Looking into my crystal ball for 2009, I forecast a year that centers around value wine. Not necessarily value as related to price, because there will always be people who can afford $200 bottles, but value as related to what's in that bottle that makes it worth $200? See below for my actual and wishful predictions for the coming year.
Actual predictions
- Value, value, value. This is no shocker to most people, but in light of the economy it will finally hit certain wine drinkers that a status wine priced three times higher than a non-status wine isn't necessarily three times tastier. For us mere mortals who can't afford $3,000 Bordeaux, a whole world of inexpensive, good-quality imports awaits discovery. Regions like Spain, formerly-overlooked parts of Italy, Argentina, South Africa, and Chile will lead in producing excellent bang-for-your-buck wines, and California sales will suffer as import sales grow.
- "Natural" wine. However you define natural--unfiltered, unfined, naturally fermented, organic, made with organic grapes, biodynamic, sustainable...these topics will continue to dominate geek-wine conversations in 2009, although they won't be as hot as value and carbon footprint.
- New "it" regions. Bored winos will seek newer and zanier wine regions as they tire of the Last Big Thing (Austria, Oregon, Portugal beyond Port). Let's talk Brazil, Hungary, Mexico, Great Britain, Colorado, and Belgium instead.
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