Thoughts of a wine lover
I’m aware it's a complete departure from the script, but isn't that what we've all been doing lately? Departing from the script established?
I have been a professional in the sector for many years but, above all, I am a winelover, who which is cooler.
Just like you, I love enjoying a great bottle, especially if it is accompanied by good food and great company. My head is full, with a bit of homesickness, of great memories of summer nights enjoying live music on the patio of a winery with a Muscat of Alexandria in my hand, a tapas crawl in the most traditional bars of the city, a weekend of wine tourism with friends and their eternal after-dinner parties around a good Tempranillo and a local cheese, the nights (yes, the nights) of Enofest... I don't know what you think, but, for me, this is the definition of wine culture.
However, as I said, this last year we have had to adapt courtesy of the coronavirus. It may seem trivial or superficial considering the damage that the infamous virus has wrought, but it does not seem immoral to mention the formidable effort we are making, since as social creatures it is not in our DNA to dispense with physical interaction with others. In fact, we have searched for it by all the means at our disposal and, without a doubt, the digital medium has given us the opportunity to continue together, despite the virus.
It's not the same, I know. However, everything has its positive side.
Wineries, winemakers, restaurants, wine bars or event companies related to the world of wine have adjusted the sails in an explosion of digital creativity that, like wine lover, I confess appeals to me, because it has never been so easy before to buy that bottle of wine from that small producer on the other side of the country or attend that tasting that we have long considered but, for time or money, we have never done.
And here comes the concluding thought.
Wine lovers, each one with their own specificities, like to savor very different experiences, but always with wine as the backbone. We yearn for it and, since we don't have time to spare, we are digital, although the information is so extensive and so dispersed that, even so, we do not even know everything that is going on.
It is unappealable, in my opinion, that, when we return to normal, the enological world has consolidated its steps towards even greater digitization, with synergies and all the interlocutors integrated in a network that offers us an unsurpassed experience, with just a smartphone swipe.
Perhaps it is just the thinking of someone who has been on hiatus for a long time, so I invite you to share your views and concerns because together, we know more.