Is wine in its vibe era?

Seems that way

All images courtesy of Maria Inês Ferreira

In a recent issue of Noble Rot, wine writer Jon Bonné wrote that he reckons wine has entered its “vibe era”:

"Restaurants are a vibe. Music is a vibe. Fashion is a vibe. Wine too, is in its vibe era.

(The wine world) is more dynamic and more fun than it has been in years.”

The idea of “wine as vibes” has been rolling around my head since I read the story because… I kind of like it. I want it to catch on because it has the potential to break down the partisan nature of wine.

I have a question for you. When you think about wine — both the trade and people who take drinking it seriously — what do you think about?

Perhaps you think about stereotypes like:

• Stuffy, suited, snobby Sommeliers sniffing at your Sauvignon Blanc.

• People talking about their wine investments and Parker points whilst swilling expensive Burgundy.

• Bearded, tattooed, natural wine peddlers drinking cloudy, overpriced, pet-nat, getting upset about chemicals.

• Status-like, blingy wines made famous by celebrities with more money than taste.

This may not be how I approach wine, but they are stereotypes I have seen play out many times over.

And all of them divide. They create an us-versus-them mentality that pits different wine factions against each other.

But thinking about wine as a vibe takes away all of that because everyone has a different vibe, yet we’re all vibing together.

I don’t always feel comfortable in certain wine circles. The snobbier, suited-and-booted side of it makes me feel icky and irritated. The hyper-hipster circles make me feel seriously uncool. I’ve felt the gatekeeping of wine — being judged by what you drink, where you drink it and who you drink it with — too many times to mention.

But vibes? Yeah, I can get on board with that, because vibes are a positive thing. A bar / restaurant / bottle of wine / group of wine friends can’t be a vibe if they’re acting pretentious or exclusionary because you can’t vibe in a negative space (and there are some interesting scientific studies around why that is).

Let’s put it another way. Last week, I attended a huge wine party in the Douro Valley. This is an annual event put on by a very good importer here in Portugal and filled with the who’s who of the Portuguese wine trade (somehow, they let me in too). We’re talking about folks who are collectively pushing wine forward here.

This party was a vibe.

It had all the hallmarks of a vibe. For a start, there was a big age range between guests. Early twenties to late fifties were all enjoying life together. The food had an old-school bent, from roasted goat to cozido (meat stew) cooked for hours over fire. That’s a vibe all to itself.

The venue was the excellent Libatio, whose crumbling patio walls, tree-filled garden and Douro views are definitely a vibe. There was nothing especially conceptual about the party (conceptual = the antithesis of vibes), it was just filled with good people doing good things with good wine.

There was one thing that got me thinking about wine vibes at this party more than anything else. At one point, I turned around and saw three of Italy’s most incredible female winemakers sitting together. I’ll admit, I fangirled a bit because these winemakers were Elisabetta Foradori, Ariana Occhipinti and Elena Pantaleoni (of La Stoppa). At the risk of sounding sappy, these women are iconic — the influence each of them has had not just on Italian wine but on the wine world in general, is not to be underestimated.

They were sitting in a row on the grass, watching football on a phone. Despite their fame, there was no pomp, circumstance, or aura of aloofness about them; they were just doing their thing, glass of wine in hand.

If this is what represents wine in its vibe era, then I’m all for it.

From L-R Elisabetta Foradori, Elena Pantaleoni, Ariana Occhipinti, also joined here by the excellent Maddalena Pasqua Di Bisceglie of Musella winery

Perhaps wine-as-vibes will take forever to trickle down. After all, something I’ve noticed over my 12+ years in the industry is that, unless you live on the knife edge of wine, trends tend to take a while to catch on. When I opened my store in 2013 for instance, online wine discourse would have you believe that everyone was already bored with the natural wine movement. I quickly discovered that it hadn’t even begun in my corner of the UK —it took at least five more years to happen in earnest.

And here I am quoting something from arguably the most on-trend wine magazine in the world, that wine is changing yet again and becoming a vibe.

But I don’t think this one will take too long to catch on because, as I say, vibes can only exist in a positive space, and many of us are craving that right now. After all, there is nothing less like a vibe than greedy-ass governments run by megalomaniac men intent on destroying our right to live good and peaceful lives.

I’m not saying a glass of wine is going to change the world. I am saying that it’s a step towards wine being fun again. And if there is something we need more in life right now, it’s a bit of fun.

Seven wines that vibe

We’re talking wines that slap without fuss, snobbery, or being cool-for-cool’s-sake.