Series: How meme culture is changing the wine industry

Credit: Cool Wine Kidz Only

I’ve long been fascinated by memes and the people who make them. What drives them to this medium? Do they have a more significant impact than we might want to believe?

It’s been said memes are rebuilding the political and cultural landscape - it remains one of the last methods of communicating unfettered information.

I reached out to various wine meme accounts on Instagram to further understand the motivation behind their creation.

Certain accounts wish to remain anonymous.

Here is my first conversation with meme account, Cool Wine Kidz Only.

LM: Give us an insider's look into the day in the life of a meme lord. Do you have any morning rituals that get the creative juices flowing?

CWK: Honestly, I wish there was some sort of detailed process I could lay out. I usually make my week's worth of memes on a Saturday or Sunday morning after my morning coffee.

LM: Everyone seems to be talking about making wine accessible, being more inclusive and diverse. Yet, nothing ever seems to really change - maybe only incrementally. Memes seem to bridge that gap, by using humour to call out the injustices of the wine industry. How have you seen the culture change (if at all) since the inception of memes?

CWK: I think memes have brought more attention to glaring flaws and the ridiculous nature of the wine scene. Who knows though, awareness is key to making people push for change.

LM: Favourite wine meme accounts?

CWK: I am going to forget to mention someone and kick myself over it, but here goes - jimmysuccling, subculture_sommelier, the_angry_somm, shittywinememes, senpai.wine, winememes4teenz (sorry to anyone I forgot!)

LM: Let's talk haters: how do you deal with them and what's the craziest encounter you've had?

CWK: I have definitely encountered some haters and bristled some feathers. Honestly, I don't really care and just laugh/shrug it off. The anger & hater reactions mean I am doing something right. People are too sensitive these days.

LM: What are your favourite topics to meme about?

CWK: I like to poke fun at people who take themselves too seriously and notions which aren't challenged, which at this point seem to make up the whole wine scene. People don't really think for themselves, become dogmatic and too set in their ways - I think it's good to shake things up and rattle the birdcage when a community becomes like that. The wine scene today reminds me of where the hardcore scene was in the early/mid 2000s - people taking themselves too seriously and stupidity running rampant.

LM: How does one become a meme lord? What's your opinion on anonymous accounts?

CWK: Honestly, this meme lord title makes me laugh and cringe at the same time. When I started this account I never thought I'd gain more than 200 followers comprised mostly of my friends and strays I picked up along the way. I was using the account to make fun of my close circle, myself (mostly) and poke at the normal topics I usually aim at and somehow, here we are.

I think anonymous accounts (like my own) can be useful when you are poking at people.

LM: What's your actual job?

CWK: I doubt people care, but I can say that I don't work in wine.

LM: Where do you see the future of wine memes going?

CWK: Wine memes are obviously very niche, I find myself surprised by how many people out there are making memes in the space. I think you'll continue to see more people throw their hats in and start making memes (whether good or bad, who knows). Whether or not wine memes actually achieve anything other than make people chuckle remains to be seen. I can say from experience though, when it comes to making memes it's a day at a time thing - most of the time I tell myself this is my last meme. So, when it comes to the future of wine memes, that is a hard subject for me to tackle.

LM: Who's more beneficial to the wine industry: Meme lords or influencers?

CWK: Were most of the influencers out there ever beneficial? Do people actually care about wine memes - do the memes resonate for more than a minute? I guess I don't know and that question is above my pay grade.

Follow Cool Wine Kidz here.