History has my back.

We seem to be at an impasse. The industry that is.

A recent podcast with Pauline Vicard of Arena Global (a fine wine think tank) revealed that through the ages, wine has always been about the consumer. That may seem to be an elementary concept, but it does reduce the value of industry down to mere consumerism. And that consumerism has definitely changed.

Today, the consumer narrative is completely different than pre-covid, completely different than the ’90’s, completely different than the ’80's; we go all the way back to Widow Clicquot crafting one profile of Champagne for the Russians and a different profile for the English to prove that consumerism is a dynamic target; one must acknowledge and understand this.

But most winemakers and vineyard managers will tell you that “we are just passing through” and that their/our job is to leave the winery or land better than when you started.? So how can these two opposing concepts co-exist? At the root of the industry is virtually zero change; wine is effectively what it was thousands of years ago and the folks that make it have a very organic view of their role. And at the end of the line for a bottle of wine are ever changing consumer preferences for packaging and flavor profile shifts.

These two concepts would seem to be at odds with each other.

This organic look at the responsibility of the caretakers seems to encroach and fly in the face of the idea that wine is about the consumer. But for all intents and purposes, without the consumer and their changing point-of-view of wine, there is no wine industry.

Can you think of any other manufactured product in the world that A.) is still around after 10,000 years? and B.) that the product is still basically in its original form? Even after the myriad of consumer preference changes? Who can forget the wine spritzers of the '70's?

I think the answer to the longevity of wine lies in the ethereal value of an honest glass of wine; wine made with the intent of portraying a sense of time and place. The human connection is made at that moment; the moment you sip and are removed from everything else and takes you to that time and to that place. Wine is not consumerism in a bottle, it is more than that.

History has my back on this; at least 10,000 years worth, anyway.