Why do business publications write about wine?

Hal Morris wonders on his Grumpy Editor blog why business publications like BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal write so much about how wines taste — and not about the wine industry.

Morris wrote, “Grumpy Editor, known to have a glass of white zinfandel on occasion, is always fascinated with wine reviews that come close to, well, fantasy.

“Or maybe wine reviewers are taking a page from former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan who enjoyed inserting phrases into speeches that Wall Street and financial writers took hours, sometimes days, to decipher.  Best example: ‘Irrational exuberance,’ used in a speech to describe the state of the stock market.

“With many folks these days ultra conscious as to what goes into their stomachs, another review in the Oct. 1 issue of BusinessWeek describes a French white wine with, ‘This offering is scented with fresh lime, fennel, tangerine zest and flowers.  It finishes with fascinating hints of iodine, oyster shell and citrus zest.'”

Read more here.