The Mystery and Tradition of Wine Will Be Its Savior

Youth's turn to religion and the Church is reason for hope for wine's future

Wine, as an object and symbol, is poised to appeal to younger people in a way that is not altogether expected or predicted. Nonetheless, if those of us (all of us) who work in and around wine can communicate the mystery, traditions, rituals, and transcendent experience the beverage can offer, it will be the appeal of these qualities that will deliver it from demise.

Moreover, if the cultural moment teaches us anything, the younger Gen Z will embrace the mystery of wine and allow sales of this beverage to bloom as more and more younger people embrace the satisfying and comforting mysteries that wine represents.

But let’s flesh this out by beginning at the beginning

There has been a decades-long descent into secularism that has resulted in moral confusion for many, a crisis of loneliness, and a deficit in authentic meaning. The rise of social media has created a false sense of community more likely to divide than provide companionship and more likely to lead to isolation than inclusion.

Enter religion. By every measure, religious devotion and church membership (particularly Catholicism) are on the rise. Led by Zoomers in general and younger men in particular, a turn toward the spiritual and the stabilizing traditions of the Church has been witnessed not just in the United States but also across the West. Pew Research finds that the long-established decreases in religiosity and profession of faith has not just stabilized, but appear to be turning around.

The revival in interest in religion is explained by many in connection with the COVID Pandemic and the shock to the social and personal systems it wrought. Death was present in a way it had not been previously for a century. It’s no secret that in times of plague, people turn spiritual and turn to religion. Perhaps this is the case with the rise in spirituality among the young. But perhaps this turn has also reignited a recognition that the atomized life modernity has created can’t fulfill the human need for community, a connection to the mysterious, and a need for moral and intellectual order.

But wine, too, offers this kind of salve. Community, recognized order, tradition, and ritual are all part of the wine experience and have been for centuries.

Perhaps even more important, there is a mysterious quality to wine—as there is with faith—that is generated by its affiliation with the miraculous, the transmogrification that is fermentation, and, of course, in the Catholic doctrine of the transubstantiation of wine. Mystery and the mysterious are essential elements of the human condition and of wine.

Yes, mystery is a quickly diminishing commodity in the modern world due largely to the revelations that come with scientific discovery. But diminishing mystery can’t entirely be laid at the feet of science. Take Artificial Intelligence. This rapidly evolving tool is helping to dispel the mystery that has long surrounded creativity. The creative process that propels the written word or the creation of art has been smashed as ChatGPT delivers moderately good prose in 30 seconds or less and renders stunningly compelling art in just twice that time. Consider this at the top of this page:

Just 25 years ago, had someone presented me with the image at the head of this article, I would have marveled not only at its well-rendered representation of the idea that God is dimly illuminated in today’s world, but also at its excellent composition and its successful harkening to the baroque tradition while layering on elements of abstraction. Moreover, it’s pleasing to the eye and has a quality that keeps you looking into it more deeply.

It was rendered by AI in less than a minute after a quickly crafted prompt. I’m left to contemplate the science of AI instead of the wonder of the creative process.

Meanwhile, the new Pope Leo, at Easter, observed this: