In our exclusive Design Fiction series for France’s CB News, we dive into the future through imaginative storytelling: short, thought-provoking pieces that explore what’s next for industries like fashion, tourism, banking, and more. Inspired by real signals shaping our world today, each article examines the possibilities ahead and unpacks what they mean for brands, communication, and strategy.
dentsu X imagines tomorrow, today.
The aim of this design fiction exercise is to analyze how our society's weak signals could change it if they were to become the norm in twenty- or thirty-years’ time. This exercise is not intended to predict the future, but rather to understand how brands could adapt to, or even play a role in, these possible transformations.
By 2090, climate change has reshaped the global wine industry, disrupting millennia-old traditions. France, once the undisputed cradle of wine, has had to adapt to extreme conditions: arid lands, earlier harvests, and, above all, vineyards reduced to tiny, protected parcels. Two distinct markets have emerged. First, ultra-premium vintages are produced from restricted and rare terroirs, making them symbols of a heritage to be preserved. Second, accessible wine substitutes are produced in laboratories making them infinitely customizable but disconnected from any heritage.
What if, in the future, this contrast between terroir and chemistry redefined the concept of luxury? What if roughness and the non-customizable became the new hallmarks of prestige in a world saturated with sanitized technological perfection?
Dateline: Friday, 10 February, 2090
The light scent of sun-heated asphalt lingers in the air as Eren walks briskly through his neighborhood. Every week, he enjoys visiting his favorite assembler’s boutique. But today, he walks past it. This year, he wants to offer an exceptional wine, one whose taste isn’t tailored to consumer desires but shaped by time and craftsmanship.
He knows, however, that this quest won’t be easy. Finding a wine that still tells a story – a genuine one – has become a rare feat. Climate change has upended the distribution of vineyards; some once-thriving regions are now too arid for viticulture, leaving only a few hectares under strict protection. These restricted parcels produce a mere handful of bottles each year, sold at exclusive auctions rather than to the general public. Meanwhile, the remaining lands have been repurposed for other agricultural activities, such as raising heat resistant livestock or growing exotic fruits, transforming France into a patchwork of unexpected flavors.
Since the 2070 Cepsan Law, traditional wine merchants have reinvented themselves as assemblers. Their boutiques, a hybrid of high-tech labs and minimalist art galleries, are at the cutting edge of technology.
Outside their shops, a digital wall offers biometric scans that analyze in real time each customer’s taste preferences, emotional states, and even dietary needs. The promise is no longer the traditional one of wine: here, heritage gives way to an immersive and ultra-personalized experience. In fact, since the Cepsan Law, terms like vintage or wine are no longer used. Instead, there’s assemblage. Likewise, aromas are now sensory profiles, and vintages are now signatures. The law also bans the use of images of vineyards or terroirs in advertising campaigns for these blends. Although these assemblages draw their origins from wine, they’ve had to create their own identity, even down to their packaging. Traditional bottles have been replaced by modular, lightweight capsules made from fully recyclable materials. These regulations aim to avoid confusion between artisanal craftsmanship and chemistry.
In these boutiques, Eren is accustomed to selecting his wine base from local or exotic options, laboratory-produced from modified grape varieties. The flavors are then enhanced with aroma cartridges: blackberries, truffles, or surprising touches like smoked vanilla or pink pepper. While assemblages are unique to each individual, some people have achieved star status by sharing their one-of-a-kind blends that have gone viral on community platforms. Thanks to an international cloud system, specific codes for each assemblage can be shared, reproduced worldwide, and rated by consumers. The virality score on social networks even grants royalties to the most popular creators. For ten weeks, Eren held the top sales spot with his blend featuring yellow fruits and jasmine notes!
He appreciates this process – quick and adaptable to every occasion. But in four days, it’s Valentine’s Day, and for Naya, he wants something rarer, grander, and steeped in history. With a determined stride, he heads for the train station.
Eren has secured an invitation to a private auction, held in an underground room at a prestigious Burgundy vineyard. Thanks to his uncle, a winemaker turned consultant for wealthy collectors, he’s discovered this ultra-selective circle of CEOs and influential connoisseurs. Nearby, hushed conversations revolve around the last remaining active parcels and vanished vintages. Here, everyone knows that true luxury lies in the rough edges – the imperfections of a wine shaped by the land and the whims of the weather, by the winemaker’s expertise, far removed from sterile laboratories.
The highlight of the evening is a mythical bottle: La Dernière Côte 2075, a vintage produced from one of Burgundy’s last preserved parcels under a hygrometric dome. The winemaker, known for his almost mystical artisanal approach, is a legend. It’s said that every bottle tells the story of a struggle against climate change and oblivion.
The bidding begins, tense and feverish. Armed with his modest savings, Eren tries to keep up. But the numbers skyrocket: 500,000 credits, 750,000 credits... 1.2 million credits! Hope crumbles. The gavel falls, and applause erupts. He watches the bottle leave in the hands of a tech mogul, likely destined for a vault rather than a dining table.
Only three days remain. Frustrated by the astronomical auction prices and running out of time, Eren is about to give up when an idea strikes him. What if he tried the black market for wine? That clandestine network is a grey zone where desperate enthusiasts and skilled counterfeiters cross paths.
Among the black-market offerings, certain wines stand out: those from Scandinavian vineyards cultivated on French soils illegally exported during the 2050s and 2060s. These soils, taken from France’s great vineyards, were discreetly transported to Norway and Sweden, where the milder climate gave historical grape varieties a second life. Rumor has it that a struggling French winemaking house orchestrated this controversial export. The consequences of this heritage theft, as described by the French Prime Minister, were disastrous. The entire European Union’s diplomacy was shaken. For Eren, though these bottles lack an AOP designation, they’re such close replicas that distinguishing them from the originals is nearly impossible.
In a discreet warehouse on the outskirts of the city, he meets a wine broker: a woman with silvery-grey hair and an enigmatic smile. She hands him a bottle and whispers, "This is a facsimile of La Dernière Côte. It comes from an illegal Syrah vineyard near Oslo. Same winemaking process, same aromas, but... let’s say, made off the official grid. And at a much lower price."
Eren hesitates. The bottle is beautifully crafted, and even the falsified blockchain trace seems credible. He runs his finger over the label, which instantly projects a map detailing the vineyard’s exact location and a video about the original bottle’s artisanal winemaker. Everything seems flawless. For 200,000 credits, it’s his.
That evening, Naya discovers the bottle on the table. As they taste the wine, Eren pauses for a moment before exclaiming, "It’s incredible, isn’t it? It tastes like real Burgundy!"
Exchanging a knowing glance, they raise their glasses, letting the wine’s aromas fill the room as their conversation drifts to shared memories. Whether anchored in history or reinvented by technology, this moment remains precious. For Eren, what matters isn’t the bottle’s origin but the moments they share around it.
As the evening stretches on, the questions fade away, leaving only a simple truth: the joy lies in the moment, the company, and the pleasure of savoring something together.
Originally published on CBNews on 11th February 2025.
