Inspired by Rob Smart's groundbreaking post on Pro Food, I wondered What sort of wine would you pair with #profood? Let's look at what Pro Food entails, in case you're not familiar:
1. Inclusive- not the usual evil big ag versus fascist organic nazis
2. Pro Farm- supporting farmers and stewardship is vital
3. Pro Consumer- food should be good and healthy, not just produced for economic efficiency
4. Pro Cooking- people need to know how to cook at home
5. Pro Eating- chefs/restaurants that cook healthy, sustainable food are important
6. Community oriented- food should be shared around a table and ideally be local/regionally produced
7. Entrepreneurial- status quo food production is dominated by entrenched interests that don't serve us well

Do we need Pro Wine to accompany Pro Food? Many of the problems are the same: the wine world is dominated by entrenched industrial interests. Nearly every bottle consumed in North America is made by just 30 companies. And if you look at the way the "natural" wine aficionados are fighting the industrial camp you would think it impossible to make an honest wine and an honest living. Too many wines are heavily processed. Even more are made for competitions, trade shows, and magazine reviews, instead of for pairing with food. Rob doesn't talk about transparency specifically, but it is an important component of Pro Food. The knowledge gap between eater and food producer needs to be closed. The average eater and wine consumer has little idea of how wine is actually made. Transparency is vital to Pro Wine. Knowing both the farming practices AND the cellar methods/additions/subtractions helps close the farm to glass gap.
1. Inclusive-not natural wine versus industrial wine. How about wine as agricultural product and as unmanipulated and unprocessed as possible, but at a profit for the people making it?
2. Pro Farm- every winemaker pays lip service to the notion that great wines are made in the vineyard, but very few grow their own grapes.Pro Wine tries to support vinaroons. Vinaroon inseparably means farmer and winemaker.
3. Pro Consumer- making wine as efficiently as possible creates an artificial commodity product. Sometimes making wine without even a drop of sulphur creates wine that is more interesting than delicious. Pro Wine advocates seek a balance and an authentic agricultural product.
4. Pro Cooking- wine should be made to share around a table with family and friends, not merely for competition.
5. Pro Eating- there are lots of great chefs working closely with farmers to bring healthy, sustainable food to restaurant menus. Sommeliers who are trying to match the wine list both in flavour and philosophy should be equally regarded.
6. Community-oriented- Pro Wine recognizes the simple pleasure of bringing people together around food and wine.
7. Entrepreneurial- Hundreds have already started to build a meaningful Pro Wine presence, but there is still plenty of work to do. Wine is still dominated by conventional players.

There are lots of people already making strides in building Pro Wine, but there are still millions of people who care about sustainable food who don't know the truth about their wine. People who take the time and energy to join CSAs, and shop at farmer's markets, but stop thinking that way when they set foot into the wine shop. There is a massive opportunity to reconnect wine to its agricultural roots, to support wine of consistent quality, not consistent flavour. Let's join our efforts and give all of the people working on Pro Food something to pour at their supper tables.