Wine Wars II: The Global Battle for the Soul of Wine

by Mike Veseth

Here’s the inside scoop on the wine world.

Globalization has pushed back the borders of the wine world, creating a complex, interconnected market where Old World and New World wines and producers compete head to head. Writing with wit and verve, Mike Veseth (a.k.a. the Wine Economist) tells the compelling story of the war between the market forces that are redrawing the world wine map and the terroirists who resist them. This is the battle for the future of wine—and for its soul. The fight isn't just over bottles bought and sold, however; power and taste are also at stake. Who will call the shots in the wine market of the future? Who will set the price? Whose palate will prevail? Veseth masterfully brings all of these questions together in the only book on the wine business written for all lovers of wine.



Wine Wars II begins by exploring wine globalization, where readers follow “Missionaries, Migrants, and Market Reforms” to faraway New Zealand and learn how to unlock the secrets of their local retail “Wine Wall” by mastering the “DaVino Code.” Globalization brings a world of wine to our doorsteps. Commodification helps us make sense of the resulting embarrassment of riches, but at a cost. Readers must decide if they are Martians or Wagnerians, consider why “They Always Buy the Ten Cent Wine,” and then probe the puzzle of “Outlaws, Prisoners, and the Great Escape.”



Who stands in the way of the global wine market's assault on wine's very soul? The“Revenge of the Terroirists!” Resistance is not futile, because 'We Are All Terroirists Now,” but that doesn't mean the future of wine is secure. A final section explores “Wine's Triple Crisis,” environmental crisis plus economic crisis, plus identity crisis. Taken together these crises pose the most serious threat to wine as we know and love it. Each section of Wine Wars II ends with a suggested wine tasting that invites readers to experience the book's ideas and arguments with all their senses by sampling a few carefully chosen wines.



Can the soul of wine survive – and thrive – in this unfriendly environment? You'll have to read Wine Wars II to find out!

223 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2022

About the author

Wall Street Journal wine columnist Lettie Teague writes that “Of all the wine blogs in the wide, wide blogosphere, one that I look forward to reading the most is Mike Veseth’s Wine Economist. There’s nothing else quite like it—a blend of economic insight … and often irreverent winespeak.”

Economist Mike Veseth (pronounced VEE-seth) is an authority on global wine markets who travels the world studying wine economics and speaking to wine industry groups. He reports his discoveries on this blog, The Wine Economist, and in more than a dozen books including Wine Wars (2011), Extreme Wine (2013) and Money, Taste & Wine: It’s Complicated! (2015). The newest book, Around the World in Eighty Wines, will appear in November, 2017.

The Wine Economist was named 2015 “Best in the World” wine blog by Gourmand International. Money Taste, and Wine received the 2016 Gourmand International award for “Best in the World” wine writing.

Reviews

[Randal White · Rating 3 out of 5]

An update from the author's previous book, (it's been 10 years), he covers the economics of wine. Now, new things must be taken into account. Environmental shifts due to global warming. Demographic changes. It's all very technical. I like reading about wine, but this was a bit heavy for me. Perhaps it will appeal more to people invested in the wine industry.

[Noah Candelario · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason why I had to read this book is because I was taking a wine class called The Idea of Wine for one of my senior credits needed for my IPE major. The origin story of this book runs deep on my University campus. It has inspired my Professor by happenstance to teach this class, and get his full position here. This book comes across as a casual read and can be listened to or read as if it is a podcast regarding the contemporary issues that the wine industry is currently facing. The book touches upon different ideas or disciplines of both the social sciences and the humanities all at once. Highly recommend this book for those who want to learn about the wine industry's contemporary issues. Cheers to Pierre Ly and Mike Veseth, who are great professors at my University and created this unique class.

[Matt Lennert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an update to a book called Wine Wars that came out a number of years ago. I did not read the first version but I am happy to have read this one. This is the first popular wine economics book that I have read and Veseth does a great job keeping it lively, entertaining, and incredibly interesting. Wine can be looked at from a lot of angles and the book is unique in that it takes a deep dive into the forces at play in today’s wine sales and distribution spaces and the impacts of climate, culture, demographics, numerous crises, and how each of these changes what you see for sale wherever you buy your wine, and what you will see in the future. In a nutshell, how are the forces of climate change and globalization trying to kill the idea of wine representing place. It’s a fascinating read and very original vis-á-vis any other wine books out there. Veseth brings his voice to every page so this is not dry material in any way.

[Simon Heape · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very engaging and thought provoking read considering the current and future challenges faced by wine. I guess the book hits my personal sweet spot; I have a lengthy commercial background and am well educated (DipWSET) and well read in most things concerning wine. I’d be lying if I said I was hit by thunderbolts of revelation, most of what Mike works through strikes me as being fairly obvious, nothing overly radical. Despite my ‘obvious’ comment Mike colours and illustrates very well making everything very understandable.

Mike talks and writes common sense and is eminently readable. As I said nothing struck me as a thunderbolt but his use of specific examples and case studies is excellent. I enjoyed the whole book but particularly enjoyed the flight ‘Revenge of the Terroirists’, some really good illustrative writing and great examples. Cheers Mike!

[David Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read this without reading the original written ten years prior, as the author seemed to describe it as an updated version. No regrets. Overall, the book is fine and there are plenty of interesting stories and concepts. At times the tone and style the author uses come off as obnoxious and make the book more difficult to get through.

[Lily Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a class this semester and I appreciated the thorough history of the wine industry, especially from a fellow Tacoma local! However at times some of the humor in the book falls a bit flat and the writing wasn’t always engaging. That being said, it certainly served its purpose for the “Idea of Wine” class and I learned a lot more about wine than I ever thought I would.

[Frances]

Class read but interesting to think about globalization from such a specific lens

[Melanie Duong · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting af

[Tyler Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Virtually the same book as Wine Wars I.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair amount of overlap with Veseth's Wine Wars.