Looking Back, Looking Forward

Discussing changes in wine with Adam Lee

Last month I had the pleasure of chatting with Adam Lee over Zoom, with an audience of several dozen subscribers to his Clarice pinot noir brand. We discussed how wine and wine writing have changed since 2008, when I began writing the weekly wine column for The Washington Post, until I retired from that gig early this year. Those are themes I hope to explore in future posts here on the WineLine, but here’s a preview.

The biggest change we discussed was the shift from wine as a healthy, daily drink (2008 was the beginning of the end of the French Paradox era) back to a luxury, special occasion drink. There are many reasons for this shift, primarily market forces, generational shifts in drinking habits, and societal images of wine and alcohol in general.

We also talked about how there are very few wine columnists remaining at major newspapers today compared to 17 years ago. I attributed that to changes in publishing as well as reading habits. Wine columns, especially those that try to point readers to good wines, are inherently local, and newspaper publishing is increasingly digital. That means newspapers see their audience as national or even global rather than local, and individual articles can be evaluated based on the response they garner from online readers. That creates a new dynamic — competition for “eyes” or clicks — that affects everything a newspaper publishes. Decline of advertising revenue is another major factor.

There are, of course, many other sources of good information about wine: Specialty publications of the old guard — Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast; newer publications centered around a writer — JancisRobinson.com, James Suckling, Vinous, Jeb Dunnuck; and many blogs and Substacks. As readers get more of their information online and from social media, there’s less demand and need for traditional newspaper wine columns.

Here is my discussion with Adam Lee. (And yes, I need to update my head shots.)