Winebits 727: Restaurant wine, wine scores, wine trends

This week’s wine news: More bad news for restaurant wine, plus the new editor at the Wine Advocate says scores are staying and who knew organic wine is the next big thing

• Restaurant wine: Not good news, according to a study from a consultancy called Vintage Economics. The report is full of jargon and tries to sugar coat the results, but the news is there: Wine “has been struggling in the on-premise for some time,” with on-premise the trade name for restaurants. The study found that wine’s restaurant “penetration” fell by about five percent during the 2010s, and things only got worse during the pandemic. This is not good news for wine; a restaurant recovery is crucial to wine’s return to popularity. But the same thing hurting wine overall has hurt it in restaurants: lack of interest among younger diners and those who aren’t white. Do you think charging $35 for a $12 bottle of supermarket wine could be one of the causes?

• 100 points forever! The new editor of the Wine Advocate, Robert Parker’s legendary wine magazine, has said scores are here to stay. Joe Czerwinski told Esther Mobley of the San Francisco Chronicle that: “We’re quite old fashioned, I suppose. We see ourselves as being the independent consumer’s guide to buying wine. This is why we exist. That central mission hasn’t changed at all.” Interestingly, the headline on the article calls the 100-point system “notorious.” Which, of course, we know here. Sadly.

• Bring on organic? I’ve been writing about wine for more than 20 years, so I wasn’t surprised to see this in a trends story for 2022: Organic wine is the next big thing. Because, of course, it’s always the next big thing, seemingly popping up every couple of years. That it has never become the next big thing (organic wine sales in the U.S. may be in the mid-single digits) speaks to the way the business works – which was neatly summarized on the blog here. So, no, I wouldn’t bet on organic wine taking off in 2022.