The image of wine, the territories from which it comes, the culture associated with it, is in question, and the generalist press, which as a whole reaches millions of people, is not helping the wine crisis.
Talking to a famous “generalist” journalist and pointing out to him that perhaps the wine world could use a less hostile press, I heard some unsettling things answered. Sure, he told me, however, there is a point to be made that the wine industry invests almost nothing in communication and advertising. Why should a publisher favor specific services if they get nothing in return?
Communication and advertising are latent
A complex, perhaps unpopular, even slippery discourse. The fact is. wine is no longer a topic that “pulls” except to criticize it. If you pay attention to it in the major food broadcasts, it is no longer talked about. La prova del cuoco had sommeliers explaining wine, they talked about wine pairings, in It’s Always Noon not a single word. Nothing about Masterchef, almost nothing in Borghese’s programs, Benedetta Rossi doesn’t talk about it, much less than before the Gambero Rosso Channel. Davide Rampello and Paolo Marchi on Striscia la Notizia very rarely. In print media, same story. Columns in daily and weekly newspapers have been drastically reduced.
The topic of wine, and alcohol in general, is difficult to deal with, because there is a concentric attack on the sector, for the reasons I pointed out in previous editorials, but also because wine does not communicate adequately, including in terms of investment in advertising. Because, let’s face it and in a non-hypocritical way, every newspaper does not live simply on sales, but essentially on something else, advertising first and foremost. I am not saying that small producers have to sell out to advertise, but that producer groups, consortia, agricultural departments. should also pose this problem, because it exists.
The wind of common feeling has changed
I’m not boxing for myself, evidently. DoctorWine is a small reality and it’s doing pretty well, but it doesn’t have the strength in itself to shift much more a common feeling that is no longer as positive as in the past, although we still manage to do some good events with good success. Not even big international trade publications succeed as before, moreover. The issue is related to the “generalist” communication., precisely, which deals more and more with recipes, food products, and much less with wine.
Large associations such as Ais, Onav, Fisar, Fis, Slow Food are in the trenches, trying to do information, dissemination and wine culture, and who are also evolving their communication. Some major consortia, Vinitaly, and a few others are also trying to do what they can. On the big sites, such as Dagospia, sometimes Cristiana Lauro writes well-done disclosure articles, but there is not much.
Easier to criticize than to disclose
The main arguments for which people write or talk about wine are to criticize it. It hurts, costs too much, production is opaque, Docs are clowns, and so on. Until there is an awareness on the part of the main players in the sector, there will be no getting away from it. The image of wine, of its age-old tradition, of the territories from which it comes, of the culture associated with it, is in question as perhaps after the methanol tragedy.
I hope I am wrong, but I am not too optimistic.
