How young people are socialised to wine: the experiences of the Generation Y cohort in the US and Australasia

Abstract

While a great deal of wine marketing attention has focused on the wine consumption patterns of Generation Y, little is known about their wine socialisation; that is, the age, situation and influences which saw them first consume wine and develop an ongoing engagement with the product. Purpose: The research has sought to provide an exploratory analysis of the wine preferences and wine socialisation experiences of US and Australasian Gen Y respondents in relation to their alcohol socialisation and consumption in general. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected via an online survey that was distributed to eligible participants (of legal drinking age and Gen Y age restrictions) in the US and Australasia. Descriptives statistics, Chi-square and t-tests were used to analyse the data. Findings: Respondents in both samples reported that they started drinking wine later than they started drinking alcohol in general. Early experiences with wine were most likely to be influenced by family and to occur in a non-commercial setting, while early experiences with other types of alcohol were mostly influenced by friends. Participants report taste, situational context and price to be the most important factors when choosing wine today. Practical implications: For wine marketers to reach younger consumers, appealing to peer influence may be less effective than accessing them through their families and the noncommercial settings in which most of them are introduced to wine. Highlighting the taste of wine, rather than wine-food matching, may also be more appealing to these young consumers.