The Pope, Taylor Swift and Wine's Publicist Walk into a Bar...

Wine and the cult of celebrity can be a good blend

…the Bartender asks the Pope what he’d like. The Pontiff says, “I’ll have a little Chianti Classico.” The Bartender turns to Taylor Swift and asks what she’ll have. The pop star replies, “Oh you know me, some of that Pinot Grigio, please”. The bartender finally turns to Wine’s publicist and asks what he’ll have. The publicist looks at the bartender then back at the Pope and Taylor drinking wine and says, “What, are you joking? I’ll have the Champagne!”

We live now and have lived for many decades in a celebrity-obsessed culture. The rise of social media may have altered what “celebrity” means, but it hasn’t disrupted the global obsession with fame.

As more and more photos and videos of the Great Taylor Swift have emerged with her holding a bottle of wine, drinking wine, and toasting on stages with wine, the wine industry itself has peered at these occasions with a growing smile across its face. It waits. It waits for that moment when Ms. Swift finally announces to her 100 million followers on social media that “Everybody should drink wine!!” Because everyone knows that’s the moment when wine starts its turnaround and its rise to the most popular beverage on earth.

Meanwhile, it was the Pope, God’s own representative on earth, who put a smile on the wine industry’s collective face the other day when, upon meeting with representatives of Italy’s wine sector, he declared:

“Wine, land, agricultural skills and entrepreneurialism are gifts from God – the creator has entrusted them to us because, with our sensitivity and honesty, we make them a true source of joy.”

Now, the Pope may not have 100 million followers on Twitter (he has 18 million), but he is the head of a church that counts more than 1.3 Billion adherents. That’s not bad for someone who can’t carry a tune.