Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
Recently, I read somewhere that the price escalation of certain wines has led to a setting where it is impossible for young ITB types to experience benchmark bottles over a meal and develop their palates.
It is an interesting, if pessimistic, idea that merits some discourse.
I would hazard that there are still plenty of venues where one could work and gain exposure to august labels. One has to fish where the fish are running, so to speak.
I also think it is not all that important, really. The Greatest Hits playlist is predictable. The amazing access to the "little wines" of the world that we all enjoy right now is really what makes this the most exciting time in the history of the American wine market. Consumers are actually gaining a sense of context from the bottom up, so to speak, which hasn't happened in the market since the dawn of Points. Young people are learning and are curious to learn about a broad array of what is out there. It's amazing, and it is harbinger of a sophisticated wine market.
An English professor I learned from asked a class full of students that included me to read a book of "small" poems from the post-Civil War area. These had sometimes been written by former slaves who had not been formally educated. We are not talking John Donne here. The response from the students was entirely bleak. Nobody wanted to read these poems. Faulkner, Faulkner, where was the Faulkner? And the professor replied, how are you ever going to understand or appreciate anything if you cut yourself off from the subject? If the lens is so small? Where will the context be? He wanted us to build context from the bottom up, and to read the charms and insights and untamed characters of these "little" poems so that we could better appreciate Greatness when it came along.
I agree with that dude. Folks often don't want to be bothered with what isn't "Great". It leads to small minds and self-satisfaction, not to better understanding.
Personally, I've been giving a lot of thought to the other side of the industry spectrum lately. What happens to all the old waiters? The young will always find there way. What we are in danger of losing in this country is the 55 year old Captain who knows what a Ballontine is. Who can fillet tableside. These people are being put out to pasture as the venues they worked in close, and are replaced by haunts filled will antler horns, antique portraits, and young kids with expensive haircuts. All of that experience, knowledge, and ability to read a situation are being shoved aside. We aren't going to get that back.
It is an interesting, if pessimistic, idea that merits some discourse.
I would hazard that there are still plenty of venues where one could work and gain exposure to august labels. One has to fish where the fish are running, so to speak.
I also think it is not all that important, really. The Greatest Hits playlist is predictable. The amazing access to the "little wines" of the world that we all enjoy right now is really what makes this the most exciting time in the history of the American wine market. Consumers are actually gaining a sense of context from the bottom up, so to speak, which hasn't happened in the market since the dawn of Points. Young people are learning and are curious to learn about a broad array of what is out there. It's amazing, and it is harbinger of a sophisticated wine market.
An English professor I learned from asked a class full of students that included me to read a book of "small" poems from the post-Civil War area. These had sometimes been written by former slaves who had not been formally educated. We are not talking John Donne here. The response from the students was entirely bleak. Nobody wanted to read these poems. Faulkner, Faulkner, where was the Faulkner? And the professor replied, how are you ever going to understand or appreciate anything if you cut yourself off from the subject? If the lens is so small? Where will the context be? He wanted us to build context from the bottom up, and to read the charms and insights and untamed characters of these "little" poems so that we could better appreciate Greatness when it came along.
I agree with that dude. Folks often don't want to be bothered with what isn't "Great". It leads to small minds and self-satisfaction, not to better understanding.
Personally, I've been giving a lot of thought to the other side of the industry spectrum lately. What happens to all the old waiters? The young will always find there way. What we are in danger of losing in this country is the 55 year old Captain who knows what a Ballontine is. Who can fillet tableside. These people are being put out to pasture as the venues they worked in close, and are replaced by haunts filled will antler horns, antique portraits, and young kids with expensive haircuts. All of that experience, knowledge, and ability to read a situation are being shoved aside. We aren't going to get that back.
