Wine consumption is going down globally: that’s a simple statement of fact. And I have an explanation that will win me few friends.
Imagine, for a moment that it’s 1994 or even 2004 and you are pitching an adventure movie to a Hollywood studio. What does the protagonist – the ‘hero’ – look like?
Male Caucasian, height: 5’10 — 6 foot (1.8m). Probably aged 30-45, but maybe up to 55 or so if they’ve kept fit enough.
And what about the plot? Our hero will meet a beautiful woman, not necessarily Caucasian but almost certainly younger than him. She may be helpful or antagonistic to his cause, but either way, at some point, he will probably have to save her life.
Now picture the producer and the director: almost inevitably both men.
There may have been the occasional exception to this model, but I defy you to find many. It has always cost a lot of money to make a movie, and the studio bosses had a very clear idea of how to attract audiences. And they tended to stick to it.
Since then, cultural attitudes have changed.
Women moving in
Fast forward to 2024 and the discussions over whether the next James Bond could be black. Or female. And where the latest Mad Max, like its predecessor, has a young woman called Furiosa with a prosthetic arm, at the helm. Captain Marvel is another woman who’s out there in the same cinematic universe as Black Widow and Wonder Woman. The list of female producers and directors is lengthening too. Marvel’s The Eternals has a diverse cast of women (Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek, Lauren Ridloff) and was directed by a Chinese woman, Chloe Zhao. Male actors now have to sell themselves to increasingly powerful production companies that belong to female actors like Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore and Charlize Theron. Kathleen Kennedy is responsible for the Star Wars franchise.
How much of this would have been imaginable 20 or 30 years ago? Let alone 40 or 50 years ago when westerns – remember them? – could be relied upon to fill cinemas.
When it came to eating and drinking a 'serious' meal, until recently, wine – usually red or Champagne – was the inevitable protagonist, the hero of our eating and drinking lives. Look at the imagery: a photogenic red, was almost the only accompaniment to a meal, the mark of sophistication. Spirits were the supporting actress. Sexy and seductive, but ultimately secondary.
But here too, we’ve seen a big cultural change. Not one that has empowered any particular group, but a removal of barriers, all the same.
Wine no longer the default
Today, the scriptwriters of the beverage world turn up at MW symposia and events for top sommeliers and propose that Michelin-starred restaurants serve whisky with every course. Rosé – a wine style never previously even in an audition for a leading role – sells at over $100 a bottle. But so does a zero-alcohol sparkling wine in which LVMH has now invested, and sake and, very soon, I’m sure, a super-premium sparkling tea.
There are all sorts of social reasons for the changes in Hollywood, and for the shift in drinking patterns, and I must stress that I'm not suggesting there are any direct parallels between them. All I am saying is that what people expect and accept has changed and is continuing to change.
Today’s movie audiences and restaurant diners still respectively appreciate a hunky hero and a bottle of red or white; of course they do. But these are no longer automatically the default. It’s okay to enjoy a cocktail with your steak or a kombucha with your risotto, just as it’s okay for a woman of colour to save the world in our local multiplex. Wine will increasingly have to audition every day in every shop, restaurant and bar against all those other drinks, and it won’t always get the lead.
Tom Cruise and top-class and well-marketed wine have no reason to fear, but many of those second-level male heroes and interchangeable bottles of red or white may face redundancy. Not because they’re no good, but because the audience can see the appeal of a wide range of other options.
