Whine of the Month : July 2008

Hey there!

I'm going to be traveling all this month, so there's no time to put keyboard to screen and come up with something both clever and new. Therefore, here's a little number that first appeared in 2006 and hasn't been seen since. Hope you like it. See youse next month!

What follows is the beginning of an article in the Los Angeles Times by wine and food writer Corie Brown. It has been extensively published in many other papers and is reprinted here without any permission whatsoever, so for God's sake, please don’t tell anyone… ___________________________________________________

EVERY wine lover wants it. Every host has to have it. "A great $10 bottle is the holy grail of wine," says Randy Clement, an owner of Silverlake Wine.

That's because for most people who buy and drink wine, $10 somehow feels like the right amount to spend on a bottle most of the time. Sure, there are the serious wine aficionados who think nothing of spending $40 or $50, or even $100, on a bottle for Saturday night. But for most of us, $10 is what Kyle Meyer, wine buyer for Wine Exchange in Orange, calls "the magic number" — the price that feels comfortable for purchasing everyday wines, weeknight wines.

From the retailer's point of view, $10 is the price at which people spend freely, buying cases instead of bottles. When there's a crowd, party planners stock the bar with $10 wines. And for wine geeks, who are always on the hunt for rare and precious wines, the trophy wine they prize most is the delicious bottle they bag for $10.

Curiously, less is not more. Things can be too inexpensive, says Clement. "People worry that if they spend less, they won't get quality." But at $10, people feel insulated from bad wine. That's why even occasional wine drinkers spend freely on $10 wines.

So what does the magic number buy you? That depends, of course, on where in the world the bottle comes from. Though $10 buys you a pretty interesting bottle of red from one of the up-and-coming regions of Spain, or a wonderful white from southern Italy, what you'll get from California — or Australia or Chile — will probably be merely drinkable. ___________________________________________________

At this point, the article goes on to list wines from specific regions where such “great bargains” can be found, with an appendix naming some bottles in particular. Some of which we’ve reviewed on this very site. All of the information and recommendations are accurate and informative. Hooray!

Look, I’m happy that there’s someone out there preaching the gospel of affordable wines, and I like Corie Brown’s writing on both wine and food, but what’s killing me is that even when emphasizing the virtues of inexpensive wine, there is still this unmistakable note of condescension amongst both critics and retailers.

"A great $10 bottle is the holy grail of wine?” "That's because for most people who buy and drink wine, $10 somehow feels like the right amount to spend on a bottle most of the time?" "Things can be too inexpensive, people worry that if they spend less, they won't get quality?” “$10 is the price at which people spend freely, buying cases instead of bottles?”

Pulleeze… Who makes these assumptions? I’ll tell you who, retailers whose primary interest is in separating you from your money. That’s why they push the “buying cases” angle at this price point. Here at the Club, $10 is the most we spend on a bottle, and it had better be damned special to deserve it. Truly great, “everyday” wines are in virtually unlimited supply for between $3 and $6 and don’t let anyone tell you differently.

As for this shameful bit of advice, “what you'll get from California — or Australia or Chile — will probably be merely drinkable.” The writer should be hung by their thumbs and sentenced to a lifetime of nothing but yellowtail and Woodbridge. While it’s true that there are some incredibly boring wines from these three regions, it must also be said that some of the most stunning wines we’ve found have come from there. Especially Chile.

So there.

Harry (Drink what you like, Like what you drink) Orlove