“The big brands will destroy the world if left to continue along their current course unchecked.” The future of the world thus depends on the little guy, the independent store and the niche label – and thus whilst the big brand peddling baby-boomers have been the antithesis of what the world needs, the mass label eschewing millennials will save the world.

The crux of the problem lies in what Robert Reich in his book Supercapitalism labels ‘socialised capitalism’: which is ultimately a form of capitalism that allows the rich to get rich with no obligation to share their wealth; and then when the rich go bust (ala Bear Stearns) then socialism kicks in and everyone shares in the losses. The essence of the open-source industry is akin to the blogosphere in that it is a platform upon which ideas are shared with no restriction. Ultimately, wine shares much in common with this ideology in that its wealth is often shared out along the supply chain more evenly than in say, the motor-industry where practically everyone from the production line workers to the environment gets a raw deal.

The Ford-style capitalism brought to the wine industry by Ernest and Julio Gallo will always be a factor – but ultimately the winosphere is clearing the way, and the likes of Mondavi are having to step aside for the multiple Capozzi’s, Tastevine’s and other niche wines and wine companies which are emerging as a result of the netroots. And of course, it certainly helps our case that Obama style wine democrats will soon be in power as opposed to the No-bama-chanting beer swilling McCain luddites.

I saw an advertisement which caught my eye the other day for Banrock Station – which is now pushing the phrase ‘saving the world one glass at a time’ and has a wine glass with a stem that has been photo-shopped to be the stem of a rose. Last year at the London International Wine and Spirits fair I got talking to the folks from Banrock Station and they all broke down to me how their vineyards support local water supplies, preserve the local wildlife, enrich the local community, cultivate a diverse eco-system on their sites and practice sustainable farming tactics. Essentially, farmers have the land and the earth at their best interests and are oftentimes at the forefront of organisations fighting to protect nature and the earth. It is comforting to know that if it is to be inevitable that if the world will run out of fossil fuels and everything comes to a grinding halt as big brands do destroy the world and we are sent into a pre-modern state of existence: at least seeds, water, soil and sunshine cost us nothing… and even though our computers may have powered down and our iPods may no longer work – we’ll still be able to sit down for a bottle of wine at the end of the day.”

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