This particular episode was based around Santa Curz included a visit to some offbeat winemaker who specialises in blending together grapes that .. well .. aren't normally blended together. I forget his name, although I don't doubt for one single second that someone here on this forum will remind me and everyone else who it was
Over dinner (and wine) this guy declared that he had serious doubts about whether people who'd been raised on "ordinary" wine had the ability to "make the leap of imagination" to more complex wines like the ones he was busy making.
So far during my little excursion into wine I've come across nothing to make me feel like it is actually the elitist hobby that it's often made out to be - no more so, at least, than the expensive involved would necessitate. But that remark just made my blood boil. Most of us - and I would image this includes most wine geeks - weren't bought up in households where first-growth Bordeaux was a common accompaniment to Sunday dinner. Yet it seems the wine hobby still manages to retain and expand a body of enthusiastic and knowledgeable amateurs. For me, that alone pretty much rubbishes his point of view.
Is that sort of attitude still widely prevalent amongst people who still make top-quality wines? If it is then no great surprise that it hasn't achieved wider appeal as a hobby. But perhaps that's just the way those sorts of people would like it to stay.
I sure hope someone does remind of the bloke's name, just so I can be sure to avoid his wine in future.