Worth a read…
4 Likes
Welp, just learned a new word.
2 Likes
Totally agree with so many of the points. There’s also probably some others he didn’t mention that apply more to the import industry.
3 Likes
Weird. While I think that some of these trends have been happening, and are pushing consumers away, I don’t think the basic argument of the article is coherent at all. The many elucidated wine industry problems (if indeed these are actually problems) don’t seem to follow the definition of enshitification at all. Instead this article reads like one gigantic whine.
3 Likes
Thanks for sharing. I’m a huge Cory Doctorow fan. This resonates with me.
1 Like
Sounds like a long list of grievances easily avoided by drinking wine from anywhere other than California.
11 Likes
Its a perfectly cromulent word
4 Likes
Agree with many of these points as well - looking at the ‘macro’ side of our industry.
2 Likes
Hear hear. “The ensh*ttification of the American wine industry” would’ve been a more apt topic. It was an interesting read, but as a non-American, I found very few relatable points.
1 Like
Gosh, you might think that all the mentions of US distributors, US retail chains, and US wine regions might tip you all of that this was largely about the US, but Berserkers gotta nitpick, so let’s piss on the title of the article.
1 Like
Good article. Point # 3 I think is the main driver of why the industry may be where it is today. When 5 companies make up 60% of the market, things can get funky. Those 5 companies have gobbled up the once Mom & Pop run industry in California and they want an ROI. Like many large corporations, greed can get in the way and muck up the waters.
This is a huge ask and gamble, but I really do think some of the family owned wineries may want to reduce their bottle price. Yes I know that sounds insane, but it may help push sales a touch with current vintages, but also sell back vintages at discount that is sitting at various warehouses racking up interest, insurance costs, etc. Some $ is better that $0 and may begin the shift for even the big cooperate boys to peek at. I get eating caviar every night for diner is amazing, but maybe eating steak won’t be so bad… 
2 Likes
Good article. Largely agree with its contents. Sadly, those who need to be reading it, and heeding its warnings, probably aren’t. Instead, they continue to think they can just Wish Away the problems currently smacking them in the face.
The tasting room thing really hit home for me. Once upon a time, my wife and I (and friends) would spend at least one weekend in CA wine country per year. It was wonderful. Fun, relaxing, and I could geek-out on the wines. And we bought wine. We bought a lot of wine. … nowadays? Not so much. And by “not so much,” I mean, “Not at all.” Taking a weekend to visit wine country is no longer even on our list of interesting options. The fun has been sucked-out of it. It is now wildly expensive – as in, so expensive my usual reaction is, “Seriously!?! LOL!! You have got to be kidding me! Eff this!” “Visiting CA wine country” is no longer geared towards the casuals or the geeks. And losing the geeks, in particular, strikes me as a shameful miscalculation. I want to visit wineries and taste their wines. I want to buy their wines. I want to geek-out over their wines. But tasting fees are now through the roof, often for pours so small one cannot possibly get a good read on the wine. Tasting by appointment only has become far more pervasive. Wines, themselves, are stupid-expensive compared to similar and better wines from elsewhere in the world. and on and on and on and on … It is a saaaad and pathetic day when wineries have lost my business in an environment where they need my business — I want to be their customer, but they have made being their customer a moronic move.
And what do wineries do in response? Nothing. They just continue along this path of self-destruction, thinking (hoping?) they can just wish these problems away. Ultimately, in the end, everyone loses. Wineries lose. Customers lose. The industry loses. Everyone loses.
7 Likes
Well the title is rather provincial. I guess he just assumes that nobody from another country or who is interested in non-American wines would ever come across the article?
And of course is likely to piss people off because it’s yet another indicator of Americans assuming their experience is The General and not in need of caveats/qualification.
1 Like
Remind me to tell all Americans in the wine business that they have to pass the court of universality review before saying anything, lest someone misconstrue their intent.
1 Like
It really feels quite myopic. If there was an article written by a French, Spanish or British person with a title “What is wrong with the wine business”, naturally everybody would assume it is written from the perspective of global wine business.
If a Spanish person wrote about the problems in Spanish wine business, it’s just natural that the topic would be “What is wrong with the wine business in Spain”. This kind of writing happens all the time and nobody bats an eye.
However, then an American writes “What is wrong with the wine business”, everybody has to assume it means naturally “What is wrong with the wine business in the US” - unless when it doesn’t. The US-centrism is so incredibly deep-rooted there that no American person ever pays any attention to this phenomenon, but after awhile it gets rather frustrating and annoying from a non-American POV.
6 Likes
Well, apparently some Americans in the wine business need to be told that it’s a global business most of whose products don’t come from Napa and Sonoma.
American exceptionalism is a very real thing.
But I’m giving the author a break. His company focuses on helping US wineries better market themselves.
The target audience for the company’s website and blog is domestic producers.
When I read Corriere dello Sport I don’t expect the authors to bang me over the head and tell me I’m going to be reading an article about European teams
4 Likes
Perhaps, but again it’s pretty clear what market they were talking about.
But getting all bothered for no reason is one of the events in the Wine Berserkers Olympics. 
2 Likes
Righty. Didn’t know about the author or the company, just read the article. Naturally the media, in which articles are published, matters; however, in internet these lines get blurred very easily.
Wow. Great sentiment. Feel the exact same
1 Like