Comments on: Don’t hate me just because I’m white

by: GeneV

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 21:50:47 +0000

Though I love red wines, I am now drinking about 50% or more white. The reason is food. The older I get, the more of the food I eat goes better, to my taste, with white. I eat beef or lamb for dinner at most once or twice a week. Asian food, chicken, pork and fish just work better with whites. Oh, and the person who said “buy on bread and sell on cheese” was selling white wine, not red.

by: Gary

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 19:14:55 +0000

Actually, in the heat of the summertime I tend to drink more whites - Sauv. Blanc being my favorite. Even a dry Rose from Provence hits the spot when the humidity kicks in.

But that’s in the privacy of my own home. I’ll admit, I cave when I’m out in public.

Baby steps, man, baby steps.

by: R. Beaudin

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:27:58 +0000

Actually… although I also lean very heavily towards red, its my wife that will not drink a white .. she’ll taste one, but if I open a bottle, its mine to finish. So.. whether a frizzante or still, if I open it .. I have to either finish it or cap it.. hoping it will last till another day. Possibly one reason why I do enjoy a nice German or Alsatian Riesling in the Summer since it has less alcohol.. I can have one or two glasses .. and then still join her in a red for dinner

by: Brandon M

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:55:21 +0000

eljefe

You need to hang out around here becasue it is VERY REAL and VERY ALIVE.

by: Tom C

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 20:22:00 +0000

Eljefe-

I didn’t mean to overplay the gender thing, but at least in my experience, it’s still there, but I also agree that both men and women are drinking more and more reds, and fewer and fewer whites…but for me the question still remains: Why?

TOM CIOCCO

by: eljefe

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 20:14:47 +0000

In our tasting rooms plenty of women request ‘red only’ - we seldom hear ‘white only’ from either gender. I think the ‘women drink white’ thing was a passing phase that we have already finished.

Also, we have implemented a ‘reds only’ program for our wine club precisely because of this popular demand for reds these days. My observation is that the current demand for red is not gender specific and that there isn’t any sort of non-macho stigma - people just want reds.

I have noticed that some of the fuller Rhone style whites - Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier - can appeal to the red wine only drinker, if you can get them to try them…!

by: Tom C

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 18:46:43 +0000

Mark-

For me, it might be more like three to one, red to white, but that’s of course contingent on menu, season etc…the strangest part of the “white wine is for girls” phenomenon is that there doesn’t seem to be any kind of vested interest behind making red wines more appealing to “manly men”, unless of course you can see your way clear to believing in some secret cabal of Douro/Ribera/Napa/Barossa growers trying to convince men that red wine “puts lead in your pencil” or some other such drivel…

TOM CIOCCO

by: Mark

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:37:31 +0000

I drink about 1 bottle of white for every 2 reds. There is a company branding a “macho” red wine and not a white one, because they claim it is not manly enough or something idiotic like that. I’m assuming they would have even less respect for rose then, even though it’s closer on the continuum to a red wine. It’s not like Lee Marvin was drinking pinot noir in those westerns. My feeling is that this is largely the effect of men’s magazines (Men’s Health, Muscle& Fitness, Maxim, GQ, Stuff, etc.) that are basically passing themselves off as some sort of guide to being a man. They tell you what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, how to have sex, how to exercise, and anything else that they can think of. I don’t think that women who drink red wine are viewed differently at all.

by: Tom C

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:20:20 +0000

Brandon M-

I’ve seen the exact same thing - almost like wines have genders…men drinking white wine is like him wearing a pink cashmere sweater, and women drinking red wine is tantamount to them chomping on a fat cigar.

TOM CIOCCO

by: Brandon M

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 16:41:11 +0000

Another great article. I try to get “Guys” into white wine on a fairly regular basis. It’s very difficult as there are many husband and wives out there where the husband drinks nothing but red and the wife drinks nothing but white.