Wine Communicators Must Take Their Politics Seriously

A little educational effort will bring alcohol politics into relief, which will allow communicators to become true advocates

You can’t write or comment knowledgeably about healthcare without understanding the politics behind the issue. One can’t expound on the duties or functions or history of the U.S. Supreme Court without appreciating the politics of the Court. Nor is it possible to intelligently discuss race in America without a general knowledge of how politics have influenced, informed, and reacted to the issue of race.

It is equally true that those who write about and influence the discussion of wine in America ought to understand the politics of alcohol. This is a plea to American writers, commentators, and influencers to seek a grounding in the politics of alcohol. It will make you a better wine communicator.

Why are some wines available to you at your local bottle shop but others are not?

Why can certain wines be shipped to you from out-of-state, but others may not?

Why is the same wine so much less expensive in a neighboring state?

What kind of power do consumers have to change the way they access wine?

Who are the powers that control access to wine?

These are just some of the many questions that can only be answered with a grounding in the politics of alcohol. Too many accomplished writers simply don’t have the answers to these questions. When questions concerning the communicators’ audiences’ access to products and the price they pay for wine products arise, it is too often the case that the communicator does not have a satisfactory answer. Some would argue this is a dereliction of your duty.

The politics of alcohol can often seem more confusing than the question of terroir. And it’s true that alcohol is a policy area that is complicated by an unusual set of laws that derive from an unusual history. Nevertheless, I want to urge content creators to make the effort to at least learn the outlines of the history of wine regulation and the politics that have led to those regs.

How do you go about getting such an education?

First, delve into the history of alcohol in America. It need not be the kind of deep dive that results in a pH’d. In fact, a book or two will get the job done. “Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition” by Daniel Okrent remains the most entertaining and accessible popular history of American alcohol politics. Then, pick up Tyler Coleman’s “Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink”. This is another accessible dive into the more recent politics surrounding wine. Imbibing these two books together will give you the grounding you need to understand and communicate to your audience and followers how their love of wine is or could be influenced by that peculiar thing called Alcohol Politics.

Next, cultivate sources who live and breathe alcohol politics. Who is already writing about the politics of the wine industry? Is there someone at an alcohol trade association you know and trust? Did you meet or listen to someone at an industry trade show who discussed politics and appears to have a handle on how policy is formed. Find this person and reach out to them? Ask them questions. Ask for directions to other sources that both have an agenda and don’t have an agenda. Find sources who you can go to and get all sides of the story. Stay in touch with them.

Stay in touch with and keep aware of the political issues of the day that are roiling the industry. This should be as easy as a daily google search and subscribe to a small selection of news aggregation services that focus on the industry and its politics.

Here, google alerts are your friend. Create a daily google alert for “Wine AND Law” or “Alcohol and Law” or “Wine Legislation”. Set up that Google Alert so that you get a single email a day with any new articles or web pages from the day before. A search of Google for articles and pages that have been published in just the past 24 hours return the following of interest:

Wine commission ends push to change Ada Co. law on tasting rooms. But it might try another approach

Lawyer Paul Beveridge Is Single-Handedly Shaking Up the Washington Wine Scene

Which Alcohol Products Can Be DtC Shipped

It doesn’t take long to scan these and other articles and web pages to stay abreast of the politics, regulatory and legislative moves that have occurred in the past 24 hours. It’s an ongoing education that doesn’t take more than a few minutes a day.

Meanwhile, subscribe to Lew Perdue’s Wine Industry News Fetch Newsletter and to WineBusiness.com’s Daily News, and the Wine Industry Advisor Afternoon Brief.

Today, we are all advocates. As a wine communicator, you need to be an advocate for wine drinkers. This requires the effort of educating yourself and then passing that wisdom on to those who read and follow you. And it matters.

It matters when your wine-loving readers and followers are in the cross hairs. You’ll discover as you lean into your alcohol politics education that those cross hair are all too often trained directly at your readers or your favorite producer or your favorite vendor.