The American wine industry is pretty excited these days. Sales are up, and the demographics are looking good: the youngest generation of alcohol consumers (known as the “Millennials”) are much more interested in wine than any other generation before them, and there are a lot of them — almost as many as the Baby Boomers.
In many ways, the Millennial generation has caused the wine industry to finally realize there’s a market in younger wine drinkers, a group that has long been ignored by both the wine media and most wine producers. While the beer and hard liquor industries learned long ago that marketing to twenty-somethings was a golden goose of an opportunity, the wine industry has been slow to figure out that there was another market for their product besides old white men.
Change is coming though, as events like the upcoming Wine & Spirits Hot Picks tasting clearly demonstrate. Focused on folks under 35, this tasting of some of the magazine’s top wines, hosted by some of Los Angeles’ youngest wine professionals, will likely be a great opportunity for younger wine lovers to taste great wine, at an interesting venue, with lots of cool folks to interact with.
Frankly, I wish I had sought out more events of this sort when I was single. Now that I’m married, I realize that I probably could have gotten a lot more dates hanging out at wine tastings than I did hanging out at the rock climbing gym! Singles take note.
Wine & Spirits knows how to put on a good tasting, and the wines showcased are usually extremely high quality. Their Top 100 tasting is certainly one of the best events of the year in San Francisco, and one I try not to miss under any circumstances. That bodes well for this event, which I haven’t ever attended, but which I certainly recommend as probably worth the $75 entrance fee.
Lots of different wines will be served, along with food from some of LA’s trendiest restaurants, including Osteria Mozza, which I hear is quite the scene these days.
If some of you readers attend, let me know how it goes.
Wine & Spirits Hot Picks Tasting
Thursday May 22, 2008
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
MODAA Gallery
8609 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232
Tickets are $75 and should be purchased online in advance.
Don’t forget to wear dark clothes, drink lots of water, eat food along the way, and if you want to actually learn something…. SPIT!
