In this episode of Bottled Up, Daniel and Jermaine unpack the shifting narrative around alcohol, including recent messaging from the World Health Organization, and what it means for wine culture today.

They explore how trend-driven sobriety, changing generational attitudes, and global health conversations are reshaping perception, and whether the wine industry has done enough to control its own story.

The conversation moves beyond headlines into bigger questions. How should wine fit into modern life? What are we losing when culture becomes reactive? And what responsibility does the industry have moving forward?

On this episode Daniel and Jermaine dig into how nostalgia, branding, and convenience have shaped modern wine culture, why retailers often play it too safe, and what responsibility the industry has to actually guide people forward. This episode asks a simple question with uncomfortable answers: are we selling wine, or just ringing up memories?

In the first episode of Bottled Up, Jermaine Stone and Daniel Posner share their real feelings on Dry January, the rise of non-alcoholic wine, and what both reveal about the current state of wine. The conversation moves beyond trends and into bigger questions around declining consumption, cultural fatigue, and why wine feels increasingly out of step with today’s drinkers.

Drawing from decades of experience across retail, auctions, branding, and media, they speak candidly about where the wine business has lost momentum, how legacy thinking continues to shape decisions, and why surface-level fixes won’t solve deeper issues. They discuss what’s working, what isn’t, and what needs to change—from how wine is marketed to how the industry talks about itself—if wine wants to move forward.

This episode sets the tone for the series: honest conversations about the pressures facing wine, the mistakes the industry keeps repeating, and the work required to turn things around.