I had the strangest experience in the tasting room. It was both eye-opening and weird. A couple came in, somewhere in their fifties about, pretty nicely dressed, nice looking people. Very, very ordinary. Until I asked if they'd like to taste some wine. The man says "Yes, we'd love to. We've never tasted wine before."
WHAT?! Where were these people from? Texas, it turns out. But I don't think that's really indicative of much, as I am 100% sure they have a bustling wine retailing industry in the Lone Star State. Anyway, so I begin our tasting flight, taking extra care to explain things as I am fairly certain if you've never tasted wine, talking about the difference between Northern Rhone varietals and Southern Rhone varietals is overwhelming. As we continue through the wines, the wife says nothing, politely takes one sip of each and dumps the rest in the bucket.
The gentleman seems to be taking more time, but still, dumping almost all of the half ounce or so pours I am doling out. He's very polite, listening to my spiel intently, but also, in some sense not listening. He was here for the experience, not the flavor. Not that I don't commend him, it was very cool that he came here to have his first wine experience and it didn't offend me if we weren't wowing him.
We we talking as they were preparing to leave, me and the gentleman as the wife still has not said anything, and he said the wine didn't taste like he imagined it to, he imagined it would be more like grape juice with alcohol added. A vodka and grape juice blend, more or less. And I commented that wine is really somewhere on the road between vinegar and grape juice. "Yes, I guess you're right" he said and then left.
This little run-in, of course, got me to thinking. I can't even remember a time before I tasted wine. What would I dream wine to be like if I didn't know a thing about it? I guess that grape juice with vodka in it isn't the worst assumption, but clearly, in retrospect, so completely off the mark. The whole experience was a mind-trip for me, since I spend so much of my day obsessing over wine and here we have people who have no concept at all of what wine is in essence, not to mention the complexities and nuances that drive the industry. Well, I guess, in the end, lucky them, they've opened up a door to something wonderful and delicious and hopefully they will continue on the path to learning about and enjoying wine.
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Interesting that they were from Texas and were looking for wine that tasted more like grape juice with alcohol in it. Because that's what some of the Texas winemakers are targeting. One in particular is of the opinion that "new" wine drinkers in Texas want very sweet (think White Zin) wines. He said until palates are more developed here, that's what he's going to make. I think that's unfortunate. Because there are plenty of sophisticated wine drinkers in Texas who would love to support the local industry -- if only the local industry would cater to their palates! Until they do, Texas has a well-developed three-tier system that provides New and Old World Wines via retail, and wineries can direct ship.
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