Layne’s Wine Gig Presents
GEN MIND MELD
My neighbor recently gifted us a bottle of wine as a sign of appreciation for watching their cat. It was the classic kind of wine that I, and the other 22.9 % of the population known as Boomers, absolutely adore.
BOOMERS
Chateau Haut-Sarpe, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe, 2016, Bordeaux, ~$40.00-$45.00 bottle
Opened for an hour before serving, it was full bodied (70% merlot-30% cabernet franc) and after six years of aging it was drinking beautifully, tasting of mushrooms and terroir of Bordeaux soil. A wine you think about, it brought out black currant notes and was perfection with a rare steak.
That’s us. We are out there in our Boomer World while the rest of the demographic generational food chain is in the middle of what I refer to as a Gen Mind Meld. It is a delight to savor a wine like this at the peak of its drinking glory and to extol it. Sadly, too many people are venturing away from the classics and are missing extraordinary wine experiences.
GEN X & MILLENNIALS MIND MELD
A good deal of my current thought is due to a fascinating book written by a Gen Xer who takes on the persona of a Millennial – and does it well. The book is “Godforsaken Grapes: A Slightly Tipsy Journey Through the World of Strange, Obscure, and Underappreciated Wine” by Jason Wilson.
The title refers to the now retired famous wine critic Robert Parker and his tirade against the new generation of younger wine writers and sommeliers in the biz, who “espouse with enormous gusto and noise grapes and wines that are virtually unknown. That’s their number one criterion. Not how good it is, but how obscure it is.”
That is the classic “you longhair hippie sommeliers get off of my lawn” moment. Mr. Parker, everybody is inventing and trying new stuff from new places and grapes. Some of it is, sadly “a fantasy of marginal producers” (Michel Bittane – the dean of French wine critics).
The book is both a romp, a serious delving into places and grapes seldom seen, and a bold lesson in thousands of miles of wine geography. It just needs to include a large fold-out map of his travels. But that’s okay.
Inspiration Strikes for Gen Mind Meld Wine Gig
This is stuff deserving of a live audience, I thought. What I envisioned was a “Generational and Geographical Mind Meld” based on grape ideas, locations, and wines contained in Jason Wilson’s book, together with a few delicious quotes (the guy has some great one liners).
As you probably know by now, I do an event called Layne’s Wine Gig at Blue, 650A Congress Street, Portland, on the third Thursday of each month, from 5 to 6 p.m. It is literally a one-hour standup with four wines, lots of wild stories, and a thing we do as a group called Mendo Blendo. This is my own invented idea of the audience and I becoming our own winemakers by blending two unlikely wines together. And then sharing our thoughts.
Layne’s Wine Gig has had howling fun moments, and this past third Thursday was one of those moments.
DAS TROCKEN Riesling, Weingut Edelberg, 2021, $20.00 bottle
From Nahe, Germany, from fifty-year-old vines, and it is dry, it says so on the back label. Light, delicate, dry, it could be a good aperitif or work with any fish (lobster, oh, lobster!). Light stones and steel, a close friend in Rieslings flavor (anyone?).
The photo here is Paul Grieco, owner of the wine bar Terroir in NYC. After meditating on his photo, I concluded that he looks like the eminent fictional character Don Quixote. He has, for years, been on a quest to get people to drink Riesling, and the reply from the unwashed masses has always been “Eeew…it’s too sweet.”
The key is the alcohol stated on the back label being in double digits. This means it is dry.
Grieco’s wine bar, Terroir, is a testing ground for the godforsaken grapes and is the epicenter of his Riesling religious fervor – along with a heavy dose of Metal (Black Sabbath and Motorhead, especially). Of his 83 wines by the glass, no less than 26 are Riesling. There is no escape. This is his kingdom. Paul is the first Punk Rock sommelier. More power to him.
CALLIA TORRONTES, Argentina,2022, $15.00-$20.00 bottle
This grape is so out there it isn’t even in Wilson’s book. I have tried to bring it into the Gig, but sadly its fan base is so small, it is continually out of stock.
The grape is of unknown origin. In this DNA testing world, that is a totally delicious statement. It probably came from Southern Spain and was trooped into Argentina along with their first soccer team.
Nonetheless, it tastes like a miniature Gewurztraminer without the over-the-top sweetness or excessive guava attack flavors. This appeared, from the moment we tasted them both, as a potential classic Mendo Blendo combo.
I never taste the wines before going on stage but do enough research to make it all fun. The Das Trocken and Torrontes were an all-time Mendo Blendo rockstar combo that transcended geography, generations, and all expectations. We not only made a wine that in Paul Grieco’s words would qualify as “yummy” but one that we could attach a label to with a quote from Jason Wilson calling it, “The Wiccan Book of Love Spells.”
Be careful with trying those reds at home. Occasionally a couple of red blends that I won’t even elaborate on – and that didn’t make the cut- were like “Noah turning some small mammal away from the ark because it was weird and smelled like bong water.”
After we have thoroughly mixed up the Gen Xers and Millennials, it is time to look at a group that is distinct, apart, and marching to their own drummer or is being led by bandleaders: The Gen Zers.
GEN Z
HIGH NOON SELTZER, Modesto, CA, 4.5% alc.
A vodka-based seltzer in a gazillion flavors that was created by the overwhelming masters of beverage alcohol creation and distribution, the Ernest and Julio Gallo winery. Largest winery in the world. They have been attracting the loudest, most persistent social media stars like Vine Pair (anything Gary Vaynerchuk is involved in is going to show up constantly on your tiny smartphone). Also, look up Barstool Sports (a quirk-centric website) on your phone for a source of hyper commercialized reality.
Boomers have 7,000 Bordeaux chateau to purchase from and Gen X and Millennials can do anything with any grape they want, but here is your world, Gen Z. You thought you chose seltzers, but they chose you.
Low calories, low 4.5% alcohol, low carbs, all natural, sugar free, cholesterol free, no gluten, made with pure vodka, no fattening malt. Just throw in total distribution, pictures of the beach (with you, of course), and “for a limited time only” the RTD – Ready to Drink – world is all yours, preprogrammed and planned.
Seltzers in this form are new and will morph as the gigantic producers and social media people see new emerging needs. Someday, maybe someday, they will have their own Gen Mind Meld.
Layne has been a professional in the wine business for many decades. He was awarded the Master Knight of the Vine for his pioneering work in the Oregon wine industry. He can be reached at lvwitherell@gmail.com.
