Old and New Wine Brands

While walking around Bordeaux, I passed by the window of a recently opened wine store, "La Maison Gabin". I was utterly amazed to see in the window empty bottles of Château d'Yquem, Château Haut-Brion and Château Margaux, three names among the most famous of Classified growths and among the most expensive in the world, next to (full) bottles of a new brand, Nayandei, whose prices reach the incredible amount of... 10 euros.

Nayandai is a brand launched by young people in the Languedoc area, in the South West of France. The tagline of Nayandai is: "creator of wines". What did they create? A bubbly wine called "Bubbles", dry bubly wine and "Nolita Fraise", a sweet strawberry bubbly drink with a low alcohol content (6,5°). They also have a "Bubbles Pinc" (sic!), a pink, white and red wine. Nothing earthshaking.

What is earthshaking is how poor their site is. It's only in French - a widely spoken language as everybody knows. There is no information on the company, who founded it, who created the wines - no story of any kind. We can guess the wines are targeting young people and their sweet tooth. It happens that recent studies showed that young people love to know the story behind a wine. They don't mind drinking wines designed to their (supposed) tastes but they want to hear a story. Unfortunately, the "creators" of Nayandai didn't do their homework and ignored this important fact.

I suppose young people are behind Nayandai, people from the Millennium generation, almost born with Internet: why didn't they talk to their peers the language they share - an old-fashioned story said with the 21st Century tools?

Young wine consumers and the Walla Walla Wine Woman

I discovered through various links and alerts the blog of Catie, the Walla Walla Wine Woman and a fellow of the Open Wine Consortium I joined... yesterday! I read her post on "The New generation of Wine lovers - I love them!" with delight. At first I was a little puzzled by the title: what's not to like about the new generation of wine lovers? In France, where I live about 9 months a year, I teach various Wine and Food MBA and Masters' programs and I'm very often around younger people: I must say I really appreciated their behavior towards wine, their will to learn more and their deep interest in the wine culture. Of course, it doesn't mean that some of them don't indulge late at night in night clubs, bars or at home but, in general, they are aware of the danger of over drinking.

Catie lives in Walla Walla, Washington, in the US: is the situation different? If I understood what Catie is saying, some people complained that college students were partying, over drinking and behaving poorly. She felt as she had to defend them and she did it in a very convincing way. If she loved the new generation of wine lovers, I love her conclusion: "So anyways - - I felt I had to defend our new generation of wine lovers out there, especially the ones in the valley. Latest research states that over 25 percent of those buying wine fall between the ages of 21 and 34. New homes are being built for gracious entertainment and to include wine storage. Hosts and guests often make an evening about the wine, it's flavors and aromas, food pairing, the origin of grapes, the soil, the climate - - the terroir. I like the direction our new generation of wine lovers are headed and me as an old Boomer, I plan to follow them."

I plan to follow them too! The Young Generation of Wine Lovers is on its way!

A good question of Eric Asimov: Why hate Bordeaux?

Maybe because I'm currently in Bordeaux, this beautiful city, I feel very concerned about the feelings expressed by Eric Asimov in his blog on Bordeaux wines and why some people dislike them.

Indeed it might be a generational problem: young people are more interested in less "serious" and classical wines. But Bordeaux is also the reference for very high quality wines, as Eric Asimov points out when telling with emotion his experience with an '86 Margaux. Bordeaux Classified Growths are the symbol of excellence, whether they're called Margaux or Haut-Brion.

Bordeaux is also felt as the country of the Cabernet Sauvignon, said Eric Asimov. How weird! Bordeaux wines are a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot and Cabernet franc on the Left Bank. But don't forget about the predominance of Merlot on the Right bank in Saint-Emilion and Pomerol. Maybe young people or Bordeaux haters just don't know their classics!

To make a long story short, Eric Asimov is right to point out the feelings generated by Bordeaux and its world. But we should not forget that Bordeaux is certainly one of the most romantic place in the world: it has history, people whose families are going back several centuries, landscapes and a beautiful city.

I love Bordeaux!

Young wine drinkers want stories!

Young wine drinkers are full of surprises for professionals and older consumers. The younger generation - consumers AND sommeliers - is looking for wines that are original, regional and with a rich background story (or history). No more of those funny wines forgotten as soon as drunk!

The young sommeliers, usually in their 20s, are setting the trends in restaurants. They want to have as much fun with the wine as the chef with fresh vegetables from the farmer's market. They want to be able to tell the story of a land, a family and a place. Is it the death of brands? Not at all. On the contrary: a good estate brand, such as Clarendelle rooted in the land and history of the Dillon family in Bordeaux, will be an international success.