Somebody Owes Somebody an Apology

In the business of gathering news, as the old saw goes, “Dog Bites Man” is not news. “Man Bites Dog,” well, now you have a story that needs to be told.

On my beat, this is the equivalent of that toothy, aggressive guy: A recent study, conducted by Tim Hanni, MW (master of wine), in conjunction with Cornell University, has data supporting the conclusion that, based on individual consumers’ physiology, sweet-wine drinkers are often the most sensitive tasters of wine.

Let that sink in. Now proceed to this thought: Drinkers of white zinfandel may be the most sensitive and best tasters of wine. 

There will, no doubt, be a complete denial from wine geeks the world over. Everyone who enjoys fine wine has been conditioned to the point of discarding inexpensive sweet wines when they gained knowledge of the “better” wines. Most of us came up with wine through the odd-shaped bottles and strange, sweet wines of Mateus, Lancers, even Italian Swiss Colony and Gallo’s Hearty Burgundy, which contained not a drop of liquid from a pinot noir grape.

Those wines were light, clear, sweet and cheap. We slurped them up because they were unobjectionable, not tannic and possessed lots of sugar. We were young; did not have a lot of disposable money to spend on beverages; and knew nothing of structure, tannins, acids, vintage variations or even alcohol content.

We did know sweet, however, and even then we knew that those wines were sweet. Very sweet. That was an appealing characteristic. If we chose to further explore this wine thing, then we were encouraged to try wines that were of higher class, with true varietal character, properly vinified and not sweet. Oh, yes, and more expensive.

The bolt out of the blue from Cornell was delivered in conjunction with the Consumer Wine Awards recently staged in California. This new reality was the result of a path of discovery that segmented the wine-drinking market into four physiological and behavioral criteria.

The results tend to support the larger reality that people who drink sweet wines have, in effect, been disenfranchised from the wine industry. I think in high school terms, that’s known as “bullying.”

According to Dr. Virginia Utermohlen, a medical doctor and an associate professor at Cornell University: “To date, the industry message to consumers who prefer light, delicate and sweet wines is that they need to become more ‘educated’ and ‘move up’ to higher quality wines, which are defined as dry wines. Our study demonstrates that physiological differences in human sensory anatomy are the driving force behind our wine choices and that the people with the greatest taste sensitivity may well indeed be sweeter wine drinkers and not the consumers of highly rated less sweet wines.”

Utermohlen continued, “The industry is guilty of alienating a large segment of consumers, who frequently opt for other sweet beverages or even stop drinking wine altogether.”

In all fairness to me –– and after all, isn’t this what it’s all about anyway –– I have always been a strong proponent of the “drink what you like” school. But I never really thought that would extend to white merlot. Never.

So, it seems that after years of dishing out abuse and raising questions about taste, all directed at folks who are drinking cheap sweet plonk, those of us who enjoy bolder, drier, more layered wines do indeed owe people who like low-priced, single-dimensional saccharine-bombs some sort of apology. And we should respect that the drinker of such wines may have an excellent palate. At the very least we should quit making contorted faces and snide comments when such wines are ordered.

Maybe.


How About a Cruller with Your Cabernet?  A Beignet with your Beer?
Starbucks, on the verge of its 40th year in operation, is embarking on a new menu direction, providing beer and wine to its patrons.

Starbucks may have hit upon The Next Big Thing in breakfast, although in New Orleans we discovered the value of early-morning alcohol many generations ago.

A new prototype Starbucks has arrived in Seattle, bringing with it the new concept of offering regional wines, micro-brewery beers, locally made cheeses and lattes, all served in quality glassware and on fine china. It’s sort of a cross between a yuppie fern bar and a high-end coffee house, which is what Starbucks has always been, only without the alcohol.

How much of this redesign to both menu and surroundings gets to the world outside Seattle remains to be seen, but early results of the experiment are quite promising. The corporate types are concerned that the place does not resemble the Starbucks they know. And that may be a good thing.

If you are going to change in a radical direction, then change.  Make the statement and move on.

There are several questions that remain unanswered as the concept moves forward. Will parents still bring their children into a place where alcoholic beverages are served, even though, by law, there has to be a clear divider between the coffee area and the adult beverage area? How will the drive-up window deal with the adult beverage service?

Will the surrounding neighborhood still be supportive when the direction of the business has morphed into something different? When Starbucks applies for new location permits, will the neighbors protest, possibly realizing that something else can happen down the road besides baristas serving overpriced frozen coffee concoctions?

It’s an interesting –– but risky –– business progression. Starbucks, which already has the reputation of an outsider wherever it settles in the area, will now have another aspect of its business looked upon with some disfavor.
It’s one thing to compete with local restaurants and coffee shops. It’s another to be going up against bar owners. Most of them have friends in government. They see them often. After 5 o’clock, of course.

The Wine Show with Tim McNally can be heard every Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. on WIST-AM 690.

 

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