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INTERMEZZO #2

appellation system but are also the antithesis here and if you don’t adapt you won’t be a part
of offer-driven wines - the holy grail of experts of it.
who see wine as a regular consumer product. Says who?
Producing for demand is, of course, the Is it grape growers and wine makers saying
most important “lesson” taught to vignerons these things? No, it is people from outside the
the world over by marketeers. If you are a wine industry, people as far removed as possible
maker, you are not supposed to succeed if you from the actual production process of wine,
do not produce a wine that will satisfy pre-exi- people I would venture, who have no under-
sting demand. Commercially successful wines standing of Wine, its culture, its traditions. Peo-
notwithstanding, what is the biggest trend in ple with vested interests, like the extreme ecolo-
the wine business right now? Is it not bizarre, gists who would like to see airplanes grounded
quirky, entirely personal, unique and artistic forever or the hypochondriacs who would
wines that are the antithesis of mass-produ- have us wearing masks on a permanent basis.
ced, to demand, wines? Of course, the two These are only new ways, maybe other ways
can co-exist and they do, but my point is that that may make business easier. But wine, wine
analysts from outside the industry are wrong doesn‘t care much about it. Wine will sooner
to consider that vignerons who “do their own or later return to its riverbed and it will not
thing” will fail. pay much attention to whether new floating
Which brings us to the present, to the post canals, artificial river arms or trans-shipment
or “meta” pandemic era: Wine shows, and ex- yards have been created this year.
hibitions are dead; bottle shops are dead; Well, I have some bad news for the pessi-
live tastings are dead; (there are people who mists, the naysayers, and the doomsday be-
actually believe all this). Everything can now lievers: life will prevail and so will wine as we
be done virtually. Zoom a tasting, Skype know it. Our society will not “change forever”
a meeting, Instagram your “moment” and and humanity will continue to enjoy wine the
Tweet your opinion. A new world of wine is same way it has for more than 2500 years.

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