The Role of Wine Consultants

This article discusses the various roles of consultants in wine production, which will be broadly split into two major topics, viticulture and vinification. Any marketing activity is not covered, as this is not regarded part of “wine production”. A consultant in wine production is in this respect, defined as a person who takes science, scientific methods or evidence, based on research, into account, when giving advice to the vine grower or wine maker. A consultant will not base his advice on “tradition”, although his advice may support local tradition in a given region. There are both benefits and disadvantages associated with such activities, and this article outlines briefly the scope of the consulting business in wine production, as well as how consultants have contributed to major improvements of wine quality in the 20th century. The different consulting activities have inevitably had an effect on the quality of wine from different wine regions, and hence the offer to the market and the consumer choice. Finally, we will look briefly at the consumer choice of wines in the market, and whether this actually affects consumer behavior.

The fermentation process wasn’t fully understood until fairly recently, when Louis Pasteur in the 19th century was able to show that wine was a result of yeasts feeding on the sugars in the grapes, with alcohol and carbon dioxide as the resulting metabolites. The secondary, malolactic, fermentation was not understood until the 1970s. Wine has thus been produced for more than two thousand years without the wine makers understanding two fundamental elements of wine production. These two facts show us that tradition, knowledge and experience, which have been passed on from one generation to the other, have been the driving forces behind how wine has been produced. Consulting, as we have defined it, is a quite recent phenomenon.

The specialists and the “philosophers”
As mentioned, the consultants in wine production can broadly be split into viticulture and vinification, but there is also another differentiation between consultants that should be highlighted. There are specialist consultants and there are “philosophers“. The specialists will offer their advice on one single aspect of wine production, e.g. filtration. The “philosophers” have, for the sake of this essay, been given this label because they will give advice on the whole operation. Their aim is to produce wines according to their winemaking philosophy. A good example of the latter is Michel Rolland, an oenologist based in Pomerol but operating on a global scale. He claims that he offers his advice according to his philosophy that wine should give maximum pleasure. In general we find more “philosophers” among the winemaking consultants than the viticultural consultants, although there are some viticultural consultants applying biodynamic principles, who may well be labeled “philosophers”. It is interesting to note that advice from “philosophers” is often controversial, at least in the old established wine regions of Europe, that are identifying themselves with tradition. Advice given by the specialists seldom causes controversy, although this kind of consultancy may also alter the resulting wines to some extent. For example will micro-oxygenation applied to an Hermitage or a Madiran during élevage, make it much more approachable as a young wine.

Scope of consulting – what aspects do they take into account?
Viticulture
There are consultants who are viticultural experts. These experts will advice on anything that includes soil, vineyard location and exposition, climate and the growing cycle, morphology and physiology of the vine. A very good example of the latter is Dr. Richard Smart, who is a world leader in canopy research. He has shown that shade decreases fruit sugar, tartaric acid, phenols, anthocyanins and monoterpenes, to mention a few elements. Hence his advice would be to minimize shade and arrange canopies accordingly. Canopies will have to be arranged differently if the vine is planted on fertile soil because growth will be more vigorous. This knowledge will lead the vine growers to apply different training systems to different soils and climates. A viticultural consultant may also give advice on which varieties are suited to a given location. This is a kind of advice that will partially define the identity of a region, although it may be in opposition to what grape varieties are fashionable. Advice on which varieties are suited is more widespread in the “new world” than the “old”, because most old world regions are restricted by local legislation, and the varieties are in any case well adapted to the regions (in the wine context, “old world” refers to the wine regions of Europe, whereas “new world” refers to ROW). Another hot topic when it comes to viticultural consulting is fertilization. In the 1960s and 1970s many vine growers were advised to use fertilizers rich in potassium. The consultants at that time were not aware of the fact that this fertilization led to too high levels of potassium, which in turn affected wine quality negatively. This has been a huge problem in Bourgogne where many vineyards have been in a recovery phase for 30 years. This is a good example where consultants were premature in their advice to the vine growers.

Vinification
The roles of consultants when it comes to vinification is perhaps more controversial, and it is in the wineries that the so-called “flying wine-makers” have left their mark (look below for an explanation of this term). Where the viticultural consultants in most cases, are merely aiming at providing the best possible raw material for the winery, the winemaking consultant may actually alter the finished wine depending on the methods he employs. In many regions where these consultants have had a significant impact, there has been controversy between the “traditionalists” and the “modernists”. One oenologist who has raised controversy is Guy Accad, who has run a consultancy business in Côte d’Or (Bourgogne) since 1975. His critics claim that he formulates the winemaking outside the tradition and that the resulting wines are not classic Bourgogne. His counter argument is that his inspiration are the old burgundies and that much of his wine-making in fact resembles that of the old days: an initial high dose of sulphur and long, cool pre-fermentation maceration. In any case, Accad is a consultant who is firmly rooted in the environment in which he operates. The so-called “flying wine-makers” are of a different breed. They are oenologists who bring in knowledge of winemaking after a standard formula, which they apply wherever they operate. These consultants originally came from Australia and were brought to Europe to give advice during harvest time and the subsequent fermentation process, hence the term “flying wine-makers”. These consultants brought with them Australian technology and winemaking techniques (a wine-making philosophy, one could argue), which they applied wherever they would operate. Their influence is today evident in wine regions all over the world. Today the term “flying wine-makers” is valid for consultants from many countries, and is broadly used for any consultant who offers his advice in different regions. Modern technology has enabled consultants to operate from one base, using information technology to monitor operations in different parts of the world simultaneously.

The effect of consultancy
As mentioned before, the various activities of consultants as they are defined here, is a fairly recent phenomenon. For centuries wine makers produced their wines without understanding the different processes and many processed happened more or less by chance. For example the malolactic fermentation would often start by itself in the spring, when temperatures started to rise and the doors to the wineries were opened. Research has shown that malolactic fermentation may be manipulated by adjusting the pH in the wine. If you want to suppress this fermentation, you have to take knowledge about the process into account. Of course, over the centuries there has been a development of empirical practices in the old wine-producing regions that have resulted in superior wines. In many cases research and scientific evidence can only confirm that a traditional practice is sound. But when the wine makers have not been able to understand and monitor what was going on in the different stages of wine production, they have not been able to prevent things from going wrong in the process. You may be able to see the effect of a stuck fermentation, but if you don’t understand the fermentation process, it is almost impossible to foresee or prevent it. Hence, the activities of consultants over the last sixty years have resulted in more reliable wine production. The resulting wines are less tainted with faults. Wine makers can also, to some extent, use consultants to minimize vintage variations. Consultants contribute with highly sophisticated knowledge to the wineries, and this may have a long-term effect in the wine production and the quality of the resulting wines. As an example, wine makers today have quite accurate knowledge about what levels of sulphur are needed during the different stages of wine production, and the sulphur levels that are added today are significantly lower than fifty years ago. As a result, less people are haunted by headaches after consuming moderate quantities of white wine. On the other side, there are also disadvantages with the consultancy business. First of all, there is significant cost involved when hiring consultants, at least some of the high profile consultants who are operating on a global scale. Many small-scale producers do not have enough profit margins to cover the cost of a consultant.

A consultant will usually have very limited, if any, knowledge about local conditions, the specific terroir of a region. This especially applies to a “flying wine-maker”. His advice will be more of general character, and the wine producer may lose out on the opportunity to produce wines with local identity and individuality. Uniformity is certainly a disadvantage for the wine producer. If a number of wines from different producers, but within a given range, e.g. oaked Chardonnay, appear to come from the same lot, then the producers of these products will only have one sales argument, and that is price. When price is the only sales argument, then cutting your selling price is the only way to gain, or even defend, market share, thus reducing the profit margin of your business. The wine consumers benefit from the activities of different consultants in wine production. The wines offered on the market today are more reliable than only thirty or forty years ago, and the consumer is less likely to come across a remarkably bad wine. The foul oxidized wines or wines reeking of sulphur do hardly exist anymore. Another result of advice from consultants is a higher efficiency in the winery. More continuous processes are applied in the wineries, e.g. pressing, filtration, and this means higher efficiency. Modern wineries are able to produce wine at lower production cost than before. For the consumer this means that there is more cheap wine with acceptable quality offered to the market than ever before.

But uniformity has also an effect on consumer choice. With the influence of consultants operating on a global scale, using one winemaking formula, there is pressure on local diversity. The success of these consultants and some of the wines emerging as a result of their activities, have tempted other producers to jump on the bandwagon. In virtually all wine-producing countries, grape varieties that are out of fashion are being replaced by fashionable grape varieties, e.g. Grey Riesling is disappearing from the vineyards in California, and it is being replaced by varieties like Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. One could always argue whether this is actually a benefit or a disadvantage to the consumer, but the fact is that local diversity is under pressure.

Conclusion
Consultants have had a significant impact on wine production during the last sixty years. Research and development of machinery and manufacturing equipment have all had a beneficial impact on viticultural practice and processes in the wineries. As a result of advice from consultants, wines produced today are more reliable than before. The impact of so-called “flying wine-makers” has resulted in more standardized winemaking on a global scale. Hence, there appears to be more uniformity and less diversity in different wine-producing regions. Today the consumers can choose between more wines reminiscent of each other. If this trend continues, then the pleasure of wine drinking will be diminished a few decades down the road. The outlook for small scale wine producers is even less attractive. Without being able to benefit from economies of scale, they will lose if they succumb to standardization. For them, the only viable path is to differentiate themselves and produce wines that bear the hallmarks of the terroir of their respective regions.