to young adults they'll remain product (and brand) loyal for the next 50+ years.
Despite all of this, we still struggle to get each issue out for lack of wine industry support.
The bottom line is that the strongest sales potential for wine, whether it's retail or in restaurants, is with young adults. The existing wine consumer base is saturated. It's time to tap into the future market: young adults.
But young adults don't drink wine... Exactly.
"I'll have a glass of the Pam Anderson"
Restaurateurs need to know two things about selling wine to young adults: young adults are very, very savvy and prudent with their money (read: not gonna pay $10 for a glass of wine when they can buy the same bottle in the store for $8... and anyone that does is a moron!), and they're more likely to buy wine if it's a personal recommendation (i.e. from a peer) than they are because some wine critic slapped a meaningless impersonal number on it. (It always amazes me that the same people who are appalled by screwcaps - they're not romantic like corks - are they same idiots who order a bottle of wine in a restaurant because it received a "91." 91... now that's romantic!)
So don't mark your wine up astronomically (remember: wine will make your food taste better, so don't discourage people from ordering it!) and make sure that your waitstaff knows how to talk intelligently about your wine list. And by intelligently I don't mean memorizing fruits and vegetables that some distributor belched during their "orientation." I mean being able to use language that your waitstaff's peers can relate to and understand. For example, if you have a rich, voluptuous chardonnay, think rich and voluptuous (i.e. Pam Anderson), not wine geek tropical fruit, butter and oak. I mean, how frickin' boring is that. And, if your waitstaff happens not to be in the young adult range, make sure they don't talk down to young adults. We're not stupid. Just intimidated by a beverage that you decided to make so mysterious that it alienates 90 percent of the public! And for God Sake, don't try to be "hip" with the youngsters. Nothing more pathetic that a 50-year old coming to the table and saying, "Let's talk some wack, homie."
Interesting (and alarming) Statistics:
Between 1985 and 1996, the percentage of wine drinkers in the U.S. over age 35 grew from 53% to nearly 70%, while the percentage of those under 35 dropped from 47% to 28%.
Approximately 72% of wine drinkers in the U.S. are over 40 years old.
In the last 10 years the U.S. has seen a 50% increase in the number of new wineries, a 50% increase in vineyard acreage planted, and a 50% increase in cost of a bottle of wine.
On the global level, from 1995 to 1999 wine production in:
-- the major European countries (France, Italy, Spain, Germany) grew 14%
-- in the U.S. it grew 15%
-- in Australia, wine production grew 89%
-- and in New Zealand it grew 100%
Global consumption, however, remained relatively flat.
According to MediaMark Research (MRI), a little over 44 million people in the U.S. have had a glass of wine within the past 6 months, that represents 22.5% of the adult population.
According to MRI, 10.4% of the U.S. adult population drinks 94.7% of the wine.
According to the latest OIV data, the estimated gap between production and consumption suggests a global surplus between 1.2 and 1.7 billion gallons for 1999/2000. To put this in perspective, the global market might have been in balance if the U.S., Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa had not crushed a single grape.
Editorial Note: Since this article was written in early 2004, data released by the Wine Market Council indicates that in the past seven years, 21- to 27-year olds have added 25 percent to the core wine consumer group in the U.S., and have increased per capita wine consumption 40 percent to its highest level since 1982. Imagine that.
get a subscription.
The Autobiography of Wine X
Or Explaining Rain...to people who don't know what water is
by Darryl Roberts
How could I have been so stupid! It was my first ad agency meeting. The premier issue of Wine X had just come out and we had pissed-off just about every Baby Boomer on the planet (not intentionally... okay, maybe). The line in the sand had been drawn: wine geeks on one side; everyone else on the other. You either "get" what Wine X is about, or you don't. No middle ground. None.
My ad sales director and I were sitting across from a media buyer in New York. We had just done our dog and pony, and she had that typical "deer caught in the headlights" glazed stare. (We got used to that look, trust me.) She was trying to digest something that she didn't understand, that went totally against everything that she knew (or thought she did). Then we heard those infamous five little words that would shape our destiny: "Young adults don't drink wine." To which I replied, "Exactly."
I'll come back to our confused little Bambi in a moment, but let's back up a bit. What the hell is "Wine X" and why the hell would some moron produce a wine-oriented magazine for young adults. "Young adults don't drink wine," remember? Well, here's my sad, pathetic story.
X: The Scarlet Letter
I had "discovered" wine in my mid-twenties. Until then, never touched the stuff. But a trip to wine country one long weekend in 1986 and I caught the bug. Upon returning home to Los Angeles I wanted to join a tasting group, but the only tasting group around was Les Amis du Vin. To join that group you had to be more than 100 years old, have an ascot permanently attached to your neck, and stare into your glass of wine for an hour as if seeing the Virgin Mary. (Not exactly what I was looking for.) I also wanted a publication to read to further my knowledge. But everything on the newsstand was either trade-related or aimed at my parents. So, I started my own tasting group and a small newsletter to keep my comrads "informed."
Skip forward. After producing television for seven years (and living to tell about it) I decided to escape LA while I was still alive and move north... to Sonoma County. I had this idea that made a lot of sense (to me, at least) and so I decided to research its feasibility. That idea was Wine X.
Yes, I know. Young people don't drink wine. I'll get to that.
It was 1993. Generation X was a hot topic. Douglas Coupland labeled my generation with a scarlet letter. The media was "discovering" 80 million people, which someone aptly described as "Like suddenly discovering Europe." Marketing machines had shifted from Baby Boomers to this strange, new, disenchanted generation, whose attention span lasted long enough to watch mindless MTV, listen to nihilistic and unharmonious rock and rap music, and disavow solid American values and conventions, like marriage, religion and employment. Well, marketing machines other than the wine industry. They happily remained stuck in the 1980s.
With all of this attention on my generation, I was convinced that a wine magazine targeting young adults was a great idea. However, since I would be funding this little endeavor myself, I really wanted to make sure it would fly. After all, young adults don't drink wine. So, I did some research. A lot of research. And here's what I found.
Boom and Bust
According to the Wine Institute, per capita wine consumption grew steadily from 1940 through 1968 at an average of about one percent per year. This can be attributed to an increase in the adult population, taking into account both domestic growth (babies born here in the states) and an increase in, what I term, "Euro-transplants" or those immigrating to the United States from Europe, who consume wine regularly as part of their daily habits.
Then, from 1968 to 1986, an anomaly in per capita wine consumption occurred, not only here in the United States, but globally. During these 18 years, per capita wine consumption increased to a growth rate of about seven percent per year - seven-times the average. Then, from 1986 through 1996, per capita wine consumption fell an average of four percent a year, dropping a total of 25%.
So what happened?
Well, to understand this, we simply have to look at what happened in the mid- to late-60s. The sudden growth in wine consumption in this country, and globally, was the direct result of the Baby Boomers "discovering" wine. Baby Boomers didn't want do what their parents were doing. They didn't want to drink what their parents were drinking. And their parents, for the most part, were drinking beer and spirits. So, they decided to adopt a beverage that they could call their own. And what they adopted was wine. Wine became the new thing. Wine was hip. Wine was cool. It was groovy to order Chablis or Burgundy in a restaurant. You could buy a gallon of wine for a couple of bucks and drink it every day.
So, we have a generation adopting a product and drinking it on a daily basis. That's important. But the more important and significant factor here is that Baby Boomers were drinking wine on a regular basis when they were in their 20s.
And this is significant because - and if you remember anything from this article, please remember this - people form their consumption habits (and most brand loyalties) for life in their mid- to late-20s. Meaning, if a person drinks scotch on a regular basis when they're 28 years old, they'll be drinking scotch on a regular basis when they're 58 years old. Equally, if they're not drinking scotch (or wine) on a regular basis at age 28, there's very little probability that they will be at 58.
That's the reason Baby Boomers are the major consumers of wine today. They established their consumption habits drinking wine on a regular basis while they were in their 20s. And, that's the reason we saw a big shift (almost 40%) of wine consumers moving from under 35 years old to over 35 years old between 1985 and 1996. It was simply the Baby Boomers aging.
Okay. So what? Young adults don't drink wine.
I know, I know. I'm getting to that.
Myths and Excuses
Now, I had three hurdles in front of me, what I like to call myths or "excuses" that the wine industry marketers have manufactured to keep wine a Baby Boomer beverage. In reality, it's more like an excuse not to work hard. Hey, face it. It's hard to sell something to someone you have nothing in common with. So why do that when you can sell it to your peers? Besides, according to the powers that be, wine marketing is an oxymoron. We don't need to market wine. We don't make enough to satisfy the demand as it is, right? (Oops. Someone forgot to tell the wine marketers about the whole "wine glut" thing.)
Anyway, the three myths:
1) Young adults have no money
2) Young adults' palates aren't sophisticated enough to "appreciate" wine (obviously Baby Boomers are super-humans, the only generation able to appreciate wine in their 20s)
3) My favorite: like every generation before them, young adults will simply grow into wine
The CliffsNotes reality check:
1) According to the ad agency J. Walter Thompson: "Generation X spends 10 percent more on everything than Baby Boomers do, whether it's cars, washer machines, soap, travel or alcohol [...] they spend 10 percent more on everything except wine." In the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 to 34-year olds spend 51% more on alcohol than those 35 years or older.
2) One word: Globalization. Look at what young adults are eating and drinking today. (Interesting note: in 1965, when Baby Boomers were in their "formative" years, there was only one flavor of coffee in this country: coffee)
3) Grow into Wine? Where and when has this ever happened? If this were true, Baby Boomers would be growing into wine right about now. Wrong.
My three years of research basically concluded that -- and listen close Bambi -- it's not that young adults aren't interested in wine, it's that the wine industry isn't interested in them. And that if we give young adults something to relate to, a comfortable, identifiable "place" where they could learn more about wine and how it can become a part of their lifestyle, they'd adopt it, too. Imagine that.
So, in June 1997, Wine X was launched with the intent of increasing the wine consumer base in this country (and world-wide) to include those aged 21 to 35 years old. We counted on the wine industry recognizing and understanding this huge potential market. We counted on the restaurant industry understanding that the more comfortable their waitstaff is with wine - most waitstaff being in their early 20s - the more wine they'd sell. We counted on the endless endorsements we received from the lifestyle press, from sources such as Business Week and The Today Show, stating that "This is the time to market wine to young adults." We counted on the fact that were named one of the most notable magazines launched that year by Samir Husni (the Robert Parker Jr. of magazines), out of a field of 870. We counted on...
Too much. Waaaaay too much. I forgot I was dealing with the wine industry, an industry still stuck in the 80s. They don't want to market wine to young adults. Young adults don't drink wine.
As it turns out, our strongest asset -- our ability to successfully deliver a niche magazine to young adults -- turns out to be our biggest problem. The wine industry doesn't "get" it. They don't understand Wine X. And why would they support a magazine (and a demographic) that they don't understand?
What they don't understand is that they're not supposed to "get" it. If they did, I wouldn't be doing my job very well. Wine X is specifically written and designed for a 25-year old. For the same reason the typical 50-year old marketing director doesn't watch MTV, they don't understand our magazine. Why should they? It's not written (or designed) for them. It's not written for my parents. Not for wine writers. It's a niche consumer magazine for the average young adult. It features young adult culture -- music, fashion, books, DVDs, travel and some wine education -- and grafts wine onto it. Hey, if young adults don't drink wine, they probably won't pick up a "wine" magazine.
We've all seen what happens when an industry continues to only market to itself and existing customers. Can you say glut? And it's not a cycle as most industry "experts" want you to believe. It's the result of flat consumption growth for the past 10 years, while production has grown at an average rate of 15 percent per year. Yet, at the same time there's all of the recent data showing that young adults are 84 percent more likely to spend $20 or more on a bottle of wine than their parents. Data proving that young adults will instantly become core consumers if we simply get them to drink wine while they're in their 20s (read: we don't have to baby step them through years of white zin abuse and spend billions of ad dollars on them). If we simply pay attention to young adults they'll remain product (and brand) loyal for the next 50+ years.
Despite all of this, we still struggle to get each issue out for lack of wine industry support.
The bottom line is that the strongest sales potential for wine, whether it's retail or in restaurants, is with young adults. The existing wine consumer base is saturated. It's time to tap into the future market: young adults.
But young adults don't drink wine... Exactly.
"I'll have a glass of the Pam Anderson"
Restaurateurs need to know two things about selling wine to young adults: young adults are very, very savvy and prudent with their money (read: not gonna pay $10 for a glass of wine when they can buy the same bottle in the store for $8... and anyone that does is a moron!), and they're more likely to buy wine if it's a personal recommendation (i.e. from a peer) than they are because some wine critic slapped a meaningless impersonal number on it. (It always amazes me that the same people who are appalled by screwcaps - they're not romantic like corks - are they same idiots who order a bottle of wine in a restaurant because it received a "91." 91... now that's romantic!)
So don't mark your wine up astronomically (remember: wine will make your food taste better, so don't discourage people from ordering it!) and make sure that your waitstaff knows how to talk intelligently about your wine list. And by intelligently I don't mean memorizing fruits and vegetables that some distributor belched during their "orientation." I mean being able to use language that your waitstaff's peers can relate to and understand. For example, if you have a rich, voluptuous chardonnay, think rich and voluptuous (i.e. Pam Anderson), not wine geek tropical fruit, butter and oak. I mean, how frickin' boring is that. And, if your waitstaff happens not to be in the young adult range, make sure they don't talk down to young adults. We're not stupid. Just intimidated by a beverage that you decided to make so mysterious that it alienates 90 percent of the public! And for God Sake, don't try to be "hip" with the youngsters. Nothing more pathetic that a 50-year old coming to the table and saying, "Let's talk some wack, homie."
Interesting (and alarming) Statistics:
Between 1985 and 1996, the percentage of wine drinkers in the U.S. over age 35 grew from 53% to nearly 70%, while the percentage of those under 35 dropped from 47% to 28%.
Approximately 72% of wine drinkers in the U.S. are over 40 years old.
In the last 10 years the U.S. has seen a 50% increase in the number of new wineries, a 50% increase in vineyard acreage planted, and a 50% increase in cost of a bottle of wine.
On the global level, from 1995 to 1999 wine production in:
-- the major European countries (France, Italy, Spain, Germany) grew 14%
-- in the U.S. it grew 15%
-- in Australia, wine production grew 89%
-- and in New Zealand it grew 100%
Global consumption, however, remained relatively flat.
According to MediaMark Research (MRI), a little over 44 million people in the U.S. have had a glass of wine within the past 6 months, that represents 22.5% of the adult population.
According to MRI, 10.4% of the U.S. adult population drinks 94.7% of the wine.
According to the latest OIV data, the estimated gap between production and consumption suggests a global surplus between 1.2 and 1.7 billion gallons for 1999/2000. To put this in perspective, the global market might have been in balance if the U.S., Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa had not crushed a single grape.
Editorial Note: Since this article was written in early 2004, data released by the Wine Market Council indicates that in the past seven years, 21- to 27-year olds have added 25 percent to the core wine consumer group in the U.S., and have increased per capita wine consumption 40 percent to its highest level since 1982. Imagine that.