The rage is relentless
We need a movement with a quickness
You are the witness of change
And to counteract
We gotta take the power back

Sometimes I wonder if the Internet should have a theme song.  I’d nominate Rage Against The Machine’s Take The Power Back, given the possibilities of democratization that the connected economy presents to us nearly every day.

That’s an overly-dramatic introduction to a couple of on-line surveys… but what the hell, why be afraid to revel in our time, right?

Anyway… frequent 1WineDude readers will know my good buddy (and uber wine-geek) Jason Whiteside, who is currently finishing up the challenging WSET Diploma program (the stepping-stone into Master of Wine qualification).  Jason is taking on a bit of wine consumer research as part of his WSET work, and he needs your help!

Below you will find links to two (very, very quick) surveys that Jason is running to collect consumer’s views on two hot topics in the wine world.  The first, rising alcohol levels, is a topic that generates just about as much passion as any other being discussed around wine today. The second is a more specific exploration into what wine consumers think about Sauvignon Blanc (which surprisingly also brings out strong opinions among true wine geeks).

I’ll defer to Jason to introduce the surveys:

“These surveys represent a small amount of consumer research, which is being done for the WSET Diploma (the Diploma is divided into six learning Units, and one of them is on “The Business of Wine”). Both surveys are about ten questions each, and should take less than three minutes to complete. Consumer preference doesn’t garner the attention that Wine Critic preference does, but surveys like this can help swing the power back to the people. Thank you very much for your time in filling out the surveys. Your answers will remain confidential; even I will not be able to see who answered what.”

The results will be published in a future 1WineDude article, so do us a favor and take 5 minutes to tell us your thoughts!

Have your say about Alcohol Levels and Wine:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=phsAHStgKrfzRRTWFmGFoQ_3d_3d

Tell us what you think about White Wine and Sauvignon Blanc:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=95Sodl9Wgd0d2i9iTu2gXw_3d_3d

Cheers!

A recent article by Catherine Rampell of the New York Times really caught my attention. In it, Catherine explores the recent wine buying trend in “trading down” – buying less expensive wines rather than splurging on the really pricey stuff (read the full article).

One of the interesting things she found is that wine retailers are almost making up for the reduction in premium wine purchases with an increased sales volume for the cheaper stuff.

But that’s not what I wanted to discuss here.

What I found most interesting is how some people are drinking the decreased volume of really good stuff that they are buying. From the article:

“The people who have been splurging have been doing it surreptitiously,” said Jesse Salazar, the wine director at Union Square Wines in Manhattan. “There’s the secret pour and the pour for the guests at large,” he said. “I was at a Christmas party recently where there was a substantial amount of wine being purchased. But there was a party case, and then there was the host case back in the kitchen. The host was drinking Bordeaux; the guests were drinking Chianti.”

The Surreptitious Pour.

I love it!

What I’m curious about is if YOU would do this - would you hide the really good stuff at a party for you and a select few friends?

Because, I sure know that I’d be tempted to do that…

Cheers!
(images: chowdernation.com – modified)

THANK YOU to everyone who chimed in on the first ever 1WineDude.com website poll!

Personally, I find website polls to be hit-or-miss – I prefer that a poll have a point (to gain reader feedback that will actually be used) rather than those that are just for fun (call me a party-pooper).

This poll definitely had a point, in that I wanted to see what 1WD readers were drinking on Thanksgiving this year, and also see what this highly non-scientific and possibly statistically specious poll had to say about the challenge of Thanksgiving dinner wine pairing recommendations in general.

Well, it had a point to me, anyway. And I thought it would be fun (and it is my blog, after all).

Anyway, here are The Results…

As you can see above, while a fair amount of you will be drinking Riesling (my personal fave Turkey Day pick) or aromatic Gewurztraminer, most of you picked a write-in category (“Other”) – which means that you thought the other poll answer options sucked, and/or you wanted to offer a more specific recommendation.

Which brings us to “Other” – here are the varied answers offered up in the write-in categor:

• A Rhone Red, A Spanish Red, A Cali Chard
• Cabernet Franc
• Zierfandler [editor's note: wow!]
• The big winner at this year’s holiday party, believe it or not, was …Chianti.
• Pinot Noir
• Pinot and..maybe a Merlot maybe a Sparkling shiraz – definitely champers. [editor's note: red sparkler... awesome... most interesting pick by far!]
• Cheval Blanc, it was getting on in age so we’re going to pull it out. [editor's note: Can I come over for that?]
• hard cider (sparkling)
• falanghina [editor's note: I had to look this one up!]
• Blaufrankisch
• Pinot Noir, of course! [editor's note: okay, okay, I get the point already...]
• still a month to go until the REAL Turkey Day here in the UK [editor's note: yes, but do you also get to watch American football on the same day? thought not...]
• Champagne Beyatches!!!!! [editor's note: my personal favorite response]
• Reisling [sic] AND Pinot Noir

There you have it. The people have spoken, and on Turkey Day, they want variety! They also want Pinot Noir.

Whatever you’re drinking this Thanksgiving day, I wish you a happy, safe, and enjoyable time with it!

Cheers!
(images: franklinliquors.com, polldaddy.com, bizland.com)

Ah…. Thanksgiving.

Far and away my favorite U.S. holiday.

I used to have a great deal of difficulty explaining Thanksgiving to my European and International friends. That is, until one day when, out of complete frustration during a conversation about Thanksgiving with a buddy of mine in the UK, I exclaimed:

“Look – it’s two days where Americans don’t have to work, don’t have to buy gifts for each other, where we get to sit around, eat, and watch American football; why wouldn’t it be our favorite holiday!?!”

That seemed to get through to them relatively easily, so it’s become my default explanation about Thanksgiving to non-U.S. citizens since that day.

The only thing that I don’t like about this greatest of all American holidays is having to give Thanksgiving meal wine pairing recommendations. That’s because I find it largely impossible, and ultimately pointless.

Most Thanksgiving celebrations are a recipe for wine disaster: a massive variety of food; side items that totally overpower the main courses with their richness, sugar content, and robust flavors; a large group of people spanning several generations and all with different wine drinking preferences.

Search for “Thanksgiving wine pairings” on Google and you will get almost 1.2 million hits.

Good luck with that…

Because given the complex and unique situation that is the traditional U.S. Thanksgiving dinner, and you have a strong argument for all of them being ‘right’. The answer is simple: drink what you like!

So, rather than telling you what you ought to drink on this coming Turkey Day, I thought it would be fun for you to tell me (and all of the 1WineDude.com readers!) what you’re drinking at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner table!

Take the poll below and let us know!

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Looking forward to seeing what you’re imbibing to make your relatives a bit easier to bear with turkey dinner this year!

Cheers (and Happy Thanksgiving)!
(images: lbcpastor.files.wordpress.com, diamondvues.com)