STATE?COLLEGE - Joe Carroll lives by a simple mantra on his vineyard: Sweet sells. Teetering around 80 years old, Carroll has owned the Mt. Nittany Vineyard and Winery for two decades and maintains the land in Linden Hall on a worn-out, burnt orange tractor. With deliberate movement, he pulled down his old straw hat and explained the modern-day fascination with sweet wines in America.
"Drink what you like. I attach no level of class or social status to any category of wines," Carroll said. "If you prefer really sweet wines with your meal, then drink them."
Carroll and winery manager Eugene "Jinx" Proch believe more Americans are experimenting with wine and are choosing vintages and blends made with residual sugar.
"Americans were raised on Coke, Pepsi and fruit juice. We have a sweet palate," Proch said.
Proch said novice tasters make sweeter choices when they first start drinking wine, but their taste buds might eventually evolve over time and they could prefer a dry selection.
Proch and Carroll expect to offer a variety of wines - sweet and dry - at WPSU's Wine Festival from 1 to 5 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. About 200 wines from Pennsylvania and around the world will be available during the tasting event, which supports Penn State Public Broadcasting.
"We want to be able to give people choices. There are so many tastes and interesting wines to produce," Proch said. "People have so many preferences and we want to appeal to as many people as we can."
The winery might want to target the millennial generation. According to Denise Gardner, a Penn State extension enologist and wine blogger, young drinkers (mostly born in the 1980s and '90s) are accustomed to sweet flavors and often choose a glass of wine over beer or liquor.
"They are trying to drink in a sophisticated way," Gardner said. "When they begin drinking wine, they choose something they are comfortable with. The taste is an ease in transition from sweet beverages."
Gardner said this new generation of wine connoisseurs has quashed the idea that sweet wines are for uneducated drinkers.
Ted Liberti, co-chair and wine coordinator for the WPSU Wine Festival, said millennials are savvy: they are willing to experiment and prefer to consult with their smart phones before making a purchase. But, he cautioned that there still is a reputation attached to certain beverage choices.
"Some people might think you're not a sophisticated wine drinker if you don't like dry wines," Liberti said. "However, to not embrace wines with residual sugar is to have an incomplete picture of the wine world."
He points to Pennsylvania-based Chaddsford Winery as a wine-making business that's focusing on the sweet spot - representatives will bring only sweet wine samples to the WPSU wine festival.
He says the owners of the winery in Chester County have reconfigured their offerings to showcase their sweet wine.
Liberti prefers dry wines, but enjoys indulging in fruit-based wines, honey mead, ice wines, sherry or port to mix it up.
"Just a little bit of sweetness can enhance the character."
Tickets are $65 in advance and $75 at the door.
For more information about the event, visit wpsu.org/ winefestival online.
