Wine is a status game

Wine writer Joe Fattorini argues that the wine industry's efforts to strip away 'snobbery' and 'demystify' wine could be a serious mistake. He contends that wine's high-status appeal is actually what protects it from health regulation efforts and what makes it valuable to consumers, drawing a parallel to how smoking declined once it became socially low-status. Fattorini suggests that wine's tastemakers should embrace—not reject—its ability to confer status if the industry wants to thrive.