Agreed Todd. We are not the target audience for this. Someone who is maybe very new to wine, or into wine from the “lifestyle” sense, I think that’s the audience. Again I think anything that helps expand appreciation of our little world is a good thing!
Unless of course Suckling leads them down a path of only liking spoofilates wines. But even then it just means less competition for my stinky Chinons!
Said differently… I think there is a level of intimidation at the perceived knowledge barrier that one must overcome to know and appreciate wine. How many of you started out with either decent working knowledge of wine, or someone who could help shepherd you through the learning process?
I didn’t have any family or friends who liked wine, and pre-internet didn’t know where to go to learn. Inevitably I’d stumble through the wine aisle of a grocery/liquor store and randomly grab something. I didn’t know how to select a wine or why it was even important.
The thing that struck me about the promo is how Suckling projected confidence without being completely over the top. If I am someone with a casual interest in wine who wants to learn more but is nervous about how to do so, I find that confidence incredibly comforting.
Of course most of us recognize that even our relatively deep experience barely fills a thimble in the vast universe of wine knowledge. But at least for me once I got to a place where I was no longer nervous about wine, because I had a framework for understanding it, I found the vastness of the whole thing liberating and exhilarating.
If even a handful of people come out of his class feeling the same way, then that’s a pretty cool result.
Oh, totally true. What brought me to the cackling stage is just how Suckling has essentially made his career on being a bit stuck up and pretentious that could/would make it more intimidating for the beginner. Now, he’s trying the opposite approach and it just seems sooooooo disingenuous.
What, no scarf!
Went with the scarf.
Seeing he is in Tuscany, maybe he can point out an excitable Chianti for someone.
![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
Look at who gets to live in Tuscany. The joke is on all of us! He forgot to mention he gives 100 points if you put a case of wine in the trunk of his car after a winery visit,… ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
I met him briefly at one of his Top 100 Italian wine tastings and told him that I was relatively new to wine. His said that I should keep tasting as many wines as possible to develop my own palate and preferences. Apparently, for people under age 26 were less expensive as well.
In any case, he seems to have decent business savy, from his walkabout tastings, Lalique glass, and now video content.
If you notice any of your friends acting like him in a month or two, you’ll know what they got for Christmas!
“I even like to mix red and whites”… in one glass.
Just spotted the thread, haven’t read it, but I have to say the James Suckling sure does appreciate wine, even as he depreciates wine writing.
Dan Kravitz
It’s funny but I got the distinct impression from this video that part of his goal was to give people the tools to be a stuck up, pretentious snot like he is. Knowing him better than the average person who will watch that, that promo clip walks a fine line between self parody and slick marketing.
Im 100* on that.
At first I thought he was working with Christopher Guest on this…the Wine World’s Waiting For Guffman!
Ok the first 40 seconds is parody’ish…a bit of a clown show…teetering on that ‘do laugh at or with line’(more of the ‘at’ most def.)…but after the 40 seconds its fairly well done and would be somewhat intriguing if your more of a beginner to intermediate level…I can see how this could attract many.
That would be pretty funny. I wonder who helped him with the idea for his video at the McDonald’s in Bordeaux. That was classic. I always liked him because you can tell he never took himself too seriously.
I suspect MC approached Suckling and he would be foolish not to have agreed. Not sure how much he was paid but the model is usually $100K plus a percentage of sales. It’s heavily funded and I think they want to create a Netflix model for self education. $90 a specific class is not that appealing but a $180 a year unlimited membership is not too unreasonable for people seeking self education formats. To be amongst Steve Martin, Sorkin, Leibovitz and Ramsey, is great personal branding for Suckling. I probably would purchase the class but if I had a membership I surely would watch.
Ha. I broke up with the Suckles on '99. He could not keep up.