Why are unique varietals quickly becoming more popular?

After last month's meeting at Women for Winesense, we started to explore a unique observation made by a panelist. This observation is, that unique wine varietals are quickly becoming very popular.


Among these unique varietals are: Malbec, Carignan and Barbera. 


Why the sudden uprise in interest in unique varietals? We believe it is because the Millenials are beginning to turn 21, and are learning more about wine. While it is felt that 'wine is the new beer' to young people, this also brings their attitude of experimentation and the need to try something different. This is also because they tend to be 'geographically ignorant' when it comes to what region the wine comes from. This then adds Australia, South American and South Africa, among other unique countries that produce wonderful wines. 


Here's a great article we found illustrating this point -  http://www.winereviewonline.com/clarke_on_milennials.cfm