Oregon Public Broadcasting

Wine experts say their industry can't survive unless they appeal to a generation that winces at wine snobbery.

Millennials are Baby Boomer-babies now in their 20s and 30s. And they are the up-and-coming wine connoisseurs.

Richland Correspondent Anna King dropped in at the launch party of PaletteBomb.com. It's a new web site with the motto, "Raise Your Glass, Not Your Nose."

We're at the Bookwalter winery in Richland.

Twenty-five-year-old Hans Burger enjoys a glass of wine at Bookwalter winery in Richland, Wash. During the launch party of PalateBomb.com, a new web site for young fans of wine.

Young women in high hair and stilettos amble about with wine glasses so giant they look like fish bowls on a stem. The new web site they are here to celebrate is flashy and all about making wine knowledge unpretentious.

The aim is to catch young swirl-and-sippers like grad student Hans Burger.

Hans Burger: "Even something like a jug of Carlo Rossi kind it has a little more level of aesthetic value to it than a case of beer."

Burger's friend, 24-year-old Wendy Cantu, says she doesn't have to spend a lot to enjoy a bottle.

Wendy Cantu: "You can get most good wines for under 10 bucks. Hey if the economy is bad you still get to drink some good wine."

The Washington Wine Commission wants to corral young people like Cantu and Burger now, thinking that as their earning power grows so will their wine cellars.

This fall the commission is planning a young-centered event called 20Something in Seattle. The concert and wine tasting party is expected to draw more than a thousand people.

But marketing to Millennials is tricky. And you can't stay old school.

Gary Vaynerchuk has used the web to gain street-cred with Millennial wine lovers. He's irreverent, but smart about wine.

Vaynerchuk says these fresh wine fans aren't interested in the big-name brands their parents kept on the kitchen counter.

Gary Vaynerchuk: "If I was a big brand and I wasn't adjusting and I wanted to live this world the way it's always been and I wanted to rely on my distributors and rely on the media I would be scared crap-less."

Vaynerchuk says Millennials are notoriously wary of slick marketing campaigns and will drop brands that don't evolve with them. Wineries and restaurants that want long-term success will have to, as he put it, "(keep) it very real."

Online:

PalateBomb.com

20Something

Nectar

Wine Library