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Thursday, March 2, 2006
Wine’s youth movement
Wine geezers beware: there’s a new kid in town.
Actually, new kids. Lots of ‘em. They’re bellying up to the wine bar, poised to elbow their elders out of their way.
I’ve seen them with my own eyes (once I put my bifocals on, that is). Last weekend, fresh from … (Please click on “Continue Reading”)
… reading this Wine Enthusiast Online story entitled “Young Wine Drinkers Abound”, I encountered ample evidence that the youth movement in wine is real, and that it has actually shown up in Dayton, Ohio.
Usually, such trends that begin on the coasts don’t make it to middle America until the Pony Express brings them here. But in this case, the Pony Express became overnight express.
First, it was Friday afternoon at Jay’s, where I’m a semi-regular but where I encountered unfamiliar and unwrinkled faces of folks who had dropped in on the weekly tasting. One is a fifth-year student studying engineering at the University of Dayton. Her friend is a young mom who works for a large pharmacy chain. They were there, they said, because they had decided, at the beginning of the year, that they were going to spend 2006 learning about wine. They’re off to a fine start, because by the end of the evening Friday, they knew more about wine than they did when they walked into Jay’s. So did I.
Then it was early Saturday afternoon at Cuvee Wine Bar and Cellar. I’ve been less of a regular there lately (I’m slacking on my research), but I usually know most or all of the folks around the wine-tasting bar whenever I do drop in.
Not this time. Several tables were filled with folks who looked half my age (not hard, come to think of it). These appeared to be groups of friends who decided to meet up at Cuvee to share a glass or a bottle of wine. I asked Cuvee proprietor Chris Cavender whether this was unusual. His reply was, nope, it seems to be happening more and more, even moreso on Friday nights.
On to Arrow Wine & Spirits Centerville store, where the once-a-year Mardi Gras bus had delivered more than 50 hardy and hearty revelry-makers to the Saturday afternoon wine tasting. The annual wine crawl is put together by the local chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food, and its president, Jim Jordan, said through his beaked Mardi Gras mask that this year’s jaunt was a bit different this year because there were so many new, young faces on the bus.
Wow. Maybe the marketers and the surveys got this one right. More young folks are choosing wine as their drink of choice.
So welcome! Pay no attention to the snobbery and intimidation that the wine geezers of my generation somehow allowed to be foisted upon this simple, convivial, potentially healthy beverage. Go ahead and belly up to the bar. We’ll make room for you.
Because we know if we don’t, you really WILL elbow us out of the way…
Let us know what you think of this trend — no matter WHAT your g-g-generation — by clicking on “post a comment.”
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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