Smelly Wines

In the world of wine, protesting and distancing oneself from the previous generation can be done through “smelly wines”, which are seen as a way to bring back a more authentic sense of wine.

“I’ll have a smelly wine”. I actually heard a young wine lover say this to the owner of a wine bar who just smiled and served him a glass of an opalescent white wine with a bold, yellow color. Behind the youth’s request was a precise, “alternative” attitude that seeks to underscore a distance from “conventional” wines and, more than likely, those of his father.

This because sons do not drink the wines their fathers do. Just like they do not listen to the same music, read the same things or act the same way. The late sociologist Gianni Statera saw this as the driving force behind the 1968 student protest movements, while Sigmund Freud wrote magnificent essay called Totem and Taboo that dealt with the same argument.

In the world of wine, protesting and taking a stand can be done through “smelly wines”, which are not that much different from the wines that not their fathers but their grandfathers and great-grandfathers drank. They are the wines that Veronelli would call “peasant wines” and were made before the adoption of modern winemaking techniques and very intense and specialized winegrowing methods.

But that’s not all. These protesters are also against excessive terminology or “wine speak” that has flourished over the years due to an unbearable elitism that has forgotten that wine is also, and above all, something that gives pleasure and inspires emotions and is not just something for benefit of narcissistic, super-expert snobs who drive away those seeking some healthy pleasure.

Thus recovering a more authentic sense of wine can also be done through “smelly wines”. At least for some people. But this is a phenomenon that should be understood and not simply put down, as if often the case. And if one considers that these wines are almost always the product of a declared “naturalness” in production, then it’s a slam-dunk. These are the wines one should prefer, they are not loved by fathers, they respect the environment and if they “smell” then this is a merit and not a defect.

They may even be full of acetaldehydes, which are much more harmful than sulfites, but then who knows that? They have a positive image in the eyes and on the palates of many young people and they cost a lot less than thebourgeois wines of their fathers.

Is this a fad? Without a doubt yes but this fad has to do with choices and mentalities that are widespread in particular time periods and among particular cultural groups. Thus they are an event, a reality that must be taken into consideration and not simply dismissed as something scandalous.