Wine Authority and Cultural Responsibility: A Reflection on the Role of Influential Figures in Wine

By Pier Giulio Alessandro Bendinelli

In the world of wine, authority is a powerful symbolic asset. Specifically, it's not just about technical expertise or a prestigious (or recognized) professional career; it's about perceived credibility, concrete influence on purchasing decisions, and the ability to shape collective taste.

When a recognized figure—through qualifications, experience, or media visibility—expresses a public opinion on a wine, that opinion is never neutral. It influences how consumers interpret the very concept of quality. It helps define what constitutes a "serious wine," what constitutes a "proper wine," what deserves to be purchased from an online wine shop or included on a wine list.

For this reason, the topic of sponsorships in the wine industry cannot be dismissed as a simple market dynamic and, above all, – even legally – it cannot be passed off as simple advice, a suggestion tied not to real taste but to more or less direct payments/donations.

Here lies the crucial point.

Advice presupposes independent judgment.

A promotion presupposes an economic relationship.

The two can coexist, but they must be clearly distinguishable. When a recommendation is perceived by the public as a free expression of taste and expertise, but actually arises from a commercial agreement, we are no longer dealing with a technical opinion: we are dealing with a promotional communication.

And promotional communication is legitimate, as long as it is recognizable as such.

The problem isn't the existence of compensation. The problem is the ambiguity.

The boundary between legitimate promotion and cultural legitimacy

It's clear that wine is also an industry, and that promotion is part of the economic system. Commercial collaborations are, in themselves, not questionable. The problem arises when the line between promotion and cultural legitimacy becomes blurred.

If a figure perceived as a benchmark of quality publicly endorses products designed primarily to be competitive in a particular price range—fine wines, perhaps pleasant, but lacking real depth or expressive complexity—the implicit message that reaches the consumer is very strong: this is the level that deserves attention, and this wine can be compared with the greats.

It's not a question of cost. The issue is the consistency between the standard being represented and the standard being legitimized.

When the quality threshold is lowered for promotional reasons, the effect isn't episodic. It's systemic.

How to choose a quality wine in a confusing media environment

Many consumers today search online for guidance on how to choose a quality wine, which wines to buy online, and which wine selection is truly reliable. Lacking technical tools, they rely on those who appear more knowledgeable.

If that expertise is put at the service of purely commercial logic, the consumer no longer has a clear criterion for distinguishing between wine created for the market and wine created to express an identity.

The result is a progressive flattening of the taste.

A cycle is created in which communication justifies the product, and the product justifies communication, but the cultural level doesn't grow. Instead, it tends to stabilize at an average standard that never calls anything into question.

Cultural responsibility and wine selection

In wine, selection isn't a neutral act. It's a curatorial gesture. It means taking responsibility for presenting something as worthy of attention.

When those who possess a capital of authority use that position to endorse wines that do not truly represent a high standard, they contribute – knowingly or not – to a downward redefinition of the very concept of quality.

Wine culture isn't built solely on large, iconic bottles. It's built with daily consistency. With the ability to maintain a clear line between what's merely marketable and what's truly valuable.

My position: consistency between selection and conviction

For STELT, wine selection isn't a tool for commercial saturation. It's a filtering process. Each bottle included in the catalog must possess identity, precision, and expressive coherence.

It's not about elitism. It's about alignment.

If a wine doesn't pass the personal conviction test, it's not included. This approach reduces volume, but preserves credibility.

In the long run, credibility is worth more than any sponsorship.