An interesting parallel

I don't know much about wine, really.  I do like reading some of the discussions about wine, and I've even posted about it too.  The wine writing for Slate I particularly like because Mike Steinberger often right to the heart of debates in the wine world.

The most recent article is here.  I love it because it's so very parallel to debates in the beer world, but it gives me a bit of perspective since I have no particular axes to grind about wine.  His newest article is about the debate over ever-increasing alcohol and fruit-bombiness in wines.  Steinberger's preferences are pretty plain -- enough is enough.  But in the end, his call is for variety instead of limits.  Sure, let the high-alcohol fruit bombs fly, just so long as there are other choices available.

It's a great point and one that is definitely germane in the beer world, where people like me are always carping that "special" beer is often equated with "high alcohol and over the top flavor".  So I end up championing the more subtle, if no less wonderful, beers that I think get overlooked.  But the point should really be about variety -- let's get a range of different flavors on the bar there!

A couple of points:

1. It's very clear in the wine world that the preference for bigger, bolder, more alcoholic has been driven by the Robert Parker palate, and the ratings systems that tend to favor the wines he likes (and thus the bigger, jammier wines).  It's less clear in the beer world, where just don't have any one central voice or palate driving preferences.  It does seem clear that even more democratic, mass-rating sites like Beer Advocate and Rate Beer tend to reward the bigger, bolder beers in the same way though.
2. Steinberg makes the very good point that actually even in blind tastings, even people who think they prefer more restrained wines actually prefer the bigger ones!  That is, wine makers go big because they are rewarded for it in the market.  Again to the beer world: clearly people do go for bigger and bolder.  
3. Is this an effect (see point 2) driven by those first getting into craft beer, as some have suggested, or is it a general preference? I'm not really sure. Another idea though is that it depends not just on palates but on how much.  I see this all the time in judging at homebrew competitions.  Judges too tend to go for bigger and bolder, even within a given style.  I think that's often because they are taking small sips, rather than drinking the beer as they would in a bar.  To me, a perfectly legitimate question is not just "which do I prefer" but "which would I want to have two of?"