I Called Wine More Complex Than Blood on French TV
And then the fact checking started. Who knew wine people were such pedants?
Yes, it’s been quiet around here.
I was knocked out by a virus in November and was off the grid for longer than planned. Now I’m back, with several posts ready to go. But given there’s no point in posting anything over the next two weeks, I’ll start publishing again from the week of 5 January 2026.
In the meantime, if you can’t wait for more of that Drinks Insidery goodness, why not check these out:
The Top Stories of 2025
This comes from the A Question of Drinks podcast I do with the remarkable Lulie Halstead. We decided to pick our top stories of the year and Lulie brought her trademark clarity to what’s going on in the market. She also smuggled in Kylie.
I, on the other hand, found a cool story about what it takes to get a drink in a newly wet state in India, and looked at what went wrong with Liquid Death’s push into Britain.
I’ve been involved with several podcasts now, and I’ve never seen anything like the feedback we get for A Question of Drinks. Lulie has to clear the inbox (the downside of being the organised one) and she’s discovered that people keep using the word “entertaining” when they write to us.
That wasn’t me, folks. That was listeners. It’s an entertaining podcast, so give it a listen.
The Christmas markets in my town. Photo by Michael Gordon (taken while balancing Glühwein).
The 27 Headwinds With Ed Mundy, Jefferies
Ed Mundy, Managing Director of Jefferies investment firm, specialises in the drinks market. Over summer, his team did a multi-country study and identified 27 headwinds affecting beverage alcohol, which he discussed on Drinks Insider.
Ed also gets specific about what works and what doesn’t:
Why premiumisation is now a dead end
Where innovation is happening (which won’t be comfortable listening for traditionalists)
The critical $1 per Litre price point.
How Chasing Loyalty Is Killing Your Brand
A/Prof Justin Cohen from the Ehrenberg Bass Institute, the world’s premier marketing science centre, came on the podcast to explain the laws of marketing:
The Law of Double Jeopardy
Loyalty follows size
Why mental availability matters more than persuasion
These are empirically observed rules, built from decades of behavioural data. Unfortunately, they undercut many of wine marketing’s favourite ideas.
How Much Does Authenticity Matter?
We’ve all heard it — authenticity is one of the most important contemporary values.
Except that it’s the big brands that fly off the shelf, not the artisanal ones.
What explains this disconnect? (Apart from marketing budgets.)
Lulie and I go head to head on A Question of Drinks, looking at what “authenticity” means from different perspectives, from marketing to ethics to history.
I would be very interested to hear from other people. If you have a view, send it to aquestionofdrinks@gmail.com
Lulie’s going away for a few months, so I’ve just realised it will be me clearing the inbox for once. Rest assured I won’t do anything underhand, like telling her all the emails agreed with me.
AI and Wine
Here’s me on France24 talking about AI in wine. I was still recovering and those of you with medical knowledge will get the diagnosis with one glance.
I didn’t post this on social media, not because I look like I’ve been hit with a baseball bat, but because I called wine one of the most complex liquids around after blood, and someone (you know who you are) wrote to correct me. OK, venom, honey and crude oil are all more complex, though I don’t really think of them as liquids. But I’ll grant you milk.
Anyway, I’m over my embarrassment, so here it is:
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/people-profit/
Apart from that, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year — and look out for a traffic jam of posts in early January.
Felicity