Tapping Into The Evolving World Of Wine
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Lizette Leanza appreciates a glass of good wine.
"Wine was a big part of our culture. It was always on the table. It was a part of every family gathering," said Leanza.
Leanza is part of a growing group of American consumers who downed 302 million cases of wine in 2014, and each wine-drinking adult drank an average 3.14 gallons.
Food and Wine Editor Ray Isle said several trends are driving this increase in consumption, including making tastings less pretentious.
"People are trying to pair wine with music. It can be as simple as, you know, having music at your tasting room and giving a vibe that way, but there are some wineries that try and associate specific songs with specific wine. You know, what Rolling Stones' song goes with what cabernet?" said Isle.
Another winery offers a backstage pass to a private lounge for special tastings with classic rock.
And one winery actually features live musicians like Lyle Lovett and Melissa Etheridge as part of its "Legendary Wines-Legendary Artists" concert series.
Even the cork is evolving.
"When it comes to keeping a wine fresh and essentially having no fault-rate with the wine, screw caps are the way to go," said Michael Bryan, a sommelier at Vino Venue.
Another huge trend in restaurants and bars, happening in fun spots like at Fork and Balls in Fort Lauderdale, is wine on tap. It's a technology that allows you to dispense wine the same way as you would draft beer.
And at The Forge in Miami Beach there's even more of an upgrade. It's called Enomatic, where you use a credit card system and get a glass of wine depending on the ounces you want.
"You can be your own sommelier and enjoy," said Gino Santangelo, a sommelier at The Forge.
Santangelo has been the chief sommelier at The Forge for more than 40 years. Its wine cellar houses more than 22,000 bottles of wine including a Lafite Rothschild priced at $165,000.
You won't see that bottle out on the floor, but you will see wines in all price ranges that you can have with a swipe of The Forge Wine Card.
"It's like a debit card. What it does is we load it with an amount of money and you chose your own wine by the glass.
"You have three choices: 1, 3 and 5 ounces," he explained.
The machine works on argon gas and regulates the proper temperatures for each bottle.
You can go for the super expensive wines bottle priced at $250 and up and just have a one ounce taste.
"So, this is a $250 bottle of wine, but for my taste, it's just a little over $20," said CBS4's Lisa Petrillo.
Or go for a bigger glass of a more moderately priced wine.
"For example this Joel Gott for 5 ounces is delicious and we're under 10 bucks for this," said Petrillo.
On the other spectrum, Food and Wine's Isle says he's even seen wine in a can.
"You would think wine, cans doesn't go together, this is actually pretty terrific stuff. I think you're going to see more and more of that as time goes by," said Isle.
Leanza likes the taste of the new wine trends – no matter how it comes out.
"It doesn't matter to me. It's still good," she said laughing.