Millennials (those born between the 1980s and the early 2000s) constitute the demographic driving the FMCG wine trade in Europe and the world, according to a new Rabobank study.
The paper by Marc Soccio, entitled Premium wine – It's a long way to the top, suggests that millennials are drinking less wine but, as a general rule, purchase higher-end bottles than their predecessors. Relative to the generation that came before them, they have tipped the scales further from quantity and closer to quality.
The report, as quoted on The Drinks Business, states, 'These consumers have a higher level of awareness of wine and wine quality than any generation before them. This fact, mixed with increasing warnings and regulations designed to curb excessive and irresponsible alcohol consumption, has many younger consumers choosing to drink less, but higher-quality wine than their parents' generation.'
It is people of this age group who have, to a massive extent, caused the new flourish of popularity enjoyed by prosecco and Sauvignon Blanc in recent years.
It is up to large-scale retailers to capitalise on this new desire for wines of premium designations, the report indicates. Soccio says, "The high-volume off-premise channel – particularly the major grocery retail chains – is growing more and more influential in determining which products find their way to consumers.”
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article written by Peter Donnelly.
