The Times Are A-Changing

I led some quite interesting conversations in March – with friends, business partners, other winemakers etc. The first one was about non-alcoholic products. Many people today want to fill the niche of interesting non-alcoholic products, which is supposedly huge. Maybe that's true, but I personally think it's a current inflated bubble and would be careful with it. To get an idea, I've been deliberately exposing myself to "non-alco wines", "non-alco spirits", "non-alco stuff" and to be honest often found it abominable. To me, already name is an issue – wine without alcohol is not wine, spirits without alcohol are not spirits. I think the best non-alcoholic drink is... water.

The second conversation is closely related to this. People are drinking less alcohol, hence less wine, and it's going to get "worse" as this dynamic is only going to accelerate. Note the choice of the word "worse" – that's what most of us producers call it. However, I suggest we reverse it and put the word 'better' in there. "People are drinking less alcohol, therefore less wine, and it will be better because there will be even less of it."

Strange coming from someone who produces wine and hence alcohol? Maybe. I look at it this way: Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful, people start drinking much smarter, much more consciously. If they open a bottle of wine it is because it makes sense; if they finish it, it's because the wine makes sense to them.

Wine from healthy farming and from winemakers with whom consumers share common values. If diminished wine consumption leads to this, I think it is only a good thing. Will it lead to uprooting hundreds of thousands of hectares of vineyards across the world as a consequence? That is not a question to ponder anymore, that has been clear for a long time now.

Another related conversation: the increasingly widening gap in consumer behaviour (not just wine btw). People either want a cheap cheap product where price plays a huge role, but the product still has to be good. Or they want a unique thing where price doesn't play a role at all because it only exists in limited quantities. So restaurants today, to keep the same price of their wine by glass for the end customer, are looking for even cheaper wines. In the end, no one in the chain makes money: not the winemaker, not the distributor, not the restaurant. It is time to rethink how to work with margin and generate profit. Creating large quantities of something that brings no meaningful profit, and is difficult to market will not make much sense in the future.

Convo number four: the global wine trade. After years of boom and wine going places, there comes a time when exporting is likely to become increasingly difficult. Selling wine as close to one's 'home turf' as possible will in turn become increasingly important. The geopolitical situation in the world has indicated this more than enough for some time, and the threat of 200% tariffs from the US has only emphasised the trend.

This very general recapitulation is certainly not intended to give the impression of pessimism. On the contrary, I believe that when the world is changing more and faster than ever before, the only way to hold on is to change our mindset and bring out the positives, even though they may not be visible at first sight. We shall see what the future brings.

How will we react to it here at Chateau Nestarec? We'll try to be even more focused, more original in the sense of bringing things that only can be born in this specific place. To work sustainably, in the ecological, social and economic sense. So that our customers have a good reason to spend their money with us, on something that makes sense. For them and for us.

It's spring, I'm excited and optimistic. I hope you will read this reflection with the same eyes. Cheers to you, cheers to spring.