The Inside Story from Italian Wine Merchants

Wine Wars

Posted on | February 4, 2010 | Written by Tom Powers | 3 Comments

I love looking for, finding and reading online forums on controversial wine topics because I truly enjoy reading when people make severely harsh arguments—even if I don’t understand why they feel the need to be so impassioned. Wine has always been such a tremendous source of pleasure for me, so I just don’t understand the commotion. I find it all endlessly amusing to read how people become hostile debating hot wine topics like oak, closure, Robert Parker, or the advantages of Old World over New World wine production. However, as much as I enjoy a spirited debate, at some point my previously enjoyable reading has begun to feel rather unpleasant. I had to consider what was bothering me.

Take the topic of cork, for example. There are long-winded arguments that go into copious detail about the tradition of cork or the technical benefits of Stelvin, the screw-cap wine closure of most producers’ choice. To be honest, I really have no major stake in either closure. While I’m sure there are compelling reasons for both corks and Stelvin, I really only care which one will deliver the wine in better condition. There are those who would argue for the beauty and the ceremony of opening a bottle, but I have always been more interested in the enjoyment of drinking the wine. If the wine is good, I’ll unscrew a cap—I’d even poke a hole like a juice box, pop a cap like a beer bottle or flip a lid like a milk container. The point to me is the quality of the wine, not the perfection of the delivery system.

It’s not just corks; the topic of Old World vs. New World has begun to feel as inane to me as Brunettes vs. Blondes or Yankees vs. Red Sox. Today we can surely say there are wonderful wines made in many places, and I don’t know that one has to be better than the other. To attempt to answer this challenge is futile because there are so many compelling reasons to enjoy both. Certainly, if there’s one area in our lives that doesn’t demand monogamy, it’s our devotion to the beverage industry. It’s fair—and laudable—to sample many kinds of wines from many places.

Reading these many debates, I suspect the single greatest improvement in the industry has been in the people who represent it. Where wine experts were often accurately portrayed as snobs years ago, today there are an inordinate number of down-to-earth, socially graceful people who characterize our profession. The days of over- opinionated blowhards have passed. Now we enjoy affable individuals who can appreciate a broad array of perspectives, opinions and values. I love knowing that I’m part of a group I’d want to share a drink with.

And yet, reading these debates, feeling suspiciously uncomfortable at the ire they raise, and sensing a level of minutia too great even for a wine geek like me, I suspect I am more inclined to foster the enjoyment of wine than to argue about the superior intellectual execution of it. Indeed, I’ll drink to that.

Category: Italian Wine Merchants
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Comments

3 Responses to “Wine Wars”

  1. Maya
    February 5th, 2010 @ 9:06 am

    This reminds me of when I lived in Miami my friends and I would go to the beach, and we’d fill a cooler with food and these small “juice boxes” except, they were really tiny boxes of wine, which had a hole for a straw!

    I’m not even embarrassed, the wine was delicious!

  2. Kerry-Jo
    February 5th, 2010 @ 10:44 am

    So many people hold on to pretensions when it comes to the subject of wine. Even friends of mine who drink wine regularly tend to feel inferior when they hear i’ve taken wine classes and work for a wine company. It’s silly to me, but it definitely exists. It also tends to happen with new customers in the showroom. More than a couple of times I have heard an embarrassed comment here or there, pertaining to how little they know about italian wines. I think it’s great that we work to make wine approachable to everyone, yet still maintain a high respect for the products we present.

  3. Tom Powers
    February 5th, 2010 @ 11:54 am

    I concur. Our aim is to remove the apprehension of getting involved in wine discussions and wine tasting by making the experience more enjoyable. Our position is to educate with the ultimate goal of insuring that our customers have a more rewarding experience because of their involvement with us. At some point, this should be fun!

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