What’s going on with young winedrinkers?
Found this article in a Norvegian paper, Dagens Næringsliv. It was about an study released last week by American academic Dr Liz Thatch, showing that french students and young people are turning away from wine. On the other side of the pond, the american youngsters are becoming more and more wine aware.
Dr. Thatch have done the study with young french and american people between 21 and 30 years old. Here is some of the main points;
- French think of wine as “old fashion” and “out of date”
- The Americans think of wine as something modern and trendy
- Young French is still drinking the same amount of alcohol, so now they drink more beer and spirit
- The same goes for Americans, but they drink more wine
- The French find winelabels confusing, and therefore they don’t buy it, and they would like to be able to buy smaller bottles in bar’s, nightclubs and such.
- Also, there are some strong opinions against alcohol in France
I find this to be interesting, this is my generation of people. I can see the same happening in Norway that’s happens in the US, young people are drinking more wine. Well, around my age most people drink Black Tower or Blue Nun and such, but we are learning to appreciate the big selection of wine that we can get here.
So, why don’t you do like the Americans, and try something new?
Until later; Trust your palate!
Filed under: France, USA, Winetalk, Young People on May 29th, 2008
Interestingly, I’m wondering if the “old fashion” frame of logic is largely based in southern Europe as Greece, Italy and Spain are all heading towards spirits than wine. I’m guessing that this has to do with the pendulum swing, where if you’ve grown up in a wine culture, you’re bound to want to something different and unique. With vines still surrounding much Spain, Italy and France, it makes sense that a younger person would be fascinated by a gin and tonic or a rum and coke instead of a glass of Tempranillo, as it is logical that Norwegians and Americans want something more “romantic” and “sophisticated” like wine.
I can’t say that Catavino will have an effect on the younger Spanish and Portuguese culture, but I do think that we will at least help young Americans find unique Iberian wines to satiate their current wine craze
Think you have a good point there Gabriella. I totally agree that we dont have it in our culture like many of the wineproducing countries.
But why do you think that French young frenchmens have started to go for beer and spirit? Could it be that France have so “old” winelaws, and produce wine that most youths don’t like, unlike many new world wine producing contries?
Will buy some wine from you when I move over to the US, looking forward to it!
[...] abit about France the last days, with my post about young people in France drinking less wine, one of the reasons was that wine was “to complicated”. Now thats about to [...]