Good Grape Wine Company

April 9 2008

Vin de Napkin and the Art of Missing the Boat

Cue Elton John and the soundtrack to “The Lion King.” I now feel like, at least from a book publishing perspective, I have seen the trifecta and completed the “Circle of Life.”

For a Generation X’er like me, first came the eponymously named book by Douglas Coupland. Then, as I crept into my thirties, a slacker-turned-adult manifesto called, “The Day I Turned Uncool” by Dan Zevin was published.  Now, finally, comes the triumphant and celebratory book called, “X Saves the World.”

Damn right.

In my mind, there is a clear line of delineation between my generation, Generation X, the small band of brothers nestled between the Baby Boomer’s and Generation Y, those in their twenties.  However, to read Alan Goldfarb’s column in Appellation America, he would have you believe that anybody not a Boomer, and, God forbid, under the age of 40, is the downfall of Western Civilization, or at least wines of distinction and, based on omission of fact, entirely the same generation of people.

He grinds the axe, singing an old saw, but, unfortunately, comes off as only glancingly provocative.

The crux of his argument is that this one giant mass of “kids” does not drink wine with food, therefore missing out on nuanced wine, though he somehow overlooks the fact that folks in their 30s are executing the majority of fine dining.  It is a young man’s game.  Any issue of Food & Wine will verify this.  He also overlooks the complete revolution with Sommeliers in their twenties, driving international trends.

Ah, we have to talk about something and, I guess, this is as good as the next topic and certainly better than arguing about BioD.

Vin de Napkin—inspired by this article at Appellation America.

digg this | toast this! | add to del.icio.us | add to newsvine | add to furl | add to reddit |

Posted in, Good Grape Daily: Pomace & Lees. Permalink | Comments (2) | Print | Email This