Which would be Beer Is Not the New Wine: But wine might just be the new beer!
This has been going on for a while now, so my listing it in the first “What I Learned…” instalment is a bit disingenuous, but it really does make sense. With precious few exceptions, everyone I know who is involved in the wine business is trying to demystify it, so that wine might some day enjoy the same sort of casual acceptance that beer does now. And – here’s why I listed it as something I learned last year – they’re starting to succeed!
Wine in a screw cap is no longer de facto bad. Neither is wine in a box, for that matter. (Although the latter is still far more likely to be plonk than the former.) Good beer in a can?! Of course it’s here, and good wine in a can might not be that far behind!!
And there’s another thing I’ve noticed recently.
Wine has always been about the drink, DOC, vintage, etc., none of it guarantees quality, but does say something about the drink. Now, more and more wines are being sold as brands. Once again, doesn’t mean the wine is bad, but those brands don’t say as much about the drink itself…