CONSUMPTION HABITS: THE COCOONING EFFECT SPREADS – ITALIANS ENJOY DRINKING WINE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS, BUT NOW THEY PREFER TO DO IT AT HOME… TO SAVE MONEY AND AVOID BREATHALYZER TESTS

In these times of economic restrictions not only consumption habits are changing but also the location where products are consumed. And this phenomenon has also spread to the wine sector. And new, stricter drinking and driving laws together with the economic crisis have pushed increasingly larger numbers of wine enthusiasts to desert their favorite restaurants and wine bars in preference for their homes or those of friends and family, the new privileged spot for meeting and sharing a good bottle of wine. This new consumption dynamic was one of the debates during Vinitaly (Verona, 2 to 6 April), the most important expo for the wine sector.

This does mean, however, that wine bars, like other commercial activities are feeling the effects of the crisis, also because some wine enthusiasts are now opening bottles that they had previously stored away in their collections.

The causes are multiple, not just the contraction of budgets destined for these types of acquisitions, but also a modification of the more intimate spheres of consumer behavior, which this crisis is profoundly changing and will probably result in completely new paradigms.

The difficulties of modern society, the world economic unrest, and stress from work are some of the solicitations that invite Italian wine enthusiasts to rediscover the private dimensions of their own homes. This is what Anglo-Saxon experts call the nesting or cocooning effect, or rather, the need to recuperate “warm” and reassuring values like, for example, security, reliability, harmony, whose metaphoric reign is, precisely, the nest or the cocoon.
And this is the reason for an exponential increase in the need for protection from unforeseeable dynamics from the external world, the search for trust and well-being, with the consequent desire for home and privacy – a family nest. A glass of good wine, happily shared with friends and relatives, is capable of creating authentic conviviality in these times because it can be done within a circle of “safe” people. It has become an occasion to taste noble labels far from useless clamor, returning these bottles to their rightful role: that of protagonist of conviviality and the object of passion, and a good companion in times of crisis.