It's The Same Old Wine
A brief look at mass production in wine and music
Drinking notes: on music and wine is a short weekend newsletter exploring music and wine pairings, delving into stories and observations about each. Written by two music-loving wine professionals.
Mass production is not a recent phenomenon. The concept of the assembly line dates back over 2,000 years to the Qin Dynasty, where weapons of identical shapes, sizes, and quality would be created on a large scale. But it wasn’t until the 20th century when mass production went from equipping soldiers and winning wars to furnishing our homes and filling our bellies.
Consumption is now our primary role in the world. As our acquisitive instincts have taken over, mass production provides consistency, reliability, and conformity. Most of us own the same jumper from Uniqlo or sip on the same brown-coloured fizzy drink. When seeing a friend’s newly purchased lamp from Ikea, many of us have said, “oh, I have that one too!”
For similar reasons, music and wine have not escaped the clutches of consumerism and, while many see both as an art form, there is a winning formula, a scientific exactness behind their successes.
Keeping up appearances
For a brief period in my life, K-Pop was less a guilty pleasure and more a shameless obsession. My former flatmate and I would stay up late watching YouTube videos of TWICE, pretending to know the words while attempting to join in with the dance routines (do not try this at home). A product of JYP Entertainment, TWICE represent an assurance of quality, their songs meticulously crafted to rattle round your brain for days after. Yet they are very much part of a production line, exagerrated by Orwellian living arrangements in which artists share dormitories, relationships are forbidden, and caloric intake carefully counted.
Achieving such an instantly recognisable style of music – churned out en masse – requires strict measures of control, extending to every part of the process. This applies equally to wine, with certain brands producing the same liquid a million times over. It’s achieved in many ways: the use of particular varietal clones, choosing the right blend of parcels, temperature controlled fermentations, the level of additives included in the final product – to name just a few. Winemaking on this scale is carried out with scrupulous attention to detail.
Controlling their identity in this way is essential for many brands of wine. The likes of Barefoot, Blossom Hill, and Echo Falls all have instantly recognisable labels and the wine inside does exactly what it says on the tin. Unlike the obfuscation surrounding certain wine labels, many of which often seem to require a Master of Wine qualification in order to decode them, many of these brands state the obvious. It’s much easier to gain a sense of the disposition of Barefoot’s ‘Buttery Chardonnay’ than, for example, to understand what’s going on inside the mind of Laurent Ponsot’s Meursault Les Charmes Cuvée de la Centaurée. Yes, there’s a subtle indication of quality difference: one will leave a sizeable hole in your pocket, while the other will make you wish you weren’t born when you wake up the morning after. But in terms of breaking down the walls between producer and consumer, Barefoot has its hands firmly on the crane’s controls and is lining up the wrecking ball.
Write, record, release, repeat
Looking further back through musical history, Motown was a similarly slick operation. Thanks to its founder, Berry Gordy, Black musicians were able to break through into white popular music in ways they had never been able to before. Gordy wanted his musicians to be ambassadors of African-American music. So, just as Brian Epstein turned four-working class lads from Liverpool into a besuited band befit for a queen, Gordy hired specialist stylists and choreographers to ensure that his troop walked and talked like royalty.
Looks aside, it’s Motown’s trademark sound that has cemented the record label in people’s hearts and minds for 60 years and counting. From the melodic bass lines to the call-and-response vocals, the upbeat tempos to the apparently mandatory tambourine player, Motown’s discography is as identifiable as the Golden Arches.
Gordy was a ruthless operator and knew the value of consistency, conducting quality-control meetings every Friday to ensure that only the very best songs reached the airwaves each week. In order to achieve a sense of familiarity, the majority of the greatest hits were written by the same team of songwriters. Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote ten of The Supreme’s twelve US No.1’s, while a certain William ‘Smokey’ Robinson Jr. had his fair share of chart-topping credits too. The Funk Brothers, a tight-knit group of talented session musicians, also featured heavily on most tracks, playing on more No.1 records than Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys combined.
Better the devil you know
Harbingers of 1980s Eurobeat, Stock Aitken Waterman, took inspiration from Motown with their carousel of chart-polluting hits. Like Motown, the trio brought a distinctive and discernible sound to the mainstream, adding an inch-thick layer of spreadable cheese on top for good measure. Uniformity was the key to SAW’s success. Through their extensive use of synthesisers, sequencers and dustbin-crashing drum machines, their sound is still easy to identify today. This level of standardisation was not without criticism however (the Guardian once referred to them as ‘Schlock, Aimless and Waterdown’). There’s a lack of variation that makes listening to their back catalogue feel as if you’re staring at the window display of an electronics store: the TVs might be different models and sizes, but it’s still the same episode of Bargain Hunt being shown on every screen. I’m being harsh. There is, of course, a time and a place for SAW’s ‘poptimism’ (I’d be lying if I said I’ve never sung along to Dead Or Alive) and there are few more reliable sources than this consistently chart-topping trio.
Mass production doesn’t preclude quality (Motown being a case in point). There’s a certain skill involved in being able to produce the same standards over and over again, irrespective of varying vocal ranges and growing climatic changes. Take Champagne for example. Production of Möet & Chandon’s house style, the ‘Brut Impérial’, is in the region of 20 million bottles each year. Yet, despite being as ubiquitous as Ant & Dec, this style is still associated with luxury and prestige. Likewise, Penfolds, though being a part of one of the world’s largest winemaking and distribution companies, is still often seen as a producer of excellence and importance. Penfolds is the undisputed champion of blending, with multi-varietal, multi-regional, and now multi-continental blends meaning that they can achieve a house style, much in the same way as Berry Gordy and Stock Aitken and Waterman had managed during their heydays.
The assembly line not only guarantees consistency and quality. It also allows the consumer to tap into a world that may have previously been out of reach. Think of Wine Society’s ‘Exhibition’ range or Berry Bros. & Rudd’s Own Selection wines. What are you buying into when you purchase these wines? Are you buying into the idea of being a part of a community? Are you buying into the image of being a customer at one of the oldest wine merchants in the world? These ranges are a general admission ticket into the world of fine wine. They won’t be the VIP experience or the box seats that an actual bottle of Barolo from Giovanni Rosso would provide, but they still provide customers with a reliable and high-quality experience that is near enough the real deal.
For all the talk of terroir, wine doesn’t always need to express a sense of place to bring us joy. Many of the greatest hits in music history are the result of a strictly controlled production process, but that doesn’t stop them from becoming some of our favourite songs. There’s a reason why I Heard It Through the Grapevine is a mainstay of my karaoke repertoire. Just as flicking on the K-Pop channel on Youtube will get me dancing around the living room like TT.
Another delightful read...that conjured up so many memories and had me singing the songs in my head (soon to be loaded onto a playlist to sing along to out loud!). IMO, mass production only works because it gives people more of what they want. And, with both wine and music, is often the gateway to deep diving your favourite categories. I'm a little ashamed to say that Begin Again was the first time I'd considered the 'image production' aspect of music (though, not the first time I'd drooled over Mark Ruffalo 😂). K-Pop has never quite penetrated my existence...but 3 chord poppy rock gets an eye-roll every time I sing along (with feeling)...as does hiphop, the predictability of being able to write my own alt/grunge/rock ditties, and realising that Motown IS a formula (that I desperately want). Longest story short - loved this piece and now considering allowing high volume wine production a little more grace. A hit is a hit!
Well, `Eurovision begs for Mateus.... cheesy puff balls too!