Drinking out Loud

Matt Kramer writing on the Wine Spectator: ‘Drinking out Loud’ of the 2nd March sees wine tasting groups, the wine glasses used in restaurants, wine consumption habits as a widre cultural phenomenon.

Wine tasting groups have many dimensions to them: another excuse for social gatherings, yet still instrisically wine appreciating but with possible historical connotations for those who take it soberly. The Argentine Malbecs referred to in Kramer’s article were single vineyard Alta Vista wines. To appreciate the wine one has to know something of its background. Alta Vista was a wine growing region developed by French winemakers but which eventually set off on its own. Kramer contrasts the single-vineyard wines with the blended wines which for commercial purposes, grapes from different vineyards are blended to make wines more appealing to public consumption. The wine glasses used in restaurants are also a reflection of the appreciation for wine of the society frequenting those restaurants. In this particular case Kramer commented on the large wine glasses found in Buenos Aires restaurants which were the ideal type for the Argentinian red wines.

The main point in Kramer’s article is “Most wine drinkers everywhere – and certainly in the United States – tend to approach wine from ‘I like it/I don’t like it’ platform. But for a wine producing nation to propel itself beyond mere commodity a native culture of what can only be called ‘wine appreciation’ must emerge.”

see <http://www.winespectator.com/category/index/id/drinkingoutloud>

Comments: I am always intrigued by the fascination of wine tasting. Maybe it reflects our aspirations to constantly refine our tastes. I believe that we have our own emerging ‘wine culture’ in Malta, with our own wines making leaps and bounds in the last fifteen years. Possibly our new ‘wine culture’ deserves a better debate than there is at the moment. It would also be interesting topic to study the Maltese wine culture in depth and from a wider perspective.