Changing Perceptions of Wine in Ireland

[Birroc]

I heard a guy on the radio the other day talking about how wine merchants spent years changing the perception of wine to the point now that many people see no harm in wine at all.

It seems that during the 1970s and 1980s cheap wine was the drink of choice for alcoholics and that the term 'winos' was in common use.

Marketing campaigns pushed the respectability, superiority and even health properties of wine (some people think it prevents cancer) to the point that people that 'polish' off a few bottles of wine every weekend are seen to have no problem with alcohol at all. If the same people were downing equivalent alcohol amounts via spirits or beer, there would be raised eyebrows.

 

[Leper]

The Wine people are right and they need to change the perception of wine continuously. But, drinkers of wine need to know the alcohol content etc and should be aware in not abusing wine.


Back in the 70's and early 80's you had little choice. You could buy Blue Nun or Black Tower. There were a few other brands available and all cost an arm and a leg.


The 70's opened up our island to foreign travel. We holidayed in Spain (terrific like high rise Torremolinos). Some of us went to Greece (very posh). We all wanted to bring a bit of Spain and Greece back to Ireland. We failed of course but we brought back some of Benidorm and the like. Wine was getting more and more popular although it remained expensive. Winos was a term used to those who used to drink Tawny Wine, usually from paper bags and under public park trees. This was the cheapest of "wine" and had a tase rivalling paint stripper.


Through the 80's we had students from the continent arriving in droves at our shores mad to learn English and of course had a present for the Irish family which usually was a bottle of wine from whatever region.

The price of wine back then was expensive and Irish palates generally seldom risked the waters. Then came Lidl and Aldi offering fairly good wines at cheaper rates. The other supermarkets dropped their prices and hey presto discovered that more people would drink the stuff if it were cheaper. (Our government in its latest Budget has not yet caught on to that fact).


We learned not to use Blue Nun unless for cooking purposes etc. Wine clubs sprang up, off licences imported more and more wine and from further destinations like Argentina, Chile, Australia.

The price of the pint skyrocketed in our pubs. The hotel bars fleeced us for our indigenous alcohol. But, all was not lost, we bought our wine in the supermarkets from around €4.00 per bottle and sometimes extended to the Reserva bottles (special occasions).

Not only that, we discovered we preferred staying in home enjoying what we liked rather than somebody else's likes. We were not caught in round buying, watched what we wanted on television and did not have to drive home.

Since, we have progressed to certain vintages, regions, age, altitudes, oak ripened, berry flavours, bouquets etc. And you know what, we can now rival the French and Spanish experts in our knowledge and if this raises a few eyebrows so be it. But like Birroc hinted we must drink sensibly.

 

[Birroc]

Not only that, we discovered we preferred staying in home enjoying what we liked rather than somebody else's likes. We were not caught in round buying, watched what we wanted on television and did not have to drive home.

Interestingly a friend told me last night that 'home drinking' was a major factor in the high numbers of suicides in rural areas. Instead of going to the pub and mixing with other people, many stay at home and drink themselves into a depressed state. Sad really. Not sure how we can rectify it.

I digress but my friends also works with older people in the community and he says its heartbreaking when old people tell him he's the first person they have talked to in 3+ days (especially in winter).

 

[Deiseblue]

The wine of choice for the discerning wino & under age schoolboy in my younger days was called " Tiger Milk " - more recent research revealed it to be a Yugoslavian Riesling !

There was also a Hungarian wine called " Bull's Blood " which was popular & is still readily available.

 

[micmclo]

Not sure how we can rectify it.

Eamonn O'Cuiv had a plan for the rural transport scheme and it would be extended to run at night.
Bring people down to parish hall for cards or local GAA club or pub for an evening.
The buses and drivers are available, they are used since the rural post office closed 10 years ago and the pensioners need to go to town once a week!

And last week he enhanced his reputation for oddness, with his remarks about the proposed bus services for rural areas, which wags are already calling 'the booze busses'. O Cuiv angrily denied that the pilot scheme, which will be operational by early summer, will mainly involve 'ferrying drunks' up and down the crooked lanes and highways of rural Ireland, as mischievous people from Dublin have suggested.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/a...s-it-tries-to-freewheel-into-town-123255.html

He got laughed out of it by the Dublin media who called it the booze bus

So it never happened and meanwhile taxpayers subsidize late night running of the Luas and Dublin Bus which is different how?

 

[Leper]

Interestingly a friend told me last night that 'home drinking' was a major factor in the high numbers of suicides in rural areas. Instead of going to the pub and mixing with other people, many stay at home and drink themselves into a depressed state. Sad really. Not sure how we can rectify it.

I digress but my friends also works with older people in the community and he says its heartbreaking when old people tell him he's the first person they have talked to in 3+ days (especially in winter).

Who am I to say that what suits me does not suit others? While I had a fairly infamous drinking life between the age of 16 and 56 I reached a stage where I got fed up of pubs and some of the pub people, some of the pub people god fed up with me, the stupidity of the round buying system, the bombardment of pints in the last 20 minutes of occupation, the reality that pubs were designed to keep people there as long as possible (no such difficulty with me once in I was nailed to the stool). Premiership games have taken over pubs. The publican has all professional means at his disposal sponsored by the drink companies. They are charging what they want. The regular pub-goer is simply a lamb to the slaughter.

Having said the foregoing, I know there are people living lonely existences and crave for company such as can be provided in their local pub.

Very seldom now would I go through the door of a pub. In fact, now that I dont go I am getting telephone calls from my former publican "Hey Lep, the lads miss you, come on down, there's a pint on-the-house waiting" (Translation:- I miss your spend routine). Strangely, enough I never received such a phone call when I used to frequent the pub.

I am not saying that there is something wrong with going to the pub; it can suit many. I am saying though that pub clientele are being screwed bigtime because of some greedy publicans. The publicans thought they would never see a poor day; there are three well known pubs close to where I live and they are closed forever.

 

[Knuttell]

Excellent posts Leper,funnily enough its not just wine that has had its perception changed,I remember as a student in 1988 going into the Leeson Lounge? in Dublin and asking for 2 pints of cider,this request was met by a sneering barman,playing to the regulars on the high stools,who told me to

"**** off to an off licence and buy a six pack of it and go and drink it under a bridge with the rest of the tramps..."

Pretty certain that is a word for word recollection,Cider certainly had an incredible re-branding job done on it over the last 20 odd years.

 

[micmclo]

Can't beat a few bottles of Buckfast down by the Spanish Arch

All Galwegians know this

 

[Vanilla]

My ( french) husband tells me that if you go to a bar/cafe in France and ask for a glass of white wine, without a meal, that it's considered kind of an alcoholic thing to do! Wine is cheap but it's supposed to be consumed with a meal only.