2016 came and left. Thankfully, it was another fruitful year for me although it was also a tough year for some in the trade. Let’s hope the year of Rooster will be better for everyone. 

Business might have been slow last year but I noted that more average consumer—by this I mean local people who don’t know a lot about wine, can only describe a wine as pleasant or not, drink wine very occasionally and are highly likely, largely ignored by the trade, are curious about wine. This is encouraging as we need full support from them not only to grow the wine market, but to build a solid foundation.

There are more and more lifestyle-cum-wine events that attract consumers who would not go to wine dinners or serious wine tastings. I grab every opportunity to talk to them and learn that while they might not be able to tell a Chardonnay from a Riesling, and often find wine too complicated to understand and consume, they would like to discover more given the right setting. Some may argue for more wine education but if we don’t need to learn to eat, why do we need to learn to drink? It is precisely this ‘learn to drink’ attitude that intimidates these consumers. Therefore, our job should be to help them explore wine. We need to position wine as a desirable and an accessible beverage by linking wine to their lifestyle, hobbies and enjoyment. This is like a kindergarten that provides a fun and friendly environment to encourage kids to discover. Once they develop a genuine interest and passion for wine, they would, at will, continue with the more structured WSET courses that are the primary and secondary levels of wine education. In fact, a few WSET diploma students I know are exactly like this. Their wine journeys started with discovery, then drinking, enjoying, and eventually studying. They didn’t take up WSET courses to learn to drink. I just came across an article about a coffee flavoured red wine from The Drinks Business. Perhaps this is the trick to get more consumers to try wine? Certainly food for thought for us. 

Wine Music Jam is my own lifestyle project to introduce wine to average consumer in a fun and relaxed environment through music. We had four sessions in the last two years and each time we attracted around 100 guests. Every time, a few more people would ask me about wine in general and I feel I am a small step closer to bringing wine to the mass. Seeing people’s eyes sparkle when I speak with them about wine gives me the most satisfaction, apart from getting my hands dirty in the vineyards. That's why I don't teach. I just want to encourage as many kindergarteners as possible to discover and like wine for what it is.