Depending on which resource you choose to reference, Xers represent, in the most inclusive assessment, those born between 1961 and 1981. The narrowest suggested band is 1965-1975, which is a curious one as this would imply that not a single member of Billy Idol's eponymously named punk-rock group of the late '70s could describe themselves as belonging to Generation X!

Meanwhile Coupland's novel even suggests those born in the late '50s fall into Generation X.

Whatever: having just discovered that I fall into the Gen-X category, I, plus dozens of other Xers as well as a few boomers, rocked up to Kinselas in Sydney to attend the launch of the Australia & New Zealand version of Wine X, an alternative wine magazine first published in the US in 1996. But first some background on the target market.

Members of Generation X, we are led to believe, live in the present, like to experiment, are looking for immediate results, are selfish, question authority, and yet depend a lot on our parents: this according to the Colorado College website. It all sounds like a somewhat contradictory assessment to me, but it's supported by other research on the subject. Oh, I left out "cynical". So if you detect an edge of cynicism in this column you know, at the very least, that I'm writing true to stereotype.

The thrust of the Wine X launch was to assess why Xers have forsaken wine in their droves and to question how the world's winemakers go about bringing them into the fold. It is questioning also why wine marketeers seem to be ignoring what is regarded as the biggest potential alcoholic beverage market.

The first speaker was Michael Beverland, the director of Wine Business Research at Edith Cowan University. His presentation, "Generation X and Wine Consumption", was founded on an internet survey of 250 New Zealand wine consumers. It was all solid stuff which confirmed a lot of what the marketers in the audience already knew. It revealed (in part) the following: That the sample liked a range of product choice, considered themselves technologically adept, weren't particularly worried about the pace of change in the world and that a little over a half of them were happy shopping on line. This last one surprised me; I'd have expected higher.

Perhaps we'll have to wait for the i-generation, those young people now between five and 15, to mature before internet retail really makes it into the mainstream.

Among other points of interest was that wine consumption increased at higher incomes, wine was a beverage most people would feel comfortable to bring along on social occasions. That consumers place a lot of value in the recommendations of friends in deciding on a wine selection. That "word of mouth referrals" from friends, and then from wine waiters and salespeople, were the drivers of most purchases. That wine writers and tastings weren't a major influence. That most are buying their wine from mass channels (liquor stores and supermarkets).

Add to this that most people found wine confusing, that some wouldn't mind changes in packaging but some would and I'd say you've pretty much summed up most of the wine drinking populous, not just Generation X.

Most people aren't wine geeks and most don't read wine columns or magazines. A significantly small percentage do - the opinion leaders - but most just want a bottle of red or white with their evening meal.

Beverland's presentation confirmed my suspicions but importantly his work is based on real data and not just assumption.

The next speaker was purportedly going to confide with the audience "how to better communicate" to a youth audience. Unfortunately the one practical example offered of niche wine communications by the presenter, that of a sparkling wine used to sponsor a high profile Sydney event, was not backed up with any figures confirming its success or failure. So it was rather a waste of time really. Still no wiser and on to the keynote, Darryl Roberts, editor-in-chief of Wine X.

Roberts was engaging and passionate and genuinely puzzled as to why wine companies would not be marketing to younger age brackets instead of, largely, putting all their advertising eggs into the ageing baby boomer basket.

He's got a point - most wine industry advertising is aimed at older age groups which respond to quite different inputs.

He used as an example an advert for a car employed by an American company. One was pitched at boomers and followed the usual line of safe, reliable car cruising the highways while maintaining its occupants in a safety-cell of air-conditioned comfort. The other took a highly edited, music video type approach, emphasising power, acceleration, the drama of the open road with the top down. Neither ad appealed to the other group. The promo was for the same vehicle.

In Roberts' view, Starbucks, which offers a range of specialty coffee blends and styles, is doing a better job than the wine industry in developing potential wine drinkers. "Starbucks is the best thing to have happened to the wine industry in the US because it's educating palates at a young age." He may have a point that the wine industry is just a bit too confident that drinkers will eventually, naturally, come around to wine.

As for Wine X magazine itself it offers much of what you'd expect in a wine magazine, albeit repackaged and reworded for Gen Xers and other newcomers to wine. It is set apart though by the book, CDs, films and videos it reviews. As someone in the biz itself I'm the first to admit that a whole mag devoted to wine is a fairly tedious affair.

But despite Roberts' claims in his introduction to the first edition that "... Wine X wine reviews are filled with descriptors that the average wine consumer can understand. After all, how many people actually taste all those fruits and vegetables that leading wine critics and trade magazines tell us we should find in our glasses?", things are not much different in Wine X.

For example, on page 93 in the premiere issue, "Lifted snow pea, green cut grass with clean fruit. Lively palate, finishing with clean acidity. Just like lying on a freshly cut lawn on a spring day." This could have been written at the turn of the century. OK, an exaggeration: but it could certainly have been written by a 60-year-old.

Other reviews apparently appeal to Gen Xers by using references to popular social figures. But who besides a wine geek would get the reference to "Philip Shaw's juicebox" at the end of the tasting note on page 95? (Shaw is winemaker at Rosemount; as for "juicebox", it's got me stumped).

To me the major difference of Wine X, apart from a slightly different feature mix, is the packaging - which, let's face it, is what sells so much soap, music, and so many movies these days.

Look at the box-office hit The Wedding Singer, for example: a retro product which succeeded by packaging itself in homage to the music of all those Generation Xers - there was even a cameo from Billy Idol. Perhaps a way forward with wine is to render it nostalgic.

You see, there's not a lot new under the sun - oops, sorry, used that one last week. Let's just say that as far as generations go, there will always be one born yesterday.