In ancient Rome, it was a faux pas not to water down one’s wine — only barbarians did that. Several explanations have been advanced for this, including that it wasn’t so much about diluting the wine as mitigating the foul taste of the contaminated water in ancient cities. However, one theory that seems to ring true is that it was to discourage excessive drunkenness, to ensure the conversation flowed without the flow of the booze turning into a flood. The Romans, then, might have been pioneering the idea of alcohol (in moderation) as a social lubricant. But what happens when there’s nothing to lubricate? It seems the atomisation of Western society today, with people socialising less, is leading to a decline in the quantity of wine imbibed.
A report in The Economist draws this link, citing data on people’s social habits and wine consumption. It connects the trend not just to the well-documented larger changes in attitudes to alcohol but specifically to Gen Z being less likely to sit down for “drawn-out, communal meals”. So, this isn’t about wine itself but the erosion of its traditional role in societies that are themselves eroding, a symptom of the loneliness epidemic.
Beverages less strongly associated with big meals are doing better. But for those who were fed a steady diet of portly fictional personages enjoying a glass or two of claret with luncheon on a working day, all this may seem deeply unfortunate. What will the epicurean sleuth or grumpy old barrister savour now — craft beer?
