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ON A WARM FRIDAY afternoon, Stephen Petty and wife Jackie arrive in Napa Valley, California, to celebrate their ninth anniversary at Davis Estates. Thirty- something Stephen found the high-end winery by tracking the recommendations of the hip, tattooed sommelier Patrick Cappiello via his Twitter feed.

“I find things on social media, videos, and follow different people online,” says the Florida resident. That’s how the millennial couple gather tips on where to tickle their palates. “We go to wine regions all the time for vacation.”

Radio and print ads alone fail to cut it for visibility in the 21st century. It’s a photo on Instagram, a tweet on Twitter or a posting on Yelp! and Facebook that attracts millennials like bees to honey. The new wine drinkers are imbibing as much as their parents, but their approach is vastly different, say market experts.

Baby boomers buy a bottle, take it home and share the liquid experience with their friends. Not this generation. They share Napa travels immediately on social media, posting selfies in front of breathtaking artwork, architecture and, yes, vineyards.

Baby boomer Kathryn Hall, founder of Hall Wines, says: “Everyone loves personal experiences, but particularly millennials. If you want to excel in this industry, you have to do everything right. The wine has to be good, the experience has to be great, the photographs have to be absolutely beautiful.”

Whereas baby boomers band together in a wine limo to zip from one pre-determined destination to another, millennials call ride-sharing services such as Lyft to hit well-researched wineries of their choice.

Thirty-five-year-old Ryan Hill, a fourth-generation farmer in the Hill Family Estate winery, observes: “Millennial wine drinkers are less loyal to wine brands, enjoy more variety and trust what their peers suggest on social media channels versus wine-related magazines such as Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate or Wine Spectator.”

When it was time to brainstorm what would be off the charts for marketing purposes, he suggested dying the surfboard of pro surfer Kyle Knox in red wine and using that as decor. Today, the Barrel Blend, which has a photo of Knox surfing on the label, is especially popular among those immersed in surf culture.

For a dose of pop culture, Hill ordered a replica of one of the judges’ chairs from the hit TV show The Voice. Guests pose with it daily in the tasting room, which makes for free advertising on Facebook and Instagram.

As a millennial himself, he admits that his generation is “all over the place, all over the map, but more open to esoteric wines”. He adds: “Winemakers are using different techniques, and you find more hip packaging. It’s not just a label with a photo of a painting any more.”

And, while baby boomers prefer their standard Napa Valley Cabernet or Chardonnay, Hill says millennials want a new style of wine and will try whatever is exciting and cutting edge. “We want to be the first to discover it,” he adds.

Millennials are the educated professionals – aka the new money – and, with their disposable income, they are eating out and travelling and drinking to their hearts’ content. Napa Valley wineries are recognising the shift, and even helping to shape the tastes of the new wine customers in their 20s and 30s.

Liana Estates Winery is owned by sisters Lisa and Ariana Peju, millennial daughters of Tony and Herta Peju who established the respected Peju Province winery. These new wine leaders are keen to know what their peers want. “Millennials don’t want to drink what their parents drink. They want to drink what their friends are drinking. They also want to be able to discover something new on their own,” says Lisa.

And part of that discovery means making available blends and flavours consumers may not find at other places. Liana Estates is the only winery in the region selling an orange Muscat boasting dried apricot and hibiscus notes.

Liana offers not one, but two wine clubs. The Bubbles Club provides regular shipments of Liana sparkling wines, and the Cultivator’s Club delivers members limited-edition wines and access to events such as bocce with the winemaker and a tour of the farmers’ market with the winery chef.

Instead of offering merely a stand-up bar where visitors sip then sprint to the next winery, the sisters designed plenty of spaces for picnicking and hanging out. A spate of Liana Estates adventures include wine and cupcake pairing, yoga sessions under the trees, curated sunset picnics, and more. Its gigantic living succulent mural is the stuff Instagram dreams are made of.

The sisters have hired hospitality experts from the Ritz-Carlton hotels to ensure their guests feel welcomed and special. On board is a full-time digital media manager responsible for updating Instagram and Facebook several times a day. And on their 40ha property, which has a restored barn and a new tasting room that sells hoodies and aerodynamic bicycle jerseys, guests sip a rosé poured from a screwcap bottle.

This generation, say separate millennial surveys conducted by UC Davis and Chase credit card services, crave fine wine, thirst for adventure, and compete to be number one in the “doing something different” category. “The wine industry has been energised by the millennials,” says Robert Smiley, professor at UC Davis Graduate School of Management.

Wineries that are taking millennials seriously are easing them into the world of reds, whites and everything in between. Savvy vendors are selling good starter wines at accessible US$20-plus price points. Their hope? Hook them early so they return for the expensive stuff as their palates grow up.

Which wineries are the millennials flocking to in Napa Valley? Anywhere they can find a unique opportunity and post bragging rights.

Hill points out: “Millennials enjoy casual tasting environments that aren’t pretentious or stuffy. They enjoy listening to music at the venue, and appreciate the story about the brand versus technical information about the vineyards or wine.”

ONE-OF-A-KIND EXPERIENCE

Time reserved for hanging out and making new friends is of great value to millennials, considered the more social generation compared with their parents. New tasting rooms are touting a living-room feel so that people can lounge uninterrupted. Here are a few of the popular ones with one-of-a-kind experiences and exquisite ambiance.

Jamieson Ranch Vineyards: People come for sipping and, as a bonus, get to pet a miniature rescue horse inside the tasting room during specified hours. Community outreach coordinator Brandy Lipsey shares her “minis” with guests, explaining how rescue horses are beneficial to special needs children.

Cru @The Annex: Tastings are paired with complementary popcorn. Guests can bring outside food to enjoy with a glass of Cru vino. The interior is hipster with essence of Napa: rattan chairs, deep couches, blanket throws, hanging-basket lights, a panel of flat-screen TVs showing digital artwork and a custom LED art map of the Napa Valley Vine Trail. Guests can grab a complimentary padlock, inscribe their names, and turn it into a love lock on the outdoor patio fence.

W: The rock ’n’ roll tasting room boasts its own recording studio. Patrons imbibe at the bar, in a booth, or on the couch as songs from Jimi Hendrix fill the air on a spinning LP. Two walls are completely wallpapered with Rolling Stone magazine articles. At the weekends live music keeps things hopping until midnight.

Stewart Cellars: The stone tasting hall comprised of three buildings features many spots for intimate conversation. Toast your friends on Adirondack chairs in its park-like patio. Savour your Pinot on a comfy couch inside the Nomad Heritage Library adorned with antique books and assorted global treasures.

Enjoy a freshly pressed juice at its Gather Café, which features healthy, grab-and-go goodies including gluten-free fare.

Long Meadow Ranch: Guests on the property of its Farmstead restaurant can also go wine and olive oil tasting or wander around the garden. Long Meadow’s calendar of events includes a summer music series along with a culinary track where visiting chefs demonstrate their craft.

Hall Wines: Adventurers can embark on an art and architecture tour or privately Instagram their way through giant modern art sculptures. At sister winery Hall Rutherford millennials can bolt into the Chandelier Room where they can imbibe under a fixture lit by 1,500 Swarovski crystals.

TASTING TECH

Sustainability, story and technology are also of key interest to this generation, who grew up recycling and tinkering with computers. The following wineries are smacking all three notes.

Trefethen Winery: It bottles only estate-grown grapes and selects the best of breed organic and biodynamic practices, says Hailey Trefethen, the third-generation Trefethen and sustainability spokesperson for her family winery. The 200ha winery keeps owl and hawk boxes on site so that the birds can eat the nasty critters that might wreak havoc on the vines. Want some fascinating facts? The Halo Cabernet-based wine is named after Hailey and her brother Loren. The Dragontooth label pays homage to her grandmother’s family crest and features a raging dragon. You can view small slides of the winery’s history through a retro View-Master toy on the tasting room tables.

Palmaz Vineyards: Enter the iron gates and climb the hill for a tech visit like no other. The biggest wow-factor of this two-hour tour comes when president Christian Palmaz leads groups, Indiana Jones-style, to the third level of the wine cave. The assembly of steel tanks suddenly looks like the war room of NORAD, as Palmaz flips on the computer to project colourful grids and diagrams that map each plot in a 360° panorama.

In the tasting salon rooms, the impure air has been sucked out and fresh oxygen is pumped in so that every guest’s olfactory senses are undistracted and undiluted.

Davis Estates: Only privileged wine club members and Davis Estate staffers summon open the steel double doors to the Cellarium by pressing their palm to a hand scanner. Inside the Cellarium, a glass pavilion with cathedral ceilings, secret tastings happen around a circular table beneath a chandelier festooned with 1,500 Swarovski crystals.

WHAT NEXT?

Tech, sustainability, story, experiences and chill zones are making Napa wineries sexier than ever to this educated breed, who are the first generation to have witnessed parents casually drinking wine at dinner. Now millennials are both winery owners and consumers, and public relations and marketing requires a radical approach and mindset. What wineries do next to lure these new drinkers is anybody’s guess.

Stewart Cellars’ co-owner Caroline Stewart Guthrie reveals one secret to business success. Since Stewart Cellars relies heavily on social media to draw attention, she demands that all uploads must be mind blowing and millennial centric. “The vineyard photos have been done to death,” she says.

“I post and so does my winemaker husband Blair. The other day he sent out a close-up picture of the juice during the fermentation process with white foam at the top.” This high resolution, in-your-face image resembles the top of a cup of coffee crowned with frothy milk. There were many “likes”, she says. It’s just another day in the world of cool social media marketing in Napa Valley.