What's the Point of Wine Fairs?

Plus an announcement about subscriber chat

Before I get into this week’s main topic, some details about a new feature I’m introducing today. Substack (the platform that powers TMC) allows me to host a private chat space just for you, my subscribers. And I pressed the on-switch minutes before sending this out.

If you’re a regular reader of TMC and you fancy a bit more engagement with fellow readers and myself, this is the perfect place to have those conversations. I’m hoping we can chat about all this and more:

a) Tell me what you like or don’t like about TMC and what you’d like me to write about in the future.

b) Continue interesting discussions that started in the comments of one of my articles.

c) Share recent wine experiences, great bottles, interesting producer visits, whatever we’ve been up to recently.

As with everything on my site, this is an advertising-free, algorithm-free space. And it’s just for TMC subscribers.

I created the first thread to kick things off. I hope you’ll head over and chime in - I’ll feel a bit lonely if you don’t.

You can access TMC’s subscriber chat via this link:

https://themorningclaret.com/chat

It’s accessible either directly in the web browser, or on your phone via the Substack mobile app (Android or IOS). You need to be subscribed! A free subscription will suffice, although further down the line there may be threads that are only visible to paying subscribers.

Paying subscribers get more

As a paying subscriber, you now have a direct line to me. Treat me as your private wine consultant, ask about wine choices, winery recommendations and anything related. Just send me a private message via Substack Chat and I’ll reply as quickly as I can - bearing in mind that we might be in different timezones.

Onto the Wine Fairs…

Three years on, the Covid years thankfully seem more and more like a bad dream. But their legacy lives on, and it’s definitely made the wine industry at large question the value of wine fairs.

Does it still make sense for hundreds of people to pack themselves into a small space where winemakers pay to pour them free sips of wine?