In Tough Times, the Bigger the Better
Everyone loves a liter. Especially when everyone is broke.
I am typing today’s newsletter near the ocean on a chilly but gorgeous Friday that kicks off our Memorial Day weekend. Though summer officially begins in four weeks, at the Jersey Shore everyone knows this is summer’s true first weekend.
Normally, this is a giddy, carefree time of year. But in America, these days, it’s hard not to feel a nagging sense of dread about this summer, a sense of things unraveling. Just one small example: A few days ago, I read that Klarna—the buy-now-pay-later company that people use to finance relatively small purchases—is reporting that the number of customers who can’t make their payments has skyrocketed, 17 percent higher than this time last year. A quarter of buy-now-pay-later customers are borrowing to pay for groceries, up 10 percent from last year. Meanwhile, of course, the Trump administration just ended enforcement of a Biden-era rule that called for buy-now-pay-later services to be regulated like credit cards.
I cite this depressing bit of financial news because I’m tired of hearing wine industry commentators prattle on with theories on “why young people aren’t drinking wine.” The biggest reason is very simple. People—young, old, middle-aged—are broke. They’re financing their grocery bills to get through a week. And they’re scared that things are going to become even worse in our fast-emerging oligarchy. Wine—much as we all love our wine around here—is not in the equation for a lot of people right now. Even if it is in the equation, price is the dominant factor.
A few friends have recently been encouraging me to start importing wines from Europe. Setting aside that this is a terrible moment to wade into importing anything, I don’t have the deep pockets for that sort of venture. I’m no businessman, but if I did have the capital, I know what I would do. I would source good, easy-drinking—and inexpensive—wine from a good organic/biodynamic producer who works outside the prestige regions, perhaps with lesser-known grapes. And I would put this easy-drinking wine in a big ol’ liter bottle and sell it for well under $20. Sounds easy enough, right? (Please feel free to tell me in the comments why this is not easy.)
In any case, we’ve been seeing micro trend of pretty good, crowd-pleasing, under-$20 wines sold by the liter. Even a dummy can understand the appeal of this trend. Why spend $15 on the usual 750 milliliters when you can get a third more wine for basically the same price?
We’re not talking about Carlo Rossi here either. These are solid, quality wines—some from well-known producers. I’ve been exploring what’s available in a liter, and I’ve found several that that I would whole-heartedly recommend.
Yes, I can feel the collective eye-roll from a certain percentage of my readers. Do you really like these low-cost wines? Yes. I really do.
Understand that, during summer time, it is almost cliché how simple my life becomes at the ol’ Jersey Shore. I don’t travel. I write outside at a picnic table. I walk on the beach. I meet friends at 4:30 pm for drinks. We eat Jersey corn, tomatoes, eggplant, blueberries, and peaches from the farm market. We make simple pastas, roast red peppers, eat cheese, and grill things. Thursday night is half-priced pizzas from the place across the street. This is not a time for complicated wines. This week I’ve been scouting which liters I’m going to buy in cases for the summer.
What am I looking for in a good liter? Low alcohol, good acidity, freshness, juiciness, little or no oak. Reds that can be slightly chilled, whites that have some structure. Wines that can move from late afternoon into dinner and pair with a lot of different foods. All but one of my selections is under 12.5 percent abv.
I’ve found most of the good liter options are coming from either Italy or Austria right now. It makes sense: These are places with traditions of solid, inexpensive wine for everyday consumption. Low-end grüner veltliner and sangiovese have been sold in so-called “large format” for generations. I’m surprised that there aren’t more good liters coming from Spain, but I’ve found at least one unoaked tempranillo that I enjoy.
A few years back, wine people always seemed to be advocating for “large format” wines. What ever happened to that movement? There were a lot of articles in wine media headlined something like, “Bigger is Better: Why You Should Be Drinking More Magnums.” Back then, it seemed like nothing would make a sommelier happier than if you ordered a magnum (1.5 liters) or maybe even a double magnum (3 liters). These stories also usually pointed out the arcane measurements of jeroboam (4.5 liters), salmanazar (9 liters), and nebuchadnezzar (15 liters). I wonder if any millennial somms named their children after one of these measurements? “Let’s use our indoor voice, Jeroboam.”
Within the wine bubble, collectors suggest that large-format wines of expensive wines age better than standard bottles. But magnums are also pitched as “sensible” or “economical” choices, Maybe you remember that, as we started to see pro-magnum propaganda in the late 2010s, half-priced magnum happy hours and specials became a mini-trend in big-city wine bars. For a hot minute there, people were definitely working hard to make magnums a thing.
So whatever happened to all the half-priced magnum happy hours? Why did they disappear? Bring back the 1.5-liter happy hours!
In the meantime, I hope to see more and more liters of quality wines on the shelves.
Liters To Love Under $20
Including four bottles at $15 and under. As always, my recommendations and tasting notes for paid subscribers only.