Youth must be heard. I guess.

There was a little debate recently about what the Young are looking for in wine, etc., etc.  If they are looking for / at wine at all.  We old fuddy-duddies expressed our opinions in our fuddy-duddyish way, i.e., with reason, civility and humor and, yes, old fartish modes of expression.  (The rules of English grammar intact and so on.)

We received a sort of answer from the self-proclaimed Winerockstar just today.  I have to repeat the comment he left, attacking some of us old fogies.  Behold:

The fact is that you failed. You and every wine marketing "intellect" complete with grammar, puns and snobbery.

Reading your writing is about as interesting as the above geriatric wine tasting.

Wine consumption is falling. You all failed. Yes sideways effected the market and your criticize it but that movie had more of a positive impact then you ever did.

Fact is you never convinced anyone to try wine. You only bullied them into drinking it because you are "educated" on taste.

You are the devil and everything bad to the wine industry. Boring and a turn off.

WineRockstar has new ideas. Other then excuses to why you failed, what ideas have you come up with?

Put out.

Here is a comment I found on another site about Winerockstar's youthful wisdom. 

I gave WineRockstar a chance

---

winoblogger:

Just got time to read through WineRockstar.com as I think everyone deserves a fair chance.

Wow. Ok, riding the Gen X wave is cool and is worth bucks, but this site is just not capturing the 'Rockstar' feel. Mainly it sounds too uneducated on the topics they try to address. I too could write a blog that says college kids like redbull drinks. But he stops right there and does not explore the marketability, the opportunity to reach them.

"Too uneducated." 

Mr. Rockstar, if wine consumption is falling, what figures are you quoting and can you refer us to an outside source?  And would you explain your logic in the following:

Fact is you never convinced anyone to try wine. You only bullied them into drinking it because you are "educated" on taste.

And, BTW, the next time you feel like launching a shit storm, try something new.  Edit yourself.      

Comments

[David]

Terry, Although I have not read the WineRockstar he seems to use the new marketing method of "shouting loud enough and repeating it often enough makes it true." It would be difficult for him to appreciate any wineblog or article because they are formed on the basic principles of debate, something that requires an understanding of the subject matter and avoiding the "talking points".

He also shows that he has not taken the time to read your blog! Otherwise he would understand that you are often critical of the status quo.

Said that, just the fact that university kids are debating that wine has failed is a tremendous improvement over 20 years ago and our Thunderbird!

On a relative basis, the culture has made progress.

[Fredric Koeppel]

WineRockstar is correct when he asserts that "wine consumption is falling." For example, from 1997 to 2001, the average increase of wine consumption each year (in the United States) was 8%. That tapered to a four percent increase from 2003 to 2004 and a three percent increase from 2004 to 2005. However, these dismal figures must be seen in context, and that is that wine consumption IN GENERAL is either increasing at a slower rate or (in Europe) declining. In an article in Decanter in April this year, we read that the United States will, within the next three years, surpass France for the top spot in wine consumption. Think of that! But look at the demographic that's causing this "competition" and win over France, the very group that WineRockstar says "we" have failed: "The study highlights the sudden growth is the popularity of imported wine amongst drinkers in their 20s." Perhaps we haven't failed so completely after all. The figures used in the studies mentioned are from the U.S. Wine Market Report.

[Fredric]

Fredric The point I was making was that while we "Old Guys" did not discuss the wine market in University, they are!

Concerning the decline in Europe, I know not to dispute marketing data but I am just not seeing that with my kids friends. They seem to drink, or not drink, just as 20 years ago when I was a 20 something.

I cannot explain the data, it is just a feeling.