A decent non-alcoholic beer

AS I HAVE MENtioned occasionally in the past, I sometimes receive emails from folks who don’t drink, but who nonetheless enjoy reading this column.

While such correspondence is flattering, there is always a part of me that worries a bit that if their reason for not drinking is alcoholism, I might be tempting them to fall off the wagon – not because my writing is so compelling, but rather because alcoholism is such an insidious affliction.

But I’m not running a

Wine

CONTINUES FROM PAGE E7 room is several recent scientific studies that alcohol — even small amounts — can be bad for adults. That might explain why more adults are abstaining from drinking, according to the Silicon Valley Bank study.

Such studies run contrary to previous studies, which said that wine consumption — especially regularly drinking red wine — can be good for adults. One of the most famous ones was first publicized in 1991. That’s when the CBS news program “60 Minutes” ran a story about The French Paradox — why do French people have lower rates of heart disease than Americans, even though French people eat fattier foods? The answer, according to some researchers, was red wine. And red wine sales took off in this country.

That study also came out around the same time that wine was “cool,” according to the recent Silicon Valley Bank study.

“Wine was last cool with young consumers 30 years ago,” the authors write, adding, “The category back then spoke of boomer values, conspicuous consumption, outward personal success, short breaks for family gatherings and the imaginary free time that would be taken with the temperance society here, nor am I responsible for others’ behavior. It would also be silly for each column to start with a trigger warning for those still tempted to excess by Demon Rum. But I am still sometimes troubled by my role in promoting something that can and does cause so much grief in some lives. But I’m only troubled to a small degree. Again, my job isn’t protecting people from their own vices.

However, in the spirit of acknowledging some souls’ struggles with alcohol, I occasionally sample a nonal- money earned by working.”

The category?

Outward personal success?

Wow, did they get that wrong.

Let me tell you. As someone who was 23 years old 30 years ago in the early ’90s, I wasn’t interested in wine because I was interested in “boomer values” or “conspicuous consumption.” I was staying out all night at clubs in Washington, D.C., on weekends. I was watching foreign films at The Biograph in Georgetown. I was a vegetarian and didn’t own a car. And my friends and I regularly drank wine when we got together.

One big difference back then was price.

Yes, you can still find great affordable wines. And that’s one of the reasons why I started writing this weekly wine column 11 years ago.

But it’s definitely getting harder to find interesting, affordable wines. And by affordable, I mean wines under $10 or $12 a bottle in a store.

And I don’t know who these researchers are talking to, but most people I know don’t want to spend a lot of money (meaning anything over $20) on a bottle of wine, especially with everything costing more in recent months.

Another problem is restaurants. They used to mark up the price of wine by around twice as much. So if a bottle

George Lenker

Beer Nut SEE BEER, PAGE E12 coholic beer to see if those of us who appreciate well-made craft beers would enjoy it. For the most part, they have of wine cost $10 in a store, it would normally cost $20 in a restaurant. Now, that same $10 bottle will easily go for $30 in many restaurants. I’ve seen it time and time and time again.

And don’t get me started on wine by the glass at restaurants. Here, the wine’s not only more expensive, the glass is even smaller.

The common wisdom used to be that a standard 750 ml bottle of wine contained four glasses of wine. Now, if you ask most restaurants or Google, they’ll tell you that a bottle of wine contains five or sometimes even six glasses of wine. So that $5 glass of wine from years ago is now 20 % smaller and costs $6 a glass or often much more.

And the wines by the glass at most restaurants are boring and predictable. There may be a wine revolution going on around the world — especially when it comes to natural wines, organic wines, independent producers and wines from less well-known wine regions — but you wouldn’t know it if you go to most restaurants that serve the same, overpriced wines.

So no wonder younger people aren’t drinking more wine when they go out to eat or drink. It’s not a paradox. They’re smart.

Instead of ordering an $8 glass of bland wine served in a thimble, young people are having cocktails or beer, which have both become much better and far more interesting in the past three decades and cost about the same as a glass of wine. And in many cases, especially here in Western Massachusetts, you can find many great craft beers or distinct cocktails in just about any restaurant.

So if the wine industry wants to get younger people more interested in wine, make sure they can get interesting, af- fordable wines — at stores and in restaurants. And if you want to learn more about these wines, I invite you to keep coming back here every week. I promise I’ll do my best to keep writing about great wines that have nothing to do with categories or outward personal success.

Cheers!

Wine Press by Ken Ross appears on Masslive.com every Monday and in The Republican’s Weekend section every Thursday.