Social media is an absolute sewer. It breeds fear, anxiety and division. To say it brings out the worst in our society is an understatement. 

Its foundation - the holy algorithm - incentivises provocative, extreme and shocking content. Engagement (comments/shares) is monetised and fuels the fragile ego of the narcisists who spend their lives online. There are no prizes for truth or decency, no penalties for lies and harm.

Young men searching for meaning and belonging are bombarded with the most toxic nonsense eg. how only the 'alpha male ' who is 6 foot+ and jacked will ever get a girlfriend; encouraged to hit themselves in the face with a hammer (seriously), inject themselves with lord knows what, eat a diet of 80% protein, spend hours a day in the gym etc etc. 

It's a supercharged version of the crap women and girls have faced for years. It goes without saying that the misogyny online is vile.

Accounts freely promote self-loathing and harm. Russian bots spread disinformation, discontent and division. Racism festers. Violence is fomented.

What's all this got to do with wine?

Videos uploaded to youtube of updates from the vineyard or vintage; unboxing / tasting notes comes with a warning screen "Restricted content" 'the content of this video may be innapropriate'.

Facebook thinks we "don't meet community standards" so won't recommend our page and curtail our reach.

Clearly the social media companies are capable of policing the sewer. They are just choosing to spend their energy cautioning people before watching Tim in the vineyard, instead of stopping a mentally ill person promote anorexia to vulnerable teens. Fantastic.

I'm pretty tired of the demonisation of alcohol, both relative to the other sins/harms out there and in absolute terms.

Sure, excessive alcohol consumption is bad in all kinds of ways. 

Its a Group 1 carcinogen. You know, like bacon, ham and sausages. Or being overweight. Or the sun. Add in the lesser culprits like processed food, burnt toast, non-stick saucepans and plastic cooking utensils and it's a bloody miracle anyone is still standing.

I've always hated the crass "Moms who drink wine" thing, where wine is hobby / identity / crutch to get through the week. Glorification of drunken dependency clearly isn't good. 

On the other hand, wine is also a truly beautiful thing. 

Centuries old, at the heart of almost every ritual and rite from the sacred (blood of christ anyone?) to the sublime (the unmatched joy of sharing good times with dear family and friends)

It's an artform. It's alchemy. A source of pleasure and pride. We tend our patch of dirt responsibly, grow our grapes. Turn them into beautiful wine by hand.  

In moderation, it is fabulous and we all need to stop feeling guilty or apologising for enjoying a glass or 2 with a meal. 

Cheers, Nicky