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.
But this doesn’t stop at the top. High prices have also hit more modest wines that are poured in wine bars and restaurants.
On my recent annual holiday pilgrimage to visit family in New York, I was stunned to find that $20 to $25 is the median cost of a glass of wine in a Manhattan restaurant.
I get that restaurants have to make payrolls and pay often crazy rents. But high by-the-glass prices are a killer of experimentation. And experimentation is key to discovering the nuances of wine. How else do you get new generations to love the spiciness of Cabernet Franc, the power-meets-elegance of Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo, the refinement-meets-rusticity of Sangiovese, the geological depth of aged Riesling or Fiano, or the lithe joy of Frappato or Grignolino, as well as the delights of other resurgent varieties from hundreds of terroirs?
So what would I recommend?
I won’t get started on the foolishness of America’s three-tier distribution system, which creates unnecessary costs. Nor will I speak about the potential market-killing tariffs on the world’s biggest wine-producing countries, which happen to be in Europe.
Instead, I have a win-win wine proposal. Every year, European consortiums spend millions on agricultural promotional subsidies that go to trick out flashy new wineries, pay for wine swag and host junkets. I’ve seen the waste. Without pointing a finger, I’ll say that the money is not always well spent.
Why not spend more of those funds to get good wine into the hands of young drinkers at reasonable prices in major urban areas?
In other words, subsidize wine programs and restaurant-based events that greatly reduce by-the-glass prices.
We need at least one Italian Wine Week, French Wine Week, Spanish Wine Week, Sonoma Wine Week, Tuscan Wine Week, Rhône Wine Week, Champagne, Crémant or Whatever Wine Week every week of the year!
Frequently having such events would build affordability, experimentation and buzz into the dining scene and would benefit everyone.
What else should be done?
Now let’s talk about production, I’ll make the point again that the industry needs to find ways encourage young winemakers. Soaring vineyard prices and other barriers lock out potential new talent and their potential young followers.
Another huge production problem has to do with wine lovers’ weird relationship with agriculture and technology.
I confess to having a romantic, no-tech ideal of winemaking. Of chemical-free vineyards, cultivated by shiny, happy people who turn the grapes to nectar with lots of passion and no additives.
But the fact is that many of the grape-variety clones widely planted today were selected decades ago (for grafting onto American rootstock) and haven’t evolved along with diseases, pests and a changing climate. As a result, producers (including organic and biodynamic ones) often run to keep ahead of mildew outbreaks by firing up diesel tractors to frequently treat their vines with copper sulfate, which can build up to concentrations that are toxic to soil organisms, harm plant health and reduce soil fertility.
The current system not only pollutes the earth, but costs farmers in fuel, pesticides and manpower.
It’s time for the wine world to revisit its vine stock. We need to go back to the drawing board to reselect biotypes, clones and varieties better adapted to current and predicted future conditions. But we also should be open to science in the form of new resistant hybrid grape varieties and gene editing to strengthen the defenses of existing varieties without affecting the character of their fruit.
Experimentation has started in Europe. It needs more investment, but the biggest obstacle is us and our lack of imagination.
Vineyards have been evolving for centuries. It’s not sustainable to freeze today’s practices in place, whether that’s modern vine selection or monoculture farming. As viticulture continues to mature, we can look for answers in both the past and an imagined future.
While we are at it, let’s commit to using some of the savings from more sustainable viticulture to pay for decent wages (and work conditions) for all vineyard workers. What’s a fair wage? One good enough to allow them to go out and enjoy a glass of wine.
