Comments on: How many 18 year-old wine collectors do you know?

By: 1WineDude

1WineDude — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:08:43 +0000

Great job on summarizing this issue.

The thing I can’t stand is how keeping booze out of the hands of minors is so often cited as justification for the archaic three tier wine distribution system.

If an 18 year old really wants a bottle of 1st growth Bordeaux for the aesthetic pleasure, then hell, I’ll buy it for them…

By: Steve Heimoff

Steve Heimoff — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:31:42 +0000

Hi Arthur, you’ve done a good job presenting the ambiguities of this issue. I’m not sure where I stand on lowering the drinking age. I tend to see these issues from all sides (being a Gemini). I guess if I had to vote on it, I’d allow the drinking age to stand at 21 — but I can’t really be sure. Anyhow, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. The country is in a very conservative mood and no responsible politician would ever vote to lower the drinking age.

By: Morton Leslie

Morton Leslie — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:43:41 +0000

I am 63 years old and I still drink for the buzz. I just want what I drink for the buzz to taste good. I learned to drink in a car at the end of a dark isolated road, miles from the nearest adult. We got blasted and then got in the car and went into town to find girls (if we weren’t drinking with girls) or a party. The parties never had adults present, they were put on by kids whose parents were away.

As a parent I toyed with the idea of allowing groups of my son’s friends (whose parents all shared my same attitude towards drinking) to have a beer or two at the house under my supervision. Unfortunately, the opportunity to allow adult supervised experimentation with alcohol with someone under 21 is VERY illegal. So they get to learn the same way I did. And when they finally turn 21 and after they have been drinking for 3 or 4 years I get my opportunity to teach them about temperance and responsible drinking behavior. It’s like they drive for four years, then we propose to give them drivers ed. No wonder kids have problems with alcohol.

And who do the proponents blame for drinking problems in youths under 21. The parents. The same people for whom they make it illegal to educate their kids.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:49:51 +0000

Great blog and you are soo right about drinking in Europe. In Sweden the legal drinking age is 20 and i would be scared if they lowered the legal drinking age to 18. Since i am in the wine biz i also try to be relaxed with my children when it comes to wine, but i am sure they will go through the same stage as i did being younger than the legal age, getting the wine from older syblings and lie die hard to my parents… Thanks again for a great blog.