Embrace it or detest it, but one reality can’t be ignored: the entire approach to wine must be disrupted if the industry is to in future stand on a solid commercial footing. Anyone with even slight interest in the noble fermented juice of the vineyard knows that worldwide wine consumption is decreasing.
This isn’t due to overproduction or tariff nightmares caused by Donald Trump. It’s not about challenging sustainable farming methods, glass bottles considered too heavy, or the rise in the number of abstainers. It is about how consumers and potential consumers see wine as something that can satisfy their craving for the type of pleasure a drink can offer.
One issue with wine is temperature, particularly with red wine. What other beverage has a “rule” that it must be consumed at room temperature? Alcoholic drinks that compete with wine and have eroded the wine market in recent decades are enjoyed cold – not cool, but cold. Beers and ciders, ready-to-drink cocktails, hard seltzers, G&Ts, and a multitude of cocktails are all served at temperatures that could freeze the balls off a polar bear.
Even the most aged whiskies and cognacs are more often than not enjoyed with an ice cube or two in the glass. You don’t need to be a future predictor or an MBA PhD to realise that the global market for cold drinks far outnumbers that for room-temperature, piss tepid red wine. Yet, red wine producers make little effort to change this status quo and remain attached to the convention that red wine should be consumed at a temperature the new generations of consumer find bland, leaving drinkers’ wanting of it as lukewarm as the wine in their half-drunk glass of Shiraz.
Good red wine can certainly be marketed as providing the same pleasure when enjoyed at a cool 13°C to 15°C as for conventional drinkers at around 18°C to 20°C. If the wine isn’t refreshing enough, consumers should be encouraged to add an ice cube or two without the fear of being slowly pelted to death with moth-balls or wet dentures.
Promoting a more flexible approach to enjoying red wine can transform the wine industry’s image into a modern entity that connects with younger consumers. It’s about pushing boundaries. Dare to do it with wine.
White wine is typically served cool, but that isn’t enough to compete with its aforementioned rivals. Adding ice is more accepted today, though producers rarely encourage the adding of ice to a glass of Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay. More than chill, however, is needed to make wine more enticing: enhancing wine’s flavour poses a challenge.
For purists who see terroir, vintage, and origin as defining a wine’s identity, altering the product’s taste by adding something else is a nightmare. Yet, they must understand that wine’s future is determined by an eager new unconventional market, and the existing rules must be broken.
On a warm day, I prefer a half-glass of Sauvignon Blanc mixed with sparkling water and some ice cubes over a beer. This drink, a spritzer, should be part of the wine future. As should the delightful Sangria, the Spanish refreshment with red wine, sparkling water, slices of orange and apple, and a splash of brandy. Despite these enhancements, Sangria still tastes like wine, just in a delicious, moreish disguise.
This imaginative approach to wine is, thankfully, gradually gaining traction. I was pleased to see KWV promoting their Cathedral Cellar wines with wine cocktails, and Leopard’s Leap is innovating with Chardonnay Margaritas and Merlot Milkshakes. It’s an exploratory phase, but doors are opening to the realisation that wine’s future will look drastically different from its past.
Those deeply invested in the industry must embrace this new direction, as it’s the only way to make disruption work for you.
(Translated from the Afrikaans version, as published in Wineland Magazine.)
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