Even us allegedly rich ruinators of the world, you know the Boom-Boomers [and the Silencios], can get behind this statement! While I venture into many different prices ranges depending on the wines, as a daily drinker of decent wine for regular meals and enjoyment, that sub-$30 range is an important target, lest you spend thousands per month on regular consumption. One need look no further than some of the 2017 Beaujolais Crus just hitting the streets, like Bouland, Roilette and Thivin, to know that you are getting world-class wine at bargain pricing. And many of these, especially the Morgons, are wines that easily will go, and get better, for 10-20 years.
Run out and buy the 2017 Bouland Delys VV cuvee, it’s exceptional, fellow Berserker William Kelley’s note is right on point:
From vines planted in sandy soils in 1926, the 2017 Morgon Les Delys Vieilles Vignes is a stunning wine that ranks as one of the vintage’s qualitative peaks, wafting from the glass with a kaleidoscopic bouquet of cassis, plums, cured meats, dark chocolate, wood smoke and rich soil tones. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, multidimensional and immensely concentrated, with fine tannins, tangy acids and an incredibly long finish. The sheer density of old vine extract in this bottling is more reminiscent of a young Clape Cornas than it is of most contemporary Beaujolais, but the winemaking here is utterly classical and there’s nothing forced about it. The most reserved of Bouland’s wines, the 2017 Delys will require at least 2 or 3 years of bottle age and reward a full 10.
Sending Millienial love my way . . . . Just stay off my well-manicured bentgrass lawn and gated community, unless you are delivering something to me or trimming my hedges. I tip with wine.
Of course. This whole idea of $100/bottles of wine is what corporations want you to believe that you need. You don’t.
Don’t believe this, because it doesn’t always work out that way. If you ‘only’ have a college degree, your income will be as stagnant as a factory worker. Heaven help you if you have even less education.
I hate the “Millennial are killing x” or “look at the stupid Millennials” tropes. They strike me as ignorant, lazy clickbait. As Brandon said, Millennials are mainly killing bad products and bad industries. I roll my eyes every time I see an article bemoaning the fact that Millennials are killing Arby’s or something.
As far as Millennials and wine, it has to be of some concern that rampant student loan debt and rising costs of living vs. wages will do to wine interest. Maybe it’s not a concern; as wealth gets concentrated perhaps just as much or more of it will be spent on luxury items, just by fewer individuals. The good news is that there’s so much excellent and inexpensive wine out there. It does take some searching but I suspect younger wine drinkers will also be less put off by foreign labels and unusual regions than prior generations have allegedly been.
Beyond increasingly problematic economic concerns, the competition from craft beer may well dent interest in wine in a lasting way. Craft beer, though not always much cheaper than wine, has the appeal of being hyper-local. It’s so much easier to have a connection to the people making and serving it in your own neighborhood or city, than you get with wine. Local breweries play a major part in the community that those outside wine country could never get from wine. Craft beer offers a constantly changing array of styles and labels, and can offer the fun and chase of rare and unique bottles without finer wine’s prohibitive pricing. I wonder to what extent legal weed will steal a lot of potential wine dollars too, as younger people increasingly have access to an entire class of legal intoxicant that used to be much more niche and taboo. Shipping regulations can’t help either as it simply makes buying the affordable bottles you want at a competitive price that much more difficult.
Markus you mention a $1000 phone but what we now do with phones is outrageous. You mention bigger home sizes but I don’t think that’s Millennials at all, but the generations immediately preceding. Current generations may well grow into expectations of that square footage because it’s what they’ve always seen, but in many areas they’ve also abandoned the prior generations’ flight to the suburbs and bigger is better mentality and prioritized urban living over a large, isolated suburban box.
Yea I don’t buy into these tropes, either, and really wonder whether any of us from differing “generations” are really any different. I hear the concern about the economy, debt, future opportunities, etc. Many of us came out of college to these dark clouds as well. I came out in 1992, post-recession. We then had the Dot.com bust. We had 9/11. We just came out of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. I’m just not convinced Millennials have it any different, any worse, any better. The complaints all resonate with me, I’ve seen and heard them before.
All the buzz about Millennials not wanting kids, wanting to jump around geographically and in jobs, wanting an urban environment over suburbs. I lived through that as well. Perhaps Millennials are different, or maybe my experience is unique, but I see my Millennial associates all getting married, two just bought a large house, one whose wife is now a stay-at-home. Hmm, my track as well. And it was not my planned track. I did not see myself in a so-called traditional family setting. Wanted to work abroad, first. I dive in some big cities, including downtown San Fran. And lo and behold, I eventually got married (at 30), had a child (at 33), wife stopped working, got the bigger house with the pool for the family fun, joined a Club. These are things that I eschewed in my 20s (called the “Boomers” “Yuppie Scum”), and then doing it in my 30s and 40s (became a Yuppie). My Millennial associates also mostly buck that so-called complaint about you all not wanting to work hard. My associates are quality. And I think they are smarter than us partners, more tech-savvy, and frankly, better balanced in life. And despite complaints about opportunity, we are hiring and paying more than ever for top-tier associates.
Now in my early 50s, I want to reverse course. Downscale. Urban loft. Kid is in college. Live a bit more freely. Phuck, perhaps I am becoming you. I like it. Just no vape, please. Nasty stuff.
+1. Many voices have been raised over the past 15 years. All they needed to do was listen to people who were giving good solid advice which of course means a harder road versus listening to those softer whispers of the easy path to success, fame and wealth.
Over expansion and explosion of new wineries has to factor in. An over supply of new expensive labels, combined with even a mild dip in demand is going to (continue to) put pressure on the market and put wineries out of business.
Michael, I mentioned those examples as one of increasing expectations of people, not necessarily tied to generations, but as to constantly improving living standards that shifts the bar of what is acceptable, or minimal.
When I was younger, I rented in some pretty run down pre-war houses. Today, you have all these “luxury apartments” sprouting around college campuses so a college kid won’t have to shovel (snow, for those in the sunbelt) sidewalks, won’t have to walk (they have apartment provided transport), won’t have to deal with any insect or maintenance issues because of old, unkempt properties. The expectations are different and never seem to go down, only up and away. When I hear generational complaints about issues, I wonder what part of them are the expectations that are adjusted upward?
Thanks for the scare! I do buy this, but I’m working off the assumption that most people choosing to get into fine wine do so having a little more disposable income and means.
Robert, I wouldn’t ascribe your fortune to generational shifts or simply as ‘coming of age’. I think you pursued a path that led to a materially rewarding life. Some of us - younger or older - have fell into lives which have not been so materially rewarding, despite our best efforts. You need to count your blessings.
Perhaps I’m the outlier here, but I have to constantly remind people that having money is NOT a prerequisite to an interest in fine wine! (Helps, but is not always true)
But if you read the Silicon Valley Bank report (summarized above), and not the Wine-Searcher gloss on it, the drop in sales is for wines under $9 a bottle. Above that price point, sales have continued to increase. The supposed drop is not due to an oversupply at the high end.
The data is more consistent with the hypothesis that millennials have realized what crap <$10 wine is and have switched to beer and hard liquor for casual drinking on a budget.
And eventually, hopefully they will realize that they are getting fleeced by the craft brewers and mixologists. That $14 artisanal ice cube, tincture infused drink spun up by the guy/gal in a handle bar mustache lasted all of 10 min. It is all marketing and they can make as much of this crap as they want. And if the M’s think that all there is to wine is $100 and up, or even $50 and up, then they need to get off of their $1000 phone and out into the real world. Or at least use the phone in a different and better way. Sure you can drop $800 on a bottle of wine. Just as you can spend $200,000 on a car. But there are good options at a fraction of those prices.
It has a lot of competition from this guy’s other posts but you could be right. I know a lot of millennials who don’t expect to have things handed to them and who are working really hard to make it in the world on their own. These are going to be the successes of this generation just like they are of any generation. People like this bozo who want everything handed to him will be blaming others for his failures for the rest of his life when he should be looking in the mirror.
Life get’s you in the end. Most of this extends from being told they are different and special. And they are not. At least beyond the fact that they are alive and human. And that in itself is special.