Imagine a restaurant with tables occupied by young adults of legal drinking age. The following scene is illustrative: it does not represent an entire generation or imply that every guest should choose alcohol.

They laugh, post stories, discuss their food and compare dessert with the last place they visited. Everything seems to be going well. Then you look at the glasses.

Gin and tonic with cucumber. Craft beer. Spritz. Sparkling water. And then you notice: there is no wine.

Have you ever seen a scene like this? It may point to a barrier in the wine list, but it may also reflect personal preferences, budget or a decision not to drink alcohol.

The useful question is what difficulties some young adults encounter when choosing wine. It is not about assuming that everyone under 40 shares the same preferences. It is about understanding whether the restaurant's information and support help guests who already want to explore the selection.

Why might this happen?

Is it a temporary trend?

Is it a question of wine knowledge?

Or does the way wine is presented in restaurants no longer fit the way some guests choose, buy and enjoy it?

The experience of choosing may explain part of the problem. It is not the only possible cause.

That distinction changes the approach.

Why might young adults not order wine when dining out?

The Wine Market Council lists its 2024 research on young adults and multicultural consumers in its archive. It should be understood in the context of its date and market, rather than presented as a universal, current diagnosis of every restaurant.

The study's press release describes qualitative US research from 2024: 27 adults, 46 hours of video; non-generalizable findings.

The aim was to observe how people interacted with wine in real settings.

That raises useful practical questions.

It does not follow that all young adults enjoy wine or face the same difficulty. For a restaurant, the practical question is whether a guest who does want to order it has enough information to choose.

An uncomfortable, unclear or intimidating selection process deserves attention.

Presentation is one part of the experience a restaurant can improve, without denying other causes or pressuring guests who prefer another drink.

That gives restaurants an opportunity to review the experience. Let us look more closely at the obstacles they can examine.

Wine lists that do not invite exploration

Imagine a group of friends at a modern restaurant. They order starters to share and read the food menu with interest. Then they open the wine list and the experience changes.

Small print, no visual guidance and no explanations.

Just a list of names and prices.

Wine may also appear at the end of the drinks menu, after cocktails with photographs and beers explained by style and origin.

In this illustrative scene, a difficult-to-interpret selection may lead guests towards a more familiar alternative.

There is little guidance to help someone explore something different.

Instead of inviting a choice, the list can become an obstacle.

Nobody helps them choose

Put yourself in the guest's position.

You are curious about a wine, but do not know where to start. You look to a server for help, and the response is: “Well, it depends what you like. Something smooth, perhaps?”

Not understanding what you are buying can make a decision feel uncertain. If the team cannot confidently explain what each wine offers, the guest is left to work it out alone.

Nobody wants to feel embarrassed about not knowing enough.

They may choose a familiar drink or skip wine altogether.

This is not solely the guest's problem. It is also a service issue for the restaurant to consider.

Without helpful guidance, the wine list can feel like a code that must be deciphered under pressure.

They do not understand what they are buying

Consider an example.

The list says “Chardonnay – Winery X – €18”. What does that tell someone unfamiliar with wine?

Very little about the experience in the glass.

It does not explain whether the wine is dry or fruity, full-bodied or light, or whether it might suit fish or pasta.

Would you buy a perfume without any idea of its scent? The comparison helps explain why a name and price alone may be insufficient.

The problem is that the list provides little help for someone taking their first steps.

Without sensory descriptions, clues or accessible language, the choice becomes a guess rather than an informed decision.

The number of options feels overwhelming

Here is another illustrative situation.

A server brings a list with 80 wines: whites, reds, rosés and sparkling wines; local and international producers; organic wines and other styles. Everything appears together, without much explanation to help the guest understand and choose.

The result may be indecision.

The issue is not necessarily the number of wines. It is how they are presented.

Guests may be familiar with digital interfaces that filter by taste, colour, price or style. When a restaurant offers no comparable guidance, choosing wine can feel more complicated than choosing a meal.

The familiar option may then become the easiest choice, not because of a lack of interest, but because of too much unexplained information.

The presentation does not connect with their preferences

Consider another possibility: the way wine is presented may appear to belong to a different setting, with formal dinners, elaborate glassware, French names and tasting notes about liquorice or earthy aromas.

Not all young adults want the same thing.

Some value a visual, direct and participatory presentation. Others prefer a conversation with the team. Do not assign tastes by age. Find out what information your guests ask for and offer alternatives, including alcohol-free options.

A hard-to-understand list can exclude interested guests. Reviewing language, design and support can reduce that barrier without turning a commercial hypothesis into a conclusion about an entire generation.

Some guests want a different, quicker way to choose

The issue need not be that wine is boring. It may be the discomfort of feeling out of place when ordering it.

Nobody wants to open a list they cannot understand, ask a question and receive an equally confusing answer, or feel judged for not knowing enough.

The surrounding experience matters alongside the wine itself.

Many guests are used to choosing a series in a few clicks, ordering food on a phone and checking reviews quickly. A wine list can feel unnecessarily difficult by comparison.

They may want to discover something and make a confident choice, but need information that makes the next step clear.

That is an opportunity for the restaurant.

The task is not to reinvent wine. It is to make its presentation easier to use. Design, clarity, useful information and helpful service can all play a part.

Winerim is one tool a restaurant can assess for that purpose.

How Winerim can help present the selection clearly

The previous sections describe obstacles that may arise when guests choose wine. Addressing them is not necessarily about changing the wines themselves: presentation and support also matter.

Winerim provides a digital, visual and interactive wine list rather than a paper list alone.

A visual list may help different kinds of guests consult the selection. It does not guarantee an increase in sales from the first day. Results depend on the offer, available data, the team and how the tool is used.

Here are the areas worth examining.

A visual list that gives guests context

Instead of presenting names without context, Winerim allows the restaurant to show wines with bottle or label images, descriptions and pairing information.

The purpose is to explain the offer in language guests can understand, not to add technical detail for its own sake.

Guests can explore the available filters, such as grape, region, style, price or dish, to narrow the selection towards what interests them.

The list is designed for use on a phone or tablet, making it a familiar way to consult information at the table.

Recommendations related to the dish

Imagine a guest ordering an oxtail lasagne.

The restaurant can use configured recommendations and pairings to guide the choice. Suggestions must be checked against the dish, preferences and available wines. There is no universally perfect pairing, and the tool does not promise a list of exactly three wines every time.

The aim is to make the next step easier to understand.

Recommendations may reflect commercial criteria defined by the team. They are not, by themselves, a guarantee of margin and do not replace service judgment.

Winerim offers recommendation and information tools. Their usefulness depends on configuration, wine information and the establishment's oversight.

A useful suggestion can make a pairing conversation more accessible without creating pressure to order.

A tool for servers as well as guests

With a traditional list, staff may feel they must memorise every reference or avoid recommending wines for fear of making a mistake.

Both situations can make service harder.

Winerim gives the team access to supporting information alongside the guest-facing selection.

They can consult the tasting notes, styles, prices and pairings available in their list. The reliability of availability information depends on inventory maintenance and the integrations that are active.

This information can support a more confident conversation, including for staff who are not wine specialists.

It can reduce the pressure of remembering every detail. It does not remove the need to understand the menu, listen to the guest or check uncertain information.

Operational data to understand what is happening

Winerim can also provide information that supports operational decisions, within the coverage of the records available.

The team can examine:

  • which wine sales are recorded and for which period;
  • which wines have higher or lower turnover according to those records;
  • which stock quantities and prices appear in the list and inventory.

A page view must not be confused with a sale. Personal preferences or conversion must not be attributed to data that is not collected. Analysis requires comparable sources and periods.

That information can help the team review slow-moving wines, the visibility of particular references and the fit between the offer and observed demand.

Decisions should be supported by data whose source, period and limitations are understood.

Updating the list when the offer changes

A paper list may become outdated when a wine sells out, a new vintage arrives or a price changes.

That may require another print run, expense and a delay before the correction reaches the table.

A digital list allows the restaurant to update wine information, prices, descriptions and pairings after checking the change.

It can also give visibility to categories or producers that matter to the restaurant's actual offer.

Would the team like to highlight natural wines, organic references or local producers? Is there a new winery to introduce? Are lower-alcohol or alcohol-free options being added?

Those changes can be reflected in the digital list once the information has been reviewed. This does not guarantee that the offer always matches the market, and it does not replace checks on prices, availability or guests' actual preferences.

Making wine easier to choose without pressure

The obstacles are worth reviewing, and the restaurant has practical ways to improve them.

A useful wine list explains the offer clearly. It helps guests who want wine understand their options, ask questions and make a choice without pressure. Guests who prefer another drink must feel equally welcome.

That is a relevant way to assess Winerim:

  • Does it help guests understand the selection?
  • Does it support the service team alongside the restaurant's training and protocols?
  • Does it make the available operational information easier to consult, with its coverage limits understood?
  • Does it make the list a more useful part of the service experience?

If the restaurant wants to assess the fit, the next step is a demonstration rather than an assumption of guaranteed commercial results.

Request a Winerim demo to see how it fits your service and data, without promises of guaranteed outcomes.