Wine vs. Beer

What your taste says about you

Oktoberfest is over. Now the inaugural San Diego Beer week is upon us November 6–15. And not to be ignored is the La Jolla Historical Society’s Antique Brewery Fest on November 21. Beer, beer, beer. But wine lovers, now it’s wine’s time to have a festival of its own in San Diego.

November 18–22 will bring more than 170 wine and spirit producers to San Diego, along with 8,000 winos. Well, not exactly winos, but wine consumers, aficionados, wine connoisseurs, vinophiles. In any case, these people, wine lovers all, are attending what is the largest such gathering of wine enthusiasts and industry professionals in Southern California at Embarcadero Marina Park. There will also be about 60 restaurants from San Diego on hand as well, thus the event is billed as the “San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival.”

Let’s face it. An event of this size and caliber is rare in San Diego, so it’s a must-attend. Wine producers such as L'Aventure, Cinnabar, Fort Ross, Fritz, Sextant, Veramonte and Villa Creek Cellars, and many others will be there. I’m certain you’ll find your favorite, or a new favorite, among the crowded winetasting tables. You will be mingling — stumbling, if you taste too much wine — among people who are confident, savvy adventure seekers. At least this is what a study commissioned by San Francisco's Wine Institute found to be characteristics of vinophiles.

The study, done by Yankelovich and the Segmentation Co., also found that California wine ranks first in favorability and familiarity with U.S. wine consumers by a wide margin. As for other personality characteristics of the 8,000 wine advocates descending on the Embarcadero for winetasting, research shows them to be more open to new experiences, follow their own path in life, have their life priorities in order and eschew brands as badges — they are information-savvy consumers.

Alcohol consumption is on the rise, according to the History Channel. Wine drinking, specifically, is increasing in the United States — 231 million cases of wine were consumed in 2001, with an increase of 5.5 percent in 2004. The projected increased total wine consumption by 2010 is 300 million cases.

In 1997 the average adult American consumed 22 gallons of beer, 23 and a half gallons of coffee, 53 gallons of soft drinks, 2 gallons of wine and 1 gallon of hard liquor. The French consumed an average of 64 liters (17 gallons) of wine while Germans drank an average of 120 liters (30 gallons) of beer. Beer accounts for approximately 88 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States — in other words, 11 times as much beer is consumed as wine.

It seems there are differences between wine and beer drinkers. I prefer wine since, for me, drinking wine is always a discovery. My favorite, Goose Bay Pinot Noir, is a journey I cherish. It makes every meal an occasion, and every table just more elegant. I agree with Ernest Hemingway’s assessment, “wine is the most civilized thing in the world.”

Beer? Not so much for me. Let’s focus on wine and then equal time for beer lovers.

People who buy wine, research shows, also buy healthier food and therefore have healthier diets than people who buy beer, according to a study published online by the British Medical Journal.

Consumers in the research were categorized as "wine only," "beer only," "mixed," or "non-alcohol" buyers. The researchers found that wine buyers bought more olives, fruit and vegetables, poultry, cooking oil, low-fat cheese, milk and meat than beer buyers. Beer buyers bought more ready-cooked dishes, sugar, cold cuts, chips, pork, butter or margarine, sausages, lamb and soft drinks than wine buyers.

These results support findings from the United States, Denmark, and France showing that wine drinkers tend to eat fruit, vegetables, and fish and use cooking oil more often and saturated fat less often than those who prefer other alcoholic drinks.

Not to favor wine drinkers, there is also a fair amount of research on beer drinkers as well. One such research project found that the beer you drink says a lot about you. The concept of beer-as-window-to-the-soul comes from Mindset Media, a market researcher specializing in psychographics. The researchers studied the cultural and economic behaviors of beer drinkers and found interesting trends among buyers of specific beers. For example, people who prefer domestic beers over craft beers or imports are generally middle-of-the-road in their politics. They're not nearly as conservative as people who don't drink beer at all, but not as liberal as people who prefer more exotic beer.

People who drink a broad variety of beers are different than one-brand drinkers as well. "Indifferent" beer drinkers are more often open-minded and emotional, and enjoy a variety of life experiences.

Studying specific brands found some remarkable differences. Budweiser drinkers are sensible, grounded and practical. They’re 42 percent more likely to drive a truck than the average person, 68 percent more likely to choose a credit card with flexible payment terms and 42 percent more likely to use breath-freshening strips every day.

Corona and Corona Light drinkers are busy, energetic and extremely extroverted. They're people-persons who seek out the company of others, whether in a group or just one-to-one, so “Where’s the party?” is an often-heard question among Corona drinkers. The research says Corona drinkers do more and see more people in a day than most people see in a week.

Beer or wine, on November 18–22, get out to the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, taste all the wine you want, eat some savory healthy food, mingle with other likeminded adventure seekers, and after you’ve had your Corona, party on!

For more than 30 years, Dr. Mantell has successfully been bringing upbeat, friendly and helpful psychological insights to individuals, families and businesses in San Diego as a clinical and corporate psychologist in private practice. He's been a regular on Good Morning America, KFMB-TV News 8, has appeared on Oprah, Larry King Live, the Today show, authored two best-selling books and speaks regularly for audiences throughout the country. He can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

 

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