I just came back from two trips in the USA in New York and Las Vegas, and as a Millennial, I am trying to understand what my US counterparts are looking for when purchasing wine. So the question is: What do US Millennials really want when it comes to wine?
The first step when it comes to buying wine is the packaging and the label. Forget about your “chateau-looking” label, or a traditional black or white label. Young US consumers want fun nowadays with colors, animals or symbols they can remember like angels for example. If you want to stand out on the shelve and get the attention of a Millennial who is used to swipe right or left in dating apps in less than a second, you must be creative and think out of the box, to make that label that they will want to post and share on social media to get likes! This includes unconventional packaging. The big hit in Las Vegas at the moment is the plastic ready-to-drink wine glass that you can drink around the pool, hold on the streets (it is forbidden to walk with a glass bottle on the streets in Las Vegas) or bring to your picnic with friends.
When American Millennials purchase wine nowadays, they don’t want the heavy-tannin, tiring-for-the-mouth wine that their parents used to drink or buy from Bordeaux. They don’t either want to buy a wine to keep in the cellar long. They want fresh, fruity wines with high residual sugar. In NY last month, I served a wine to a charming young girl that I thought would represent the classic Prosecco drinker today. I offered her a Muscat with 18 grams of residual sugar and when she tasted it, she pulled her face in disgust and threw at me: that’s too dry for me!
Finally, Millennials want transparency nowadays, with a true and simple story that they can connect with and feel part of it. Young consumers want to be proud of what they drink and know the origin of the product. Look at a brand like Casillero del Diablo in Chili. The story is simple - a devil supposed to protect the bottles in the original cellar – and nice marketing around it, and this brand has become one of the most best-selling brands in the US and worldwide.
It is in the hands of South African wine industry to hit the US booming market, but producers and marketers first have to understand and answer the needs of the current leading consuming category which are the Millennials.