Influence in Wine: Lebron or Parker?

Who drives wine markets today?  It’s a core question we have been discussing in the last few classes as we have talked about the role of the critic.  With this question hanging in my mind I was thrilled to stumble on the below article in the Wall Street Journal the other day: The LeBron Factor: Who Drives Wine Trends Today.

The article chronicles how influence in the world of wine has largely shifted over the past 20 to 30 years.   In the 1990s and early 2000s, influence in the world of wine fell solely to large name critics and more so than any other to our friend Robert Parker.  By the beginning of the 2010s, however, Parker’s influence began to wane as more and more prominent wine critics and wine publications popped up across the internet and entered the influence fray.  Today most wine drinkers seem to care only about the scores a wine has received (97 points!) and pay little attention to the people who are actually giving these scores.  People usually cannot think of a single wine professional who they most look to and instead focus solely on the data.  Enter Vivino, CellarTracker, and other online mass rating platforms that can give people the crowdsourced numbers they want. 

The most interesting recent turn in the game of wine influence is no doubt the entrance of major celebrity influencers like Lebron James or Kim Kardashian.  Lebron (who actually seems to have pretty good taste in wines loving high-end California Cabs and fine Italian Wines) can often push sales with a simple Instagram post.  Kim can do the same as she did with an Instagram story featuring a bottle of JNSG Rose Cru that doubled the brand’s number of followers on the platform.  This recent turn gets me thinking why consumers are willing to trust these celebrities who seemingly are not wine experts when it comes to wine selection.  Perhaps it gets back to why people are drinking wine in the first place.  Maybe it doesn’t ultimately come down to getting the highest quality wine (and let's be honest, lots of wine is delicious).  Maybe it ultimately comes down more to filling emotional and status needs for many millennials and showing the world you are drinking a bottle of Lebron approved wine likely serves that need better than sipping on a Robert Parker favorite.  

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-lebron-factor-who-drives-wine-trends-today-11552053545?mod=hp_lead_pos11