Stefania Vinciguerra offers some thoughts on wine consumption by Gen Z youth and Millennials. It is wrong to say that they don’t drink; you have to try to understand how and why they drink.
Surrounded by people who keep repeating that young people don’t drink anymore, I too had convinced myself that this was the truth, until – talking to my daughter – I was told that the night before, at home with friends, they had decided to have a “detox” aperitif, since “our social moments are all about alcohol.”
In what sense? I heard myself ask. In the sense that young people(Gen Z but also Millennials) during the week meet after work and their date is at the bar or wine bar for a drink. I know, you’ll all tell me that one swallow doesn’t make a summer and also that the drink is not wine but cocktail. But in the meantime, doubt has crept in.
I did some research, looked up some data, and what emerges is a different way of drinking than previous generations, but it would be wrong to simply say that “young people don’t drink.” Quite simply, young people have a different relationship with drinking alcohol than we had, and their choice is more multifaceted.
One of the peak gathering moments is the aperitif, even in its horrible lexical deviation of “apericena.” A moment in which, ça va sans dire, you drink. And you don’t drink juice.
So what do you drink? Goblets of sparkling wines, white wines and various cocktails. Only that we drink “consciously,” which means not drinking so much as to drink, but choosing carefully what will end up in the goblet. Drinking perhaps in moderation, but more consciously. The choices are guided by several factors, starting with the venue where drink, which often determines the choice of what drinking. Because, that is, drinking is not the focus of the evening. You choose the atmosphere and the rest descends from there. Because what matters is. The experience and correspondence to one’s values: sustainability, naturalness, healthiness, well-being, sociality.
Then, it is true, there is (and often conditions the choice) also the price factor, it is not a case of forgetting it or pretending not to consider it. Prices of wines by the glass have often reached exaggerated figures, a glass “pays” for the bottle to the merchant. But this does not help the sale to those who, with a click, see the price of the bottle. The watchword for young people is. quality at an affordable price: Italian salaries, we know, are certainly not high. So the perceived value must match the asking price, otherwise, then yes, you drink more.
P.S. As you know, yesterday and the day before was held in Milan the presentation of the Essential Guide to the Wines of Italy 2026. In two days about two thousand people came in with a very high percentage of young people, inquiring, consulting, tasting and commenting. They were choosing based on their own ideas and posting photos. Because this should also be considered: in addition to the wine drunk, there is also the wine shared on social media.
