Ralph & Lahni de Amicis, Napa, Sonoma, San Francisco
Generational Difference
The other day I was traveling up the Napa Valley selling tour books and showing people our Napa Valley Wine Tour iPhone App. At many of the wineries and hotels the folks know me so generally I’m greeted in a friendly wine country way. While explaining the concept behind our tour books and apps, to get people to go beyond the 20 most visited wineries, people often offer their own insights. Tasting rooms are an interesting mix of retail space, demonstration room and bar. Even though they make it look easy the work can be demanding, and the best folks are very observant. The tasting room manager at the ZD winery offered this wonderful observation when we mentioned that the Baby Boomers buy our tour books while the Millennial generation buys our apps. At ZD they’ve noticed that Boomers normally go for the basic tasting, and then buy a case of that wine. In comparison, the Millennials spring for the expensive tasting, and any food pairings, and maybe buy a bottle or two. For them the tasting experience is a social event but for Boomers it’s shopping. Being myself a Boomer and the parent of Millennials I offered him my particular rationale. The Boomers are a huge generation, and the following X Gens comparatively small in number. But the Boomers children, Millennials, represent another huge generation who learned their love of fine wines at home. They’ve heard us go on and on about a fine vintage, so when they go wine tasting they are happy to experience that delight. They are also young and mobile, traveling and changing homes, so the last thing they want to worry about is moving cases of wine. The Boomers in comparison know who is coming to dinner and we need to stock our cellars in preparation. We also love travel, and saying that we picked up that bottle the last time we were at the winery. We stock basic and special wines because there is lots of room at the dining table and our kids bring people home with them. Eventually the Millennials will stop moving around, and fortunately for the fine wine industry they will have developed a taste for the better things in vine. Then they’ll be stocking cases and hopefully pull some of their nicer bottles out of the cellar with Mom and Dad comes to dinner.
Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guides, and owners of Amicis Tours. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their book ‘Guidelines for the Hospitality Professional’ teaches the unique art of creating great wine tours. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com
Call 707-235-2648 for Tours, Books & Seminars Copyright Ralph & Lahni de Amicis 2011 All tasting fees, hours, wine lists, etc are subject to change.