▻ Omnibus Nineteenth Edition
Episode Nineteen – sponsored by D.O. Rueda
(click here for some amazing facts on this fascinating region)
Episode Summary:-
Our first Omnibus of 2023 is, as always, full of news and views, but also this month a small amount of fear, as John and Sarah worry that they are about to be replaced by Artificial Intelligence.
But first: After the world traumas of 2022, it is perhaps not surprising that wine lovers are not enthusiastically embracing “Dry January,” the traditional month of abstaining from wine. John Stimpfig investigates how “Dry January” is turning into “Damp January,” with wine-lovers cutting back rather than giving up. He reveals that it is estimated that a third of people who set out to not drink alcohol in January give up after just a week. The less arduous “Damp January” is gaining ground, however, with over 3 million “Damp January” hashtags on TikTok alone – John and Sarah agree this is a trend which is here to stay.
““You don’t expect (vine) leaves sprouting in the Northern Hemisphere in January” ”
We say goodbye this month to two wine-world greats: Luciano Sandrone died at 76 after losing a battle with cancer. He was at the forefront of elevating quality in Barolo for more than four decades and was one of the “Barolo Boys,” a group of producers who were known for trying new ideas. Another life we look back on is d’Arry Osborne, patriarch of the d’Arenberg winery in South Australia, who died at 95. He was an elder statesman of the Australian wine industry, overseeing 70 vintages at d’Arenberg. He famously wore dinner shirts at harvest-time, as he believed this would add more elegance to the wines. Sarah and John also reflect on Steven Spurrier’s memorial which they both attended, and Sarah reveals that a special tribute episode will be released on The Wine Conversation in the following weeks.
Back to Australia, John reports on how the Australian bulk wine industry has found itself in dire straits. Denys Hornabook, of VINEX, the global B2B trading platform for bulk wine, was interviewed by Wine Business International, and he states that there are 2.3 billion litres, 256 million cases of wine unsold, which is more than two years of inventory. Sarah and John discuss the causes, and debate what the solutions may be.
On a more positive note, John looks at India’s biggest winemaker, Sula Vineyards, which has launched a ground-breaking Initial Public Offering (IPO); the company is valued at US$360 million. The winery is based in Maharashtra, where it benefits from a benign approach to taxation, as opposed to the huge tariffs put on imported wines. Sula is the dominant player in the Indian domestic wine industry. Its founder and chief executive, Rajeev Samant, told the Financial Times newspaper that while wine drinking was relatively minor in India compared with the rest of the world, “there’s only one way to go.”
No Omnibus would be complete without a weather watch, and this month John discusses the floods which have hit California: “30 trillion tons of water has landed on California from Sonoma to Paso Robles since Christmas,” he reports. While there has been damage to infrastructure and some loss of life, the water has a big benefit for the California wine industry, which has suffered from four years of drought. The rain has come at the optimum time for the vineyards, with wells, which will be needed for irrigation, filling up. An extra benefit is that the water has washed away toxic salts which have accumulated during the drought years. And, elsewhere, if proof were needed that the climate is changing dramatically, the first leaf appeared on a Grenache vine on January 9th in the south of France.
Over in Bordeaux, Jane Anson talks to Sarah about the computer programme ChatGTP, which can understand and respond to human language. Jane explains how it can be used to help wine writers and not replace them (John and Sarah were more than a bit worried). She commissioned an article from Simon Pavitt, COO of London Technology Club, for her site (janeanson.com) to look into whether the introduction of Chat GPT could mean extinction for wine writers and sommeliers. At the end of the article, it was revealed that 90 per cent of it had been written by ChatGPT. This computer programme definitely has implications for anyone writing about wine, and Jane and Sarah debate the pros and cons of this brave new world.
Running Order:-
-
0.00 – 14.58
– Steven Spurrier’s memorial.
– How “Damp January” is replacing “Dry January”.
– Remembering Luciano Sandrone and d’Arry Osborne. -
14.59 – 33.55
– Problems for the Australian bulk wine industry.
– Ground-breaking IPO for Sula Vineyards in India.
– Weather watch – California floods. -
33.56 – 45.51
– Jane Anson on ChatGPT and what it means for the wine world.
News and views aplenty in this month’s Omnibus, good, bad and damn frightening. Great wine and art in Provence, Bollinger’s new launches, exciting award-winning Chinese wines, Old Vine Hero Awards, Mouton Cadet for Gen Z, and the annual conversation about En Primeur prices plus climate change predictions (spoiler very frightening). Brought to you by our Founder Sponsor Santa Rita Estates