You're right, the wine business should not be viewed as a monolith. However, your belaboring about how complex and diverse the sector is seems like you're trying to sidestep any real responsibility for making actual change happen. This is far from the most nuanced and intricate of industries. I think your argument boils down to one thing: laziness. You'd rather not have to put in the effort required to actually push for real change because it's just too much work.
Could we push for flexible pricing models that give smaller producers breathing room? Maybe advocate for new tech like AI tasting assistants affordable enough for producers of all sizes to experiment with? I find that there is a dearth of creativity in the business and that new ideas to promote meaningful improvements are met with an irrational stubbornness.
AI tech is available freely for anyone who wants to experiment. If you want it an AI Tasting Assistant packed up for you, that costs money because someone else did the work. Those are still specialized skills and so they're expensive. Most winery websites would not benefit from an AI tasting assistant — it's like using a sledgehammer when a simple hammer would do.
If a winery thinks it would benefit from a tasting assistant, I suggest start with explaining what their wines taste like in plain english instead of using marketing-oriented tasting notes understood only by people with trained palates. That's the point of LLM technology, to explain a bunch of complex things simply.
The first big change need in "the industry" is to get rid of the three tier system. I'm an Aussie and I keep hearing about this stupid system. I live in the state of Victoria. I have bought wine directly from wineries in the Hunter Valler NSW and the Barossa SA and Margaret River WA. What's the bid deal? Getting Dan Murphy, one of our biggest players, out of the supply chain?
Agreed. And very much in line with my own recent substack
As always great points and a nuanced way of looking at our community, world, “industry”
Wark,
You're right, the wine business should not be viewed as a monolith. However, your belaboring about how complex and diverse the sector is seems like you're trying to sidestep any real responsibility for making actual change happen. This is far from the most nuanced and intricate of industries. I think your argument boils down to one thing: laziness. You'd rather not have to put in the effort required to actually push for real change because it's just too much work.
What's my real responsibility? What's "real change" look like?
Could we push for flexible pricing models that give smaller producers breathing room? Maybe advocate for new tech like AI tasting assistants affordable enough for producers of all sizes to experiment with? I find that there is a dearth of creativity in the business and that new ideas to promote meaningful improvements are met with an irrational stubbornness.
"flexible pricing models"? Also, what would be a good example of an AI tasting assistant?
AI tech is available freely for anyone who wants to experiment. If you want it an AI Tasting Assistant packed up for you, that costs money because someone else did the work. Those are still specialized skills and so they're expensive. Most winery websites would not benefit from an AI tasting assistant — it's like using a sledgehammer when a simple hammer would do.
If a winery thinks it would benefit from a tasting assistant, I suggest start with explaining what their wines taste like in plain english instead of using marketing-oriented tasting notes understood only by people with trained palates. That's the point of LLM technology, to explain a bunch of complex things simply.
The first big change need in "the industry" is to get rid of the three tier system. I'm an Aussie and I keep hearing about this stupid system. I live in the state of Victoria. I have bought wine directly from wineries in the Hunter Valler NSW and the Barossa SA and Margaret River WA. What's the bid deal? Getting Dan Murphy, one of our biggest players, out of the supply chain?
Couldn't agree more