In today’s media environment, narrative is everything. Stories fly around social media and the Web, reverberating, catching fire, expiring, then rekindling — or not. We often form viewpoints and modify our actions based on these narratives. Political fortunes rise and fall on the turn of a phrase or a meme. To paraphrase an infamous political consultant, “You have your facts and I have mine.” ‘Truth’ seems like a quaint anachronism.
Driven by temperance-minded advocates — perhaps coordinated, perhaps not — wine is being demonized by incomplete and often inaccurate interpretations of research and poor reporting, specifically in regard to health and wellness. From the San Francisco Chronicle in March, ‘Younger Generations Say All Alcohol is “Literally Poison”,‘ to the New York Times April article, ‘Should Alcohol Labels Warn of Cancer Risks?,’ mainstream media is creating a negative narrative about wine with clickbait headlines that can impact government policy as well as popular opinion and consumption for years to come. And news travels around the world with a keystroke, impacting global markets. Reporters and newsrooms are under-resourced, recycling stories and chasing clicks, sometimes misrepresenting or misunderstanding scientific data and reporting half-truths. Young audiences who don’t have the perspective of years of positive narratives about wine, or much history tasting wine, are particularly susceptible to the negativity.
New challenges for the wine industry
Wine producers are used to challenges: climate, economic conditions, competition from spirits, RTD’s and now cannabis. But the insidious threat of demonizing wine, even equating wine to tobacco, which is happening through proposed policies and promoted through the media, feels like an existential threat that can impact consumption for a generation to come.
I believe that the wine industry needs to reclaim the narrative about wine with positive, consumer-focused and consumer-friendly messages that celebrate wine’s great attributes and speak to all adult generations across borders. We need campaigns that engage and are supported by companies throughout the wine value chain from producers, trade organisations, importers and distributors to retailers, restaurant owners, and suppliers such as bottle manufacturers and cork companies.
We have a beautiful story to tell: Wine is social, historical, sustainable and good economics for communities around the world. Wine is a truly branded agricultural product, tying people in a positive way to the land, creating jobs and sustaining rural communities. Wine is part of the communal table, more akin to food than alcohol. Wine is culture, connecting people across borders with a common love and language — much needed in this world of ours today. We need to tell these stories with riffs on the themes based on individual markets, cultures and styles but in a proactive, consistent and forceful way. Conceived, executed and properly sustained, these campaigns can turn into a movement.
Our campaign
That’s why Karen MacNeil, author of the WIne Bible, Kimberly Charles, a veteran wine communications professional, and I created ‘Come Over October’ Our campaign celebrates, first and foremost, wine’s unique and historical role as a communal drink that brings people together. We promote positive messages that include moderation (like any alcoholic beverage, consuming wine in excess can be destructive) and inclusivity. We encourage those who cannot or choose not to consume alcohol to ‘come over’ for a non-alcoholic wine or a sparkling water.
The international wine world is coalescing around the campaign with support from leading producers and top retailers to trade organizations, importers and service providers to the wine industry. We even have Lyft, a company that also celebrates togetherness, as our rideshare partner. We created a mission-driven company, COME TOGETHER: A Community for Wine, to execute the Come Over October campaign. Additional positive, consumer-focused campaigns about the virtues of wine will follow in 2025.
Does excessive wine consumption carry risk? Of course. And we need to always stress responsibility and moderation. The friendship deficit that exists in the US today is also a risk to health. “Loneliness and social isolation,” according to US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, “are urgent public health concerns, more widespread than smoking, diabetes or anxiety.” The Come Over October campaign encourages people of all generations to come together, particularly in this time of societal stress, divisiveness and social isolation. Who could argue with that?
