(WineMag) - For wine industry sleuths, observing and analyzing wine lifestyle behavior in America was once an easier exercise. Twenty years ago, baby boomers consistently defaulted to aspirational environments, seeking white tablecloth restaurants and classified-growth Bordeaux pours as the height of wine enjoyment.

But today, the ever-growing millennial consumer is literally turning the tables on past trends, and are more likely to pop a bottle of good-quality but well-priced New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc at a ramen joint than aspire to loftier and more formal scenarios, eluding choices that would have seemed obvious decades before.

Decoding the new normal is the task of industry trends data organization Wine Market Council and The Nielsen Co., who convened in Miami Beach on January 31, 2017, to present this year’s study in conjunction with Wine Enthusiast’s 17th annual Wine Star Awards, where more than 500 industry luminaries gathered for the annual black-tie gala.

Speaking to an engaged and curious crowd of wine producers, importers and distributors, speakers John Gillespie (President, Wine Market Council) and Danny Brager (Vice President of Client Service, The Nielsen Co.) tapped two all-star panels of executives from leading wineries and wine-trade companies to shed light and context on data they had collected on behaviors and buying trends in the wine space in 2016.