The reason for all this activity is clear. Last year, 20 -and 30-somethings accounted for less than a third of U.S. wine consumption, while those over 50 purchased more than half, according to a recent issue of Impact, a liquor industry publication.

By contrast, those aged 20 to 39 quaffed 49 percent of all beer.

"We need a broader base of wine consumers," said John Gillespie, executive director of the Wine Market Council.

Nearly two-thirds of those who drink wine at least once a week are over 40. And this core group accounted for nearly all of the 5 percent annual increase in U.S. wine consumption over the past three years.

Wine drinking has been driven by the Baby Boomer generation. "That's fine for a decade or two," said Patrick Dodd, marketing director for Gallo of Sonoma. "But what do you do when they start to die?"

Gillespie agrees and also notes, "We need to challenge the assumption that wine is only for special occasions."

To attract new and so-called "marginal" consumers, the wine trade group has been discussing a mass media campaign for the past two years. A hand-full of ironic and whimsical concepts from Bozell will be tested on consumer groups next month. In February, TV ads should air in two urban areas outside California and a national campaign could follow.

Don Sebastiani, chief executive of Sebastiani Vineyards in Sonoma, endorses generic advertising with a "Got Wine" approach. His family-owned company also has contributed $15,000 this year to Wine Brats, which was co-founded a few years ago by his nephew John Sebastiani along with Jeff Bundschu and Mike Sangiacomo to promote wine to a younger crowd.

In addition to its web site at www.winebrats.org, the organization hustles to get favorable stories about wine on television and in the press. It is planning an eight-city national tour of marketing events and "wine raves," which it describes as high-concept cocktail parties combing fashion, music, food and wine. In November, Wine Brats will help Microsoft launch Sidewalk, its city guide on the Web for San Francisco.

The wine industry has a real image problem," said Joel Quigley, executive director of Wine Brats. "Our goal is to convert the next generation to wine." The organization's budget is about $360,000, thanks in part to a $100,000 contribution from E&J Gallo and money from Beringer, Korbel, Wente and others.

Gallo is using its third generation -- Gina, 30, and Matt, 34 -- to give it a more youthful image and attract new consumers. In print and TV ads, Julio's grandkids are promoting Gallo of Sonoma's $10 varietals.

Several publications have sprung up to capitalize on the wineries advertising to younger consumers.

Wine X, started last year by TV producer Darryl Roberts, distances itself from the highfalutin prose of wine mags.

Its wine ratings range from XXX (Exceptionally Cool) to XX (Killer Kine) to X (Get's it Done). Its new issue says Dry Creek Vineyard's 1995 Reserve Chardonnay is "like silk stockings on Madonna: sensuous and sexy but with an attitude" and gives it a XX.

Wine X's first color cover this past summer featured a young woman's bare midriff punctuated with a navel ring, a mock tattoo of a guitar-shaped corkscrew and the overprint of the words "sex, wine & rock n' roll."

We're styling the magazine like Wired and other magazines that younger people are reading," said Roberts, 35. "We're not trying to lure under-age drinkers but are trying to graft wine onto a younger adult life-style."

The publication has 27,000 subscribers and is just beginning newsstand sales in major cities.