Wine Culture Isn’t the Same as Wine

One of the quiet myths about wine is that enjoying it requires fluency.

Fluency in language.
Fluency in etiquette.
Fluency in what you’re “supposed” to notice.

But wine itself has never required that. Wine culture did.

Wine culture is a set of norms that developed over time—who speaks, who leads, who feels confident enough to ask questions, and who stays quiet. Like any culture, it was shaped by history, access, and tradition. And like many traditions, it didn’t always make space for newcomers.

Wine, on the other hand, is far more generous.

It doesn’t care if you know the difference between varietals or regions. It doesn’t ask you to identify tasting notes or hold your glass a certain way. It simply responds to attention. To presence. To time.

Many people assume they don’t like wine when what they actually don’t like is the pressure surrounding it. The feeling of being behind. The sense that there’s a right way to enjoy it—and that someone else already knows it better.

At UnWined, we see wine culture as something that can be translated, not enforced. Honoring the traditions of viticulture doesn’t mean freezing them in time. It means carrying forward what matters—craft, land, patience, story—while allowing the culture around it to evolve.

Culture only stays alive when people are invited into it.

You don’t need permission to enjoy wine. But sometimes it helps to have a guide who reminds you that curiosity is enough.

Reflection:
Where have you mistaken “not belonging” for “not knowing”?