Italian wine merchants are shifting their marketing targets in the United States to the 'Millennials', the new generation of consumers born after 1977.
According to the organizers of the traveling Italian wine fair Vinitaly, which will be 'on tour' in the US next month, the 'Millennials' are young Americans who have reached the minimum drinking age of 21 and who "enjoy drinking wine now that it's no longer off limits".
The 'Millennials' are also known as Echo Boomers, the Internet Generation and Generation Y.
This puts them after Generation X, born in the decade between the mid-60s to mid-70s, which followed Generation Jones, mid-50s to mid-60s, after the post-war Baby Boomers.
Vinitaly US tour operators said this new generation of wine drinkers "are more open to new experiences and more difficult to classify, since they equally enjoy top-quality wines at the same time as less expensive wines with appealing or even irreverent names". These new consumers, Vinitaly marketing experts said, "want to understand what they drink and this is why producers must focus on their preferences".
"Working on marketing but also on wine-food culture and informed consumption are precisely the strategies in which Vinitaly US Tour is investing," the experts added.
Vinitaly US tour 2007 will make three stops: October 22 in Chicago, 24 in an Francisco and 25 in Los Angeles.
Each stop will include presentations of the best Italian wine, olive oil and food specialities, as well as workshops and seminars on Italian wines.
The event is reserved for importers, distributors, restauranteurs, caterers and the trade press.
