The most interesting new wine venue in Washington, D.C., is Vin de Chez, a pop-up bar in a parking lot. It's the creation of Liz Bird and Tom Madrecki, two 20-somethings intent on proving that wine can be taken seriously yet still be fun.

For Bird, 27, and Madrecki, 25, wine reflects a sense of adventure as well as irreverence. Both have traveled widely and worked in the restaurant business. Madrecki briefly apprenticed at Le Chateaubriand in Paris and Noma in Copenhagen, while Bird boasts "extensive experience at Pizza Hut" and Bodo's Bagels in Charlottesville, Va. (The two met while working on the student newspaper at the University of Virginia.) Vin de Chez is their way of taking wine outside, by overturning convention and expectation.

"Wine is transitioning to something people can enjoy on all occasions," not just dinner or special celebrations, Bird said via email. "It's less stuffy, less pretentious and generally more fun. So people gravitate to bottles that reflect this."

Millennials have reached legal drinking age at a time when more wines from more countries are available than ever before. So it's not surprising that their tastes are adventurous as they explore and form their own preferences. Trousseau gris is a trendy favorite; their parents probably hadn't heard of it at that age, as they were being locked into preferences for cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay.

Bird's sentiments echo findings of market researchers who have surveyed millennials about their drinking habits. According to the Wine Market Council, about 39 million U.S. adults drink wine several times a week. Millennials make up 29 percent of that group, while 39 percent are baby boomers.

Millennials came of age in the Internet era, scanning photos of wine labels into smartphone apps such as Delectable and Vivino and sharing their tasting notes with friends over social media. They tend to trust a recommendation from a friend (even a virtual one on Facebook) more than a retailer's suggestion, and they are more likely than their elders to be influenced by a wine's colorful label or catchy name, according to a study done by researchers at Sonoma State. They don't pay much attention to wine reviews in magazines or newspapers, leading to end-of-the-road predictions for wine critics such as Robert Parker and others. Yet they do apparently trust shelf-talkers, those little cards you see in wine stores that are based on published reviews.

"Millennials are more adventurous and more willing to try new things -- if presented to them properly," Madrecki says. A new thing might be an inexpensive wine with a pretty label, but it could also be a higher-end wine with a story. Just take the pretentiousness out of the occasion. Like, maybe in a parking lot.