Disrupters in German wine...and elsewhere

Today’s Source | Material offering in partnership with Hofgut Falkenstein made me think of how much the ground has shifted recently in the knowledge economy surrounding German wine. Appropriating a trendy term from the business world, we might say that entities like Source | Material and Trink (trinkmag.com) have “disrupted” the traditional ways in which knowledge of German wine has circulated and to a lesser extent how German wine is purchased and consumed.

While there are interesting questions to be had about how this will ultimately shake out for the majority of consumers or if these “disrupters” are here to stay, i thought that it would be interesting to compile a list of “disrupters” in all regions of wine. Are there new and ambitious players changing how we consume knowledge and bottles of French wine, Italian wine, etc.?

Just to clarify, we are obviously seeing changes in the production of wine, including in areas like viticultural practices and packaging. And we are even seeing changes in established channels, for example, William Kelley’s (Wine Advocate) social-media friendly approach to reaching consumers. What i’m hoping this thread will do is to point out the “disrupters” who have put forward alternative ways to learn about and purchase/consume wine.