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HOW TO BECOME A WINE ENTHUSIAST

| BY RON JAMES |

America is the top dog in the pantheon
of countries that quaff a lot of wine –
Americans drink over 890 million gallons
a year which works out to about 2.8 gal-
lons per persons of drinking age. Amer-
ica doesn’t fare quite as well in the per
capita wine consumption category; well
below thirstier countries like Slovenia,
Croatia and Macedonia whose citizens
drink over 11 gallons each in a year. Sur-
prisingly, the most serious wine enthusi-
asts reside in the city state in Rome, in
a place called the Vatican – they drink a
whopping 20 gallons! Holy Bacchus, it
must be thirsty work being celibate.

As wine loving as some countries are,
there are a few unfortunate countries
that haven’t joined in the fun. Afghani-
stan brings up the rear with the average
person drinking zero wine anytime. But
that’s understandable considering most
are Muslim. Fifth from the bottom is In-
dia which is no surprise to this traveler. If
you’ve ever had the misfortune of tasting
the combination of very expensive, and
extremely bad wines that are available
there, you’ll understand why many In-
dians who do drink alcoholic beverages
seem to be boycotting the grape – can’t
afford it, can’t stand it. Their beer, on the
other hand, is quite alright.

Even in the wine-loving regions of the
world, including America, there are
those reluctant to join the ranks of wine
lovers for reasons other than religion or
incarceration. Some prefer other meth-
ods of taking the edge off of daily life –
others (not in the Vatican) don’t drink or
have fun -- and many may be put off by
the perceived voodoo and pretentious-
ness surrounding the sport. The latter
group may be intimidated by French
labels or can’t pronounce pinot noir or
Sangiovese or can’t spell sommelier or
even know what one does. (Continued)

Wine Dine & Travel Winter 2015 47