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A famous wine writer will announce with due solemnity that natural wine is an irrelevance, a busted flush, a little fad that no-one will talk about or be interested in 2014.
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Half a dozen new natural wine bars will open in the UK in 2014
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The counter culture will assuredly become the wine culture (viz Noble Rot magazine, irreverent blogs)
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The female sommelier will continue to be king (queen). (This trend started a few years ago).
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More contradictory reports about the good/ill health benefits of drinking red/white wine whether you are male/female. The stress caused by reading such reports inevitably drives more people to drink.
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The tasting calendar will become so crowded that it will eventually deter people from going to any of them. (This is called Buridan’s ass syndrome). Someone will undertake to go to every Burgundy en primeur tasting and be admitted to A & E with acute Pinot Noir poisoning.
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The return of the cash/graduated mark up. Why? Because more restaurants and bars will be run by individuals who understand wine and know what sells and how to sell it, rejecting bean-counter formulism.
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Whichever Eastern European country that has not yet been lauded as the hottest trendiest potato will make its bow with a £5.99 Pinot Noir that tastes like a £6.99 Pinot Noir.
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Someone will write that China is capable of producing the best Chardonnay/Cabernet/Pinot Noir in the world. Then say it again and again and again. Which won’t make it any more true.
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All talk of global warming making England a premier wine-producing country will dissipate when it pisses down with rain for most of the summer
AND (you heard it here first)
The 2014 vintage in Bordeaux is already looking amazing and several Chateaux have already declared it to be the vintage of the century.