Lesson Four: No More Boxed Wine!!

Last but not least for my introductory lessons is but of course none other than wine. As I type this in the somewhat ill condition that I am in today, I can only wish I could have a glass right now and be able to truly taste the character of a fine glass of wine. I can't so I will go with memory and some shocking statistics from winebusiness.com

But before I divulge into numbers, let me start off by saying, NO MORE BOXED WINE! It is 2012, Franzia and Carlo Rossi are not ok no matter what the age. Now don't get me wrong, some of my most fondest memories of college included a good slap of the bag of some 'fine' boxed wine. What the hell did I know then? Certainly not what I know now.

For those of you who turn to wine and drink it solely to get drunk, you might want to reconsider the grape juice you are drinking from that box. First and foremost, Franzia is not wine at all but a "flavored wine product.' It does not go through the regal and taxing process' as real wines do. Not that you care because you don't drink Franzia because you are a self-proclaimed wine connoisseur, you are drinking it because it is easy to transport, chug and well it's fun (aside from that disgusting hangover). What our generation isn't realizing is that you actually not only could get drunk more fast off of REAL wine, you might actually find you enjoy it than its distant redheaded stepchild cousin. Granted you are paying like $11 for a 5L box of juice but at what cost?

You can find an array of all sorts of different wines that are less inexpensive but still taste as it should; like wine. The  more you explore the different varietals, the more your pallet will surrender to wine and you might actually find exploring different wines to not be only be entertaining but a nice thing to put on your weekend to-do list and not to just get drunk. Being drunk is the perk but the true enjoyment is the taste and refinement of the glass in front of you.

You have to think of wine as an experience. Your mouth has to go through three phases to really taste the complexity of your vintage. You have the "attack phase" which is the initial impression the wine will make on your pallet. You have the "evolution phase" which is the actual taste of the wine itself; for example the fruit or spice you might taste. You then have the "finish" which your pallet then decides the body and texture of the wine. Was it light bodied? Medium bodied? Medium to full bodied? Think of it in terms of milk. Light bodied (skim milk), Medium bodied (2% fat free), Full bodied (whole milk or even cream). As you can see, there is much more to wine and tasting it than just chugging it.

Now onto number. According to winebusiness.com:

In 2010, total table wine consumption continued to rise, up to 276 million cases, in the Wine Market Council’s estimate. But it is the core wine-drinking segment—20 percent of the population, representing 46 million U.S. adults—that clearly moves the market, Gillespie said. And this 20 percent of the adult population accounts for 91 percent of all wine consumption.
Core wine drinkers are those who drink wine daily (9 percent), several times a week (29 percent) or about once a week (19 percent) while marginal drinkers are those who drink wine less often than weekly—the greatest number of whom drink wine two to three times a month. Marginal wine drinkers represent 31 million U.S. adults, making the total of U.S. wine consumers 77 million.

There is also a generational shift in wine sales as well:

Six percent of Millennials (ages 17 to 34; 70 million) are drinking wine daily, 26 percent are drinking wine several times a week, and 19 percent drink wine once a week on average. This comprises the core wine-drinking segment of Millennials, accounting for 51 percent of them, compared to only 37 percent five years ago, Gillespie said.Generation X (ages 35 to 46; 44 million) was late in coming to the table for wine, but are making up ground, Gillespie said, as 62 percent are core wine drinkers compared to only 41 percent five years ago. Baby Boomers (ages 47 to 65; 77 million) have also continued the trend toward more frequent wine consumption in the past five years. Thirty percent of Baby Boomers reported that they drink wine several times a week compared to just 17 percent in 2005. And last but not least, in that they have the largest proportion of daily wine drinkers, are the over-65 wine drinkers who show only modest shifts in consumption frequency over the past five years, said Gillespie. But looking at recent consumption shifts of all generations together, the Millennial and Generation X segments are driving the growth of the wine market.

Wine is no longer just an opulent item, but a hobby more and more of our generation is starting to take a liking to. I encourage you to really reconsider buying that box of juice you think is wine and explore your local vendors selection, read the description and who knows, it could be a favorite. There are THOUSANDS of different vintners out there. Expose yourself to them and explore the different varietals.