TACOMA, Wash. – “It’s like the Cold War all over, only that it isn’t just capitalism versus communism—it’s more important than that. It’s the soul of wine that is at stake.” Thus economist Michael Veseth introduces the wine war that is raging behind the scenes, largely unknown to most who innocently pull a bottle of wine off the supermarket shelf. “Who will call the shots in the wine market of the future,” Veseth asks in his new book Wine Wars (Rowman & Littlefield, June 28, 2011). “To paraphrase the Chairman on Iron Chef, whose idea of wine will reign supreme?”
These are the best of times for wine drinkers, Veseth argues, as global markets bring a world of good wine to local supermarket and wine shop shelves. But these are also the worst of times, since those same market forces threaten to commoditize wine, stripping out its unique character to create simple, branded, commercial products that are easy to buy and sell, but lack that sense of place that wine lovers call terroir. Will wine’s global success also spell its doom?
In this story the terroirists are the winemakers and enthusiasts who seek to preserve the “somewhereness” of wine. Blue Nun (the first global wine brand) represents the globalization that provides such an array of choice to buyers that many are overwhelmed—some to the point of paralysis. Two Buck Chuck (the enormously popular Charles Shaw brand of retailer Trader Joe’s) is the smart and opportunist bulk brand winemaker who has rushed to the consumer’s “rescue” by making wine selection not only easy, but very affordable.
Veseth has “grape expectations” for the future of wine—he believes that the terroirist manifesto is powerful enough to preserve the soul of wine. But it’s not a sure thing, so readers (with the help of these aptly named chapters) need to decipher “The DaVino Code,” diagnose “America’s Hangover,” investigate “The McWine Conspiracy,” understand why “They Always Buy the Ten Cent Wine,” choose sides in the battle of “Martians versus Wagnerians,” and make sense of “The China Syndrome.” With these intrigues unraveled in Veseth’s clear and witty prose, the reader goes on to master “The Confidence Game” and experience “The Miracle of Two Buck Chuck” that is key to the future of wine.
Each flight of chapters ends with a wine tasting, where readers are invited to pull corks (or twist screwcaps or tap wine spigots) to decide for themselves if the global glass is half full or half empty.
Jeff Lefevere, Goodgrape.com: "In the fine tradition of insightful and accessible best-sellers like Freakonomics and The World Is Flat, Wine Wars provides a valuable service to wine enthusiasts everywhere. By combining a clear-eyed economist's point of view with globalization expertise, Veseth offers an insightful and accessible survey that will give readers an understanding not only of what's in the glass, but also how it got there, and what the future may hold as the borders of the global wine village draw closer. This is an important work and a fun read, too.”
Mike Veseth is the Robert G. Albertson Professor of International Political Economy at University of Puget Sound, where he teaches the popular course “The Idea of Wine.” Editor of the blog WineEconomist.com, he is a widely quoted authority on global wine market trends and the author of a dozen books, including Globaloney and Globaloney 2.0. In 2010 he was named Washington State Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He lives in Tacoma, Wash.
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