(SonomaNews) - In a love poem from the 13th century, Persian poet Rumi insolently beseeches his paramour: “Either give me enough wine, or leave me alone.”

Which just goes to show: Even medieval Muslim balladeers could foresee that the market for wine would eventually plateau.

So it’s all the more curious why the flattening of the wine market this year has been such a surprise to industry experts.

In Kate Williams’ recent story on slowing sales on the Sonoma wine scene (“Is Sonoma Reaching ‘Peak Wine’?” Aug. 31), she references the 2018 “State of the Wine Industry” report written by Rob McMillan of the Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division, which contends that the industry is at the tail end of its largest growth period in history. While wine sales continue to grow, its brakes are practically skidding. For instance, from January through September of 2016, premium wine sales – bottles between $10 and $25; the industry’s biggest market -- increased 9.8 percent over the same months the previous year. But in 2017, that same period saw a mere 0.3 percent growth. While those numbers reflect national trends, which aren’t always predictors at the local level, it’s no doubt little solace to the Wine Country market, which then lost much of October and beyond due to the North Bay fires.