Time to Whine
Daily Tipple has an article by Carol Emert saying that not many Americans drink wine when compared with European countries. (This is kinda a 'Duh' proposition, but it does mean more for me.) The article ends with a subtle recommendation that we consumers begin to pay $15 or more a bottle for table wine. The Wine Market Counsel is ready to pony up $2 million for a new ad campaign aimed at convincing us that spending big on California wine is a good thing.
Don't get me wrong, I like California wine. They have the prettiest vineyards, their wineries smell heavenly and the personal flair of California winemakers is unsurpassed. It's just the taste of the wine that's the problem. There are a few excellent wines, for example Carneros and Russian River Pinot Noirs, Napa Champaigne sparkling wines, Central Coast Petite Syrah's and some unique Sonoma dessert wines. However for the most part, huge buckets of solventy, oak-chipped Chardonnay, truckloads of bland and boring Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and a non stop faucet drip of other hastily made grape juice flows out of the golden state.
Winemaker Charles Shaw has set the real price point at two or three dollars a bottle; his above average standard table wines are a good deal. If California winemakers want $15 a bottle they need to increase their quality by leaps and bounds. Most French table wines, Ozie Shirazes, South American reds or anything white from Italy that sell for about ten dollars a bottle will far surpass most California offerings. And we all can make Raisinette™, which is far superior to a pink SIN-FAN-DELL, for a couple of bucks a bottle.
Having said all that, I would still upon winning the $62 million Powerball, buy a little plot in south Sonoma and show 'em how it's done.
