AT A time where online interaction is key and our senses need more stimulation, drinks platform Vivant couldn’t be more suited to wine drinkers in the present day. With a slick team of experts and an advanced interactive tasting experience, Vivant invites curious minds to learn and enjoy the intricacies of clean, biodynamic wines.
To gain a true understanding of what Vivant does, you must participate in their wine experience kit. You will receive five to six glass test tubes of hand selected wines which you can then whilst being guided by an expert online. During the session you can interact with others, learn interesting facts about the wine region and develop your palette.
In an age where learning about wine isn’t accessible for everyone, Vivant is revolutionary in its area, as it lets you indulge from the comfort of your own home.
We spoke to Vivant’s Founder and CEO, Micheal Baum about his journey from working in Silicon Valley to diving into the world of wine.
You have a very different background to someone who might normally work in the wine industry. What is your current relationship with wine now that you’re in the industry? And how has it changed from before my relationship with wine?
I drink more. I taste a lot of different wines that I never tasted before. I don’t know that my relationship with wine is terribly different. Maybe it’s different than it was five or six years ago before I got into the industry, you know, because I’ve become a lot more educated about wine. I did my WSET and of course, developed a lot of our consumer experiences that are all based on an education.
And I would say from a fundamental standpoint, I learnt a lot more about wine, wine making, wine regions, wine styles. So I’m certainly a lot better educated. And I think that education really gives you even more of a fascination for the complex world of wine and how interesting it is. It’s so deep and it’s so broad and there’s so much to learn.
I did the tasting for the Loire Valley, it was so nice to have the education and do the interactive wine tasting with other people around the world. Was that something that was built around covid or was that already in place for people to connect online like that?
The project has been in development for about two and a half years now, so it’s something we thought of long before the global pandemic.
Certainly there’s been more comfort with people being online and probably some more interest in people doing things online, but I think even after things settle down, whenever they do, a lot of the places we go, the people we meet, it would be impossible for people to meet these people, taste these wines, get to these places on their own.
There’s a real sense of accessibility through the Vivant platform, and it’s such a slick platform. What is your demographic like and do you think you’ve invited a new demographic to the wine world?
I would say our demographic is an educated audience, from a disposable income standpoint. The important part of our demographic is less age because I think it spans from people in their early 20s to people in their 70s and 80s. We’re going after people who are interested in education or are lifelong learners, or are curious by nature, as we say.
And this is a particularly interesting thing when it comes to brain science and how it overlaps demographics, because we know that people who are curious by nature, there are certain synapses that they get when they learn new things, when they figure out answers to questions that they have, and this is really kind of the human reaction that we’re going after with the platform.
There’s been a big shift in how we consume alcohol, and we’ve faced a big craft drinks revolution. Do you think people’s attitudes towards wine have shifted?
I hope that people are starting to become more conscious about what it is that they’re consuming, and I think certainly younger generations are. I mean, I have two boys that are 19 years old and they’re very conscious about what they eat, what they drink, what they put in their bodies, the companies that they buy products from.
I hope over the years that the wine industry can become more responsible. Of course, we have to change consumer behaviour and preferences, but we also have to change as producers in the way that we’re making wine. Our statistics show that 2.4% of the world’s wines are made organically.
It’s a shame because it means most producers are pumping systemic chemicals into their vineyards that they’re not good for us. They dumbed down the taste of the wine and they’re destroying the very land that these wine producers are dependent upon in the future.
What are your thoughts on wine trends and “viral wines” in the market such as biodynamic and orange wine?
I think orange wine is interesting because it appeals to a younger audience, and it’s very trendy. It’s a wine style that can be made with lots of different grapes. I mean, I think from a wine style standpoint, it’s interesting. I wouldn’t say that necessarily from a responsible winemaking standpoint that it offers anything different from organic or biodynamic farming.
You still have to look at how the grapes are farmed, even if you’re making an orange style wine. *You can make an orange style wine with conventionally farmed grapes with chemicals in them. So I think the two are different. We have to separate wine styles from how grapes are grown and farmed and how wine is made.
There’s a huge focus on French wine regions. Do you have plans to expand the portfolio?
Our first venture outside of France will be Spain and Italy this year. We’re a bit stuck in Europe right now because of the pandemic and our production teams and where they can travel and where they can’t travel to.
We had actually planned to be in South Africa and New Zealand right now, originally filming in the Southern Hemisphere because it’s much nicer to film vines that have leaves on them.
You mentioned in previous interviews that your first visit to France ignited your passion for wine. Why do you think French wine is so special?
It’s a combination of many factors. It’s taken me years to understand, but I would say thousands of years of winemaking expertise where people rely much more on experience and knowledge than technology.
When you bought the winery in Burgundy, it caused quite a controversy from some of the residents of France. You were accused of stealing and appropriating their heritage. Has this view changed from the people of France? Have they warmed to the idea of you being there?
About half of the people are thinking forward into the future, and they love the investment that we’re bringing, things that we’re doing and the energy that we create. I would say the other half are trying to desperately hold on to the past.
And, you know, they’re critical of the things that we’re doing. So I think it’s pretty evenly divided.
What measures are you taking in the future to introduce sustainability or maintain sustainability throughout the platform and the ones that you presented to your audience?
Every one of our winemakers signs a Vivant pledge, which is a simple document which promises to not use systemic chemicals in the vineyard, not over manipulate the wine artificially in the winery and it even goes down to equal pay for equal work in the business.
So the general kind of enterprise hygiene that we might expect companies to operate by these days. So we’re vetting all of the wine makers, all of the wines. It is everyone that comes into the programme. We measure them for chemicals. We measure them for sulphur levels. We’re very serious about it.
Lastly, tell me a bit about the sommeliers that work for the platform.
We have a team of WCT educated wine advisors. They’re all wine educators and they’re the ones performing online, but they’re also the ones that anyone who’s a member on our platform can reach out with our Ask a Wine Advisor feature and get recommendations for wines, ask questions about specific education topics.
So, it’s really like having your own personal wine advisor. When you’re a member on the platform, you have a dedicated person who is there to help you with your journey every step of the way.
by Katrina Mirpuri