Zack Zimmerman is on a peace-keeping mission. The 24-year old millennial has just created the website Wine for Millennials & Beyond (http://www.meetup.com/Wines-for– ) to “bridge the gap between generations and dilute the preconceived notions-“Millennials-and-beyond/
Q: Seems like it would be an impossible feat to make the passionate politically correct. How will your site work?
A: “It‘s a no judgment zone and all are welcome. You don’t have to be in the industry. You can be but it’s not required. You don’t even have to know anything about wine. All that needs to be there is a common interest – the framework is there to introduce different people to one passion: WINE!”
Q: How do you see a generation gap between millennials and Baby Boomers? How do you plan to stop the sniping?
A: “There is a gap between generations, but not only millennials and Boomers. It’s everything that lies in-between – Some people just choose to stay ‘comfortable in their own niches.’ To make yourself a better person you sometimes need to be put in another’s shoes. I’m sure that gap bridging has been attempted but the problem is you don’t ever hear about it. I hope that this will start a movement of locals that really gauge their experiences not on the crowd age and demographics, but the quality of the experience they gained.
Q: Why should people bother with online chatter?
A: Social networking is a great place to meet great people that you might not have ever met other wise. Why close yourself to the walls that surround you when there are truly no boundaries? The benefit of online wine chatter is that people can talk about wines that they might not have otherwise heard of or tasted. It is truly a win-win scenario. I feel that millennials like all others just want to talk about what interests them, whether that’s hiking, biking, surfing, wine, food etc. People chat and do what they feel that makes them happy.
Q: Your site is on the meetup.com social network, which has the goal of taking online chatter off-line. What’s your game plan?
A: Our first (in person) meeting is Friday June 26th at 5 pm. It will be held downtown Santa Rosa at a specified location, (I rather keep this for members to meetup.com so the address is not on blast) I plan to discuss what truly interests people with wine and why, introduce each other, ice breakers, drink wine and discuss it. I would like to meet once a month but would love to meet twice a month – I hope to eventually do outings, BBQs, trips, tastings, events, etc., but online chatter is welcome as well. But online meetings are not what I am going for, it’s not what I am trying to achieve. I need to get people out of their comfort shells and open up.
What do you think about Zack’s plan of tempering tempers?
