The 4 Types of Wine Consumers

Recently I spent the afternoon shadowing my favorite wine retailer, to learn what life was like on that side of the counter. I have never been involved on the commercial side of wine, only ever been a consumer, but now with The Vino File I am more and more interested in all aspects. I thought it would be interesting to see what it is like to advise people off the street on their wine purchases, pairings, and questions. While I certainly do not feel qualified to hang around the store as some kind of expert, I am more than qualified to observe people's behavior and comment on it here (isn't that what a blogger primarily does? observe and reflect?).

It struck me early in the day how there are generally 4 types of wine consumers in terms of their interest and knowledge levels. The first level never did come into the shop, but constitutes a very large percentage of the wine buying population:

'The normie' - Meet Average Joe. This guy doesn't spend much money on any given purchase, but collectively with his friends still makes up the vast majority of wine spending in the U.S. Joe does not go to wine shops; why would he when they sell plenty of wine at 7-11? Joe is not going to ask questions, not going to read your blog, and is certainly not interested in wine pairings. A California Chablis with a dripless push-button spout for his lady, and a much more robust jug of Gallo Paisano sounds nice to him. With this group (and they really are the majority of wine drinkers) there does not need to be any talk. The way in which they can and should be reached is simply by sharing when you have a chance. Don't bother them with details about grapes, vinification techniques, appellations, just let them taste. There is a portion of this group that is ripe for the pickin' (groan) but it will not be through coersion, or your knowledge and prowess. Be patient, they are actually entitled to their own taste and exposure to wine.

The next group is my personal favorite to see come into a wine shop, or participate on a wine blog. I call them 'The seekers' This group does have an interest in the wine they drink. They do not actually spend much time or energy learning about or experiencing wine, but when they do drink it they like to know a little. A seeker will often show their lack of wine exposure with statements of (and I swear it was asked that afternoon) 'I only like sweet red wines. But I hate dessert wines. What do you have for me?' Now initially such a request might leave the advisor a little baffled, as the wine enthusiast understands that sweet is the opposite of dry, and there are very few off-dry red wines that would not qualify as a dessert wine. This is when a wine advisor must pull out their bag of leading questions. Should you take it quite literally and point them towards an inexpensive sweet Lambrusco, or maybe push them a little with a big jammy Zinfandel? Careful questioning around what they have had and liked before might get you there, but you must be careful to not overwhelm them with information that they do not find necessary or interesting. The great thing about this group (and they should be our favorite group) is that they really do want to know, grow, and expand their palette. Hold their hand a little bit, without being condescending as this is likely an enthusiast (or at least a customer) in the making.

'The know-it-all' - A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and these folks are well armed with just that. As a newbie wine enthusiast I am always treading very carefully to avoid this phase of wine knowledge development, as it is quite unbecoming. However there are people, even friends and family, who spend years in this phase and we must allow them to be their douche-baggy selves. A customer at the store this afternoon walked in and said 'I only drink French wines, where is your French section?' I explained what the store did have (which was admittedly limited) and left her to browse. She came back and asked for a very specific white Bordeaux wine, which I indicated was not available. "Well what other wine stores are there nearby?" I politely told her of the other places in the area where I buy wine, to which she said she was too tired to go anywhere else. Next she said, "I'm assuming you don't know much about what is on these shelves, since I haven't seen you before. But we are going to have a Morrocan lamb tanguine so I want something spicy that will stand up to it and I have a very low tolerance for bad wine." At this point I'm wondering why she wanted to pair a white Bordeaux with a spicy lamb dish, but I guess it could work. I then offered the Reserve Perrins 2007 Cotes du Rhone explaining that it had great fruit, great acidity and spice, and a beautiful Old World rocky element so for $8.95 she could not go wrong. "Well, I'm not convinced" she said and promptly left. No sale for the wine store, no feelings of success for me, the advisor, but mostly a missed shot at what is truly a great wine for the customer. Know-it-alls I suppose need not be corrected, nor confronted, and are probably best left to spout their knowledge and do with it what they please. They will either learn one day, or go through life missing out on some nice opportunities, not much we can do for them.

Finally there are the real 'Wine Geeks' These are folks that have a true depth of knowledge and experience, tempered with a humility and respect for everyone around them. These people do not weild their wine facts at you like a offensive sword (huh???), and yet they seamlessly bring others along on the journey. They know what they like, and they know why they like it. What I saw about a few of these folks, is that they still want advice or interaction from the people in the wine store. They are not lost in the store, they are not too smart for anyone to help them, but they have a security in where they are at with wine They truly enjoy trying other people's recommendations, or being pointed towards anything new and interesting.

Where are you on the path of wine knowledge and how do you use it to interact with others? I am part way down the path of 'seeker' and obviously display how much more I have to learn daily on the pages of The Vino File. However, I really hope to skip the 'know-it-all' phase, which is possible. Are there other categories of wine consumer that you have encountered?