In the UK we have noticed a change in the way aussie wines are now percieved and indeed marketed. But then many people will not, they are quite content to chug their way through bottles of yellowtail as it is fairly inexpensive and ultimately consistent. As their tastes develop and curiousity takes hold they will graduate on to discover other, potentially more expensive, geographically specific wines. I think it would be fair to say that for some people it will indeed be a gateway wine. On September 27th, 2008 at 11:34 am, garry clark wrote: I think that when people buy wine, even at the supermarket, they do want something a little exotic, a little romantic, and I think that that small step may lead many on a lifelong journey. In any case, if what people wanted was alcoholic soft drinks, there are plenty of products on the market that fill that niche better than wine. And for all of those who never get really into wine, that is all the better too, Because there is enough price pressure in the market. So when I see that my friends have yellowtail, I know that one day it may be a nice Barolo or Burgundy that they serve me, and I do my part by introducing others to all the wine I can. It is easy to forget that very few people, relatively speaking, will ever be able to trek the globe picking up culinary style, but at least we live at a time when we can get that style in our home markets (leave the carbon debate for another time of course). So branching out into food and wine came in small steps at first, and involved stops at the Yellowtail end of the spectrum. With wine, as with food, I started in meat and potatoes Irish household where the drink was American Beer (sadly no Guiness loyalty in those roots). I would agree with the last poster, and the first as well. On September 26th, 2008 at 10:33 am ,MIchael wrote: I think the inexpensive, fairly drinkable Aussie wines serve as an excellent gateway beverage for new wine drinkers, and I raise my glass to them. It’s hard to tell a wine novice to explore a certain AOC, or try out the various selections of a certain importer. That wine could be casual, fun, and not pretentious. While it’s been a while since I’ve personally consumed Yellowtail, I still admire them for teaching me that it’s OK to have wine with a burger or pizza or a deli sandwich. On the other side of the wine shop, you’ve got basic wines: Merlot, Chardonnay, Shiraz, with kangaroos on the labels. Even though I’ve studied German and Italian and can carry on conversations in both, the wine labels from each country completely confused me and I was often afraid to purchase them. Why was I drawn to it? It was inexpensive, but the fact that it was imported seemed to lend credibility (as is often the case with beer, for good or bad). In the two years before that, I was drinking Yellowtail. Winemakers send me sample bottles and people around the world solicit my admittedly amateur opinion on wine. In the past four years of wineblogging, I’ve sampled and reviewed nearly 2,000 wines ranging from Arkansas to Romania and prices from $2 to $400. I haven’t listened to the interview, but I can speak from personal experience. On September 25th, 2008 at 9:23 pm, Benito wrote: Having people reach for wine of any sort will hopefully lead them to enjoy the fruits of the vine at first and then lead some more curious to explore wines from other, more specific, places.Ģ5 Responses to “Is Yellow Tail a “gateway” wine?” So will people come to wine through Yellow Tail and then move on to more expressive wines? In the interview I said that it is a “gateway” wine. With such a wide reach and an effort at consistency across bottles and vintages, the wine defies what many of us wine geeks look for in wine, which is individuality and the expression of where the grapes are grown. With such scale, the brand owners must source from a wide area indeed, the geographic origin of the wine is simply stated as “South Eastern Australia,” a vast area that encompasses virtually all Australian vineyards. In case somehow the ten-million case wine brand from Australia had escaped your attention, they are now following up a billboard and print ad campaign with a $6 million campaign on teevee ( find this wine). One of the questions that he asked me is whether Yellow Tail is a “gateway” wine. Colin asked great questions and gave me a chance to talk about the issues in my book, Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink, for my longest interview ever–a whopping 53 minutes! Download it from the show home page or as a podcast from iTunes if you can stand such a dose of Dr. I had the good fortune of appearing on Colin Marshall’s NPR show and podcast, “ Marketplace of Ideas” recently.
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