Fantastic piece. So much good stuff here. I think the “wine is not, and has never been, a “casual” beverage” idea completely falls apart when you step outside of an Anglo-American POV. My lived experience in Spain tells me that up until recently wine was THE casual beverage, and still is in regions like Rioja where you go out to Calle Laurel for a pintxo and wine is quite literally cheaper than beer.
Exactly! There's room for different wine cultures. The more casual-but-local one that you're describing isn't lesser just because it's not focused on being this rarefied thing with a discourse built around it. Wine can totally be complex, but it's also supposed to give pleasure, right?
Fantastic piece. So much good stuff here. I think the “wine is not, and has never been, a “casual” beverage” idea completely falls apart when you step outside of an Anglo-American POV. My lived experience in Spain tells me that up until recently wine was THE casual beverage, and still is in regions like Rioja where you go out to Calle Laurel for a pintxo and wine is quite literally cheaper than beer.
Exactly! There's room for different wine cultures. The more casual-but-local one that you're describing isn't lesser just because it's not focused on being this rarefied thing with a discourse built around it. Wine can totally be complex, but it's also supposed to give pleasure, right?