Wine Enthusiast’s Future 40! & Drinking Progressively

We are still buzzing from the news… have you heard?? Our very own founder and CEO, TJ Douglas, has been named one ofWine Enthusiast’s Future 40! Recognizing those who are revolutionizing the drink industry, our team could not be prouder of both TJ’s own journey and his and Hadley’s vision as a whole for The Drink Progressively Group. 

TJ has received this recognition for our store’s center concept –DRINK PROGRESSIVELY. Shifting the thinking of how we organize and discover new wines through the “Progressive Scale,” a proprietary system of organizing wines by their body rather than varietal or region. 

What is the Progressive Scale?Using a 1-10 weighting system that measures the body of a wine, 1 is considered to be the lightest-bodied wine we carry, while 10 would be the heaviest. To make the world of wine more approachable to all, this scale is also tied to one’s perception of various milks – ie. lighter bodies are compared to “skim milk” and, moving up the scale, things can progressively build in body to a 5 or our “whole milk.” Ultimately, we cap everything off at 10, or our “heavy cream.” This scale is reflected twice: 1W to 10W for white wines, and 1R to 10R for red wines. 

Here you may be asking,why milk? Originally developed by world-renowned wine educator Kevin Zraly, the milk analogy creates a common reference point that makes it easier for consumers to understand differing wine weights as we all know the differences between skim milk, whole milk, and heavy cream. To put it plainly, UG developed the Progressive Scale to help you, the wine buyer and drinker,find wines that are best suited to your palate and discover new food and wine pairings. By developing this unique system, we’ve ensured that anyone can learn about and enjoy the world of wine!

Now that you know a bit more about the philosophy behind the Progressive Scale,how does our team implement and utilize this tool in our tastings?Within our public, in-store, off-site, and virtual tastings, our knowledgeable wine educators guide the tasting in Progressive order -light body to heavy body in white varietals and then in red. In this way we are reinforcing our tasting philosophy and creating a structured and digestible wine education experience. 

Our team could not be prouder of TJ for this accomplishment, and we can’t wait to introduce you to the Progressive Scale and help youdiscover your number. Follow the links below to get startedtasting progressively!