Go David!

I've mentioned David Coffaro's winery in Dry Creek before ([what it takes to produce a $100 bottle of wine], [vintner in it for more than money]) becuase I like his candor when it comes to the already-too-pretentious wine industry. I'm posting his letter to the editors of the Press Democrat (Santa Rosa) regarding the "Madcap Millenials" article by Peg Melnick last weekend [link to his letter here]:

"Wine should be fun

EDITOR: As a local winery owner, I was distressed by the negativity of the March 21 article by Peg Melnik concerning young people partying during the Russian River Barrel Tasting event. I thought the article unfairly criticized the younger generation of tasters.

At our winery, we experienced nothing like what was reported. We saw at least 1,000 people ages 21 to 31 during the event, and all were well-behaved, excited potential customers. I personally saw no one drinking beer in our parking lot, and I did not see anyone with residual beer remnants in their glasses.

These 20 and 30 somethings are the future customers for all wineries in the industry. When I became passionate about wine in 1970, I saw very few young people who appreciated wine like I did. Since then, I have seen way too much snobbery associated with wine, and I am excited to now see young people interested in the industry. To enjoy wine, I don’t think they have to copy some of us by sniffing, swirling and spitting. Wine should be fun.

I feel it would be better to devote a front-page article to promoting our wine industry than to discouraging winery tourism.

DAVID COFFARO (Geyserville)"

Personally, I've never experienced what Peg reported either. And as I stated in my previous article on the subject, I'm not sure what constitutes "behaving badly" in Ohio, where the quoted tourists were from...

AMEN, Brother David! I'll raise a glass to you this evening.