(by Robert Camuto / via Jancis Robinson / animated pic: runwayml / Winemaker: Kloster am Spitz, Burgenland)
These days, you cannot speak to anyone in the wine world without talking about THE CRISIS: consumption is declining, Millennials and Gen Z are turning to cocktails or mocktails, and US tariffs and threats are causing (as my grandparents would say, clutching their stomachs) stomach ache.
Wine crises come and go, of course. But this time it feels different, because everything else in our world is also in crisis. And all of this is becoming entangled with the worlds of wine and gastronomy.
People are struggling financially, a dollar is no longer worth a dollar, and people are being laid off to be replaced by AI. Then there are new synonyms for a world turned upside down: Greenland, Minneapolis, even Canada!
The Old World is aghast. Life goes on, but who knows where it is heading? This moment feels very much like the late 1970s. Only now we are older and do not even have the outlet of punk rock.
In this climate, culinary origami in the form of $250 lunches, wine lists that begin at just under $100 per bottle and spiral deep into four-figure cult territory, and $50 for a glass of Barolo seem not only out of reach but downright divorced from reality.
A bubble? I think we have reached the peak of half a century of a wine and foodie boom that has turned physical and spiritual nourishment from farm to table into a luxury good.
Wine has often been a hot-button topic or a platform in this century for showing off our exquisite taste and ourselves. We have formed tribes around it that can be predicted by a demographic profile or tattoos.
I have a problem with that. Because wine and food should never divide people. Wine and food should bring people together.
What I am proposing is a new social contract between wine producers, the restaurant trade and consumers – as follows.
A new social contract
Article 1
There is a glut of special cuvées from wine producers; self-proclaimed ‘important wines’ that in truth are not. Legendary wines do not emerge overnight. The wine world does not need more icons, but solid ‘good’ wines.
Article 2
What is a good wine? Good wines respect their environment, their employees and their consumers. They are grown without pesticides and herbicides (fungicides are a much more complex issue). They taste of fermented grapes and their land and are not burdened by excessive alcohol, too much oak or – in this context – faults such as high volatile acidity or Brettanomyces, which are sometimes excused as ‘natural’.
Article 3
For ecological sustainability, we need to review everything in the vineyard: from planting systems and pruning to planting material. The climate has changed, vine diseases have evolved – the vines themselves have not. In this area, we must be open to gene editing (not GMOs) to increase plant resilience.
Article 4
Wine in moderation at the table can be part of a healthy lifestyle.
Article 5
Wine in moderation at the table can also foster a healthy character in our leaders. In a brief, non-scientific look at the list of abstainers, I see Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Putin and the POTUS – all unbalanced narcissists. American presidents with wine cellars began with Washington and Jefferson and extend to our modern, wine-loving presidents from both political camps, Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan – all appreciated for their personal qualities.
Article 6
Producers must be transparent about every ingredient that goes into wine. When a jam maker adds citric acid or gum arabic to their product, this is listed on the ingredients list. The same should apply to wine.
Article 7
The restaurant trade cannot continue to treat wine as its cash cow. I know many restaurants are struggling with greedy landlords and absurd tax bills. But wine mark-ups are out of control. In US cities, a single $25 glass of wine in a wine bar or restaurant often covers the cost of an entire bottle. These prices put people off and make wine elitist and difficult to access. Who wants to experiment at such prices?
Article 8
Wine is about food and sharing. Let us put the table back at the centre as a place where we enjoy the company of others.
Article 9
We do not necessarily need more celebrity chefs, but we do need more good cooks and great kitchen chefs. In Italy, where cuisine has developed over centuries as a culture that brings out the best in nature without waste, the best trattorias and restaurants express their regions with grace and simplicity. Cuisine is, like wine, agriculture and craftsmanship – not contemporary art.
Article 10
We need a new definition of luxury. True luxury does not mean being interrupted by a service employee trained to explain the technical details of what one is about to eat or drink. Luxury is a moment of sharing and inner renewal in a crazy world. We do not need a lecture. We need a hug.
To the original article: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/wine-needs-new-social-contract?