NPR.

Stories drive the economy.

Even the idea of money itself is a story.

Like the dollar isn't backed by gold.

We are all telling ourselves the story that it's worth something.

That story keeps the wheels of the economy turning.

Yeah, don't ask too many questions.

That's something I promise.

And a lot of markets are changed or even permanently shaped by stories.

Take the wine market.

It was deeply affected by this story, which for our purposes starts in the mid 90s.

This man Rex Pickett was a writer living in Los Angeles.

And he was having a really, really hard time in his life.

His divorce was just the start of it.

My dad died tragically.

My mother had a stroke after that.

And she survived and I had to take control of her care.

I was broke. I was very lonely.

Oh, wow.

It was a brutal time.

And in the middle of all this, one day Rex goes to pick up some wine from a local wine shop.

And he sees that the staff are holding something in the corner of wine tasting.

...