Late to the party here, but thank you for kicking off this series Dave. Loving it so far.
My favourite phrase in your article is "Simplify, but Don't Demystify".
I can't stand it when people try to suggest that wine is simple. It isn't, and if it was, we wouldn't love it the way we all do. It is precisely because it is so multi-faceted, so cultural embedded in many parts of the world and so irritatingly obtuse yet confounding that it continues to fascinate people over and above being simply a beverage.
About the DOC Collio thing: hope you saw today's story and that it perhaps added some much needed nuance to the piece.
Love this piece - and as we discussed on another thread, there are enormous opportunities to meet folks where they're at, and add quality de-alc wine to portfolios, from bringing in those new to the category and to the low hanging fruit (I couldn't help myself 😉) which are the consumer base that love wine but aren't drinking it due to changed relationships with alcohol. RTD is another area too many pros scoff at - and there are some high quality natural and traditional wine in can. Both categories are only going to continue growing and those in the wine world that welcome it and get on board are those who will grow the wine drinking community.
I also wonder to what extent the issue is about why people aren't drinking WINE versus why people aren't drinking ALCOHOL in general. (Although, to your point, obviously there's great potential for zero-alcohol wines for those who can nail it.) I'm going to try to dive into a few stats for this where I live (the Netherlands) as I wonder if it differs from the US... The predominant narrative here seems to be that young people are just turning away from drinking full stop.
Here in the States, the majority of younger folks seem to be moderating their alcohol intake more, but few are outright abandoning it - it's only a third of the overall American population that identify as outright "sober". Though then 1 in 2 Americans now say they're "trying to drink less." (It should also be noted that overall alcohol consumption in the States is up since the 00's and 2010's, so the fact that wine is in an ongoing slump is a pretty targeted issue, the rest of alcohol isn't affected nearly as much if at all.)
Great way to kick off the series - love all of these points and you pretty much hit the nail on the head! Of course, a big asterisk by the "(Good) wine is expensive" bullet may be warranted, because there are great bottles out there for not too crazy prices. Maybe if "value" is being measured by how blacked out you can get per dollar (it certainly is for some people), or, as you pointed out, how long you can enjoy an open bottle for before it "goes bad," but if we are just talking about dollar for dollar within the category, I think a lot of the barrier to entry there comes from a lack of knowledge or reliable guidance from trusted sources. Like if you are operating with a $15 max budget, you have to sift through a lot of swill to learn where the real value lies (unless you're unusually lucky with your wild guesses). But we can dig a little deeper into all that when we dive into the topic ourselves. Cheers!
100%. When I think back to my early years getting started just as a wine drinker, a $19.99 bottle of wine was "expensive" to me, it was my top price I was willing to pay. $10-$15 was "moderate" and "affordable" was $9.99 or under. Realistically, a $20-$35 bottle is actually "moderate" price range, but that wasn't my POV in the beginning, and might not be for a lot of folks. And when dealing with <$20 or especially <$15 you have to find the gems which technically costs you multiple bottles, plus you have to already be committed to finding said gems. So good wine is "expensive" from that POV. I probably should have added "dependable" or "easy to find" to the description. But it wasn't meant to suggest that no good wine exists at affordable price points. I just raved about a $5.99 TJ's wine last week so plainly, I still love that price bracket :D
Late to the party here, but thank you for kicking off this series Dave. Loving it so far.
My favourite phrase in your article is "Simplify, but Don't Demystify".
I can't stand it when people try to suggest that wine is simple. It isn't, and if it was, we wouldn't love it the way we all do. It is precisely because it is so multi-faceted, so cultural embedded in many parts of the world and so irritatingly obtuse yet confounding that it continues to fascinate people over and above being simply a beverage.
About the DOC Collio thing: hope you saw today's story and that it perhaps added some much needed nuance to the piece.
Love this piece - and as we discussed on another thread, there are enormous opportunities to meet folks where they're at, and add quality de-alc wine to portfolios, from bringing in those new to the category and to the low hanging fruit (I couldn't help myself 😉) which are the consumer base that love wine but aren't drinking it due to changed relationships with alcohol. RTD is another area too many pros scoff at - and there are some high quality natural and traditional wine in can. Both categories are only going to continue growing and those in the wine world that welcome it and get on board are those who will grow the wine drinking community.
I also wonder to what extent the issue is about why people aren't drinking WINE versus why people aren't drinking ALCOHOL in general. (Although, to your point, obviously there's great potential for zero-alcohol wines for those who can nail it.) I'm going to try to dive into a few stats for this where I live (the Netherlands) as I wonder if it differs from the US... The predominant narrative here seems to be that young people are just turning away from drinking full stop.
Here in the States, the majority of younger folks seem to be moderating their alcohol intake more, but few are outright abandoning it - it's only a third of the overall American population that identify as outright "sober". Though then 1 in 2 Americans now say they're "trying to drink less." (It should also be noted that overall alcohol consumption in the States is up since the 00's and 2010's, so the fact that wine is in an ongoing slump is a pretty targeted issue, the rest of alcohol isn't affected nearly as much if at all.)
Love the series and its ethos! Looking forward to it.
Great way to kick off the series - love all of these points and you pretty much hit the nail on the head! Of course, a big asterisk by the "(Good) wine is expensive" bullet may be warranted, because there are great bottles out there for not too crazy prices. Maybe if "value" is being measured by how blacked out you can get per dollar (it certainly is for some people), or, as you pointed out, how long you can enjoy an open bottle for before it "goes bad," but if we are just talking about dollar for dollar within the category, I think a lot of the barrier to entry there comes from a lack of knowledge or reliable guidance from trusted sources. Like if you are operating with a $15 max budget, you have to sift through a lot of swill to learn where the real value lies (unless you're unusually lucky with your wild guesses). But we can dig a little deeper into all that when we dive into the topic ourselves. Cheers!
100%. When I think back to my early years getting started just as a wine drinker, a $19.99 bottle of wine was "expensive" to me, it was my top price I was willing to pay. $10-$15 was "moderate" and "affordable" was $9.99 or under. Realistically, a $20-$35 bottle is actually "moderate" price range, but that wasn't my POV in the beginning, and might not be for a lot of folks. And when dealing with <$20 or especially <$15 you have to find the gems which technically costs you multiple bottles, plus you have to already be committed to finding said gems. So good wine is "expensive" from that POV. I probably should have added "dependable" or "easy to find" to the description. But it wasn't meant to suggest that no good wine exists at affordable price points. I just raved about a $5.99 TJ's wine last week so plainly, I still love that price bracket :D