How Young Consumers Embrace Fine Wine w/ Pauline Vicard, ARENI

It was long assumed that a love of wine runs in the family.  Not so, according to new research conducted by ARENI Global on how young consumers get into fine wine.  Pauline Vicard, Executive Director of ARENI, gets into the findings of their new study titled “The New Fine Wine Consumer - How People Under 40 Embrace Fine Wine.”  From the shrinking middle class to the motivations of wine collectors to what drives women to embrace fine wine, the research and this conversation are chalk full of insights into how wine can attract the next generation of wine lovers.  

Detailed Show Notes: 

Fine wine trends (March 2026)

• A trend towards more collaboration and consolidation
• Entering the age of precision distribution, after precision winemaking and viticulture
• Shrinking middle class is shrinking the middle sector of wine
• Some retailers in the UK doing well by changing delivery policy (e.g. - free next day delivery at 1 bottle, new events relevant for new consumers)

New ARENI Study: The New Fine Wine Consumer - How People Under 40 Embrace Fine Wine

• Studied several major markets: Paris, London, NYC, Singapore, Shanghai, & Hong Kong
• Research process: expert led roundtables, questionnaires, & interviews / focus groups with consumers and trade
• Did focus groups in Paris & London of wine student groups (e.g. - LSE, Kings College); LSE’s group is 600 members and do 50 events/year with a £400 budget and 50 students attending each one

Study key insights

• Pool of fine wine drinkers is shrinking; demographics driven (less young people, wealth concentrating)
• Routes that create fine wine consumers (e.g. - tech and banking) are replacing internships w/ AI
• Results very similar across markets (a surprise)
• It’s friends, not family that drive wine interest
• Complexity of what’s not understood and the pursuit of knowledge being worthy and fun drives wine interest
• Visibility and ease of access to wine are important
• Restaurants are still important, but the high cost is an issue

Collectors are different from buyers

• Collectors have a reward system (e.g. - dopamine) from the chase
• Everyone has a genetic disposition to collect, but activated in 30-35% of the US population
• Collecting makes people overbuy, which requires a secondary market
• Reducing prices after en primeur can erode the trust in the reason to collect
• The French have a negative association with being a collector
• Young people often spend ~10-15 hrs/week searching and researching wine when they are collectors
• Differences are bigger between genders than nationality; wine collectors defined when 26-35, when women often start a family or build their career and don’t have the time to collect
• Only men reported a benefit from wine knowledge at work
• Events are a good way to test if people can be engaged with the brand
• Collectors learn about producers not regions (Asia different because certifications are important); want to know which producers, why they are important, and where they can be purchased

To trade up in wine, their community needs to trade up with them

Need to sell a community to drink with, not just the wines

Women historically have less propensity to become collectors

• Often have less access to money and drink 3-4x less than men
• Similar at the beginning (44% of <25 year olds engaged in wine, goes down to 7% around 40); it’s not an interest problem, it’s a conversion problem
• Women overindex in education, events, and the importance of community
• They never ask for a female only space, they don’t mind age or gender, but need to share interests (e.g. - similar spending power and interests)
• Successful events have thoughtful placement to create connections b/w people, including to be seen by interesting people; requires knowing all the people who come

Next for ARENI: restaurants business models and consumer expectations for fine wine and an update on US distribution

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