The Value Proposition.

The past few months have been a thrilling ride on the event curation side of things for The Certified Wino. I’ve had the pleasure of building a range of events spanning more industries, mediums & styles than I could have anticipated at the close of 2025. Each allowing something new to be said about wine culture today—a point I stress during events is that you must have a thesis statement to the event for it to be successful by any barometer.

Some were dinners that came with a whopping $300+ price tag and baller wines to compliment hyper-seasonal dishes at a local restaurant. Others were tasting events coming in as low as $10 with a focus on juice you can consume everyday, not just once in a lifetime.

Finding myself oscillating between the low brow & high brow nature of events, I revisited a conversation I had many years ago regarding value propositions in wine. A narrative of “expensive means better & of higher quality” has consistently ruined our perception of wine, not only as we shop a retail shelf or restaurant wine list, but of the experiences that we associate with this conversationalists’ beverage.

While there are clear examples where a wine’s quality & complexity intersect with a $100+ price tag (hello, Sassicaia!), there are also examples that challenge that by being more value priced without sacrificing quality or taste. We call out those value driven wines as “punching above their weight class”. My palate was once said to live in the realm of the everyday, and that isn’t an incorrect statement. I’d rather fall in love with an inexpensive wine that checks all the boxes I love, and that I can have all the time over an expensive wine I may only ever have a drop of once in this lifetime.

The events I curate often allow for a consumer to experience both extremes at the same time without them breaking the bank, but also influencing the notion that feelings evoked from the event may only be experienced once in this turn of the wheel. I’ve stressed before that the KPI for any event experience should not be quantified in dollars alone. Yes, profits must be made to continue the curation of tastings, dinners, etc. and cover all expenses involved. There is a far more powerful, intangible currency we seek during these moments of transaction between the curator & the consumer: emotions. 

“It’s often assumed that wine tastings are one way transactions, with civilians permitted the privilege of being in the presence of a wine expert. Perhaps if the wine industry focused more on how we make people feel as opposed to shoving technical data down throats, our current circumstances might be different.”

— Laura Batten of Crushable

My girl Laura Batten nailed it on the head and, per usual, her & I are riding on the same wavelength & shouting from the same mountain top. I’ve chatted before how a wine tasting experience with a Master Sommelier left me bored to tears while traveling abroad last year. I had mentally checked out of the tasting because so much of the presentation was formulaic and emphasized technical information over genuine storytelling. While the nerdier aspect of wine is what leads us down the path of pursuing it professionally, it is not the same thing that will tickle the fancy of the consumer, especially not in an event setting.

A quote from Maya Angelou rings in my mind when executing events about how “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

If your eyes have glazed over before the final wine of an event is poured & you couldn’t even tell me a single sound bite about the first wine, then the thesis of that event has been completely missed by the curator——immediate refund, please!

However, if you find yourself lingering in conversation past the time you said you would leave and with a newfound perspective on wine, then we’ve done our part in striking your emotional core via multiple pours. At that point, how much you spent on the wines or the event experience become ancillary to everything else. 

Sip thoughfully.

Savor Memorably.

Wine, but make it fashion.

Cheers,

The Certified Wino