BFwillie_g wrote:Honestly,
BFwillie_g said:
Honestly, and I hope this doesn't come across wrong, living in Europe exposes me to a spectrum of wine (and other fine things) that you really only get at expensive specialty shops in the US. We also have box wine and huge jugs of cheap stuff, but an average wine here is already up there with the best stuff in the US beverage centers.
Oh and, if you put red wine in a refrigerator, you're evil.
I wonder if this is similar to American beer. People who live in Europe and America say you can't find a good American beer, and that is not true. Craft brew in America is newer and smaller but there and the reason for this experience is the difference in distribution models.
In Europe, smaller, more artisan type breweries produce wine which is sold much more locally. Producers are still trying to make a profit, but it is not at the same priority as the big American makers. So in the store in Europe, you get lots of good, local choices, with high quality. Then you see the mass produced beer America makes and has the capital to send overseas and you make a comparison. The microbrews don't have the money to send their produts overseas, and buying an American craft beer does not hold the same regard in Europe as buying European craft beer does in America. So European breweries can afford to send their beer over at a much larger mark-up.
Here in the States, the small more craft type breweries have trouble competing on a national scale with the huge companies like Miller with their giant budgets. These companies put more money into advertising than their product, and more into profit than putting money back into quality ingredients. So the craft brews are pretty much local. This makes it hard to make a universal recommendation on a craft beer, but you can say, oh this European beer is better than those mass market American beers, so then the European ones get a huge foothold in the American market...
Anyway, that is just to say, I just think there are different distribution models, but you absolutely can find good beer and wine in America. I was saying earlier I went to some Texas vineyards and the wine was great, but the wineries have no distributor and you can get it there or join their "wine club" to have it delivered... which we plan on doing. $55 a year for 3 bottles a year, plus 4 wine tasting parties for free at the vineyard, where you drink it before it is ever bottled.
Long rant on low blood sugar, but Go America!
