Some Precarious Wine Predictions for 2015

By Anna Scott

There’s a lot of trend posts around at this time of year, some of which might make you sigh from sheer hipster exhaustion. Do we really need another pop-up casual dining concept that specialises in selling hyper-local, minimum-intervention cuisine served with wine straight from a stainless keg? And yes, I did just throw together a bunch of words together but the fact they’ve created something which is remarkably plausible in today’s world is…slightly scary. So as an antidote to all the on-trend trendy posts you’ve been reading/avoiding, here’s my take on what might (you never know) make a splash in 2015. Or more than likely probably won’t…

Roulette Dining

There’s nothing like eating and drinking with an added element of thrill, so why not combine this with a solution to the problem of food and drink wastage? You know all those old bottles that are more than likely past their best, but are perhaps tittering on the edge – they could still be AMAZING, or they could possibly be undrinkable? Well, now there could be a use for them. Welcome to Roulette Dining – a new food and drink concept that matches potentially off wine with food that dangerously closed to its best before date. You could end up consuming the meal of your lifetime, or on the flipside, you could end up in hospital. There’s the thrill element I was talking about. I mean, it could catch on, must like stomach flu does.

The Continuing Dominance of the 80s

2014 hinted at the resurgence of Beaujolais Nouveau and this was put down by some to an 80s revival. So what’s to stop the 80s permeating our food and drinks culture to an even greater extent this year? We’ve seen how much of a fuss was made about the cereal café that started trading a couple of months ago so I predict some enterprising soul out there is going to capitalise on the 80s trend and open up a proper 80s-themed established, and when I say proper, I mean somewhere that serves the sort of stuff we really used to eat and drink back then – Findus Crispy Pancakes matched with Mateus Rose, a Nerds-centric dessert served with something equally sweet and fizzy, boil-in-the-bag fish paired with a Chardonnay so oaky you could craft a table and chairs out of it. And you won’t be let through the door unless you’re sporting a bum-bag and shell suit.

Fermented Juice Boxes

Yes, we know wine boxes are apparently making a comeback in hipster circles, but why stop there? Why carry a whole box to the park when you can take a pack of small cartons to dish out to your friends. Struggling with the fiddly little straw only adds to the quirkiness of the experience. Ok, so sipping your wine as you would your Ribena means you get none of the nuance but people will pay you attention, and that’s what matters, right? They might even start putting white wine in Capri Sun-style pouches and freezing them. Actually I’m sure someone out there must have done this one already.

Looking through some genuine trend predictions for this year and I was struck by how far head the wine world actually is. Fermented food? Yes, we’ve been fermenting grape juice for centuries thanks. South American regionality? Let me introduce you to some Argentinian Malbec. Barrel-aged cocktails? Been there, done that. Let’s face it, winemakers lead and everyone else follows. Let’s just hope they don’t steal my roulette dining idea/nightmare.