There is a constant effervescence in the beauty industry that never ceases to fascinate me. A perpetual whirlwind of innovations, launches, and dazzling concepts. Each week, almost unfailingly, a new brand emerges, a product disrupts, an idea overturns conventions. One may love it or loathe it, but it is impossible to ignore its dynamism. It is a world that breathes vitality — and as I read Vogue Business this week, I found myself wondering: when will the world of wine recover that same creative pulse?
The article evokes a captivating shift — one in which influencers cease to be mere showcases and become, quite literally, retailers. No longer just messengers of trends, they are now merchants in their own right, owners of digital spaces where their selections express who they are. After affiliate links and coded stories, a new generation of “creator storefronts” is emerging: personal boutiques shaped in their creators’ image. Sephora, Condé Nast, ShopMy, and startups are all embarking on this path. The creator becomes a merchant; taste becomes an argument; subjectivity itself turns into capital.
This is a quiet revolution — not one of technology, but of sensibility. As the article aptly reminds us, “curation comes from having a point of view.” That is perhaps the core of it all: in a world saturated with algorithms and automation, the human gaze regains its value. Authenticity becomes rare, and therefore precious. We no longer buy a product; we buy a perspective.
And so my thoughts turn to another world I hold dear — Wine. Most of our clients at VitaBella, historically, come from that very world. Once, it too had its towering figures, its “super-critics,” of whom Robert Parker was the undisputed king. Their judgment could make or break destinies; entire vintages hinged on a single score. Then came disintermediation, the rise of online sales, and the slow erosion of those authoritative voices. Today, wine feels somewhat subdued — institutionalized, homogenized, even digitized to the point of losing its soul.
Yet if beauty is reinventing retail through personality — if influencers are becoming the new merchants — why not wine? Why not imagine, in the years to come, these influencer-sommeliers or digital négociants, driven by passion and discernment, curating their own selection with the authority of a Parker but the spontaneity of an online community? Wine, more than any other product, thrives on human emotion and singular expression.
It would be, as Vogue Business describes, a return to curation — to the human hand that selects, recommends, and engages. The future of wine commerce may not unfold in cellars, but in that subtle alchemy between influence and integrity. A new form of authority, no longer dictated by critics but born of trust. In short, a rebirth — that of embodied taste.
Contact Guillaume Jourdan via LinkedIn
