Lorenzo Biscontin
The statement in the title is so obvious that it would seem superfluous to spend time on it.
Yet it is often forgotten by wine professionals. As an example, I report a comment that appeared in a recent discussion in a WhatsApp community “… the vast majority of the world’s population cannot afford to drink really good wines that cost more than 20 pounds a bottle …”
As anyone who works in the wine sector knows, this point of view is widespread and often recurs among opinion leaders, critics, wine lovers and even producers. I say “even” because it seems to me an inconceivable lack of respect towards their consumers.
According to this vision, the millions of people who drink wines sold for less than 10 euros/dollars, most of the world’s wine market, would be either doing some form of penance or be masochists.
I announce a first revelation: people like the wine they drink! Otherwise, they wouldn’t drink it.
Everyone has eaten and drunk since they were born, so everyone is an absolute expert in what he/she likes and what don’t like. I can wear a pair of pants that don’t suit me because they are fashionable, or I can use a computer that is not ideal for the use I have to make of it because I don’t know enough about IT, but no one will ever have any doubts about whether they like something they eat or drink.
And there will be no way to make them drink something they don’t like, unless it is for a benefit greater than disgust: I take the medicine that I don’t like because it is good for me.
Because, here is the second revelation, people do not need to drink wine. If I didn’t like the wine that I can afford, I would simply stop drinking it.
How many times have I heard condescending talk about those who drink the “light” and cheap Pinot Grigio from Eastern Veneto, as if it were a stopgap? The same happened with Prosecco before the enormous success of this wine made it impossible not to take it seriously.
Instead, the people who drink that Pinot Grigio, drink it precisely because at that moment and in that situation that is what they want.
Becoming aware of this fact and respecting all consumer behaviors is the basis for being able to develop strategies, including product strategies, capable of connecting and engaging people (consumers).
For a few months I have been analyzing and reasoning about the generalized decline in wine consumption and the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that certain wines have a taste problem: too complex, strong, intense for large segments of the population.
The entire decline in wine consumption in France over the last forty years is determined by the reduction in red wine consumption. It cannot be a coincidence.
