News

For a few years now, the ongoing rhetoric in the alcohol industry has been this: as older consumers age out of consumption, younger consumers are failing to pick up the slack they are leaving behind.

Geek has been in the wine business for almost five decades (!) and writing on these pages for 25 years. During that time, there have been many changes in the industry; many economic ups & downs, many trends that came and went, and many changes in consumer demand.

We have touched on this before, but some recent encounters brought it to front of mind again, so we thought we would share some what we believe to be hard truths about the business of selling wine.

As we have noted on this page several times before, wine goes through fashions. From broad trends such as the rise of American wines’ share of the pie compared to imported wine, to the drop of Merlot sales due to a movie, to dry French rosés, to many, many others.

We have addressed on these pages previously the sometimes-confusing terms of Organic Wine, Natural Wine, Biodynamic Wine, Sustainable Wine, not to mention the new discipline of ‘Regenerative Viticulture’ (which is its own rabbit hole).

Italy’s best wines have rightly earned their spot in the upper levels of the world’s most collectible wines. Though there is a long list of Italian wines that can compete on the world stage, it is Barolo, Brunello, and Bolgheri that make everyone’s list of Italy’s top wines.

As Wine Geek ages—gracefully, like a fine wine—He has noticed many of his friends are downright old. The good news is old friends have old wines in their cellars. Add to this, most wine lovers we know like to share their wines, so good for us!

We have now been proudly selling Riedel Crystal for 8 years. We sincerely feel that during that time, we have helped enhance scores of beverage programs in countless restaurants—not just with wine glasses, but with cocktail programs as well (if you’ve not looked at their ‘Drink Specific Glassware’ you should).

We mentioned on these pages not long ago that just when one thinks they have a firm grasp on the rules & regs…they change the rules! A new designation for Chianti Classico is the latest curveball.