CLIMATE CHANGE IS THE NEW VINTAGE

However, things have gone a step further still. Are we facing an era that, in much the same way that vintages have long marked the changing weather conditions over years and years when it comes to wine, we will start seeing climate change used as a barometer too? LVMH thinks they might.

It’s striking that some of the most interesting climate change innovation has come from Ruinart, the oldest Champagne brand. Its latest launch is a conversation, it says, between “the challenges of an evolving climate, while maintaining the excellence of the Maison’s champagnes”. It is, it says, recrafting and readapting its winemaking process to meet the changing climate

To that end, it has launched its new Blanc Singulier cuvée, intended to reflect the major changes that are impacting its vineyards, which are higher average temperatures and increasingly early harvests. To let them tell it: “Cellar Master Frédéric Panaïotis and his teams have identified the emergence of new aromatic profiles linked to this new climate paradigm. These differences have in particular led to new balances between the aromatic profiles — fruity, floral, vegetal, spice — coupled with an intense expression and particularly powerful texture. Now Ruinart is revealing these new characteristics, adapting its savoir-faire while retaining the Maison’s distinctive signature, culminating in the creation of a cuvée named Blanc Singulier.”

Futureproof Taste Profiles

Perhaps the most radical take on adapting to climate change, liquid wise, the brand wants to let the “atypical climate profile of the year shape a distinctive aromatic expression”. It’s a bold but logical step forward. But it’s not just brands. Bartenders too are now creating menus that are a moment in time when it comes to ingredients. The Artesian bar’s Futureproof menu looks at ingredients of the future, adding unlikely produce to classic serves, from soil in a dry martini, to sweet potato in a spritz. The ingredients it has identified and adapted for use, aims to showcase ingredients of the future.

Drinks makers preoccupation with the environment is perhaps late in its urgency. But for those producers at the forefront, there’s an emerging understanding that to take consumers on a journey with them and help them better understand the true impact of and increasing challenges that climate change presents, the story needs to be told through the liquid itself. Demonstrating climate change as a liquid profile, as a moment in time, will become an increasingly powerful tool for brands, and a vital source of innovation.

WHY IS EVERYTHING SO BORING?

Temperatures may be soaring, but the drinks market is currently anything but hot. Looking around, there’s a lot of launches, but nothing truly new. With innovation either lacking or so disparate, it’s unlikely to make a category changing impact. We ask, why is the drinks market currently so boring?

September babies. There’s always a tonne of them. Because for every couple having an Eastenders style show down on Christmas day, there’s ten more apparently that are getting it on before a log fire. Ideally. Maybe. You can hope. The fact remains that, whatever the circumstances, people feel so ‘creatively inspired’ to make some babies during the festivities, that September ranks consistently as the most populous month for birthdays.

So, looking backwards it was amidst the post lockdown haze, the first flurries of freedom, that many of the products now launching from some of the biggest global producers would have been conceived. It was also a period defined by spiking costs, an emerging then outright war in Europe, and general jitteriness that they were researched and developed. In that respect, is it any wonder that the market right now could be seen as being a little…discordant? Okay, boring. We can say it.

WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING?

Let’s look at the evidence. What do we see launching at the moment? RTDs continue to launch apace, but there doesn’t seem to be any consistency, key trends, or genuine innovation. Hard seltzer brands are still having a push. However, many of the brands launched in the UK in the heady summer of 2021 have already been retired from the market, leaving just a few ‘category leaders’ left. We can conclusively say that in its current form, Brits just don’t get it. Yet we don’t see the next iteration that they would understand yet emerging.

We also see some bottled cocktails launching. Which feels hardly worth mentioning. Nothing new to see here. And, good God, in a move that made us check we hadn’t hallucinated the past 25 years, and it wasn’t in fact still 1998, Hooch has just launched a new flavour. Knock me down with an RTD-heydey-shaped feather if that new flavour isn’t ‘Blue’. Hmmmmmmmmm. Moderation isn’t cool, yet

We also see more tentative steps to create a moderation movement, with half-strength ‘spirits’. A number of brands, from Hayman’s in the UK, to Cut Classics in the US, and East Pole in Australia, have attempted to build a category around mid-strength products. Giving a better-tasting option than many non-alcs (allegedly), a better sense of value, and a way for imbibers to fully participate in social occasions but in a lighter way, the concept totally makes sense. Yet, they’re still pretty obscure.

In the UK, Quarter seems to be the brand putting the most behind the category. It launched Quarter G/N in 2021, and this week has announced its second product, Quarter T/quila. At 12% ABV, the agave-based spirit is said to give “all the flavour and experience you would expect from a full-strength Tequila, without the consequences”. The brand team, including co-founder Fabian Clark, claims that the launch was developed after being begged by stockists, following the boom in tequila sales. It all makes sense, but shouldn’t we be seeing more action from other brands here? Where are the big boys?

Meanwhile, there’s actually not that much activity currently in non-alc spirits. High Point recently announced a rebrand to Wavelength to better reflect its connections to the Cornish coast — and thus rooting the brand in a place and aspirational lifestyle — and that’s about it. Apart from some RTD launches. But, we’ve already seen plenty of those.

Summer Seasonals

And there’s still soooooo many gins launching. The Cambridge Distillery’s stands out for interest, but at its heart, it’s still just a seasonal edition. The product, called Vintage 2022 Spring Summer does however spark a conversation on seasonality and terroir, and if these can be conveyed in a gin through different approaches to using botanicals. In this case the makers wanted to reflect the scorching heat of Summer 2022 using a “novo-dimensional distillation matrix” where temperature, time, and pressure were all adjusted individually for each botanical.

It's summer, so there’s new ciders. But guess what? Most seem to be ‘blush’, pink, berry flavoured ciders…of which we’ve seen plenty already.