High-end Chianti a hit with teenagers?

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High-end Chianti a hit with teenagers?

So it’s 1 am in the morning, and I’m stone cold sober. We’ve just had a teenage party for younger son’s friends.

At one stage there were around 100 kids here. The party was confined to the garden, with access to the downstairs toilet, kitchen and hallway for the kids. We cleared the kitchen of everything breakable, stealable and weaponable. I had to move around 200 sample bottles in racks into my study. We drafted in some friends to act as responsible adults and muscle.

Younger son had prepared the garden beautifully. He had a guest list. We bought a 9 m x 3 m marquee from ebay for £60. We provided soft drinks and snacks and borrowed some tables from the neighbouring catholic church hall.

And the party could have been worse. It took a lot of policing, and there were some slightly ugly incidents at the door when some unsuitables tried to crash. But nothing terrible happened.

Inevitably, a few kids had some alcohol that they brought with them. Cheap cans of K Cider (8.4% alcohol, manufactured by Gaymers) are the favourite in this age group. ‘Do you like this stuff?’ ‘Not really, but it’s only £1’

Most remarkable of all, someone smuggled in a bottle of Castello di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico 2009. I was amazed: I asked him where he got it from. Apparently a girl he knew had brought it along. I hope this is the beginning of an interest in wine among the yoof.

7 Comments on High-end Chianti a hit with teenagers?
wine journalist and flavour obsessive

7 thoughts on “High-end Chianti a hit with teenagers?

  1. ‘ Castello di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico 2009’
    I thought i was missing one of those! i’ll have to have a word with her…..
    But seriously, minimum pricing on alcoholic drinks is a mistake. Youngsters are going to drink whatever we tell them and however we price alcohol, do we really want them to be drinking such rubbish as K cider, just’cos its cheap?
    There is a similar argument to be made for drugs….but maybe not here!

  2. At around £15 a bottle not quite “high-end” for Chianti; should have sent her away and told her to break out the Felsina Rancia or Cepparello.

  3. I used to have K cider at Uni, or even better, Dragon Stout. Chianti is quite impressive for regular adults – we sell less italian wine than German, if you exclude the ubiquitous pinot grigio.

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