At the outset of a new year and the start of a new generation, consider this big existential question: Does wine still make sense?
Of course it does. But wine—like everything from cars to communications media—will undergo big disruptions.
Let’s heed the famous words from Il Gattopardo (The Leopard), the film adapted from the novel by Sicilian Prince Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa: “For things to remain the same, everything must change.”
For wine (paired with great food) to remain at the center of a beautiful world for future generations, it needs to be shaken up. And the wine world is ripe for it.
For some years now, we’ve heard about the two-headed beast of the global wine crisis: declining consumption and declining production.
Consumption globally is down roughly 10 percent from the heady days before the Great Recession of 2008, according to an International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) report from 2023. In the Old World, generation after generation drinks less than their forebears. In recent years, the decline has been fueled by inflation, a boom in cocktails and spreading neo-prohibitionism.
Meanwhile volatile climate conditions are making the lives of winegrowers more difficult. Spring frosts, ill-timed torrential rains, droughts, record heatwaves and the proliferation of plant diseases are hammering vineyards.
So what needs to change?
Let’s start with consumption. Wine is a cyclical product. Fifty years ago, who was drinking wine and what were they drinking? In my youth, other than the excellent, 10-bucks-a-bottle, fifth-growth Bordeaux my parents occasionally enjoyed, I recall lots of the slightly sweet and sparkling Portuguese wines Mateus and Lancers, as well as my grandfather’s fiaschi of sour-smelling Chianti.
The Golden Age of wine that began in the 1990s—with its revolution of increased focus on quality and, ultimately, on diversity and terroir—is not over yet. What’s lacking are affordability and some fresh excitement.
Sadly, the prices of coveted wines have soared along with other luxury products, putting many great wines—from Burgundy to Bordeaux to Napa—out of reach for mortal wine lovers.
Click HERE to read the full article.