An upward climb & the newest wines
Year 15, No. 01
Highlights: La cuesta de enero | Vi Novell 2024
I was long overdue for a trip back to my native California and thus spent the majority of December there visiting family. Thankfully for me, they live just to the north of San Francisco, which meant plenty of winery visits and other events I could tack on to the trip.
One such event was a small Champagne tasting at this great neighborhood shop in the town of Petaluma called, Avinage. As we were standing around, tasting at this casual affair, one of the attendees made a mention of “Dry January” in that he had the feeling people weren’t talking about it as they have in the past.
That may seem the case on a personal level, but wine media has had plenty of articles about it this year, as is usual. In doing a search on Google Trends, it would appear that in raw numbers, the concept has as much traction as it ever has, albeit for 2024/25 it seems there was a peak and not as much longevity to it. That sounds about right as many people readily acknowledge that they, “go moist”, about halfway through the month.
And that’s why this fellow was bringing it up as he said, “Yeah, well, maybe I’ll lay off a bit, but from January 20th on, I’m a-drinkin’…”
So, even though I try to avoid politics in this newsletter, obviously the biggest news this month (to date) has been the American presidential inauguration. There are many, many aspects to this, but those in the wine world are very preoccupied with what might happen for imports to the US as well as economic issues as a whole. The concerns are justified given that any economic downturn usually means less wine purchased. As ready proof of this, let’s mention the official release of Champagne sales figures for 2024. This is normally a bulletproof segment of the wine world, but it dropped a massive 9.2% last year—that’s not going to calm any nerves.
The truth is, no segment of the political spectrum can ever fix economic issues despite what populist banter they yarp on about given that economies are very “vibe-y” things. It will however be debated for years to come as to how the incumbent party in the US lost a great many voters by constantly stating how great the economy was, when, for the average American, it wasn’t. There’s no great mystery here as countless people in the country are working several jobs to barely stay afloat and pay the minimum payments on all their debt.
On that note, if you’re someone would would like to read the full articles on Hudin.com, but are finding the subscription fee to be one more thing you can’t afford at the moment, please contact the site to see what can be done to get you access. Note that this is an open-ended invitation but not intended for those using the site in a commercial capacity.
A depressed January in terms of money is nothing new to people in Spain however. This is why the latest installment of La cuesta de enero (*) has been published with some recommendations of current wines for these, not the bestest of times, at prices that be a great deal easier to imbibe.
Also along these lines are the latest Catalan vi novell wines that are young, fresh, and (not to sound like this is a plug for the latest boy band) generally low in alcohol as well as price. You know, in case you’re looking for that “Moist January” happy place.
Lastly, it had long-been time to drop Twitter & Facebook (*) as their usefulness left the station ages ago. If you’re still interested in some form of social in your life, have a read as there are in fact alternatives now other than, “no thanks” which is exceedingly valid in and of itself.
Drink well, be well.
-Miquel
(*) Free to read
The Featured Report
La cuesta de enero 2025
New Year’s resolutions be damned. It can be a long, uphill climb at the start of the year. Here are a selection of current wines to ease back into whatever amount of drinking you’re aiming for at the moment.
And now this
One Zinfandel to rule them all? This wine from Tres Sabores truly stood out in terms of what’s possible from this variety.
It seems that DO Cava has lost yet another winery (*) and in the process of leaving the bubbly behemoth, this one has also completely changed its identity.
And lastly, a look at a couple of wines that show perfectly well how the modern European wine cooperatives have many faces.