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Not long ago, I ran with a crowd who thought one of the best things about wine was that when you finished the box at the end of the evening, you could pull the bag out, inflate it, and use it as a pillow.</p>
<p>These days I prefer wine from a bottle, but I’m still no wine snob. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed <a title=”Blair Campbell’s recent piece on wine in the <I>Monterey County Weekly</I>” href=”http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/archives/2007/2007-Dec-27/ashamed-of-that-cheap-wine-youre-buying-maybe-thats-because-wine-writers-dont-take-either-of-you-seriously-they-should/1″ target=”_blank”>Blair Campbell’s recent piece on wine in the <i>Monterey County Weekly</i>
</a>. It’s a fun and informed takedown of wine snobbery that also makes you want a glass.</p>
<p>Campbell notes a major shift in the demographics of wine consumption, away from the old-guard snobs and toward an emerging group of unpretentious, budget-conscious wine drinkers. For this new breed, she coins the term<i> Wineaux</i>. <a href=”#identifier”>* </a> Major wine-related media may not have caught up with the shift, Campbell says–magazines like <i>Wine Spectator</i> still mostly cater to fat-walleted aficionados–though she commends the <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i>’s “decidedly populist” wine section. </p>
<p>Campbell’s 2,600-word article ultimately outs itself as a long announcement for a new column, “Wineau,” in the <i>Monterey County Weekly</i>. I like what I’ve seen so far, and I’m eager to read reviews of wines I can actually afford. Cheers!</p>
<p>–<i>
<a title=”Jason Ericson” href=”https://www.utne.com/bios/utne-reader-interns.aspx”>Jason Ericson</a>
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<em>Photo by <a title=”John VanderHaagen” href=”http://flickr.com/people/jvh33/” target=”_blank”>John VanderHaagen</a>, licensed under <a title=”Creative Commons” href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en” target=”_blank”>Creative Commons</a>.</em>
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<a class=”bookmark” id=”identifier” title=”identifier” name=”identifier”>* </a>
<em>In the original post, we mistakenly referred to Blair Campbell as male. Sorry, Blair, and thanks for letting us know!</em>
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