In his long blue lab coat, a shirt and bow tie, a pair of wool, chalk-striped blue suit pants that probably belong to his father, Gabriel Clary strikes a slightly improbable figure in the wine department at Corti Brothers in Sacramento, Calif.

Clary looks like a kid. No, he looks like an "American Idol" contestant, aspiring, nervous, wide-eyed, trying his best to impersonate his boss, Darrell Corti, who is to wine what Pavarotti was to opera.

Despite his official coat, his struggling beard, his best grave, bedside manner, Clary, hired four months ago, appears a stripling. Longtime customers are prone to give him a pass, preferring to consult with more vintage Corti clerks, Donal Smith and Kevin McGuigan; or, if he's available, the maestro himself.

As in wine labels, looks are deceiving.

Clary knows his stuff. And he loves his job.

His attitude? "People should drink what they want. Me, Darrell, Don, Kevin, we shouldn't tell anybody what to like. 'Gustibus non est disputant.' " (The kid quotes Latin! "Taste is not disputable.")

Beyond his earnest élan, Clary, 24, epitomizes a new, dramatic trend in the wine industry: the 20-something wine consumer. This is a thirsty generation, not beholden to wine tradition or critics, who are uncorking everything in sight and don't particularly care about what marries with what.

Their motto is: Pop that baby!

They are curious, confident, even brazen.

"They have a different approach to wine, beer and spirits than other generations," says Bob Small, a professor of wine and business at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona. "In this generation, there is an acceptability of wine as the alcohol of choice. And they drink for drinking's sake, for pleasure and conviviality, less in concert with foods and eating."

"They are drinking wine completely different than the previous generation," concurs Paul Wagner, owner of Balzac Communications and Marketing in Napa, Calif. "They are fearless. They are the iMac generation. They click and try something new. If they don't like that, they click and try something else.

"They just want to try something, taste it, and if it's good, post it to a friend. They learn from their tribe, not the so-called wine critics."

Leslie Joseph is vice president of consumer research at Constellation Brands, the world's largest wine company. "We are really excited about the millennials," says Joseph, who works in New York. "We have found that 21 percent of people who drink wine regularly are in that age group."

From her own research data and from that of the Wine Marketing Council, Joseph has compiled some interesting wine factoids about the millennial palate:

n The gender breakdown is evenly 50-50. Previously, 60 percent of wine drinkers were women.

n Men in their 20s, hoping to impress a date, think it's a good idea to buy a bottle of wine with dinner.

n Many in this generation are drinking red wine right off the bat, typically a smooth merlot.

n Starbucks, with its bold brew, is responsible for cultivating youth interest in gourmet wines.

Yes, Starbucks. A gateway to cabernet.

Wagner agrees: "Beverages, like coffee, have become a vehicle where you can travel the world -- Jamaica, Colombia, Brazil. It's an adventure."