Bruce Freeman of Clos des Amis in the vineyards on South Mountain.

As we are about to close on 2025, it’s that time of year when we reflect on the past year, in particular what caught the eyes, or not, of our blog readers who receive the Vero newsletter.

As our blog increases in popularity among engaged explorers of both wine and food, encompassing wine and food professionals, from distributors, wine buyers, stores, restaurants and chefs, to journalists and wine lovers and foodies across America, we’re able to gather some very high level insights to interpret what, collectively, drew our readers’ interest or not. Now that the Vero blog is over 5 years going strong, we’re able to see how you, our readers, changed over the years.

When you think about it, the past 5+ years have not been your “normal” run of events. In fact we started our blog and newsletter just before the onset of a world wide pandemic which was so profound that it has changed all of us in one way or another. Then post Covid, we have experienced a continuing stream of extreme and/or unexpected occurrences which have impacted each of our lives. Think:

unexpected price increases and supply constraints, caused by external events, from Covid to tariffs, which have upended economic models;
proliferation of AI technology and tools;
not to mention geopolitical events and landscape around the world which has caused a lot of suffering and concern for the future.

How have we all reacted to all of this in 2025?

Let’s first take a peak into what we have seen with some hard data. Then let’s draw some conclusions.

First and Foremost…

… the data points, especially compared to previous years, are all over the place in 2025…

In past years, it was quite easy to draw conclusions to determine the topics our readers were most interested in. This year, it’s the opposite. It’s all over the place. For example:

While our readers showed continued interest in recipes we’ve shared, which encompass both new, as well as tried and true, dishes, the type of recipe which whet our readers’ appetite varied. For example, our readers expressed strong interest in an Italian pie recipe and ugly but delicious cookies, while they showed little interest in a healthy and easy-to-make Italian appetizers and Mediterranean diet ideas… hmmm, now that we think about it, it seems our readers were more interested in dishes that would get them off their diet ;)
In the past, our readers would “eat up” articles that would explain various intricacies of how wine was farmed and made, like natural winemaking. Instead, this year most of the winemaking topics had a tepid response from our readers, like articles about tastes vs flavors in wine (and food), mouthfeel in wine, role of yeast in winemaking, and vintage variations, from Barolo wines to cult wines. That’s not to say that that there was no interest in wine education: for example, our color in wine article was clearly the most popular of the year. Yet, consistent with us scratching our heads to make sense of this year’s statistics, this article about wine color was already in its second publication this year; it was first published last year. Guess how our readers responded to this article last year? With a meh response. So, again, another case in which our readers’ interests are hard to gauge.
Every so often, we publish articles and videos which draw insights from our unique vantage point in the wine and food industry, especially Italian wine. Naturally, they are topics which hit close to home for us, since our livelihoods have their stakes in wine and food. While our wine trend publications are usually not all of our readers’ favorites, they usually make it to the top 3 of favorite overall topics. This year was different. Who knows why. There certainly was a lot of uncertainty this year, especially driven by the tariff war, which left those of us in the wine industry, especially, between a rock and a hard place. That certainly added to a year with a lot of distraction and noise.

Alternative Twist on A Tried and True Dish

Despite the difficulties in citing trends from this past year’s data, one clear stand-out across the board, from wine and food professionals to every day foodies and wine lovers, was our discovery of this innovative take on Caprese Salad. It is a recipe created by a woman chef in Italy who has become one of the top influencers in the country who was recently awarded UNESCO recognition for its cuisine. Thanks to Eleonora Riso, we discovered how the simple trick of frying capers into crispy, savory nuggets gives a distinctive flavor twist to a caprese salad made with burrata and peaches: it creates a union of contrasting flavors and tactile sensations which surprises and delights. This find of such a unique take on this classic summer dish captured your curiosity, hands down!

Artisan Wine Champions

We shared with you a wonderful piece of news that fell in our laps this year: we were recognized as the 2025 Artisan Wine Champions of the USA by a global luxury lifestyle publication. Naturally, we shared this great news with all of our readers, who responded with interest to this great achievement. While, generally, when we share awards like this, honestly, it does not get a lot of your attention, although this one did.

Perhaps it is a testament to our commitment, for over 7 years, to seeking authentically crafted wines and our sincerity in sharing these amazing finds from farmer artisans around the world? We like to think so!

“Weird and Wonderful Consumer Trends”

Trend outliers, like those cited in this article, is a common theme that many small business owners in the US have noticed this year. We know we are not alone is noticing peculiar changes in consumer and buyers’ behaviors. For example, it has come up in discussions our founder has had recently with other small businesses. Many have put the blame on the proliferation of AI created content, especially over the past year, even though we’ve noticed other changes prior, such as a decrease in social media engagement. The blame on these behavior changes is not only with AI: peoples’ attention spans have become more and more saturated with the continued onslaught of digital channels.

Despite our continued focus on engaged explorers of wine and food, we did notice considerably diminished enthusiasm this year of articles focused on the discovery of places, like Italian wine regions, rare grapes and people that farm and craft our portfolio of artisanal wines and foods. This behavior change was the most surprising. After all, if you got this far in reading this article, for sure you have some interest in the pursuit of hidden gems of wine and food. What could have caused this shift?

This consumer trends article just published in the Wall Street Journal seems to have an answer: it cites “Aspirational Humanity” as a key marketing trend in 2026. It goes onto say: “As artificial intelligence hyper-flattens mass culture, anything denoting evidence of humanity becomes exceptionally desirable.” This article paints a picture of a consumer who is harder to impress and has become mistrustful of what is being thrown at them. Fake “humanness” is everywhere. The source of the content, person, service or product that they see in front of them is constantly being questioned, as the use of AI has become more sophisticated. The American consumer, while still craving authenticity, is wary more than ever of what’s real or not.

So, we get it: our readers have become slightly more jaded, as have all of us, as it becomes more easy to create with AI.

So, we does this imply about future trends?

In the Search of “Human-Created”

Guido Corini of Italian winery Case Corini tending to grape vines.

Continuing with the 2026 trends outlined in the WSJ article, they predict a trend towards “human-created cultural products” with “indicators of tactility, texture and imperfection becoming increasingly significant.” People want something real, and signs of a human touch, even if it means accepting a bit of imperfection. In fact, this concept is similar to what we wrote about several years ago: Wabi-sabi, which is a practice to recognize beauty in imperfection. It is an ancient tradition from Eastern cultures, and is evidence of human made product, e.g., something hand made.

Continuing with this theme, the Wall Street Journal article expects a trend, which Gen Zers seemingly have already initiated, of shunning modern technology and inventions in favor of a “road less traveled” approach: instead of following what’s trendy, seek out something different, authentic and with roots.

It was in this vein that Vero was started: our founder, who was living in Italy for many years, where her husband was a baker making hand made artisanal pasta, bread and sweets every day, following years of tradition. Besides food, she got into wine, studying to become a sommelier in Italy. She had a full immersion in a world where small batch, farm-to-glass wines and hand crafted foods were the norm, not the exception.

The products that we curate are made by farmers tending to their land and then crafting a product which expresses the place and natural elements from where it is from. As a result, the wines, olive oils and other foods we import and sell have tactility, texture and imperfection, all signs of not only being human made but also nature made.

Hmm… despite the peculiarities of 2025, it seems that we are well positioned for what people will be yearning for in 2026? What do you think?…

For those of you who got your curiosity piqued in this article, join our newsletter!

You know who to turn to for wine, EVOO and specialty foods that are guaranteed not only human made, but crafted by the same people who are both farming their land and making a genuine product that is full of tactile, texture sensations, with just enough imperfections to invite you in more.

We sell across the country to distributors who we actively seek out, as well as to wine stores and restaurants in certain markets, and to wine lovers and foodies across the country, who seek out our wine and food gift baskets, and enjoy our award winning wine club. Contact us today or just check out our goods here.