Don't Believe Everything You See on WineTok

Not all social media is accurate. Wine content is no exception

A screenshot of when I dabbled in wine social media content

Wine-based social media grinds my gears.

This might sound like I’m curmudgeonly and old-school. Someone who doesn’t want to embrace social media. It might sound like I want to gatekeep wine knowledge.

I don’t. After over 12 years working in wine, believe me when I tell you the more wine drinkers know about the product in their glass, the better.

No. My problem with WineTok — which I’m using as a catchall term for any wine-based social media content— is that so much of it is incredibly inaccurate.

Misinformation. Clichés. Over-simplification. WineTok does a huge disservice to wine drinkers and that breaks my heart.

It saddens me that wine is reduced to two-minute clips of inaccurate information passed off as demystification. That social media perpetuates old-school stereotypes — think of the snobby sommelier or the tipsy wine mom.

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I get it, everyone wants a quick, easy answer, especially on social media.

The whole industry thrives on our short (and shortening) attention spans. We want quick information and we want it now.

But alas, there is no getting around the fact that wine is a complicated subject. It sucks but there are few shortcuts to the knowledge.

Put it this way: I don’t think I’m that bad at wine. I’ve got the certifications, won the competitions and run the successful wine bar and store.

Yet I still regularly feel like I know nothing. It’s the way wine is. There’s always a wine you’ve never tried. There’s always something to blow previous wine knowledge out of the water.

But WineTok makes it look so easy.