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Cider Digest #1772
Subject: Cider Digest #1772, 14 April 2013
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1772 14 April 2013
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
US wine and demographic trends: a cider opportunity? (Dick Dunn)
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Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn
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Subject: US wine and demographic trends: a cider opportunity?
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:10:13 -0600
(a short essay; don't expect many hard facts!)
Summary: One trend in US wine production is taking it in a wrong direction
relative to the demographics of the wine-consuming public: alcohol levels
are continuously increasing. Could this be an opportunity for craft cider,
with much lower typical alcohol but an upscale presentation, to gain a real
foothold?
Alcohol levels in US wines have been rising for some time. I can easily
remember when the typical declared alcohol in table wine was 12% or at most
12.5%. Now, 13.5% is the norm even for the lower end, and 15% or more is
not unusual, particularly for Zinfandels.
So, questions:
Why does it matter?
Why has it happened?
What does it mean overall?
The quick answer to why it matters is that the wine-consuming population in
the US is aging. The "baby boomer" generation is now into its 60's, and,
not to put too keen an edge on it, but they just can't drink the way they
used to. Slowing metabolism, conflicts with medications, and just plain
getting-old mean they don't/can't drink as much.
But at the same time, wines are getting stronger! They're approaching 20%
stronger than the historical norm. 25 years ago, a couple in their 30-40's
could comfortably share a bottle of 12% wine for dinner. Now, that couple
in their 50-60's don't dare share a bottle of 14% wine with dinner unless
they want an unpleasant after-time.
Imagine if they could have a nice bottle of a 6.5-8% craft cider instead.
OK, so what happened with wine to push the alcohol up? Three reasons:
* improved viticultural practices
* Parkerization
* climate change
Improved viticultural practices have enabled winemakers to push the season,
hold fruit longer and still make good wine. Longer==more sugar, and more
sugar means higher alcohol. Whether they want this or not, it's in their
hands to do it. And, by and large, they have done so, partly because...
Robert Parker is the dominant wine critic in the US, and his critiques
favor high-alcohol wine. People who don't know wine very well, and don't
want to spend a lot of time or effort learning, look to Parker's ratings.
He's credible, and his ratings are single numbers, simple enough to follow.
Note, it's not that Parker's ratings are invalid! He spends a lot of
time and care on them, and he's nobody's fool. However, this is not an
objective realm, and he is only one critic, with biases. To be blunt:
Parker likes wines made from overripe grapes, especially reds. Overripe
grapes give high-alcohol wines. His influence is so out of proportion that
the US wine industry is enslaved to his ratings; they are driven to produce
plummy-jammy wines in order to get good ratings to sell their products.
Climate change in wine-growing regions is real. Never mind whether you
accept the global political statements; wine growers are seeing warmer
times for quite a while, and that means grapes which ripen more and give
more sugar (which means more alcohol).
OK, so the US wine industry (and to a lesser extent the rest of the world;
it affects even Bordeaux) is producing higher-alcohol wines.
But as I said before, the people who buy wines, particularly the better
wines as opposed to plonk, are aging. They're certainly not buying wine
based on some $/%abv formula as they might have in college.
They're even ready for some education, for example that a good craft cider
would actually go better with that pork roast than a Pinot Noir...plus,
they won't be under the table after dinner. They'll have had an amount
of alcohol which leaves them happy instead of overwhelmed. Even if they
have a 500 ml bottle each, instead of sharing a 750, they'll *still* have
less alcohol.
Mind you, it's not as simple as saying, "the wine is stronger, so drink
less"! For one thing, you can't just drink 80% of a bottle of this too-
strong wine and put away a 4/5-empty bottle. For another, you want a
certain amount of liquid to go with the meal. You can't always take a
tiny sip when the situation calls for a quaff.
What it means, overall, is that if we as cidermakers will seize the moment
and present ciders of good quality with a lot of character, I think we
might take some of the ground which winemakers are giving up. Commercially,
it's territory which welcomes "craft" quality and doesn't have cut-throat
profit margins.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
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End of Cider Digest #1772
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