Making wine more approachable and less intimidating for younger generations is the new mantra for the thinking parts of the wine industry. At Glug Wines we understand the sentiment but as one of the minnows we can do little about it.
The major wine companies are the ones who should take up the task of making and presenting wines that appeal to the zoomers or Gen Z – those born between the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s. The products that will reverse the trend away from wine to flavoured spirits (and even to sweet fruit flavoured beers) are not ones mentioned by wine writers or judged at shows.
Making wine more approachable will involve making it more fun to experience. That will often mean making it sweeter. Wine makers today are precious beings obsessed with concepts like terroir. There are not many in wineries these days who would tackle making a blue wine for the boss’s daughter like Max Schubert did with skill at Penfolds years ago.
For any of you stuck without a suitable sweet beverage when the need arises we do have one suggestion. Make a kalimotzo – equal parts of red wine and Coca Cola. It’s become a popular drink in Spain and is our suggestion for making wine more approachable.
The history of its creation by a group of Basque teenagers is worth a read.
