 With everything that's going on around the world, is wine really even that important anyway? Why or why not? That's what we're going to talk about in this video. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Matthew Horkey. I'm coming to you, I guess, quasi-live from Zagreb Croatia where we're kind of locked down amongst this whole COVID-19 crisis. So I thought about starting a special weekly series called COVID-19 Lockdown where I share some thoughts about wine and I want to get your input and your thoughts too. So make sure to leave a comment, dialogue. We can have a dialogue in the comment section below. So the first question I'm going to pose, you know, amongst all this, I'm on Facebook. Obviously what we do with the Exotic Wine Travel has a lot to do with social media and a lot of my friends who are wine writers they say that they feel even guilty writing about wine during these times. Myself included, I'm putting out a lot of content. Shireen and I and I thought, is wine actually really that important? So that's one of the questions we're going to pose today. So there's a couple ways to look at it. Is wine really that important? It depends on who you're asking and where you're coming from. You know, I have some friends, I have a good friend that doesn't drink any alcohol, zero. Doesn't drink beer, wine, spirits, nothing. He always asks me, what the heck do you do with that disgusting stuff? Do you just spit it out or do you drink it all? So to some people, to a lot of people, wine really isn't that important. It's not important at all. Then you have some people that really don't care what they're drinking. They just want to drink alcohol for the hedonistic pleasure, be it they can drink beer, they can drink share or they can drink spirits, whatever. And then on the other side of the spectrum, you have hardcore wine geeks, wine people, wine consumers. Myself included is wine important. Yes, I really enjoy drinking wine with food. So it is important. But is it truly a necessity for me? No, it's not. I could live without it. I'll tell you, one group of people who are wine is incredibly important. And that's small producers that make wine that depend on the sales of wine for their income, for them to be able to put food on the table for their families. And this is something that hits home for me. And I'll give you an example. My family back home owns a large farm in southeastern Michigan. Did I get that right? Yeah, southeastern Michigan. If you're Europeans around 1000 hectares to 2500 acres, it's all produce. And I remember in 1988, when I was a kid, we had a humongous drought through the Midwest. And it lasted, it was so long, it lasted into 2009 even. And in that part of Michigan, you have a lot of people that are maybe just farming, just for a hobby, just because they have a piece of land. But for us, it was a livelihood. And I remember how incredibly difficult that time was. My mom was really incredible taking care of all of us, trying to keep us calm. Well, my father actually had to get another job. He actually had to get a job removing asbestos, which is an insulation that if you breathe it in, it's been shown to cause cancer. So he did do that just to get us through those hard times just so we have something to eat. So the same as with these small producers in Europe, especially, we have a couple producers here from Hungary, from Croatia, some of them are only, only have maybe five to 12 hectares, making only maybe 40 to 60,000 bottles per year. So wine is definitely important. So one thing that I would suggest for you is to support some of these local producers, some of these local businesses that depend on it. We ordered some small production wine from Hungary here from our friends at Taste Hungary. They were also hit hard by all of this. They are a tourism and a wine shop, wine tasting company. All the tours got canceled through the year. I ordered, I ordered just a small amount just to just to show some support. We have the Hangavari, Tokai Summer Dry, Summer Only, something I really like, the Vita Big Ever, Bull's Blood, which is fantastic. In Croatia here, we have a bigger company, but just depends on wine for income, Ferovino, and then Ante Sladic, a beautiful small producer in Dalmatia, Croatia. So during this time, you see what people really want. There's a lot of movement in the cheaper wines in the US sub $20 range. It's because during these times, people are uncertain, unfrightened, what's going to happen. They don't need to be spending tons and tons of money on big trophy wines. They want something that they can open enjoy tonight. And there's a lot of stuff that you can find in the US under $20, but in Europe, even under the 10-year-old range, I mean this, this big of a rules in the 10-year-old, the Sladic Marashtina 10-year-old, the Saray, I think, 11-year-old, the same around here. And these are very enjoyable wines. And another reason to support these small producers and show why wine is important. I think the real power of wine is a whole bottle of wine keeps your friends, your families, your loved ones at the table longer. So during this time, I know a lot of people have a lot of free time. It's a great chance to get off social media, sit down with your family, your friends. And I'm sure you and I have been sitting down enjoying a bottle of wine. I've been trying to cook. I'm a terrible cook, but right behind me is this big pot of soup because it's the one dish that I made. I made a chicken paprika soup and we sip on a bottle of wine and just kind of discuss life. So in other words, wine is important. Wine is important for us because that's how also we make our living. So this different perspective for you guys to have. Let me know what you think is why important to you. Could you care less? What are you doing? What are you drinking during these times? Put it in the comment section below. And I love to hear from you. If you like this channel, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, Exotic Wine Travel. I will see you at the next episode.