ARENI Global: In Conversation

Wine professionals are now fully aware that climate change is having an impact on wine. But what can we do about it?

Wine experts Michelle Bouffard and Jeremy Cukierman MW are two of the three co-authors of a new book called Quel vin pour demain? Le vin face aux défis climatiques, or What Wine Tomorrow? Wine Facing Climate Challenges, which is about to be released in both Spanish and English.

From vineyards all the way through to wine retail, they discuss how people around the world are rising to the challenge. In researching the book, what did they discover? Let’s find out.

According to Bloomberg, plant-based foods are expected to exceed $162 billion, or 7% of the global food market, within the next decade.

In its latest report UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's estimated that 25% of its customers will be vegan by 2025. This growing interest in plant-based diets is already impacting the way that fine wine is being produced and distributed.

What could a 100% plant-based food and beverage system look like?

This podcast is a recording of a live Insight Series organised by ARENI on March the 2nd 2022, gathering four international experts and moderated by award-winning journalist Elin McCoy.

Is wine good for your health? And if it is or isn’t, what are the consequences?

The wine trade has certainly always embraced the message that moderate drinking is part of a healthy diet. But wine is now under attack by the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Beating Cancer – which has stated that there is no alcohol consumption without health risks. This could lead to serious consequences, including cutting funds from alcohol production.

In this episode, we speak to psychiatrist and drug researcher Professor David Nutt, on what is known for certain about wine, alcohol and health.

David is the chairman of Drug Science and in 2020 he published the book Drink? The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health.

This week, we meet David Garrett and Behdad Shahsavari, two seasoned entrepreneurs who are highly involved in both the tech and fine wine worlds.

They will shortly be launching Club Dvin, one of the first wine clubs based on NFTs, or non-fungible tokens.

They have also attached NFTs to Robert Parker's private wine collection which is being sold for charity later this year.

Together, we discuss not only how NFTs and smart contracts actually work, but also how they could impact the fine wine supply chain.

In this episode we meet Rebecca Hopkins, founder of A Balanced Glass, who is on a mission to help wine professionals stay safe and healthy while navigating a career in alcohol.

We look at the pitfalls and problems of working with wine, and ask what role fine wine plays when it comes to questions of health and well being for both employees and consumers.

In this special episode, journalist Felicity Carter and ARENI's executive director Pauline Vicard explore the concepts of authenticity and typicity, looking at what the concepts mean in different cultures.

Diving deep into history and social science, they explore how these concepts arose and how they're being disrupted by a new emphasis on individuality, versus the collective visions of previous generations.

This week, we meet Corina Kwami, an American jazz singer, tap dancer and performer, and a passionate music historian. A “bridge builder”, she uses her background and her PhD in social science from the University College of London to bring a global renaissance variety to her playing and storytelling.

We explore the origins of jazz and the music’s social role in the world today, and what Fine wine could learn from jazz in terms of interpretation, blending, control and the power of bringing various voices together.

This week we meet Georgia Panagopoulou, known as Wine Gini on social media. Georgia is head of one of the biggest online wine communities, including both Facebook and Instagram where she has 112,000 followers. 

We discuss how social media campaigns are created and measured, while debunking the digital clichés, one by one.

This week we meet Professor Ricky Burdett and discuss the way metropolises like London, New York or Shanghai are changing, and how these changes are likely to impact citizens, consumers, trade and merchants, transport and logistics.

Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies and Director of London School of Economics Cities and Urban Age: a global centre of research and teaching dedicated to the future of cities. Professor Burdett is a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, former Council Member of the Royal College of Art and a Visiting Professor in Urban Planning and Design at Harvard University.

This week, we meet Sandrine Goeyvaerts,a Belgian wine merchant, journalist for Elle magazine and author of several books on wine. Her latest work, "Manifeste pour un vin inclusif (Manifesto for an inclusive wine) argues for a different use of language within the French-speaking wine world and looks at how changing the language of wine could open the door to new consumers.

The interview that follows is in French. For the English transcription of this conversation, visit areni.global.