What sort of wine drinker are you

August 12, 2013

Wine writer Jamie Goode's most recent blog (see www.wineanorak.com) suggests segmenting the wine market in order to better understand the requirements of the consumer which prompts me to wonder how wine drinkers would view themselves when faced with such a question.

Far and away the largest sector of the market is the "commodity" end; significant volumes of sound, easily recognised and easily understood wines, designed to appeal to as broad a spectrum of tastes as possible My issue with such an approach is that in order to please most of the people most of the time, what you end up with is likely to lack any sort of character or identity - it may be unlikely to offend but it is equally unlikely to bowl anyone over.

Further up the scale, in the rarefied world of "fine wine" buying decisions are not so very different from those at the "commodity" end. The wines may be markedly superior and the price tags may be significantly bigger but the selection process is still likely to rest on familiarity or reputation whether that is acheived through advertising or Parker points.

Somewhere in between these poles is a middle ground populated, according to Jamie, by "wine geeks" or as I like to think "enthusiasts." These are the Rannulph Fiennes of wine drinkers, never shirking a challenge and ever prepared for a new experience they accept that they may kiss the odd frog en route to finding a Princess (or, in the interests of political correctness, Prince) but recognise that with so many wines being produced across the globe, there is far more excitement and pleasure to be had from taking the path less travelled. 

No prizes for guessing to which mast I nail my own colours.

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