While the wine industry continues to grow, there is this underlying feeling that wine is for the wealthy. It’s not just a beverage. It’s a symbol of wealth, status and accomplishment. It’s been marketed that way.
Society has been enjoying wine since the dawn of time. During the early Golden Ages and Medieval times, wine wasn’t just a drink to enjoy with a meal but was considered vital for good health. It was an alcoholic beverage that was enjoyed by all social classes and was as necessary as breathing air. Today, however, wine has shifted to being more like a symbol than anything else. Everything in the way that wine has been marketed, has made the beverage a representation of wealth and status.
The 1970s saw a massive change of wine pricing when Bordeaux was considered as a premium region that needed to be placed above the rest. This gap between “average” wine and expensive wine was where the symbolic nature of wine started. Drinking wine from these “premium” regions were done strictly by the wealthy individuals who could afford to pay absurd amounts for wine. It was during this time where wine was proving to be a worthy investment and it encouraged the wealthy to invest money. This investment opportunity simply strengthened the idea that wealth and wine are synonymous.
Unfortunately, as we progressed further into the ‘90s and 2000s, this idea of wine and wealth is something that has stuck – and was taken advantage of through marketing and advertising. There is a certain stigma that has been built around expensive wine and how it represents status in our social hierarchy. Today’s society has created this hierarchy based on income, education, lifestyle and occupation and wine have managed to symbolize several of those aspects. Not only does the type of expensive wine represent income, but the places where they are drunk often represent the lifestyle. Being seen at a sophisticated wine lounge or special wine event has a special ring to it that elevated their place in the hierarchy.
This is by no means something that we do consciously or intentionally. This is just something that has been conditioned into us for the past few decades through clever marketing and advertising by wine producers all over the world. The perfect example of this is how certain Champagne brands have marketed themselves as a prestigious, luxury brand and how individuals fall into a higher class if they purchase these expensive wines. While these Champagnes are made in the same way as other Champagne wines, they are selling a lifestyle and not necessarily just expensive wine.
So while most of us consume wine because it is such an incredible beverage that deserves to be appreciated and savored, it often goes beyond that. We would love to say that this is just another alcoholic drink that fits in our daily lives, it does have a stigma associated with it. So, while we enjoy wine because of the taste; the producer and the story behind it; we subconsciously make wine-decisions based on our peers and the association that wine has with it.
Bibliography
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Dimson, E. (2014). The Price of Wine. Retrieved from https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/the_price_of_wine.pdf
Marketing Lessons Luxury Wine Brands Teach us. (2015). Retrieved from European Business Review: https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/marketing-lessons-luxury-wine-brands-teach-us-about-authenticity-and-prestige/unrv. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wine Wasn’t Always So Popular Amongst the Romans: https://www.unrv.com/economy/wine.php