Xoomers & Millenials: The New Wine Market

Xoomers (pronounced Zoomers) are Gen X Men, ages 25-39 and they are posed to become a powerful wine drinking and wine buying segment of the population. In a study by GQ magazine, they have become savvy brand name shoppers and inclined to spend freely on luxury products such as wine. The study found that Xoomers outspend Baby Boomers by 19%, are 15% more likely than Boomers to pay a premium for luxury goods, and 68% more likely than Boomers to increase luxury spending over the next ten years. They are 31% more likely than Boomers to pay a premium for beer, wine and liquor. The Xoomers are far more likely to try new products and items that are stylish, while the Boomers are downsizing their lives, looking to buy based on value. Xoomers are 37% more likely than Boomers to spend a majority of discretionary income on themselves.

Even younger consumers, the so-called Millennials, young adults 26 years of age and younger, are spurring on the rising consumption of wine. The United States Market Council reported that there are even more core wine drinkers among Millenials than Gen X and they are more likely to say they like the taste of wine and associate wine with fun times. Robert Smiley, director of wine studies at the UC Davis graduate school of management, did a survey of winery executives that indicated the health of the wine industry was in part due to the growing consumption of wine by young adults. The young consumer helped wine leap over beer as the most popular drink in the United States last year. Kendall-Jackson has created a separate unit, White Rocket, directed at marketing wines to millennials. It will incorporate current labels, Camelot, Dog House and Tin Roof and several new brands made from grapes sourced from several regions in California.

Wine X Magazine was created several years ago in California specifically for the Xoomer wine drinker. It has been quite successful and I recommend you read it for its humor and irreverent style that actual appeals to all ages. An article relative to this discussion is good reading: “The Autobiography of Wine X,” by Darryl Roberts (Nov., 2003 at www.winexmagazine.com).