The Whineaux foresees our 2010’s “Wine Moments”
Dawn Brister is perhaps better known to many among us as The Whineaux. She is the pen behind the wonderful food blog Cooking with the Whineaux. It is there that she often Wordsmith’s her love for food and wine in a very descriptive and entertaining manner. That she usually writes with an underlining sensibility would of course have nothing to do with why we asked her to predict 2010’s likely ”wine moments”.
It’s that time of year. Every sanctimonious self styled “writer” with a laptop is writing a blog and making their predictions about the coming year. Why should I be left out of the fun?
I can’t tell you how happy I am going to be to leave 2009 behind and start anew. But I can’t say I hated it all as I had many good “wine moments.” I hear you; “What the hell is a ‘wine moment?” It’s a moment you remember having a huge smile in your soul and glass of wine in your hand. I was lucky in 2009, I had wine in Bordeaux, Paris, Napa, Perth and Vancouver. But my favorite wine moments were close to home and centered on laughter with friends and sometimes at friends. I hope to have more of those moments in the coming year.
Ok enough with the sappy crap – what’s going to happen in 2010?
1) Pretentious Wine Bastards will take a back seat to “uneducabloggers.ted ” I’ve never tasted purple in a glass of wine. Wine tastes like grapes. Some wines are sweeter, some are drier and some are downright foul but none of them taste like colors or grass or sunshine or any other bullshit adjective. If someone tells you their wine tastes like anything other than wine you should be skeptical of them. Bloggers will tell you if they like it. Bloggers will tell you that “Big House Red” is a good second bottle of wine because we know that we actually drink two bottles in one night and there’s no sense in having an expensive second bottle of wine.
2) Blends will gain ground against varietals. When a wine is called by a varietal, i.e. Merlot, Chardonnay or Pinot Noir that means that a certain percentage (in the U.S. it’s 75%) of the grapes be of a the variety named on the label; the rest can be a blend. Blends that reference color not grape give the winemaker more leeway to create pleasing, consistent wine and manage costs. Blends are cheap. Blends are not intimidating. Blends are good.
3) “House Wine” Will Cease To Be Synonymous With “Shit Wine.” This one may be more of a hope than a prediction; but in France if you order the vin du maison you know that it’s good. No self respecting French (or Italian) restaurateur (be it cheap eats or fine dining) would dare pick a bad wine and call it “house wine” because they see it as a reflection of their reputation. In the U.S. the house wine often tastes like stinky feet. I will continue to lament this until someone listens.
4) $10 Wines Get Better. The economy is such old news that I hate bringing it up after celebrating the fact we are headed to a new year. But the truth is wallets and behavior have changed. Winemakers know this and they know that people are more price conscious. They’ll make better wines at lower price points. Some of the most exclusive grapes in the world are sold off as “bulk juice” to winemakers with less pretentious labels. Take advantage of this!
5) Grocery Store Wines Vacate Restaurant Wine Lists. About 40% of restaurant profit is in bar sales because mark ups can be 150%. When you are dining out if you see your favorite $9 bottle of Merlot for $36 you won’t order it because it feels like getting screwed without the kiss. But, if you see an unknown California Merlot for $36 you may select it because you don’t know it’s a $9 bottle of wine.
6) Bio Wines. I sat through a 90 minute self-congratulatory media presentation from a major Napa winery about how eco friendly they were. No shit! As a grower, if you ruin the ground, you ruin your future. Don’t be fooled into paying more. This is good business, not a reason to charge a premium.
7) Girl Power! More wines are going to market to women because they finally get the fact that WE are drinking the wine and buying it. I’m personally stunned it took so long for them to get it but finally they recognize that we make selections. This said; don’t be sucked in by a cute label. Some cute label wines are perfectly fine and others, not so much. If you are learning or looking to try something new ask the other people in the wine aisle; usually they’ll tell you what they like and why. Or go to a wine shop. Wine stores want to help you find something you like in your price range so you come back.
Splits. A “split” is essentially a half bottle of wine. As much as I hate to admit it, I have a limit and my husband and I can’t consume three bottles of wine at dinner and get home safely. But we have three courses. Splits give us the option to taste different wines with each course without doing a face plant into dessert.
9) We will start drinking “fucking Merlot.” If this doesn’t mean anything to you, rent the movie Sideways which single handedly ruined the Merlot price point in a short quote: “I’m not drinking any fucking Merlot!” At the same time it drove Pinot Noir prices up with a lengthy description of how hard it was to “coax the Pinot Noir grape” from the ground. Merlot is good wine. I almost don’t want to tell anyone because I could ruin my cheap secret but it’s true. While you are renting movies, rent Bottleshock too.
10) Wine will be fun. I’m circling back to my first prediction in a way but the pretentious people have stolen the fun of wine. Taking a bottle of wine to a friend’s house for dinner should not be intimidating. It’s only tough because we were told we can do it wrong. You can’t. Just take something you like and be flexible. Flexibility is the key to getting the second bottle opened! (If you are at my house it may even be the third!).
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http://www.locodiner.com/ Rachel
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http://www.locodiner.com/ Rachel
