Marie's Blog: A Change of Taste

February 9th, 2012

These past 15 years, I have in one way or the other been involved in the wine industry in Denmark. First importing, then exporting, and parallel always as a consumer. 

I remember first witnessing the dramatic increase of New World wines on the market back in the early ‘90s. All of a sudden, the normal consumer preferred wines that were riper, richer, more alcoholic and with less acidity and tannins. I guess this change happened for several reasons, the most obvious being the often-attractive price/quality relationship these wines offer. They are also “easy” to understand and enjoy for new wine drinkers due to the less demanding tannin/acidity structure. Last but not least, they are usually clearly labelled mono-varietal wines, making it easy for the consumer to identify his or her favorite variety. Additionally, most names are simple and easy to pronounce, saving the consumer from those intimidating “how-to-say-Chateneuf-du-Pape-without-sounding-like-an-idiot” moments! 

The change to more opulent, softer wines was on one hand a good thing, as it resulted in more people drinking wine on a daily basis. However, I was always sad to see the general taste becoming increasingly monotonous. Moreover, many of these wines have always been difficult for me to match with food, with their often somewhat flabby structure and staggering alcohol levels.

Then something started to happen a couple of years ago, closely bound together with the rise of the “New Nordic Cuisine” I wrote about in my last blog: Wine lists started getting more varied, adding especially organic and biodynamic wines. Often they’re wines from small “unknown” satellite appellations/regions; wines produced by idealistic producers with an often-holistic approach; wines of an indeed much less commercial style.

This new movement started amongst a small grass roots group in the Danish wine industry. Mainly they were sommeliers at the “New Nordic Cuisine” restaurants and a group of small committed importers hunting down the smallest, craziest and most radical wine producers across the world.

Being a frequent guest at many of the aforementioned restaurants, I have had my fair share of these wines, some more interesting than others. Some were really great (especially in combination with the food), and some too longhaired to my taste.

Despite some less-than-perfect wines, I do put my hope in this new movement, also adding some more dynamics and excitement to the wine selection of the normal consumer. Hopefully they are wines with soul, tension, and especially the acidity and tannins, that create that amazing 1+1=3 result together with food.

Marie von Ahm is a Dane living in Barcelona and the founder of VonAhm Ltd, a wine consultancy. www.vonahm.com