My day consists of calling on regular clients - restaurants and retail shops, and looking for new aforementioned clients. The conversations I've been hearing lately go something like this:
"Hi Tim"
"Hey! How are you today, Mary" (cause we live in the South and that's the way we greet acquaintances)
"Pretty good for this time of year, that's why I brought a book to work, so I won't be boared to tears."
"Where are all the tourists?" I ask with great consternation after fighting for the last parking space in a sea of license plates from other than NC.
"I don't know, but I do know they aren't buying wine...yet"
What is wrong with this? It may take thousands of words and bottles of profit to discern the true answer, but here are some thoughts.
1. Too many people are tied to this American idea that wine is a luxury item (i.e. "I'll have a beer or tequila if I want something to drink"). Spend a few moments looking at this ...well, after consulting with my IT expert (AKA my wife), seems we can't get the link. Just Google "wine folly wine vs beer."
2. Too many Americans have an anti-Europe mentality that completely overlooks the idea that dinner can be eaten at a slower pace, with family and friends around the table, and that conversation can linger beautifully into the wee hours over a mere bottle or two of wine. That favorite TV show can be TiVo'd, precious moments can't.
3. Most people don't drink wine to get drunk. See parenthetical #1
4. Ignorance amongst wine buyers still runs rampant. Hence, the plethora (I knew I'd use that vocabulary word one day) of wine bloggers, Certified Specialists of Wine, and Sommelier wanna be's.
The answer(s):
1. Walk way out on a limb and spend $15 on a decent bottle of wine you've never had. You may not like it, but you've at least helped the economy, your antioxidant level, and should be no worse for the wear.
2. Go to a free wine tasting. If you can't find one in your locale then please leave the Antarctic and join the rest of humanity where wine tastings are everywhere. Google it, for crying out loud.
3. Ask somebody else! Ask me! Ask the wine shop person! Communicate!
4. Buy wine as a gift.
5. Celebrate with sparkling wine.
6. Toast life...it is too short not to.
The bottom line is that wine isn't bad, in fact, it is good, good for you, and can lubricate the dry rusty areas of our social interaction. In the end, there are tens of thousands of people relying on these wheels continuing to move, and I'm just one of those.
Drink responsibly, but also drink what makes sense!
