Marketing Wine to Different Age Groups

I'm no marketing guru and maybe that helps here. My insight comes from being a wine consumer for decades, mostly buying direct from wineries. Plus, I've worked in tasting rooms serving people from 20 years old trying to get a drink to people in their 80s. Some knew nothing about wine or how wine tasting works. Others came straight to you asking for your most expensive cabernet.

I'm purposely not talking about the names given to different age groups.  I'm just going to use old, middle, and young consumers with no magic DOB dividing them into smaller cultural segments.

Yes, these will be generalizations, but marketing goes after the majority because, like any other part of a business, money isn't unlimited.

The Older Folks

Who they are

Social media and cell phones have been around long enough so that the vast majority of people drinking wine know their way around. At one time, this was considered a dividing line between the old and young; it no longer is an issue.

They are most likely to stay with tradition. Many marketers believe they won't embrace change, but it's more likely they will just be slower to experiment and accept changes. If you're old enough, you've seen enough trends come and go without feeling the need to jump on every new one. Platform shoes, anyone? Zima from Coors?

Talking to them

This isn't the party crowd, this is the drink nice wine with dinner and with fiends crowd.

You can talk tradition. You can talk about your founder, who established the winery in the 1960s. Mention your long-held values. This is the oaky chardonnay and cabernet crowd. Not so much the effervescent pinot gris or chilled reds buyers. They are more into food pairings.

They are more likely to walk into a retail shop or tasting room knowing what they want. Your sales pitch is less likely to have much of an effect on them.

Their motto could be, drink less and drink better.

The Middle-Aged

Who they are

They have some wine knowledge and pretty well know what they like. They might want to impress others with what they drink. Sharing a well-known and highly-respected bottle with someone they know is a way to do this. You might say they are new money and want to splurge and show off a bit. These are the folks that buy the most expensive bottles.

Talking to them

This is the group that wants the wine experiences. Since not everyone wants the fancy experience, it's best for a winery to offer an "experience" and some basic tastings. Doing just one or the other will leave out a number of potential buyers. 

These are the consumers that you can upsell.

This is the first group to buy something because it's organic, sustainable, or it contributes to their health. They want to feel good about how the product was made.

 

The Younger Ones

Who they are

These are new wine consumers. They don't know what they like yet, so are experimenting with different types of wines and other drinks. Orange wine? Let's give that a try. Wine in cans? Why not. This does not mean these experiments will become a permanent part of their future purchases. 

Not being stuck in any tradition means they are more likely to question long-held beliefs like good wine comes in glass bottles or cabernet sauvignon should be dry and tannic. They are more likely to respond well to fun labeling and what you would call fun wines (those traditional dry reds are sooo serious).

Talking to them

They like people their age talking about wine. Remember the old motto from decades ago, "Never trust anyone over 30?" For instance, if you are a winery and the youngest person on your staff is an assistant winemaker, then use them as a spokesperson to the younger consumer instead of your gray haired owner.

They are not traditionalists, so everything from wine styles to wine labels to marketing formats can make a difference. Yeah, you can reach the older ones on Facebook, Instagram, etc. but you'll need TikTok and whatever else might be trendy now. Do lots of short videos rather than one 30 minute one.

Tell them about environmental concerns, your solar power, and something new and exciting. They are the ones most likely to know about regenerative agriculture. Many won't even know much about regenerative ag, but they know it's new.

They are more about drinking in social settings and celebrating, and less about food pairings.

Most importantly, have wine in a price range younger consumers are comfortable with. Premium wine has never been accessible to the 21-year-old. As prices continue to increase, it's becoming less so. For one, stop pricing rosés at $35. Having multiple labels isn't a bad thing. You're not showing that you make cheap stuff by having a lower priced label. You are showing you want everyone to enjoy your wines.

Or maybe we're not so different after all   :)