Why do we have so many ready to drink wines today?

Question – When a consumer buys a bottle of wine at their local liquor store, how long after does that person hold on to it? Answer – Less than 1 hour!  This is the answer that I received from my local Vintages consultant.  Hard to believe but most wine is bought and consumed within an hour after its initial purchase. Which is why we have a lot of ready to drink wines today…think about all of those critter wines with screw caps coming out of Australia, all those ripe & fruity California & Chilean Cabernets with Argentina and South Africa  not far behind.  Think about the recent success and popularity of Tetra Pak wines (which, by the way are PERFECT for sneaking into a movie theatre and pairing with buttered popcorn, though they don’t make great gifts).  Perhaps it is a reflection of the theme of instant gratification that is so prevalent today.  But I truly hope the balance between wines ready to drink now and wines that you should put away for a few years remains constant.   We do need those ready to drink, crowd pleasing, anything goes wines but we do need wines that can age.  Imagine with me…about 30 – 40 years from now and you are enjoying and appreciating a great  Bordeaux or Super Tuscan from 2007 from your wine cellar!  Now how cool would that be.