CARL CORSI OF SOUTHERN GLAZER’S WINE & SPIRITS DISCUSSES WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP THE WINE COMMUNITY
Becoming a member of the wine community isn’t akin to signing a gym membership: Whether you’re a grower, a cellar rat, a sommelier, or a server, it’s a status that’s acquired over time. Refining a professional skill set is how you pay your dues, but the act of physically sharing wine with others is what makes this industry a communal experience.
Think of the most memorable wines you’ve tasted and try to pick the top three. Now remember the instances where an everyday bottle of wine made a lasting impression because of where you were or the people you were with. Finally, reflect on how many times you’ve told someone about your experience as a wine professional, only to hear them respond, “I wish I had your job!”
For an industry used to reveling in a sense of camaraderie that others largely lack, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything. That said, even before the virus made it impossible to convene in hospitality spaces, the economics were not looking good: The record-setting harvest of 2018 is in the pipeline, with more and more wines released every day; 2019, which marked the first time U.S. wine consumption dropped in 25 years, is in the tank; and this year’s production is not a factory line that can simply be turned off. In short, it all works out to more juice and fewer bottles sold.
Now a deadly pandemic has sickened hundreds of thousands and killed tens of thousands more. Among the millions who have lost their jobs within a period of just a few weeks, the wine community has been hit particularly hard. There’s no doubt that many of those who make this industry so special will not emerge with their businesses intact. A majority of layoffs have affected the lowest paid of the community the most – the ones who can afford it the least. The owners of beloved restaurants are heartbroken, fearing that everything they’ve worked so hard for might not outlast the virus.
The refrain continues: “We’ll get through this.” That is true, as the wine community won’t simply cease to exist. How long it takes to recover, however, depends in part in how the community itself will come together to make that happen.
What can you do to help? In the short term, ordering takeout from your favorite neighborhood or ordering wine online are easy ways to do so, if you have the means. But in the long term, recovery will depend on what a majority of professional retail and restaurant sommeliers do all the time: make it easy for consumers to understand and appreciate wine. The more comfortable consumers are, the more stories they’ll have to tell the next time they can open up a bottle to enjoy with friends.
The question is, are you using your wine knowledge to promote the wine community—or just to promote yourself?
In her recent SOMM Journal editorial “To All the Somms I’ve Loved Before,” Karen MacNeil reflects on good and bad experiences she’s had with sommeliers over the years. Too many somms, she points out, use their wine knowledge simply to impress, but their savvier counterparts aim to take consumers on a satisfying tour of the world of wine—a world they’re eager to return to often.
It’s impressive that you’ve studied hard enough to earn certifications from the likes of the Court of Master Sommeliers and the Wine & Spirit Education Trust or that you can name all of the appellations from Chablis to Côte Chalonnaise. But how you use your knowledge and experience makes a difference: You can show off how much you know to the point of being intimidating, or you can use the skills you’ve gained to better describe the pleasures of responsibly enjoying wine a little more often.
You likely know how your talents can be used most effectively, but try to view them through a new lens: By challenging yourself, you may find yourself conjuring ways to help your facet of the industry recover sooner than it might have without your efforts.
Right now, we need ambassadors more than ever. What will you do to give back to the wine community?
