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Post 09.11.01: What Does Wine Mean Today?
by Paul Tincknell, November 2001
It is two month after terrorists hijacked
four airplanes and killed nearly 5,000 people with them.
Besides changing the landscape in our souls, September 11,
2001, challenges us in a multitude of ways: what does it
mean to be a citizen of the United States? What are our
responsibilities as a person living on this globe? What
import do our daily activities have? What relevance are
they? For an insightful view on the smallness of our civilization
read this quote by Carl Sagan (click
here). As a person involved in the wine industry, and
one who has been weighing those questions and others, a
big question remains unspoken but vibrating loudly just
under our collective hearing threshold: what relevance does
wine have in our world?
Here is the real answer: none.
Wine is not a necessity of life. It cannot
sustain us humans nutritionally. Its addition to our society
does not spread financial wealth to the world's poor, solve
global ecological problems, create peace among nations,
add to our thirst for greater scientific knowledge, or create
liberty and justice for all. The wine industry is a small
drop in the world's global economy. Our endeavors in the
industry do not enhance the vast majority of people's lives
in any significant, physical way.
But ...
But, wine does not cause great harm either.
From that notion one only has to look at the wine industry
to see that it does work to be a part of our society in
meaningful, beneficial ways. No other product made is as
asked for by those seeking to support other causes; charities,
non-profits, politicians, fund-raisers, etc., all turn to
the wine industry to provide both wine and a little sophistication
and glamour to their causes. Wineries, distributors, restaurants,
retailers, media, and wine lovers all ante up several hundred
million dollars annually with wine, time, and commitment
to the world's charitable needs. Indeed, the proceeds from
the world's most prestigious and successful wine auction,
the annual Napa Valley Wine Auction in June of each year,
goes towards supporting health services in Napa County.
Wineries have been the leaders of the alcohol
beverage community's efforts to be responsible corporate
citizens by promoting the importance of drinking in moderation
and safely. That effort is the effort of hundreds of wineries
working independently rather than with the voice of one
industry-wide organization. Alcoholism remains a medical,
social, and psychological problem but the wine industry
has confronted this head on with the constant message of
wine with food in moderation and only by those who can safely
enjoy alcohol.
Hugh Johnson makes a compelling case for
wine's importance in the development of western civilization
in one of my favorite books on wine, Vintage: The Story
of Wine (Simon and Schuster, New York). So while the
wine industry may not be participating directly in bringing
world peace today it has contributed to getting us this
far in our social evolution.
However, we as an industry can always do
more. Recently, T&T were approached with an idea about building
a network among the Northern Californian wine community
that would give back financial resources invisibly
to local, national and global health organizations - kind
of a "LifeVine" for those in need. Using ecommerce, technology
and the internet, wineries and other wine industry businesses
would donate percentages of online and offline sales to
health organizations of the wineries' choosing automatically.
Purchasing agents in businesses that are part of the LifeVine
network would give preference to vendors who were part of
the LifeVine network, thereby supporting those who support
others, creating a charitable feedback loop while keeping
dollars circulating within the local community.
I would endorse expanding the target of
the LifeVine network to encompassing hunger relief, low-income
housing and ecological causes as well. When all is said
and done, people need food, shelter in a clean environment,
and good health no matter where one lives.
The outpouring of charity following the
9/11 terrorist attacks has been amazing and wonderful. Unfortunately
there is already a small backlash brewing against charitable
giving due to questions regarding the use of charitable
funds. We as a nation have seen this cycle before. In the
1980s the world saw the music industry rise up to support
many great causes (Live Aid, Farm Aid, etc.). The distribution
of those funds combined with the enormity of the problems
disillusioned a generation to the point that such charitable
events went out of fashion.
Out of fashion. We cannot let the
current climate of national unity and charity towards those
in need become just a fashion statement of 2001. Health,
hunger, housing, and the environment are great, big, gnarly
problems that cannot be solved only by a lot of money, quickly.
No, unfortunately, those problems need a lot of money for
a long time, as well as real social policies that honestly
address them from our local, state and national governments.
We need to take the momentum of the moment and build it
into our daily lives in order to sustain helping others.
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"If we listened
to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair.
We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into
business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's
nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the
time and build your wings on the way down." --
Ray Bradbury
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Building the LifeVine network builds a community,
locally and globally. The 21st Century will continue to
see our daily lives become more entangled in global events.
The internet is only the opening chapter of a globally interconnected
society. We can no longer just focus on our and our neighbors
needs alone; our neighbors now number 6 billion and counting.
A quote by Carl Sagan succinctly illustrates how bound together
we are; please
read it here. If anything, the stark message
from the 9/11 terrorist attacks is that hate can reach easily
across national borders. While justice needs to be enforced
against such acts of hate, we the people can and must work
diligently to make compassion reach across national borders
more easily, loudly, and broadly than the hatemongers can
market their wares.
Are you interested in building a LifeVine
for the wine industry? Tincknell & Tincknell is. In order
to build a network for such a community it will take a community
effort to build it.
Now, on to less important issues:
Is dot-com wine dead?
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