Berkmann Wine Cellars is on a mission to get this generation of on-trade staff buzzing about wine, enlisting the help of a behavioural scientist to do so. But how can we change our educational approach to fit the Gen Z mindset? “We don’t necessarily need them to be that excited about wine in the first place, but we do need to get them to care about service,” says Bob Davidson, wine training manager for the UK importer. This is the first step to engage on-trade staff whose perception of wine is not always positive. Make wine a part of service, and the rest will follow. The hope, of course, is that this leads to a “Damascus moment, that lots of people in the wine trade have”, he says. However, wine consumption among younger consumers is down on previous generations, raising questions about the future of the category. But Davidson pushes back against the perception that Generation Z has lost interested in wine. “There’s not a shift away from wine, there just isn’t a shift towards it, and there’s other things that are competing for their attention,” he says. “There’s a lot more to do now. Twenty or 30 years ago there was going out and drinking. Now, there’s far more in terms of activities that people can do to vie for their attention.” This, he argues, accounts not only for the decrease in wine consumption among younger consumers, but also for why they are drinking less in general. But this
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Wine
