You don’t need your wine writer to point out the flaws in 21st-century capitalism, except when those flaws affect what’s in your glass. But they do – in fact, some blame for the excesses of modern marketing can be laid at the grand gates of Bordeaux and Champagne estates.
Once they’d established that their regions made great wine, they succeeded in convincing risk-averse drinkers that any wine their region made was great. As the river of wine became a flood, consumers clutched at those labels as at a life-raft. Bordeaux was Best. No Celebration was Complete without Champagne.
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