Do you hail from the land of Pinot Weegio?
Or are you an inhabitant of Anything-but-Chardonnayshire? Preferences in wine, according to a taste chart produced by independent wine merchant Bibendum, vary according to where we live. Their survey, compiled from 50,0000 people across the UK, shows that while, as a nation, we Scots tend to be big buyers and appreciators of Australian wines, different cities buy and enjoy different wines. Edinburghers, more often than not, shun Chardonnay, and prefer a crisp glass of Sauvignon Blanc. The Italian influence in Glasgow makes it perfect Pinot Grigio territory, and Dundonians love a smooth, intense glass of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon.
In the UK we drank 1315.4 million litres of wine last year, much of it consumed at home. However, wine-drinking does have its taste trends. The Chardonnay years of the 1990s were succeeded by what some have described as the Anything-but-Chardonnay phenomenon. Wine writer Oz Clarke blamed Bridget Jones, Helen Fielding's famous Chardonnay-quaffing character, for the backlash, but really it was just a gradual evolution of taste. Pinot Grigio then became the post-work drink of choice. And now, with the popularity of this easy-drinking wine waning, Sauvignon Blanc is on the rise. Soon, perhaps we will move on from this too. But right now it has yet to peak. In Edinburgh it is the most popular grape variety, but not in the other cities of Scotland.
Overall, across Scotland, as Fiona Cochran, marketing and sales operations director of Bibendum, points out, we have remained loyal to our Australian wines. The New World varieties began to pack out supermarket aisles in the 1980s and have remained favourites since. However, we are also an eclectic wine-drinking nation. New trends are always arising, often starting in restaurants or pubs before they make their way into retail and wider acceptance.
"Scottish tastes are changing," says Cochran," and the general trend is towards fresher, lighter styles of white wine; towards Sauvignon Blanc and away from Chardonnay. However, that's not especially new as we've been drinking Pinot Grigio for several years now. That trend towards lighter styles is being driven in part by the pub and bar trade, where wine is increasingly enjoyed without food."
The rise of our wine-drinking culture has seemed relentless. We have been warned frequently of how it has caught us in its grip, luring everyone from young women to stressed parents. In 2008, the BMA identified domestic wine drinking as part of a "UK epidemic" of alcohol misuse. In fact the market, in terms of litres drunk, has fallen throughout the recession - though it is expected to experience a small rise in the next few years. Research has shown it is women who buy eight out of every 10 bottles that are drunk at home in the UK.
You only have to cruise the bars and pubs of our cities to see how much we love wine. In Edinburgh the favoured country of production is France. It's perhaps fitting, then, that the more popular wine bars have a French feel. At The Bon Vivant on Thistle Street, Edinburgh, 44 different wines are available by the glass. The room is darkened; glasses glow in the romantic light of candles.
In Glasgow, our wine writer, Pete Stewart of Inverarity One to One, notes the fine wine boutique is seeing customers increasingly willing to spend a little extra to get a special bottle of wine, whether that be a "decent Burgundy or quality Italian". "Also," he adds, "we're doing really well with South Africa as an area at every price point from the entry level house wines right up to the super-premiums."
In Dundee, drinkers are fond of Chilean and South African wines. Cochran speculates this may be for several reasons: perhaps because they have a taste for the "smooth and intense" flavours of red wines, or perhaps because these wines "often offer excellent value for money in the supermarkets".
Why we choose the wines we do is believed to be partly genetic. Fiona Cochran says: "We all have a certain number of taste buds, from 500 up to 10,000 - and how many we have goes a long way to determining what we enjoy. People with a higher number tend to enjoy sweeter wines or fresh, crisp whites. People at the lower end of the scale love big, intense reds."
It is also cultural. We like wines because they are familiar and we are comfortable with them. History therefore already has an impact on our wine choices. Glasgow, with its Italian connections, tends to favour wines from that country. In Edinburgh, French wines have been popular since the days when they were shipped by barrel into the port of Leith and claret was called the Bloodstream of the Auld Alliance.
Wine psychologist Dr Miles Thomas says there is scant evidence that our choice of wine says much about our personality. However, he notes: "We are highly influenced by our environment and can be nudged into buying particular wines.
"Classical music played in wine retailers promotes sales of more expensive wines."
He adds: "If we hear French music, we gravitate towards French wines."
Beware then, the gentle tinkle of Claude Debussy. It might just lead you to fork out on a bank-breaking bottle of Chateau-Petrus.
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