Wine in Country Music
19/06/2014
Google only comes up with 9 (!) hits for this phrase. I would have expected more like 9 million.
I was wondering how come wine gets mentioned so often in country song lyrics, yet in movies etc. it is usually beer and spirits.
Is it just poetic license, or did/do they actually drink it?
My fascinating findings? They ain't drinkin' what I'm thinkin'.
I was wondering how come wine gets mentioned so often in country song lyrics, yet in movies etc. it is usually beer and spirits.
Is it just poetic license, or did/do they actually drink it?
My fascinating findings? They ain't drinkin' what I'm thinkin'.
Scroll to the bottom for something to listen to while reading if you like.
The Wikipedia page on American Wine says:
"The first commercial vineyard and winery in the United States was established by an act of the Kentucky General Assembly on November 21, 1799.[5] The vinedresser for the vineyard was John James Dufour formerly of Vevey, Switzerland (same authority as above). The vineyard was located overlooking the Kentucky River in Jessamine County, Kentucky and was named First Vineyard by Dufour on November 5, 1798"
That's country ain't it? It's only about 300km from Nashville, TN.
"Following the repeal of Prohibition, American wine making reemerged in very poor condition. Many talented winemakers had died, vineyards had been neglected or replanted with table grapes, and Prohibition had changed Americans' taste in wines. Consumers now demanded cheap "jug wine" (so-called dago red) and sweet, fortified (high alcohol) wine. Before Prohibition dry table wines outsold sweet wines by three to one, but after the ratio was more than reversed. In 1935, 81% of California's production was sweet wines."
What is now generally called "country music" started to be called that in the Forties, thus at least Californian wine was mainly sweet at that time.
From, of all places, Singapore, at streetdirectory.com I found an informative feature "The Curious History Of Wine Consumption In America" By: Ben Bicais, well worth reading in full, which includes:
"The Fortified Wine Years
Immediately after the repeal of Prohibition, wine consumption dropped as Americans had renewed access to spirits and beer. From the repeal of Prohibition to the late 1950s, high-alcohol dessert and fortified wines dominated the market. These were the darkest days of the history of wine production and consumption. Many fortified wines were produced and sold extremely cheaply, and catered to the "misery market". "Winos" drank these overly alcoholic concoctions becauses they were the cheapest way to get drunk. In the quest for short-term profits, unscrupulous producers stamped a black mark on the history of wine in America.
From 1934 to the early 1950s, immigrant families consumed the majority of table wines. Unfortunately, many of their offspring did not follow their parents traditional drink choices and began consuming beer and cocktails as they assimilated into American society. Table wine was a mysterious beverage to most Americans and was associated with high-society and recent arrivals from Southern and Central Europe.
The Jug Wine Years
America's taste for non-fortified wines finally began to develop in the early 1960s. The majority of these new wine drinkers were young, well-traveled, and relatively affluent. As the Baby Boom generation came of age, the ranks of wine drinkers increased. Even still, the majority of consumers bought simple, sweet wines."
So.. we're still looking at basically "cheap sherry" during the "Honky Tonk" period.
Hmm, what about where it is consumed?
The Wikipedia page on American Wine says:
"The first commercial vineyard and winery in the United States was established by an act of the Kentucky General Assembly on November 21, 1799.[5] The vinedresser for the vineyard was John James Dufour formerly of Vevey, Switzerland (same authority as above). The vineyard was located overlooking the Kentucky River in Jessamine County, Kentucky and was named First Vineyard by Dufour on November 5, 1798"
That's country ain't it? It's only about 300km from Nashville, TN.
"Following the repeal of Prohibition, American wine making reemerged in very poor condition. Many talented winemakers had died, vineyards had been neglected or replanted with table grapes, and Prohibition had changed Americans' taste in wines. Consumers now demanded cheap "jug wine" (so-called dago red) and sweet, fortified (high alcohol) wine. Before Prohibition dry table wines outsold sweet wines by three to one, but after the ratio was more than reversed. In 1935, 81% of California's production was sweet wines."
What is now generally called "country music" started to be called that in the Forties, thus at least Californian wine was mainly sweet at that time.
From, of all places, Singapore, at streetdirectory.com I found an informative feature "The Curious History Of Wine Consumption In America" By: Ben Bicais, well worth reading in full, which includes:
"The Fortified Wine Years
Immediately after the repeal of Prohibition, wine consumption dropped as Americans had renewed access to spirits and beer. From the repeal of Prohibition to the late 1950s, high-alcohol dessert and fortified wines dominated the market. These were the darkest days of the history of wine production and consumption. Many fortified wines were produced and sold extremely cheaply, and catered to the "misery market". "Winos" drank these overly alcoholic concoctions becauses they were the cheapest way to get drunk. In the quest for short-term profits, unscrupulous producers stamped a black mark on the history of wine in America.
From 1934 to the early 1950s, immigrant families consumed the majority of table wines. Unfortunately, many of their offspring did not follow their parents traditional drink choices and began consuming beer and cocktails as they assimilated into American society. Table wine was a mysterious beverage to most Americans and was associated with high-society and recent arrivals from Southern and Central Europe.
The Jug Wine Years
America's taste for non-fortified wines finally began to develop in the early 1960s. The majority of these new wine drinkers were young, well-traveled, and relatively affluent. As the Baby Boom generation came of age, the ranks of wine drinkers increased. Even still, the majority of consumers bought simple, sweet wines."
So.. we're still looking at basically "cheap sherry" during the "Honky Tonk" period.
Hmm, what about where it is consumed?
From the above we can see that table wine consumption has not altered a lot between the two figures, in the so-called "Country" states. (Not sure what happened in Idaho!)
It looks like the "Country" areas are not big on table wine, so what's going on?
We have seen above about the production of fortified wine, and my conclusion must be: -
It looks like the "Wine" in country music is actually Sherry!
Postscript, 29/02/16
As best as I can find, the title "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" below is not two phrases, "Drinking wine", a statement, and an exclamation after, "Spo-dee-o-dee!", as I had always imagined.
It is a description of a particular drink: "wine spo-dee-o-dee" (or spotioti) which is variously described as wine mixed with stronger drinks like Muscat sherry; or box wine and cheap whisky.
Both descriptions I found had implications of cheap and strong, rather than quality drinking.
Nowadays
From a table dated 2012:
"88% Of US production is Californian.
3.5% each to New York & Washington, all other states make at least some of the remaining 5%.
Kentucky 0.316% (my emphasis)
That is for table wine. I ran out of patience searching for up-to-date statistics on fortified wine consumption in the USA, as all the information seems to be corralled by survey companies charging thousands of dollars for their reports.
It looks like the "Country" areas are not big on table wine, so what's going on?
We have seen above about the production of fortified wine, and my conclusion must be: -
It looks like the "Wine" in country music is actually Sherry!
Postscript, 29/02/16
As best as I can find, the title "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" below is not two phrases, "Drinking wine", a statement, and an exclamation after, "Spo-dee-o-dee!", as I had always imagined.
It is a description of a particular drink: "wine spo-dee-o-dee" (or spotioti) which is variously described as wine mixed with stronger drinks like Muscat sherry; or box wine and cheap whisky.
Both descriptions I found had implications of cheap and strong, rather than quality drinking.
Nowadays
From a table dated 2012:
"88% Of US production is Californian.
3.5% each to New York & Washington, all other states make at least some of the remaining 5%.
Kentucky 0.316% (my emphasis)
That is for table wine. I ran out of patience searching for up-to-date statistics on fortified wine consumption in the USA, as all the information seems to be corralled by survey companies charging thousands of dollars for their reports.
Example songs
1950
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1956
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1960
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1966
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