Daniel Grigg: Where have all the wine heroes gone?

The wine industry is in crisis. Six words I read last year over and over again. But what is being done about it? Beyond the entreaties delivered with vegan-like vitriol to embrace the low & no movement, beyond the wagging fingers admonishing us for not starting an after school club with which to coerce the youth of today to put down their vapes and pick up a glass of wine, and beyond the endless back-and-forth bickering on LinkedIn?

I’m not denying that the wine industry has issues, but don’t we all? From the perspective of an independent merchant, this isn’t a moral argument – it’s a survival one. The market is undeniably tough and overproduction is a real problem. On my last visit to South Africa in 2025 I was invited to a winery to try a 2016 vintage white blend they were trying to clear. Upon arriving, I learned that they had several hundred bottles each of the 2015, 2016 and 2017 (one vintage had an inventory of close to 1,000 bottles) with cellar space rapidly becoming a premium with the 2025 grapes coming off the vine that very day. The wine was pleasant but clearly in its “drink now” window and I understood the urgency. But even with a 50% discount it would still have been retailing at close to £20 in the UK and demand for aged white blends is niche.

Stop making it?

My suggestion? Stop making it. When at university studying script-writing I was taught to “burn my babies,” which meant that if what you were working on wasn’t working… lose it, no matter how much you love it and think it’s brilliant.

It’s a shame but it’s the reality, more so than ever right now, and the global wine trade needs heroes. Underwear on the outside, swinging between skyscrapers or simply using their wealth for the betterment of their local community. But I don’t see any.

What I do see is celebrity chefs (quite rightly) recommending we all support our local butcher and only buy meat from them due to the better quality you’ll get. What if you can’t afford to buy all your meat from the butcher? Eat less meat, just don’t buy it from the supermarket ever again. But then without even pausing for breath segueing to the wine section where they get all giddy over an impossibly cheap wine from a supermarket.

Wine writers aren’t saints either, I fail to see the benefit of internationally recognised writers who decide that they’ll now start doing a South African report only to reiterate that the unattainable, pre-allocated wines from Eben Sadie and Chris Alheit are, indeed, rather good. We already know that. And I expect most serious wine enthusiasts on all seven continents know that too. Don’t get me wrong, any coverage for South African wine is good coverage, but rather than having samples delivered to your hotel room, how about getting out in the dust, doing the hard miles and trying to discover something new? No one remembers the tenth man to walk on the moon, after all.

Leadership is absent where it matters

Then, there are “the influencers,” and the fact that those who do actually seem to have some “influence” on an audience composed of wine-curious likers and sharers immediately bend over for the big brands as soon as they come knocking, stating that Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne from Majestic is a “Christmas highlight” makes the festive season sound devoid of merriment or joy, rather resplendent with sorrow and regret. A blind tasting of supermarket Cremants revealed that an offering from Aldi at £6.99 was the best and whilst I have no doubt that it was a decent drop, it is damaging to the independent trade who would be lucky to be selling Cremant at £12.99 let alone almost half that. It reinforces public perception that wine should be cheap and that your local wine shop is expensive. For South Africa, a country built on small producers and long supply chains, this scenario is especially dangerous. In reality either Aldi have bought that for a song from a collapsed restaurant group or winery, or they’re losing money on it. Regardless, someone’s taken a bath on it and it creates misperception which make it much harder for anyone trying to keep the lights on at their independent business, let alone actually make some profit.

Imagine if following the success of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential publication and his stratospheric rise to being a beloved celebrity he had cashed in and sold his integrity to the highest bidder and rather than publishing A Cook’s Tour, he’d published America’s Best Drive-Thru Burger traveling between the corporate fast food joints for a quick buck. Would we still be sharing memes and producing posters with his quotes almost a decade since his death? I think probably not.

Perhaps the social media stars know they only have 15 minutes and that it’s almost up. Who can blame them for making cash whilst their screens shine bright with notifications aplenty? But we do need our Bourdain. Someone who, once they have their platform, will use it to promote small producers and the independent businesses who champion them. Someone who’ll challenge weekend cookery shows to feature 52 independent wine merchants throughout the course of a year, rather than continue to peddle supermarket dross. There are over 1,000 of us in the UK so they have plenty to choose from who can easily suggest wines which they have sufficient stock of for delivery nationwide by courier. The excuse of “it needs to be easy accessible to everyone watching” doesn’t wash in 2026. It’s the age of Amazon and nationwide next day delivery after all, and independent wine merchants have access to bountiful inventories from overstocked suppliers allowing them to play King for a Day.

And someone who will act as a guide and mentor to the youth of today and help them fall in love with wine the way we all have. It happened for me 22 years ago, with a £5.99 bottle of Banrock Station Australian Shiraz from Tesco. The problem is if a curious 18 year old buys a bottle for £5.99 nowadays it will be disgusting. But having been taught that good wine should be cheap, they may simply presume they “don’t like wine” and after a few failed attempts save that £5.99 for another vape instead.

Wine Bourdain would host something like Clarkson’s Farm on Tour, where he accompanies a young Kaleb-type figure through his first harvest in the Cape winelands and the many edge-of-your-seat moments that will bring. If there’s enough going on in Gloucestershire to produce a critically acclaimed television series about farming, then there’s enough content in the winelands for many vintages to come. Knowing the characters across the Cape as we all do, the next generation will surely fall in love with the winemakers and soon find out that whilst some cheap wine can be good, the most interesting wines, those that interrupt conversation and take centrestage, the bottles you can’t wait to tell people about, to taste again and to share –  they might cost a little more, but the return you’ll get is tenfold. Then that mature white blend? Maybe that won’t be so hard to sell.

• Daniel Grigg has been a wine enthusiast since 18 and a wine professional since 23. While his peers were drinking brightly coloured Bacardi Breezers, he was discovering his palate — liking Syrah but not anything from Chile. He cut his teeth in independent retail, first at a former Threshers site with no sign or name, then at a former Nicolas store where all communications came by fax… in French. He has since been instrumental in establishing Museum Wines as one of the UK’s leading South African specialists, guiding them to Best Retailer for South Africa three years running in Decanter, and twice in the IWC.