There is a saying I continue to hear as I visit wineries. “Americans talk dry but drink sweet.” Today I read an article which suggests that in other parts of the world, children are provided with watered down wines until they are old enough to drink the wine. In America young children are encouraged to drink milk and then they are provided with sweet drinks including sodas. Would this make a difference and encourage future American adults to drink sweet wines?

While sweet wines do not need to have a food to pair with, I believe that the tasting rooms in America do not offer enough opportunity to pair dry wines with food. A few wineries do an outstanding job but most offer the standard crackers. To taste a dry red wine, I like to visualize a sizzling steak. The visualization and tasting combine to create the impression of what it may be like to have a bottle of that wine on the dinner table. When you visit a tasting room would you rather visualize tasting the wine with food or have a small platter of bite size foods to experiment and pair with wine? Would you be willing to pay more for this type of special tasting? I know I would. This would add to the total experience of visiting a winery.