Millennials are driving wine sales but are in the dark when it comes to actual knowledge about wine
Millennials will be raising a glass to the news that they are now a major force in the UK's wine industry, although new research also suggests they don't have a clue what they're talking about.
Successful millennials – between the ages of 18 and 35 with an above average income – now account for 31 per cent of wine spending in the UK, according to a study from Wine Intelligence.
Read more: Britain is now the "beating heart" of the global wine trade
The global online wine market, one of the fastest growing sales sectors, has been estimated to have a value €6bn (£4.7bn), and is one of the segments in which young drinkers are driving the evolution of the industry, despite rarely being targeted by drinks giants for wine sales in the past.
But when it comes to knowing what's in the bottle, 43 per cent of younger drinkers have admitted they are intimated by talking with someone who knows more about wine than they do, compared to around a third across all age groups.
Read more: This company says it can make wine without grapes
The survey conducted by Vivino, a wine app that helps readers understand what they're drinking and make more informed wine purchases, has found only 17 per cent of wine drinkers – across all ages – would consider themselves knowledgable about wine, and more than 90 per cent of consumers reported needing help in a store with their wine-buying decision.
Vivino also found that millennials could also be turning to TripAdvisor-type wine sites, as ratings were as important to over 60 per cent of consumers as price when it came to making a purchasing decision.