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Recently in Salon Media

Media
Bright lights, big titties
As the lad mags in the U.K. wither, their American counterparts try to give the formula one more squeeze.
By Sean Elder
[10/01/99]

Media
Death of a journalist
Reporter Sander Thoenes was touring a neighborhood in Dili, the capital of East Timor. Then soldiers opened fire.
By Eve Pell
[09/30/99]

Brand X
Why is Madison Avenue gripped by insanity?
After pondering the "cultural meat values" of Peparami, the only question remaining is: What are these guys smoking?
By Ruth Shalit
[09/29/99]

Media
Who will buy the Village Voice?
The Voice, L.A. Weekly and five other weeklies are put up for sale. Who will buy? A daily? A Web company?
By David Carr
[09/29/99]

Brand X
Hypnotizing slackers for Starbucks, and other visionary acts of marketing research
Through hypnosis, deconstructive theory and other advanced techniques, marketing experts have definitively established that champagne is associated with romance.
By Ruth Shalit
[09/28/99]

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Wine, it's the other red fluid
Wine X's attempts at hipsterism evoke the not so subtle smell of oak barrel-aged fish. PLUS: Geeks, freaks, fashion weeks and conspiracy theorists.

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By Jenn Shreve

Oct. 1, 1999 | Among Pinot Noir-scented candles and Special Millennial Wine Corkers at the Napa Valley winery I visited this weekend sat an untouched pile of Wine X magazines. For those who don't know, Wine X is a self-styled "zine" whose purpose is to communicate to us Beaujolais Nouveaus that wine's hip, baby. It's cooool. You like the Chemical Brothers? Wine requires chemistry! Coolio, Daddy-o! Or, as they put it, Wine X is "A New Voice for a New Generation of Wine Consumers."

Launched in 1997, when winemakers funded several ad and marketing campaigns geared toward snagging younger wine connoisseurs, Wine X is unabashed about its purpose. The front page of its Web site is loaded with links like, "If you market wine, Read This!" or "Marketing Wine to Generation X." The gist? Sure, these leather-clad pipsqueaks may only be able to afford a $5 bottle of Merlot now, but think of the cellar they'll build when those stock options vest! Addict them while they are young!

So here I am, the target demographic -- under 30 and into visiting wineries, no less! -- with $3.95 to spare. I buy a copy of Wine X, the magazine that's made for people like me, and I read it. I read it while drinking wine on a Burgundy-colored sofa.

Is there a smart, well-written, bullshit-free wine zine out there for wine-drinkers of modest means, but discerning tastes? Wine X isn't it. First off, Jason Priestley (never was cool) is on the cover talking about the Barenaked Ladies (a blip on the cool screen two years ago), alien abductions (whatever, dude) and -- pay close attention, folks -- "getting' hooked on wine." "Getting'"? I think they meant "gettin'." Apparently, Wine X's plan to win the hearts and palates of "Generation X" is to provide them with an abundance of excess apostrophes. Take this sentence from Publisher Darryl Roberts' intro to this issue: "Well, here it is late June goin' on September." Or this one: "Has the coming of fall got you thinkin' 'bout headin' to wine country?"

It's downhill from there, with a horoscope that tells me what I should drink this month and reviews of chick flicks ("The Gyno-American cinema movement"). Wine X tells me far more about what the people who market wine think of me than about wine itself. I apparently have a low income, like to cook for my friends, find Jason Priestley fascinating and don't flinch when a Duke Ellington tribute is in the section "Sex, Wine and Rock N' Roll." Frankly, I don't know how these folks have made it to Volume 3, Issue 5. Who reads this swill?

To be fair, I agree with Wine X that wine (and food, and travel) writing could be infused with some fruity style and down-to-earthy flavors. Apparently, Wine X started as a clunky black-and-white 'zine that dared to fulfill that mission. But, like so many good things, it's been co-opted by an industry, given the phony stamp of corporate America and sent out not to demystify a beverage that brings pleasure to millions, young and old, but to crassly hawk a product. Whatever, dude.

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