It’s proven: your wine selection depends on context.
When you choose wine in private, you’re more likely to follow your own curiosity and values. When you’re with colleagues, you’re far more likely to play it safe and reach for something with status.
This insight comes from research by Nils Hossli and Martin Natter, who found that our “private self” is not always aligned with our “professional self”.
The takeaway is simple. If you want to be true to your own taste, choose the wine you want, not the one you think will impress.
This idea of context shaping decisions runs through the wine world more broadly.
Trade buyers: buy to sell again and again
If you’re in the wine trade, it’s natural to focus on margin. But it is not the only way to measure success.
As Bodhi Landa points out, there can be more power in a wine that is priced to move. A well-positioned bottle, at the right price, builds trust with customers and brings them back. Again and again.
The question is not just how much you make on a bottle. It is how often it sells.
Do appellations even matter anymore?
Most of us have stood in front of a bottle of wine and felt unsure. The label is full of place names and classifications that are hard to interpret. Even experienced drinkers can struggle to tell them apart.
For decades, appellations have shaped how people choose wine. But that influence is starting to weaken.
More and more, people are interested in how a wine is made, who made it, and whether they trust it. The precise village matters less than the overall experience in the glass.
As Jason Wilson highlights in his writing on Catalonia, even established regions are beginning to question whether the old systems still serve today’s drinker.
⸻
Across all of this, the pattern is the same.
Wine is moving away from status, signals, and systems that require translation. It is moving towards trust, clarity, and personal choice.
Whether you are buying for yourself or for others, the principle holds.
Choose for yourself first.
Share this post: