Following up on authenticity

I'd like to build on Ryan and Jess's comments on authenticity and Ryan's underlying question - does it matter at all? What happened to focusing on whether you and your friends enjoyed it in the first place?

A few of the MBA2s went on a GST to Argentina and Chile last year to study the dynamics of the wine industries there. We tasted a lot of wine and if I'm honest, they started to taste pretty similar to one another after a while. To be clear, some of the wine we drank at Concha Y Torro was pretty terrible, but between Caro by the Catena family and Matervini by Santiago Achaval and Roberto Cipresso, I honestly don't think there was a huge disparity in quality. However, there was a significant difference in the amount of wine that was ordered in each place - we all bought way more wine at Matervini.

I think much of this boils down to how we experienced the wine. At the Catena family's property, we had the usual wine education and tasting tour; it was enjoyable, but I wouldn't describe it as particularly memorable. Matervini was very different. A GSB alum who was also the owner took us on a tour of the property, including the vineyards, a show room, and a separate house that they had created for entertaining. There, he and his son spent >3hrs preparing a traditional barbeque for us, and chatted with us till the wee hours of the morning. We developed a much more personal relationship with him, and enjoyed what many of us thought of/described as an "authentic Argentinian experience" so much so that Forrest felt comfortable enough to ask for his whatsapp information to collect an order from all of us.

When my wine shipment arrived, I'll be honest - I thought it was good but it didn't quite live up to the excitement I experienced when I was in Argentina.

I wonder if this is the crux of it - that some part of the enjoyment lies in the "authenticity" of the experience - the sense that it is real, salt of the earth connection and fun vs. authenticity in the sense of purity (this pasta is really Italian vs. a recipe concocted in Italy, manufactured in China, and shipped to France). Viewed in that sense, authenticity is personal, and becomes inextricably linked to memory, which we then try to recreate through our subsequent purchases. In an industry where products aren't necessities, and are probably more similar than we'd like to admit, this version of authenticity is arguably important because it moves product. The real question is, if you don't have a group of GSBers coming to visit you, and can't be barbequing for every guest at scale... how do you create these memories to move sales?