Isn?t it funny that wine has been around for so long and yet so little has changed about it? For instance, it is still in glass bottle of an odd size which is sealed using something that is most prone to disease and rot and what else not.
In the fashion world it would be the equivalent of wearing outdated bell-bottoms and double-breast suits with shirts with long collars. Okay, bad example, given how the average male dresses in India, but you get the idea. But think about it, the only reason our bottles are 750ml is because that is what a glassblower could blow with a lung-full of air. Tradition, not really, more so a barrier of the times, it somehow managed to stick on. Today, when we can conveniently and easily have litre and half-litre bottles, we still adhere to a quantity that is too much for two people but not right for a party of four. In short, if dining in couples, wine is not in friendly packaging.
Speaking of packaging, bottles are difficult to store, never mind the carbon-footprint with all the washing and cleaning required. Even recycling them into bottles is an expensive affair. Plastic vacuum-packed boxes are a much more viable proposition but gets shot down on account of being too crass. Funny because we drink milk, juices and all sorts out of it without a similar fuss.
It doesn?t end there. We are still opposed to screw caps. Within reason, I too don?t want them to be abolished completely but with young wines that don?t need ageing or storing, why not make the switch? If anything, it would make more good quality cork available to bottle the truly precious stuff; stuff that we don?t know how it would react if bottled long-term in alternative closures. I do know that Austria, which is steeped in tradition, has been among the first to experiment with such alternatives including glass closures and with much success. Their whites are not only well protected but also ageing along fine. Best thing about alternative closures, it is much easier to store wine once opened, unlike cork, which has leaked and stained many a surface.
En suite, we have the problem of wine labels: why can?t they be simpler? Why can?t they be interactive? We have enough technology out there to wire anything online yet wine bottles seem to be stuck in a time warp. How fun would it be if labels were animated or had some information stored on it that could be accessed on the computer. How about a little embedded Bluetooth message? What we need to do is get some geeks addicted to the stuff; they could take us light years away from inefficient wine communication.
I could go on – from wine glasses to wine holding and storing containers. There is the reek of dust and dullness in almost anything that involves wine. How then can we expect young people to take to it readily? Wine is still a hedonistic treat but we need to understand that in the given situation, if it doesn?t move fast, then it will fade and risk extinction. The world is shrinking, so is the time available. People want things that are enjoyable, accessible, uncomplicated but most importantly, quick to incorporate. Time wine got a makeover, an upgrade.
The writer is a sommelier