I am a research junkie, probably stemming from the time when I was a math major in college. Of course, my math grades weren’t all that great, but that’s not what I want to talk about.
One of my clients just purchased data from Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) showing the top wine brands sold in Food stores. I took a look and the top wine is the Kendall-Jackson Reserve Chardonnay. In fact, the top 4 wines are Chardonnay and the next two are White Zinfandel. I am not talking volume either, since we know most of these come in 1.5 liter bottles. I am talking sales. The K-J sold close to $69 million worth of wine through November. That’s a LOT of wine.
Who drinks this? Are you out there reading this? Please, for my own sanity, explain to me why you buy these wines? Maybe for a future post I’ll spend the money and get a magnum of each of these wines, just so that I can taste them and make sure I can back up what I am talking about.
I must admit, I’ve never tasted the K-J, Woodbridge, Clos Du Bois, Sutter Home, or Yellow Tail. (I will put up a guilty hand at having drunk the Beringer White Zinfandel in my fraternity, but I’m not proud of it) I suspect that they taste like nothing. Maybe a little sweet, but the rest is all water and alcohol. Do people not grow out of it in college? I mean, I can understand going to the store and buying a big jug of wine for $5. In college (when the point really isn’t to taste the wine) this is economical and will do what you want it to do.
But why would people out of college continue to buy these wines? A lack of adventure? A desire to hold onto what they know? Not enough money to spend $5 more to get a better wine?
Maybe I’ve moved over to the dark side and am now a snob. I do not drink $100 Bordeaux, but I also do not drink $3 Beringer White Zinfandel (well, anymore). If you are reading this and you have a glass of Little Penguin in your hand, put it down. Please? For me? And try a Rosemont. Try a Ravenswood. Go that extra step to unbend yourself from reaching to the bottom of the shelf and see what it is at eye level.
If this is being a wine snob, then I never want to go back.
One of my clients just purchased data from Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) showing the top wine brands sold in Food stores. I took a look and the top wine is the Kendall-Jackson Reserve Chardonnay. In fact, the top 4 wines are Chardonnay and the next two are White Zinfandel. I am not talking volume either, since we know most of these come in 1.5 liter bottles. I am talking sales. The K-J sold close to $69 million worth of wine through November. That’s a LOT of wine.
Who drinks this? Are you out there reading this? Please, for my own sanity, explain to me why you buy these wines? Maybe for a future post I’ll spend the money and get a magnum of each of these wines, just so that I can taste them and make sure I can back up what I am talking about.
I must admit, I’ve never tasted the K-J, Woodbridge, Clos Du Bois, Sutter Home, or Yellow Tail. (I will put up a guilty hand at having drunk the Beringer White Zinfandel in my fraternity, but I’m not proud of it) I suspect that they taste like nothing. Maybe a little sweet, but the rest is all water and alcohol. Do people not grow out of it in college? I mean, I can understand going to the store and buying a big jug of wine for $5. In college (when the point really isn’t to taste the wine) this is economical and will do what you want it to do.
But why would people out of college continue to buy these wines? A lack of adventure? A desire to hold onto what they know? Not enough money to spend $5 more to get a better wine?
Maybe I’ve moved over to the dark side and am now a snob. I do not drink $100 Bordeaux, but I also do not drink $3 Beringer White Zinfandel (well, anymore). If you are reading this and you have a glass of Little Penguin in your hand, put it down. Please? For me? And try a Rosemont. Try a Ravenswood. Go that extra step to unbend yourself from reaching to the bottom of the shelf and see what it is at eye level.
If this is being a wine snob, then I never want to go back.
