 Yugos at BMW Prices March 3, 2008 Arthur Z. Przebinda, redwinebuzz.com Founder |
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One of my first college classes as an undergraduate at U.C. Irvine was the Humanities Core series, which combined writing, literature, history, psychology, sociology and philosophy. The first book we read was Plato’s “Symposium”. It took me a while to figure out what type of love the men in the book were talking about. I was an 18 year-old straight out of a Catholic all-boys school. Once I figured out what “Platonic Love” really meant, I focused on the debate which centered on the ideals of love and beauty. Not much has changed since then as today I find myself discussing (and, at times, debating) what ideals we should seek and pursue in wine.
I strongly feel that true and absolute ideals (or standards) of wine are being replaced today with what I’ll call ‘relativist’ notions best embodied in the statement: “a wine is good if you enjoy it”. I do not contest the notion that “beauty lies in the eye of the beholder”. There truly is no accounting for personal preferences. But what one person enjoys is not necessarily representative of what might appeal to someone else. Nor does it necessarily strive towards the highest standards. And this is where I think much of today’s wine discourse seems to have lost its way.
As wine gains in popularity, much ado is made of the democratization and demystification of the stuff. But that seems to be an endeavor taking the path of least resistance: one of making the general character of wine submit to the fancy of drinker. Now, I am all for the production of wines that are approachable and enjoyable. Easy-drinking, accessible, drink-now, "social" wines should be as much a part of the landscape of American wine as complex and esoteric ones which may require cellaring or those which show their best side when paired with food rather than consumed as a social drink. But just like jazz, interpretive dance, or conceptual visual arts, fine wine tends to require some understanding and patience on the part of the consumer. A higher appreciation of wine comes when one learns to be a practiced sensory observer instead of judging a wine based on immediate enjoyment or personal preference. A sensory observer uses knowledge and experience with aromas, flavors and textures in wine as hallmarks of style, growing and production methods, quality, longevity and food friendliness. The wine then gains in meaning and usefulness when it is understood for its make up, context and origin. The individual response to the wine, then, is no longer on the one-dimensional “I like it” - ”I don’t like it” plane. When one understands a wine, one gains a broader appreciation for it - though not necessarily a greater affinity. While it may take some time to learn to recognize and identify aromas and flavors and understand what they mean for the wine at hand, it is not physically, physiologically or financially impossible for the average person to achieve.
'Relativist’ thinking about wine carries several pitfalls. First, it does not serve the reader and consumer. Much of the “like it/don’t like it” approach seems to be fueled by a notion that there exists such great variability in sensory abilities of individuals that no two people can detect the same characteristics in a single bottle of wine. This belief is unfounded and is not supported by scientific aresearch. It tends to be used to validate the authors whose assessment of the same wine differs greatly. After all, if it is impossible to arrive at the same, reproducible findings in a bottle or wine, then nobody can make a mistake in assessing a wine and nobody can be shown to have deficits in wine knowledge. The author has saved face, but there is no benefit to the reader and consumer who is forced to align their preference with the author's and form a dependence rather than be empowered to make independent judgments. It is a shame that a culture which embraces ideas of mystical and transcendental consciousness expansion cannot come to terms with the less far-fetched concept of learning to be a good sensory observer.
Secondly, 'relativist' thinking about wine is inherently limiting because it implies that most people are either unable or unwilling to make the intellectual effort which will help them grow from casual sippers to enthusiasts or aficionados and, ultimately, to well-informed wine lovers. Certainly, there are those who just want something tasty in their glass and aren't interested in anything beyond their enjoyment of it. Many people, though, are exploring beyond the Chardonnay and Cabernet options of days past. However, curiosity and framing one’s exploration of wine within the “I like it” – “I don’t like it” approach, limits one's potential understanding of what each grape and region has to offer. Instead of having a feel for the broader landscape of wine (which may include wines not to one’s liking) one ends up with a short-sighted view of wine. This limited view prevents one from assessing wine quality, not on the basis of personal enjoyment but on the basis of understanding the broader, global, spectrum of wine. Thus short-changed, the budding wine lover is not not only unlikely to develop the skills and opportunities to learn and grow, but is also likely to buy any kind of story.
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Thirdly, wine as a product, needs to be marketed. Much of marketing is selling a concept, a story or a feeling before the product itself. Since wine is perceived as esoteric and people feel intimidated by it, the story becomes the focus of much of wine marketing. But selling the story is building awareness. Awareness directs consumers to products, builds brand loyalty and increased sales. It is easier and more lucrative to build awareness than to educate. Like health awareness campaigns, which are intended to bring people in contact with health care providers without imparting medical knowledge, wine awareness says: “Wine makes your life better. Enjoy some (of our) wine". It does not give tools to select quality wine. Education gives those tools and leads to intelligent consumers who make better choices and demand a certain standard. |
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If we buy only the story, the same wine can be sold with different stories (and at different price points) to those who do not know any better. If we do not understand the possibilities in the spectrum of wine, we will never know if a wine of greater quality or value, other than the wine in our hand, is available in the market place. A consumer unaware of their options is not armed to determine if the wine, beyond their own personal enjoyment of it, is truly a quality product and worth its price. For example, if Uncle Bob’s Winery Cabernet is just as good (or as bad) as Big Fancy Winery’s Cabernet, but Big Fancy Winery has a marketing campaign which spins a compelling story, creates the perception of higher value and convinces the consumers to pay the inflated asking priced, then the consumers are paying more for the story. I think we are seeing this in the form of the over-priced and over-hyped “cult” wines of today.
Considering that wine production is a business and, in turn, about profit, it is not a big secret that it is in any wine producer's interest to sell their product at a high margin. That margin may be widened by decreasing what the producer pays to make their wine. At times, that means making a lower quality wine. Much research published in the recent year indicates that consumers who do not know their wine are influenced by the story and price point. lf consumers cannot discriminate between wines of different quality and are also susceptible to suggestion by marketing and price point I don’t think I am an alarmist waving the “slippery slope” argument when I propose that, given enough time and opportunity, we will come to a point where we’re not only buying the story instead of the wine, but also where we’re buying a Yugo at BMW prices.
As lovers of wine, casual, avid and professional, we should strive to examine and seek out the highest standards in the object of our desire. Like the men in Plato's Symposium, and my classmates some 20 years ago, I hope that we can transcend our personal and subjective preferences in exploring the spectrum and quality standards of wine.
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