Tequila shots. Irish car bombs. Incredible Hulks. These are drinks that are stereotypically synonymous with recently legal, college drinkers.

But when someone orders a glass of sauvignon blanc at a bar full of college students, heads turn. And it's not because the bar serves wine, but because the person ordering it is only 21.

Whether it’s red, white or in between, wine is the drink of choice for the 20-something college student looking to try something different, while also ditching the pretentious reputation that usually comes along with it.
Twenty-two year old Brandon Loberg of San Francisco likes red wine quite a bit. Loberg’s preference is Italian wine because, to him, it “seems a bit less uppity.”

“I prefer Barbera, myself,” Loberg said. “This perhaps runs contrary to the ‘low-key’ nature of my drinking habits, as Barbera is often more expensive of Italian varieties.”

Loberg, who attends San Francisco State University, said “Two-Buck Chuck,” or wine from the Charles Shaw winery, is the most popular with his peers, Because it is literally $2.00However, Loberg, shies away from labels like “wine connoisseur.”

“In spite of suggestions that wine is 'elitist', it can actually be a great equalizer,” Loberg said. “The more you drink, the less such things as social status, income, politics, and even looks seem to matter.”
Carol Amaya, a professor of Hospitality Management at SF State, teaches the class Food and Wine in California where her students are typically between the ages of 19 and 22.

“Young adults are greatly impacted by their peers and Hollywood,” Amaya said. “With the proliferation of food and wine television shows, young adults are finding themselves drawn to learn about new things. And for a lot of my students, they are studying wine out of curiosity, plain and simple.”

Twenty-one-year-old Laura Gale of Napa Valley, Calif. said her favorite type of wine is sauvignon blanc, a white wine.

“I’d say I’m somewhere in between a wine snob and a typical college drinker,” she said.
Gale, who asked to be identified with her mother’s maiden name, said wine was the first thing she drank when she turned 21.

As a student at St. Mary’s College, Gale saved a bottle of Beaulieu Vineyards, commonly referred to as “BV”, for her birthday. It was a 1985 bottle of wine. Gale was born in 1985. And on her 21st birthday Gale opened and drank her 21-year-old bottle of wine.

The most popular concept is how to pair food with wine, Amaya said. She tells her students that choosing wine can’t start with the price.

“They should first recognize their level of understanding,” Amaya said. “When determining what type of wine to drink a few questions need to be answered: Will it be served with food, and if so, what type? Is there a special occasion? What type of wine do you like? How much money do you want to spend?”

Amaya said when young people set out to explore wine, they should be familiar with simple terms: crisp, dry, buttery, full-bodied, and soft. She also said finding bargains wine is as simple as looking in the local papers’ wine sections and Amaya echoes Gale’s sentiments on cheaper priced wines.

“Wine is a fragile commodity,” Amaya said. “And sometimes a bargain wine is just that, a low end, unpleasant wine.”