(by Robert Camuto / via Jancis Robinson / animated image: runwayml / Winemaker: Kloster am Spitz, Burgenland)
These days, you can’t talk to anyone in the wine world without discussing THE CRISIS: consumption is falling, millennials and Gen Z are turning to cocktails or mocktails, and US tariffs and threats are causing (as my grandparents would say, whilst clutching their stomachs) a bit of a stomach ache.
Wine crises come and go, of course. But this time it feels different, because everything else in our world is in crisis too. And all of this is intertwining with the worlds of wine and gastronomy.
People are struggling financially; a dollar isn’t worth a dollar anymore; people are being made redundant only to be replaced by AI. Then there are new synonyms for a world turned upside down: Greenland, Minneapolis, even Canada!
The Old World is stunned. Life goes on, but who knows where to? This moment feels very much like the late 1970s. Only now we’re older and don’t even have punk rock as an outlet.
In this climate, culinary origami in the form of $250 lunches, wine lists starting at just under $100 a bottle and spiralling deep into the four-figure heights of the cult sphere, and $50 for a glass of Barolo seem not only out of reach, but downright out of touch with reality.
A bubble? I think we’ve reached the peak of half a century of a wine and gourmet boom, in which physical and spiritual nourishment—from farm to table—has become a luxury commodity.
Wine has often been a contentious topic this century, or a platform for showing off our exquisite taste – and ourselves. We’ve formed tribes around it, identifiable by demographic profile or tattoos.
I have a problem with this. 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 hospitality industry 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 are not created overnight. The wine world does not need more icons, but rather solid ‘good’ wines.
Article 2
What is a good wine? Good wines respect their environment, their staff and their consumers. They are grown without pesticides and herbicides (fungicides are a far more complex issue). They taste of fermented grapes and of their terroir, and are not marred by excessive alcohol, too much oak or – in this context – by faults such as high volatile acidity or Brettanomyces, which are sometimes excused as ‘natural’.
Article 3
To ensure environmental sustainability, we must review everything in the vineyard: from planting systems and pruning to planting stock. The climate has changed, vine diseases have evolved – but the vines themselves have not. In this area, we must be open to gene editing (not GMOs) to increase the plants’ 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. Taking a brief, non-scientific look at the list of teetotallers, I see Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Putin and the POTUS – all of them 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 esteemed for their personal qualities.
Article 6
Producers must be transparent about every ingredient that goes into wine. If a jam manufacturer adds citric acid or gum arabic to their product, this is listed in the ingredients. The same should apply to wine.
Article 7
The hospitality industry cannot continue to treat wine as its cash cow. I know many restaurants are struggling with greedy landlords and absurd tax bills. But the mark-ups on wine 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 are off-putting and make wine elitist and difficult to access. Who wants to experiment at such prices?
Article 8
Wine is about food and sharing. Let’s put the table back at the centre of our lives as a place where we enjoy each other’s company.
Article 9
We don’t necessarily need more celebrity chefs, but we do need more good cooks and great head chefs. In Italy, where cuisine has evolved over centuries as a culture centred on making the most of nature’s bounty without waste, the finest trattorias and restaurants express their regions with grace and simplicity. Cuisine, like wine, agriculture and craftsmanship, is not contemporary art.
Article 10
We need a new definition of luxury. True luxury does not mean being interrupted by a member of staff who has been trained to explain the technical details of what you are about to eat or drink. Luxury is a moment of sharing and inner renewal in a crazy world. We don’t need a lecture. We need a hug.
To the original post: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/wine-needs-new-social-contract?