Why does the show always seem to place value on obtaining the "real" versions of these things, if a replicator is recreating them at the molecular level? Should be absolutely no scientific difference in the product at that point, making it silly to do something like use a vast amount of land to grow grapes for wine, right?
Its the 21st century - we have cars (even electric ones if you don't like the fumes) yet some people still ride horses. We have quiet, efficient electric trains - yet people will travel miles to ride on a steam engine. We have high quality digital sound recording, yet some people are still buying vinyl records. You can simulate virtually any musical instrument with a computer, yet people still blow into pipes and pluck strings... because these activities aren't supposed to be practical, they're
recreation and
nostalgia.
Now fast-forward to the 25th century and the post-scarcity, money-free utopia of the Federation, specifically
Earth. Anybody who's idea of fun is exploring strange new worlds or attending a Vulcan monastery has already warped off to the Final Frontier so, outside Star Fleet HQ and its hinterland, there are going to be a disproportionate traditionalists left behind - like Jean-Luc's tech-phobic brother (...a phobia that he unfortunately extended to fire alarms) as introduced in TNG. Everybody who's
not a Starship Officer or Warp Drive Scientist is going to need something to stave off the boredom...
Chateau Picard probably isn't there as a viable business serving a market need - but it provides recreation for the "owners" (yeah... Trek
really hasn't thought through this whole post-scarcity socialism thing) and doubtless many locals who pitch in at harvest time (and are probably paid in wine). On top of that, they're preserving culture and craft knowledge, preserving biodiversity (the grapes, the insects that pollinate them, various bacteria, moulds...) and the character of the local landscape (this is Europe where the vineyards and farms have been part of the "natural" ecology for millennia).
Or, if you want a realist explanation for some of the anachronisms, remember the parable of the salt shakers from TOS: the props department needed a salt pots to use as bait for the salt-sucking monster, they went out and bought a bunch of ultra-modern stainless steel cruet sets, then realised that the audience wouldn't recognise what they were meant to be, so they grabbed a generic salt pot from the canteen and used the futuristic cruet as McCoy's operating instruments...
So, while in the 25th century, vice disillusioned ex-Star Fleet first officers who let themselves go might turn to esoteric futuristic vices that would require 10 minutes of exposition to explain, its a lot quicker and easier to show them chopping up some leaves and vaping the result (sparking up a joint would have been even better, but I guess Generation Z have already lost the secret of man's red flower...)
(...in Iain Banks'
Culture novels - in many ways, the Federation turned up to 11 and given an R-rating - they all have 'drug glands' in their brain which can deliver a huge range of recreational pharmaceuticals on demand - easy to depict in prose, could be tricky to depict on screen. They also catch colds as recreation...)
Why would the Federation pull back from helping them because of ... racism?
It's been implied that there's a Romulan-led anti-AI/racial purity conspiracy behind this (...any bets that its going to turn out that they nova-bombed their own sun?) - also, ISTR that it was actually mentioned that some of the other Federation member races who had suffered more directly at the hands of the Romulans were strongly opposed to the support.
the Romulan empire is massive - many planets... why would they need help?
Well, empires tend to be pretty top-down affairs that fall into chaos if their capital is threatened - 'all those planets' are mainly occupied territory and most of Romulus' military resources will be needed to keep them in line. Even in the TNG universe, full planetary evacuation would be a big deal. Then you've also got the 'reunification' movement gathering power and influence on Romulus - with Vulcan (and hence Fedration) support.
