So, like, what is this stuff, anyway?
I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes with you via twitter (limited to 140 characters). They are meant to be quirky, fun, and easily-digestible reviews of currently available wines. Below is a wrap-up of those twitter wine reviews from the past week (click here for the skinny on how to read them), along with links to help you find these wines, so that you can try them for yourself. Cheers!
- 09 Stony Hill Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Nervy Bordeaux-raised beauty, trying on stylized American perfume and dress. $60 B+ >>find this wine<<
- NV Quevedo Tawny Port (Portugal): Dried figs and spice with attitude, bite and definite self-knowledge of its crowd-pleasing poise. $22 B+ >>find this wine<<
- 10 Bogle Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel (California): In which you reap the vibrant, spicy and bold benefits of depressed grape prices. $11 B >>find this wine<<
- NV Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut (Cava): Apples, apples, apples, apples galore, crisp apples and… hey, did I mention apples? I did? $12 B- >>find this wine<<
- 10 Breggo Savoy Spiritus Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley): A brontosaurus that can do ballet? Yep, and it can tango if you give it time. $95 A- >>find this wine<<
- 11 Poet's Leap Riesling (Columbia Valley): Imagine running a marathon, coming to a station where friendly limes serve mineral water. $20 B+ >>find this wine<<
- 07 Abacela Reserve Tempranillo (Umpqua Valley): Big, bold, dense, but ultimately in need of a puff or 2 of tobacco to calm its nerves $45 B+ >>find this wine<<
- 08 Story Winery Picnic Hill Vineyard Zinfandel (California Shenandoah Valley): Bright as the Sun, but just about as big and heavy, too $28 B >>find this wine<<
- NV Gustave Lorentz Cremant d'Alsace Rose (Alsace): A meaty, cherry-laden instant mouth celebration, served up in a bakery shop. $24 B >>find this wine<<
- 06 La Fiorita Riserva Brunello di Montalcino (Brunello di Montalcino): Surly but well-read and quick-witted; will tar U w/ chocolate. $95 A- >>find this wine<<
I'm so happy that you called attention to this. I'm a 29 yo based in NYC, and I've often thought the same thing, more along the lines of "why don't more of my friends enjoy fine wine"? Of course, there is the cost issue for 20-somethings in limiting their fine wine experience and turning them off to the industry. This is particularly true for Bordeaux and Burgundy, which provide such a fulfilling and necessary education on fine wine, but are still largely esoteric and expensive for people in their 20s, who are often laden with school loan debt as well. And it's only been very recently in NYC that well-priced classes are now available to us to explore more unheard of producers and appellations.
However, in terms of advertising, I have another concern. Given the amount of cheap sugar (in whatever form you'd like to name) that has become available, I argue that a large proportion of the younger generation have had their tastebuds predisposed to extremely sweet flavors. As children, soft drinks, highly concentrated juices – even ketchup – with excess sugar was something of daily intake, if not even more frequent. Thusly, it's had an impact on the types of wine we consume. I've heard many times from my peers that they prefer "sweeter" wines – which usually means they have little patience for wines with more complexity than a run-of-the-mill fruit bomb.
This could mean trouble in marketing fine wines to young adults, who prefer more of the brands that don't bear much yearly distinction.
I think you've highlighted an even deeper problem here of our food consumption patterns in general, with wine being perhaps one of the most endangered. However, I used to fall into the above category and I made an effort to change my tastes and appreciate the origin of "good wines" and also good food. It's initially bumpy, but the rewards are well worth it and I can testify to that!
Hi S – I'm guessing you meant to post this under https://www.1winedude.com/sobering-news-for-us-win… ? I'm not sure that the sweetness thing is a huge deal for the fine wine market and the younger gens – Boomers, it's argued, had similar sweets exposure growing up. Cheers!
May I suggest that readers really want to know the score and price. The cute tweets are fun to read but have no bearing, IMO, on buying motivations. And since I'm on the subject, apart from the clout of WS, consumers want to know what other consumers who are like them, ie. mostly friends, have discovered at some great price. Fine wine is too damn expensive for those forming households and those who are retiring with fewer resources in the US of A. And after all, as our grandfathers knew, it is only wine, a beverage to accompany food…unless, of course, it's a hobby, but it's a rich man's hobby.
Hi Tom. Thanks for the interesting thoughts. You know, aside from the part about my Twitter reviews not impacting buying decisions (I’ve been told by others that they do, though I’m not going to say those are droves of people), I agree with you regarding the power of the crowd review; in fact, I’ve written about that here more than once…
Pt II:
No 'gatekeeper' ought to be paid much attention to, especially those like Steve Heimoff, who's a damn good travel writer, or writer generally, but these skills give him no edge in evaluating wine (and may be a detriment to objectivity). Better to assemble a group who fall somewhere in the middle of the 'experience' bell curve, and then extract the median score of a wine, acknowledging the standard deviation, as CellarTracker does on both counts (members of CT, however, are experienced tasters, and so while the site goes for the group score, these are scores of wine geeks by and large). But CT is still the most valuable source of wine judging. We're now in the age of Trip Advisor and Yelp. Power to the People!!