Is Wine Just Another Cocktail?
Americans don’t just drink wine at the dinner table
Posted: Mar 28, 2012 10:30am ET
"Wine needs
food" is the customary mantra, but I'm not sure how devoted Americans have ever been to that idea. We've been a
country of beer and cocktail drinkers since the end of Prohibition, and as wine has
become more mainstream in the past 20 years, it has become another alcoholic
beverage that's OK to drink by itself.
I trace the
origins of that back to the early 1980s when white Zinfandel and wine coolers were
fashionable. (Bartles & Jaymes anyone?) People didn't drink them with a
meal—they were grownup soda pop. Later, when consumers discovered Chardonnay, that became ubiquitous at bars and cocktail parties, as well as the dinner table.
When I
moved to Sonoma County 20 years ago, people were sipping Merlot and Zinfandel
and even Cabernet Sauvignon without food. It just seemed natural in wine
country, but the rest of America was only a few years behind on the same idea.
Clearly one
factor was health. The "French Paradox," a 1991 report broadcast on 60
Minutes, first touted the potential health benefits of red wine. American
consumers went looking for soft and sippable reds and became devoted to Merlot
and, more recently, Pinot Noir.
When the
low-carb diet craze followed soon after, there was another reason to switch. A
typical American beer has 10 grams of carbohydrates or more, while a standard
glass of wine is half that or less.
Carbs and
heart health don't mean much when you're 25, but for my generation—born on
cusp of the Baby Boom and Gen X—it's crucial. I still enjoy beer, but anything
more than a pint and I feel waterlogged, and considering the size of martinis
they shake up at restaurant bars these days, there's no room for wine with
dinner afterward.
I grew up
in the Midwest and worked in the South, and before I moved to California, my
friends mostly drank beer or bourbon or vodka. It wasn't until I reconnected
with them on Facebook in recent years that I realized how many have switched to
wine. Let's face it: By the time you reach 40, wine just seems more civilized, even in highfalutin'-hatin' small-town America.
Wine
traditionalists will scoff at the idea of drinking wine by itself.
Typically, they knock New World wines because "they don't go with food." I'm
not sure Americans really care. And I'm OK with that. How about you?
From the wine and food perspecitve: while I know a particular Chardonnay, with the right acid balance, will enhance my poached salmon entrée, I still find myself ordering a glass of heavy weighted Zinfandel, because that is what I feel like drinking at that moment. In today’s economic environment, I don’t have the luxury anymore of ordering a glass of bubbly to start, followed by a white with appetizers and then a red with dinner. My typical consumption at a restaurant is one glass if I am driving, two if I am not and they have to be very satisfying to me, especially when they are close to the entrée price. Eat what you want, drink what you like.