Ep. 2515 Juliana Colangelo interviews Blake Gray of Wine-Searcher | Masterclass US Wine Market

Today, we're diving into one of the most pressing and sometimes controversial topics, so let's say all the time, facing our industry, the rise of the neo Prohibition Movement Movement. To help us unpack what's happening, I'm joined by Blake Gray, US editor of wine searcher dot com. He's one of the sharpest and Kina's and smartest industry observers, and I've known Blake personally for over a decade. So I think I can say that. So our three key takeaways that we're excited to learn from Blake are number one. What is the status of the Neo Provisionist Movement right now and recent updates on FDA guidelines as they apply to wine. Number two, we'll talk to Blake about generational shifts and how the wine industry is keeping up, keeping political regulations in mind. And finally number three, what's on the horizon? There's always something ahead, and to be on the lookout for when it comes to how policy and politics are shaping the wine industry in the US. Hello. Welcome to Masterclass US wine market. With me, your host, Juliana Colangelo. This show has been designed to demystify the US market for Italian wineries through interviews with experts in sales and distribution, social media, communications, and so much more. We'll have a quiz each our esteemed guests in every episode to solidify the lessons that we've learned from the episode. So sharpen your pencils, get out your notebooks, and join us this week to learn more about the US market. Hello. Welcome to Masterclass US wine market. Today, we're diving into one of the most pressing and sometimes controversial topics, but let's say all the time, facing our industry, the rise of the neo prohibition movement, from shifting public health narratives to changing consumer attitudes, why is being challenged in many ways in this year twenty twenty five. To help us unpack what's happening, I'm joined by Blake Gray, US editor of wine searcher dot com. He's one of the sharpest and keenest and smartest industry observers, and I've known Blake personally for over a decade, so I think I can say that. Someone who's been at the forefront of these issues and really covering them extremely closely. So we're very lucky to have, like, here, to share his insights specifically right now on how politics, policy, and perception is shaping the US wine industry, but also shaping opportunities for international and Italian wineries in particular to come to market. So, like, thank you very much for joining us today. It's really great to have you on the show. You know, it's a pleasure to be here at love Italian wine and love going Italy. And, you know, I wanna see Italian winery succeed in US market. So So do we, of course? And, Blake, actually, it is September twenty twenty five. We met a decade ago exactly in South Africa on Cape wine trip. That was a great trip. Yeah. That was an amazing trip. Yes. That seems like a lifetime ago, but that was incredible. It was great. So obviously Blake and I know each other well, but for our listeners, Blake, that don't know you as well, just give us, you know, your brief background and how you ended up sitting in the position you do today as a a wine journalist. So I started my career as a as a police and courts journalist, which is gonna explain, you know, how I end up following all these court cases. I'm one of the few wine reporters who has any experience of doing it with stories that are not about wine. And then I decided I wanna do more fun stuff. So I moved to sports reporting, And then, like, a few other sports writers, there's actually quite a tradition in US media of sports writers deciding, hey, wine is even more fun. So I started writing about wine. Actually, I started writing about sake when I lived in Japan. It was my first time writing about alcohol. I started writing about wine probably twenty, a little over twenty years ago, and I've spent my primary thing for most of that time since. I've been really fortunate because very, very few people make a living riding a line these days, and I feel very fortunate to be in that extremely small group. Yeah. And we're lucky to have you in the industry for the really thorough reporting that you're doing. And so to our listeners, we're eager to learn from him about how politics are shaping the wine industry today. So our three key takeaways we're excited to learn from Blake. Our number one, what is the status of the Neo prohibitionist movement right now and recent updates on FDA guidelines as they apply to wine? Number two, we'll talk to Blake about generational shifts and how the wine industry is keeping up. Keeping political regulations in mind. And finally number three, what's on the horizon? There's always something ahead, and to be on the lookout for next when it comes to how policy and politics are shaping the wine industry in the US. So, Blake, let's just start with the status and and overview. It's September fifteenth twenty twenty five, where do we sit today with the Neo prohibitionist movement that's happening in the US? Can you walk us through a little bit what's happening right now? We we have covered this topic before quite extensively. So give us an update on on what's happening at the moment. Well, the most important battle right now is over the upcoming US dietary guidelines for adults. Statutorily, they are supposed to be updated every five years. That means by the end of the year, the Trump administration is supposed to give us new US dietary guidelines for adults. Robert f Kennedy Junior, junior, the health secretary is in charge of this. There's been a lot of talk about what they may or may not say, and I've been covering this issue as deeply as anyone, and I don't have any idea what they're gonna say at this point. It's been reported that Kennedy wants to make them a lot shorter. The two thousand twenty guidelines for a hundred and fifty six pages long. Kennedy said to Congress in May, I believe, that he thinks they're gonna be four pages long, and they're gonna say eat food that's good for you. Past, they have given specific specific amounts that would be safe to drink. And there's a standard ones you see a lot of places. Two drinks for adult males, one drink for adult females as moderate drinking. We don't know it's possible that they'll say that again. It's It's also possible that they might just say drink in moderation, and it's possible they won't say anything at all. Kennedy's had a history of substance abuse, so we don't know how he's going to look at the issue. On the other hand, you know, the Trump administration is very anti regulation to come down hard on alcohol, even though Trump himself is not a drinker. He does not drink. But to come down hard on alcohol is not the sort of thing that the Trump administration is politically inclined to do. And I I wanna emphasize how important this is because you might think I'm sitting here in Milan. Why do I care what Robert f Kennedy Junior thinks how many drinks a woman can have in the US? Well, the reason for this, I can preview this to you as soon as you get in front of your computer. If you search for how much alcohol is safe to drink, The top answers are generally going to be based on the US dietary guidelines for adults. Now you can look for it in a different way, but it is the basis and way outside the US. And the US is the world's most important wine market, so that would be important by itself. But US dietary guidelines for adults are repeated everywhere in the English speaking world. And frankly, from outside the English speaking world, that is the touchstone people go to. That's why the neoprovisionist movement has been fighting so hard to get them changed. It's why Joe Biden who was profoundly anti alcohol tried so hard to get them changed. Even basically, Biden tried to do it end around around US law to do it. So this is a very important battle and we don't know how it's going to come out until it does. Right. Yeah. And it's it's scary. And like you said,