What pairs better together than the magical combination of food and wine? The combining of these things has inspired historical events, countless romances, and even more life long memories. Something magical happens when foods and wines we love combine harmoniously.

The Food Network has led a cultural revolution in the kitchen. World famous chefs’ tutorial teaching have made American cooks at home believe they can create complex dishes at home that would be the envy of their friends and neighbors. The Food Netwrok and their roster of chefs cultivate a belief in their viewers that what they’re creating in the kitchen is easy to understand, simple to do, and fosters a wide sense of community surrounding what they’re cooking in their studio kitchens.

Every wine industry trade show on the West Coast this winter sang a similar song about the difficulty engaging younger audiences. What if I told you this road map has already been created?

There are myriad online platforms of evangelism from YouTube to Instagram to TikTok. What if winemakers explain the elegant simplicity of wine in a fun way to viewers new and yet to be engaged? Instead of selling wine like an academic lecture, winemakers could create video symposiums drawing their audience to them. It could be simple videos talking about why Chardonnay and Sea Bass or Crab love to hang out together on a starry Friday night or a yarn about the clandestine romance between Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc that led to a beautiful baby named Cabernet Sauvignon. We all know the stories and they are so fun to tell.

The message needs to be simple, fun, and inviting. The romance of the experience of a glass of wine turning a meal from Manudo into Mozart is one that drew every winemaker and wine drinker to this beautiful art form. Selling wine needs to be a folksy invitation to a joyful experience. The dwindling academic approach that may have worked well in the past may need to head for a dusty corner of a library or history museum as a relic of the past.