White Wines, are they Trendy or Taboo?

I was first introduced to wine in the form of a tall black bottle that looked a bit like a castle. It was called Black Tower and it was a sweet "something" from Germany, Liebfraumilch I think. It was everywhere along with another German “something” wine called Blue Nun. They were very fashionable and I didn't care for either of them. Says a lot about my fashion sense!

Since then there have been fashionable white wines of all kinds; you name it and it has most probably been on the white wine top 10 trendy list.

At the moment it’s Pinot Grigio, the very light almost flavourless sipper from Northern Italy, available in pretty bottles with catchy labels.

There was Frascati for a time, another light and simple white wine from Italy. Everyone brought Frascati to a dinner party and it was the thing to drink in wine bars. It also had a very trendy and catchy name.

Chardonnay was “in” for a while. They came from the USA or Australia and they were big, bold, over oaked and over here!  They were (and still are) great until social drinkers discovered that they killed your palate after half a glass and therefore it wasn't considered a "quaffing" wine.

Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Muscadet and Gewürztraminer were also on the list for a while as well but soon made way for the next wave of fashionable sippers.

Trendy wines are the result of advertising at it’s very best in the beverage industry. 

Good for the wine trade and good for consumers as it exposes us to wines that normally wouldn't be bought.

Bad, because to keep the price tag affordable, wines tend to be over produced and of lesser quality.

The results are not the best reflection of the grape and to be honest, not the best wines. However from a knowledge point of view it does provide the first step to many in trying a new wine and perhaps going further to spend a little more on a better bottle.