Sometimes you have to look on the bright side of what might, at first glance, look like the world being thrown into chaos. Sure, you might say, everything might be falling apart but at least the booze will be cheaper. That’s going to make the ensuing nightmare so, SO much easier.
More specifically: certain wine regions are looking at having a year of low, low prices for consumers. In Europe the 2017 harvest was battered by unseasonal storms, extended frosts and droughts – but in 2018 it bounced back with a vengeance, almost like the weather had started getting all weird and unpredictable.
The result is that Europe’s crop has been unexpectedly large, especially in Italy and Spain, and that glut has resulted in low prices on Euro-booze.
Meanwhile in Argentina the currency has been once again devalued, with predictably awful consequences for the less well off (and predictably business-as-usual results for the wealthy who keep their wealth offshore in more stable currencies, a cohort which includes the sorts of people who decided to devalue the currency).
And thus prices for Argentinian wine have tumbled globally.
And that’s probably worth keeping in mind since Australian wine prices are impressively robust, thanks in part to a new passion for quality red wine in China.
Then again, when you live in a country where a ten dollar cleanskin is still likely to be from the Barossa/McLaren Vale/Hunter Valley etc, the need for an imported Argentinian drop is admittedly low.
But still, a change is as good as a holiday, right?
Before you get too smug, however, it’s worth noting that climate change is already starting to affect our local winegrowers too, with shorter harvest times and concerns that certain varieties of grape will no longer grow in their traditional regions.
So maybe cellar up while the going is good.