This exciting new competition answers the question, “What do young wine drinkers want?”
All judges will be between the ages of 21-35 and will include rising chefs, winemakers, sommeliers, wine educators, bloggers, and others peer-reviewed as superstars in the Millennial Wine generation.
“It is our belief that very few people are really listening to Millennial wine drinkers,” said Lea Pierce, Founder and Managing Director of Wine Competition Management, LLC. Wine Competition Management LLC, founded in 2007, produces four International Competitions based in the U.S.
“The purpose of the NextGen Wine Competition for Millennial Wine Drinkers” is to give young wine drinkers a very public forum for declaring their tastes,” she explained.
“All of the judges will be young people in the wine industry, ages 21-35. We are looking for sommeliers, wine educators, hot young chefs, bloggers and media who can fairly represent what they like to their colleagues and consumers,” she added.
“Although dinosaurs roamed the earth when I was 21, I remember that I was none to thrilled when my parents told me what to like. The Millennials are very sharp, very well informed, and this competition is guaranteed to be like non other. We are very excited to be its producer,” Pierce said.
Elisa Thurman, Operations Manager for Wine Competition Management, and a recent graduate of Sonoma State University with a degree in Wine Business and Human Resource Management, is Director for the Competition.
“Elisa is an exceptional young woman who is well-suited to Direct this competition because of her experience managing our other competitions,” Pierce said.
Pierce said she agrees with Amy Atwood’s observation that “Millennial wine drinkers gain prestige by bringing a bottle with a interesting story, which might be an import from Croatia.” Amy is a wine blogger and wine buyer at www.mydailywine.com.
Atwood commented in a recent post, “I would argue that Milennials thirst for wine knowledge and their desire to experience as many grape varietals and wine regions as possible, is a mark of sophistication. Their frequency of wine purchases tells us that they have made wine a part of their everyday life. Whereas past generations of Americans may have relegated wine drinking to only special occasions. And yes, they are savvy too, these new young wine explorers. They access and share information, wine reviews, food pairing ideas and pricing online.”
“They have also been the generation that has accelerated the growth of the organic wine and biodynamic wine sector. They care about what they put into their bodies and how it was made as well,” Atwood remarked.
Important Factoids from a recent Wine Market Council survey
Millennials lead in key categories:
Frequency of wine bottle purchases over $20:
43% Millennials
32% Gen X
22% Boomers
Importance of online information when purchasing wine:
36% Millennial
29% Gen X
22% Boomer
Percentage of imported wine purchases:
41% Millennials
31% Gen X
24% Boomers
