Kathryn Anne LaTour, Joy Annamma,* and Roger Noujeim
*University of British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Kelowna/V1V 1V7, Canada (Annamma.Joy@ubc.ca)

For the wine industry, consumer education is both a goal and a challenge. Consumers show interest in learning more about wine, yet also feel intimidated and confused. Making things more difficult is the wine industry’s traditional scientific approach to education, with complex terminology that is not appreciated by the younger con- sumer generation. While the traditional, more technical approach to wine education generated interest among more experienced consumers, little consideration was paid to consumer preferences and likeability of wine. This study examines teaching two Gen Z and millennial consumer groups about wine using a holistic, visual, and verbal analytical approach. Group A had some wine education background and Group B had none. This approach to teaching younger consumers about wine leads to them liking the wine more, especially in Group B, who had no prior wine education. Group A desired an overall more upbeat and happy approach to learning about wine than Group B consumers who were just starting to learn about wine. However, both groups desired a more pleasurable approach to wine education than a purely scientific and technical learning environment. Overall, younger consumers were interested in learning about wine, even though some experts have suggested that the industry is losing touch with the new consumer. As a prerequisite to our follow-on study, we partnered with Quini, a digital visual wine tasting and rating platform, to examine differences in wine consumer engagement on their platform among age groups. We analyzed three years of data and followed up with an online survey to determine interest in and education about wine. This paper discusses our findings and proposes how industry executives might engage younger consumer groups, especially online.

Funding Support: School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University Quini. This research paper has been accepted for publication by the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly Journal.