Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

Witness the Best "Good News" Day for Wine in Months

Among the things I do every morning after the coffee is brewed is sit down and look through the various emails I receive the deliver aggregated wine news. Today, I opened the Wine Business Monthly Daily News Links email and saw these headlines:

Wine Demand Outstripping Supply

Forecast: Wine, grape prices to rise in 2012

Experts predict rebound in wine prices, plantings

2011 a vintage year for sales of California wine

I then moved on to Wine Industry Insight's News Fetch for the day and saw this:

Short California 2011 Winecrop Spurs Grower Prices

Collectively, these stories amount to the most good news for the California wine industry in a single day that I've seen in probably more than year. What all this optimism points to is a growing recognition, boosted by statistics, that a difficult economy is recovering and that the wine industry in particular is helping to lead the charge.

The really good news here, that results from a variety of factors, is that California's grape growers appear to be in store for an increase in prices they will get for their grapes along with an easier time finding contracts for their grapes. Two short harvests in a row and increase demand for wine is working its magic.

Add to all this the fact that Wines & Vines, via its Data Center, has been showing all year long an increase in on-premise sales of wine in 2011 over 2010 sales, a significant increase in Direct-to-Consumer shipments from wineries in 2011 over 2010, and an increase throughout 2011 in wine industry job offers over job offers witnessed in 2010.

The uptick in the wine industry sales and general health of the wine industry mimicks that we see in other luxury goods markets that we've witnessed throughout 2011. What is really necessary now and what would truly kick the wine industry and its surrounding service providers and vendors is an uptick in wine sales among the middle class. This of course would indicate a stronger recover at least in the Jobs Market, if not in the housing sector. This is the sort of thing I say prayers about when I lay my head down at night.

Today's news gives me the impression that someone might be listening.

 

Wine Social Media and the End of Average

Today in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman writes about the era of "average" being over: 

"Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius."

He's correct, it seems to me. Looking just at the amazing tools now available to wine marketers that are ALSO FREE and you get a sense that everyone does have to work harder. But working harder in wine marketing also means using those amazing tools that are available to all.

Any wine marketer ought to know by now that they can make substantial progress with customers by working with these free tools:

FACEBOOK
TWITTER

They cost nothing and by dedicating a half hour a day to their use, the winery, retailer and even Business to Business company can gain substantial access to their customers. But what takes LOTS of time is not tweeting or updating a Facebook page or responding to customers on Facebook and Twitter. What takes time is MONITORING your brand on social media.

Enter VinTank's Social Connect.

I've used this service since it was branded as Cruvee upwards of three or four years ago. I've used it to monitor the social media-related activity of clients of Wark Communications, to monitor wine industry trends running through the social media world and to monitor my own brand in the social media milieu. But with Social Connect's recent upgrade, what I, and the rest of the wine industry, now have is a truly robust tool for monitoring wine-specific social media events that impact your brand and niche.

And it's free!

At its most basic, Social Connect gives users the ability to view their social media exposure in the aggregate, while also digging deep into details of folks that are talking about your brand on-line. For now, Social Connect gives wineries and wine business a window into how their brand is being discussed on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, in wine blogs and discussion boards, CellarTracker and other online media where one's brand might be in play.

In addition, one can monitor how exposure of one's brand has increased, decreased and developed over time with handy time-based graphs. I know where my clients are being discussed, what time of day they are most likely to be discussed, what day of the week they are most often discussed and who is discussing them.

In its most robust use, Social Connect is allowing me to identify the degree to which social media discussion of my clients is positive and negative, again showing trends over time.

Much of the Social Connect tools is based on providing a set of keywords that relate to your brand. The setting of these keywords is given a deep dimension by asking users to identify just how much a relationship the words need to have to "wine" in order to deliver results. It's a very flexible tool.

This brief rundown of Social Connect is just that...brief. As I said before it's a very robust tool.

But I want to emphasize that its FREE. There was a time when the best tools business had at their disposal were often only put into use by the larger companies that had the financial resources to utilize them. This advantage is largely gone not just in the wine industry, but in the whole of most business sectors. The playing field continues to be flattened as more free or inexpensive tools that offer extraordinarily robust results.

In the earlier days of the Internet, I used to be known as being very good at ferreting out information buried deeply in the bowels of the Internet. It had to do with a certain intuitiveness I possessed for how certain ideas were talked and written about. I could put search engines to use like nobodies business. This talent brought me work. I no longer have this advantage. Tools like Social Connect have taken that skill and provided it to the masses in my industry without regard to my interests. But that's OK...Social Connect does it far better than I could and makes me a better provider of public relation and media relation services.

 

Drink Natural Wine—Or Get a Bad Rash

I'm looking forward to reading the interview with Giuseppe Mascoli in the February issue of Drinks Business just so I can see how demeaning he can be and to determine how far out of the intellectual fringe he can sit when talking about "Natural Wine".

In a story on Drinks Business that previewed the interview with Mr. Mascoli of Aubert & Mascoli we learn a number of things:

1. Non Natural wines will make you ill and cause you to form rashes on your body.

2.Natural Wines are like the works of Karl Marx, mean to be appreciated by folks with "sufficient level of knowledge

3. "Industrial Wine" (which goes undefined other than to make note of the use of cultivated rather than indigenous yeast) is for "children"

If it's not clear what this merchant and promoter of natural wines is saying, let me rephrase for you: Only the most sophisticated of wine drinkers, rather than all the other simpletons that drink something else, can appreciate "natural Wines", which won't make you ill like other wines.

Not too long ago I wrote a blog post here that drew attention to the proclivity of promoters of "Natural Wines" to denigrate wines that don't fall into the nebulous category of "Natural Wine". I highlighted a number of examples and suggested that "Denigration Marketing" ought to tell you a lot about what is being marketed. That post was met with a variety of responses, not a few of which poo-poo-ed my contention. That said, even many natural wine proponents that commented thought that denigrating non-natural wines would be a bad idea, even if they didn't see it happening.

Well, here it is happening again by a representative of natural wines in the UK. As I mentioned before, it is extraordinarily rare for any marketing to be based on the denigration of other products in your same category. Politics and beer and soda are about the only examples I can think of. And prior to the emergence of the Natural Wine supporters, I've never seen marketers in the wine industry actually come out and denigrate other wines—let alone suggest that these competitors will actually make you ill.

Some have pointed out that it's the marketers and not the producers who are involved in Denigration Marketing. What I'd like to see is some natural wine producers disavow this kind of thing. It's in their best interests to do so. the cacophony of denigration, spite, nastiness coming from many marketers and promoters of Natural Wine is getting awfully close to making all producers of natural wine look and smell like spoiled, oxidized wine. No one wants to drink that stuff.

Will Wine Be Used as a Weapon Against the 1 Percent?

If I'm not mistaken, we are seeing the development of a strong cultural aversion to the now notorious "1 Percent". Put another way, there appears to me to be a strong and still developing cultural and political zeitgeist that includes diminished respect, and even distaste, for financial elite, their demonstrations of wealth, their political power and the issues they care about.

(Before someone mentions that I've used the term "zeitgeist" incorrectly by making observations of the present, rather than a past age, I know this already. Don't let my incorrect appropriation of this powerful word distract you.)

This movement to identify the uber wealthy as the enemy or indicative of cultural, political and economic trends distasteful to the larger middle class is I think likely to get stronger and more prominent during the upcoming presidential campaign. Clearly this view of the very wealthy will breed political movements and efforts. It will play a key part in national discussion of tax policy, campaign finance reform, and, more importantly, the nature of the middle class as this large sector of the citizenry is identified and defined in contrast to the sector of the citizenry that makes up the "1 Percent".

What plagues my thoughts is this question: What implications does this unfolding and developing national zeitgeist have for the wine industry?

In the first place, the wine industry has nothing to gain from the anti-One Percent mood. This is due to the simple fact that there are not enough thoughtful wine enthusiast of any demographic to combat the overwhelming view of Americans that wine is the beverage of the elite. Despite the proliferation of wine drinkers and wineries, wine remains a potent symbol of the wealthy, the rich, the elite and the pretentious.

What this adds up to is that wine could quite easily be deployed by cultural and economic activists as a symbol for the 1%, effectively linking wine to the economically dominant. That's not good for the wine industry. 

In fact, wine has always been a symbol of the rich in America, and never linked with the middle class. Ask yourself the last time you saw a presidential candidate play up their appreciation of wine.....I'll wait....while you search your memory.......

......Nothing right? That's right. Now consider the connection between beer and spirits and the middle class.

Of course the most important question is the degree to which wine's association with the 1 Percent might lead to a backlash against wine sales. I think this kind of impact is more likely if the economy were to descend into full blown recession or even depression, than as a result of simple animosity toward those who are perceived as the drinkers of wine.

That said, I see the value in an industry-wide marketing campaign to link wine consumption to middle class pursuits as a hedge against guilt by association. I believe this identification of the 1-percent as the cultural, political and economic victors will be an animating idea for quite some time, and at least as long as the issue of income inequality is with us. That could be quite some time. There are very good reasons to take even small steps to try to insulate an industry from damage that might result from association with the top 1%.

My primary concern, however, is how wine might be used as a symbol in politics. Wine and wine drinking strikes as one of the more easily deployed and easiest to understand symbols in a campaign's toolbox. Put a glass of wine in a candidate's hand and it is extraordinarily easy to convey them as an out-of-touch elitist, and this is never a good albatross to have hung around one's neck.

Imagine for a moment the following scenario. A presidential, senatorial or congressional candidate is discovered to be a buyer of Harlan, Screaming Eagle, Lafite, d'Yquem, Grange and other very expensive wines. Imagine that it is discovered that they have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on these wines over the past year. Imagine a photo of this same candidate emerges that has them holding a glass of red wine up to their nose and they are clearly contemplating its aroma.

I'm no political genius, but even I could deploy these images and information to effectively portray this poor candidate as out of touch with the 99%.

The wine industry and its marketers have a tendency to follow the money and show up where the money shows up. The reasons should be obvious. Wineries and wine marketers regularly tout the prices their wines have achieved at auctions, the very glamorous venues at which their wines have been poured, the VIPs that consume their wines and the hoity restaurants at which their wines are served. I believe they need to be careful in doing this.

If I'm correct in believing that a zeitgeist defined by calculated political and cultural disconnection between the 1% and 99% is developing steam, the wine industry could in various ways find itself a victim of it all.

 

When Judges Tell the Truth About the Wine Industry

Yesterday a federal court issued a decison in a wine related case. Consumers and Free Trade lost in this case, one that probably should never have been brought. However, within the final ruling by the three justices that heard the case is something you don't see to often: A justice acknowledged the anti-consumer nature of the alcohol regulatory system currently in place in most states.

First, the "Cap N. Cork" case challenged Indiana's ban on retailers using common carriers such as FedEx and UPS, to deliver wine to consumers. The court determined this was not a violation of INTER-state commerce, but rather a matter that effected INTRA-state commerce and therefore was not an impediment to commerce that would have been precluded by the U.S. Constitution.

Yet at the very end of a concurrence to the main opinion, Justice David Frank Hamilton wrote the following conclusion to his concurring opinion in the case. This written conclusion is slightly lengthy, but I urge you to read it to see what a well-schooled, objective observer has to say about today's wine regulatory system. It is instructive:

"The organization of the alcoholic beverage industry is a product of a legal structure from the earlier age that first adopted Prohibition and then repealed it with the Twenty-first Amendment. What has evolved is a collection of Balkanized state markets and legal systems that regulate an industry with enormous influence over the lawmakers who regulate it. The system can easily devolve into ossified protection of incumbent businesses, as with the protection of the three-tier distribution system — a model that may seem to have less and less value as the internet and e-commerce flatten the global marketplace. Yet the extraordinary constitutional status given to state alcoholic beverage laws in the Twenty-first Amendment was the compromise that allowed the repeal of Prohibition. Rather than asking courts to erode that compromise, those seeking a more progressive organization of the industry should turn to state-by-state political action on behalf of consumers who are hurt by these laws designed primarily to protect incumbents in the industry."

This comment by Justice Hamilton at the end of his opinion in the Cork N. Cap case was entirely unnecessary. It added nothing to his legal opinion. Rather, what this comment amounts to is an objective third-party observer admitting the absurdity and unfairness of a system of alcohol regulation that serves the purpose of protecting politically-connected businesses and ignoring consumers through laws that provide  no other value to speak of.

It is entirely coincidental that Justice Hamilton's admission of Indiana's fouled system of alcohol regulation comes directly after New Jersey passed a law that allows direct shipment of wine, but contains a provision that is related to the Indiana case. In the New Jersey shipping law, in-state and out-of-state wineries are allowed to sell wine directly to retailers and restaurants, without having to go through a wholesaler—something that is of TREMENDOUS help to small wineries and gives retailers and restaurants the opportunity to distinguish their own offerings with a wider variety of choices.

However, the NJ law also prohibits wineries from delivering wine to retailers and restaurants via FedEX or UPS. They must use their own trucks and drivers. This provision makes it practically impossible for out-of-state wineries to sell directly to retailers and restaurant—exactly what this provision was meant to do.

Finally, as an addendum to Justice Hamilton's criticism of how alcohol is regulated in the U.S., it is instructive to read this story about what went on behind the scenes in getting the NJ wine shipping law passed. In this article, NJ Senate President Sweeney, who heroically battled anti-consumer forces opposing the bill, notes that those who wanted to keep NJ in the stone age and keep NJ consumers from being able to access any wine except that which wholesalers provided, notes that more than $1 million dollars was spent by opponents of the bill. Sweeney describes the battle over direct shipping as "the bitterest fight he had been involved with in his legislative career."

Ending on a rather more positive note, there appear to be consequences coming for the wholesalers and retailers that battled so hard against Sweeney to defeat the NJ direct wine shipping bill. According to the same article:

"Sweeney said he may hold future hearings into whether the liquor industry overcharges state residents, saying, "If they have as much to spend over something like this, then they have way too much money."

It's not a matter of too much money. It's a matter of them having too much power that was not earned via hard work, but rather by receiving for so long protection from the state against competition that amounted to state-granted welfare for NJ wholesalers and retailers.

Unblocking the Wine Bloggers Writing Block

"How do you possibly post to you blog so frequently and where do you get your ideas on what to write about?"

The query was submitted by a newish wine blogger who called me and wanted to get some advice. What he didn't know was that when he asked the question, I found myself, and still find myself, with a severe case of writers blog.

The irony didn't sit well with me.

The idea of writers block is pretty foreign to me. Since beginning this wine blog in November 2004, I've written an average of 28 posts per month. Not quite the "Daily" that is in the title of this blog, but not too far off either.

I told the caller I had to get back to them to take care of some work, then sat back in chair, opened Typepad, hit the "Compose" button.

Nothing.

New Jersey had passed a bad wine shipping law. The U.S. has again become the biggest buyer of wine. The intriguing "Pursuit of Balance" tasting is coming up. Northern California is in the middle of a remarkably dry winter where lawns are turning brown. The issue of "Points" and scoring is everywhere in the air. I'm sure 2012 is going to see some very interesting moves in the on-line wine world. Vintank just released a remarkable update of its fascinating "Social Connect" social media monitoring tool.

And I can't find a creative angle to any of it.

I just sat there. Staring at the screen; thinking of the bloggers question and wondering where writer's block emerges from after never visiting before.

About.com has a page concerning ways to overcome writers block:

1. Implement a Writing Schedule
OK...I can do that.

2. Don't Be Too Hard on Yourself
Too late

3.Think of Writing as a Regular Job, and Less as an Art
Anyone who has read my blog knows I've foregone thinking of my writing as art long ago.

4. Take Time Off If You've Just Finished a Project
It's called the "Daily" wine blog

5. Set Deadlines and Keep Them
See #1

6. Examine Deep Seated Issues Behind Your Writers Block
In the past sex, drugs and drink have always worked better than introspection. No need to change now, I think.

7. Work on More Than One Project at a Time
I'm in PR and have multiple clients. Anything else isn't an option.

8. Try Writing Exercises
Really?

9. Reconsider Your Writing Space
There is not a spot in my house I've not written in.

10. Remember Why You Started To Write In the First Place

There is was...they even put it last. The honest truth is that Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog was begun out of sheer ego. I was convinced I had something to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on wine, the wine industry, wine marketing and wine politics. In addition, I had the courage to say it publicly and not get embarrassed by the exposure. Most importantly, writing—rather than speaking it or thinking it—it always clarified it for me.

I remember all that.

But in front of all that is the fact that wine and all that surrounds it is fascinating to me. The Politics, the history, the unique diversity of products that can be found in no other product category, the craftsmanship, the nothing of consuming what we adore. Fascinating.

What has always lifted me most are those times when I see connections between wine subject matter and human subject matter. The way judging a wine speaks to our need to know ourselves. The way control of wine policy making speaks to the way power is wielded.The way terroir touches as much on the components of soil and taste perception as it does history and culture.

It's all there with wine and gets really good when, like with the contemplation of art or language or the foundations of knowledge, we start to consider it in far broader contexts beyond the simple object, thing or idea directly in front of us.

I called back the newish blogger and told them I'm able to write so much on my blog because I like thinking about what I believe the refining my thought to suit my ego.

Could Wine Publishing Follow Ladies into a New World?

“We are marrying the authority of print to the authenticity of experience.”

This is how Diane Malloy, the new publisher of the venerable Ladies Home Journal, explained to the New York Times that publication's transformation to a magazine that will be primarily created with user/reader generated content.

It got me wondering a few things. First, would wine lovers support a magazine primarily made up of reader/user-generated content and, second, when marrying the "authority of print" with the "authenticity of experience, is the authority of print diminished?

First, I don't think there is any doubt that a significant amount of "authority" does accompany print magazines. Why that authority exists and if it is a hold over from the days when information was primarily distributed via print is another question.

In the wine industry, it is simply a fact that those information vehicles that originally began as print publications still possess the greatest amount of authority among wine lover and the trade. The Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, Wine & Spirits Magazine, The Wine Advocate, Connoisseurs Guide to California Wines, Decanter, and others remain the wine information sources that still possess the most authority. Measuring that authority is surely done in large part by measuring the number of folks that read and subscribe to these publications.

But it is interesting to imagine if a new, well-financed magazine or if one of the established magazines could gain or retain significant authority were they to give their pages over primarily to the readers. The wine publishing industry has long traded on the perception and reality of expertise for the simple reason that wine has always been viewed as subject matter that required it.

Malloy at LHJ told the times that the switch at the magazine resulted from what readers wanted:

"Ms. Malloy said the approach came about after research showed the magazine’s readers wanted more of their voices reflected in the content and to feel as if they belonged to a community. 'It is reflective of real life,' Ms. Malloy said. 'When you have a health issue or a sticky situation, you are likely to reach out to your community, your sister, your friend, your neighbor, your church.' ”

Who am I likely to reach out to if I am considering buying futures of Bordeaux? Who am I likely to reach out to if I'm wanting information on the state of the wine auction market? Who am I likely to reach out to if I want an overview of the development of Pinot Noir production in the far west Sonoma Coast region?

In these and other cases I want professional, well-informed information from someone who makes it their job to seek out such detail. However, there are cirucmstances where reader-generated informatino at a wine publication might be just fine. Here I'm thinking that wine reviews generated by a Cellar-Tracker type community my serve my purposes to appreciate new wines. Reviews of wine events and books too would be something a community or reader could easily provide too.

What readers, however, will never be able to replace are experienced, intuitive editors that understand the audience. Of course, the folks at the Ladies Home Journal are not giving up on editors.

I'm tempted to suggest that what is happening at the LHJ is a combination of cost-cutting and an embrace of a social media mindset, rather than a real embrace of what the reader wants and needs form a general woman's magazine. I'm also tempted to suggest that there is a dumbing down going on. Tempted, but not committed, because it would be ugly and pretentious of me to suggest that letting readers take over the pages of a magazine will produce less authoritative content.

But this brings us back to the notion that one can meld the "authority of print" and the "authenticity of experience" without losing much of the former. I don't think you can. The "Authority of Print" isn't really derived from the fact that the words are placed on pulp. The "Authority of Print", which does exist, derives from the authority of those putting the words on the pulp.

 

Thank You, Science...Now Let's Drink.

Stop The Presses!!!  Pull Back The Wagons!!

Scientists report that drinking alcohol produces feelings of pleasure! Actually, the headline in the Sidney Morning Herald reporting on newly released findings of a study was: "Science Proves Alcohol is Fun".

This headline isn't exactly accurate is it. A more accurate headline would be "Science Discovers Why Alcohol is fun". We all already knew that alcohol was "fun" and produced feelings of pleasure. But now we learn that upon drinking alcohol endorphins are released into the brain delivering feelings of pleasure and reward.

In a way this is sad new for me. I always believed that I WAS much more fun when I drink and that the folks around me were laughing with me. Now it turns out that I likely only FELT like I was more fun when I drank and it's equally likely that people around me were laughing AT me and not WITH me. So much for a better life though science.

Bottom line of these new finders is this:

"Alcohol is addictive because it releases endorphins, which are the body's way of making us feel pleasure and reward, the researchers showed. The stress and pain-relieving proteins are naturally released in the brain and other tissues, producing similar effects to opiates such as morphine."

Despite my discovery that I'm probably not as fun as I thought I was once I had a couple drinks in me, there does appear to be a pretty big upside to this discovery if science and researchers can get their act together:

"The discovery of the particular brain regions where the endorphin release takes place could help scientists develop new treatments to help people overcome alcohol addiction."

Good news. I like the idea of new treatments for alcohol addiction that might solve so many problems for so many people. However, when I read quotes like that above, my tendency to immediately imagine dystopian futures gets the best of me as I imagine the makings of a scary scenario whereby Big Brother somehow develops anti-Fun drugs to keep the populace in check or perhaps drugs that work on the brains of soldiers that make them more and more fearless, particularly once they engage in battle.

This is my own issue...my tendency to lean toward the dystopian rather than the utopian.

In any case, I think it's wonderful news that science now knows why alcohol is such fun and pleasure-producing. I'm happy that science has provided us with an explanation as to why, upon drinking wine together with friends, the conversation becomes much more interesting as the drinkers decide it might be fun to say that thing they would not have otherwise been willing to say in public.

Thank you, Science.

Wine Ratings and the Nature of 1+1=2

I rarely take room on this blog to correct wine writers or to respond to them. But let's file this under, "I can't resist".

In a recent article on the Huffington Post, importer, distributor and writer David Duman attempted to refute those who take time to defend the 100 point rating system. Among the things he focused upon was what he called the "It's Not Objective Fallacy".

Duman claims that those defenders of the 100 point system who assert that a numerical rating that comes along with a review of the wine is a subjective claim are wrong and they in fact ARE implying objectivity with their number score. Duman writes:

"While perhaps theoretically true [that the number is a subjective evaluation of the wine], in practice there is of course an implied objectivity in any quantitative rating system: that, within that system, a wine receiving more points (or stars, or hats or whatever) is of course better than a wine with fewer."

To this I need to remind Mr. Duman that anyone who doesn't understand the difference between "1+1=2" and "I Believe" has bigger problems than tryng to figure out the 100 Point wine rating system.

When a writer offers a written review of the wine and attaches a "91" point rating to that review it can ONLY be a subjective measure for the simple and obvious reason that there is no agreed upon and unalterable criteria for evaluating pleasure, let alone wine. The 91 points (along with the review) is one person's (or a panel's) view of the wine. The fact that I might have a different view of that wine that does nothing to alter the substance or nature of the wine in question proves sine dubio that the score is a subjective evaluation of the wine.

There is nothing objective and no implication of objectivity when saying, "Wine X is 5 points better than Wine Y". All you have is a personal evaluation of the wine. Whether one uses numbers, stars, thumbs or even just words to describe their evaluation, that evaluation is subjective, not objective, and any wine writer who has also used equal, plus and minus signs in their lives understands this because they understand the difference between "objective" and "subjective".

The fact is, a review of a wine that states, "This Cabernet is the best I have tasted this year" is little different than placing a 95 point score next to a wine. It's merely that a different set of vocabulary has been used to describe the writer's experience with the wine.

There may in fact be solid arguments to be made against using the 100 point rating system. However, the idea that this system implies objectivity is not one of them.

Finally, Duman asserts that the application of the 100 point rating by consumers also indicates the scores' implied objectivity. We know this, he says, because wines with higher scores are in greater demand and cost more. He explains:

"The critic can protest all he wants that that [implied objectivity] might not be his intention, but as any student of Post-Modernism would tell you, the writer's intention has nothing to do with it and we can only assess value in its application."

Putting Derrida and Foucault aside, I think it's fair to say that the consumer, in creating more demand for a high scoring wine, is simply taking the subjective advice of a critic. They believe the critic when they assert through a score and review that Wine X is better than Wine Y and act on that belief. It is a reaction no different than a moviegoer running out to see a film that they read Roger Ebert loved, despite the fact that Leonard Maltin said the movie stunk. I can tell you from experience that a Roger Ebert-endorsed film does not guarantee I will like it, despite the fact that I ran out and saw it. I can furthermore tell you that despite having bought wines because they got high scores, it turned out I did not like them. I did not question my personal evaluation of the wine any more than I questioned my personal evaluation of the movie just because a critic I admire liked the film. Put another way, I defied any pretense to objectivity in the critics review.

Demand for high scoring wines do not prove consumers view those scores as objective. It proves they view them as reliable evaluations. There is a difference so large as to require those who think otherwise to go back and study the meaning of "1 + 1 = 2".

Mr. Duman and those who also believe there is a problem of implied objectivity with the 100 point system need to go back to the drawing board and rework their formula.

 

The Five Pillars of a Consumer-Driven Wine Market

In a recent post concerning New Jersey and the State of Direct Shipping, I concluded by writing, "There is a great deal to do across the country to make consumer interests paramount in the alcohol regulatory world."

This kind of vague pronouncement doesn't actually layout the conditions that would result in a consumer-centric wine marketplace. I should have been much more clear. There are in fact a set of specific conditions that would reflect a consumer driven wine marketplace. What's more, a consumer driven regulatory and legal landscape also happens to meet the needs of policymakers seeking to assure that alcohol use does not create significant social problems.

The 5 Pillars of a Consumer Driven Wine Marketplace

1. Interstate Product Access
This means allowing consumers to source and gather their desired wine products from anywhere in the country. It primarily means giving consumers the option to buy from local wineries and retailers as well as buying from remote wineries and retailers via direct shipment. In fact, allowing consumers to purchase from out-of-state wineries and retailers is the only way to implement a wine marketplace for consumers that gives them access to the true diversity of wine products. Without access to direct shipment from wineries, consumers will not be able to find the most exciting domestic artisan wine producers. And without access to direct shipment from out-of-state wine stores, consumers will have only paltry access to the explosion of imported wines in the American marketplace, as well as the most highly coveted collectible wines that are most easily found in the best wine shops across the country.

2. Creation of a Free Market in Wine
More than anything this means getting states out of the business of selling or distributing wine. There is no evidence that a state gains any significant protections for its citizens by monopolizing the sale and distribution of wine through state-run entities. More importantly, state bureaucracies are notoriously bad at responding to marketplace demand and at innovating, the great benefits of a free marketplace driven by the easy and relatively seamless interaction of consumer and seller, otherwise known as supply and demand. Getting those few states that still keep a hand in wine sales and distribution, out of the business of selling and distributing wine would result in far greater access to products and services that make wine consumers smile.

3. Putting Wine Next To Food
After bans on direct shipment of wine from wine stores and wineries to consumers, it is the ban of the sale of wine in grocery stores that ranks as the most anti-consumer laws in the country. States like New York, Tennessee, Delaware, Oklahoma and other continue to force consumers to buy their meat, chicken, pasta and staples in one store, while travelling to another store to pick up the bottle of wine to serve with whatever they decide to concoct with grocery store-bought ingredients. The only remaining justification for keeping in place the separation of food and wine is that there is a separation of food and wine and to upset the ancient apple cart would upset those who benefit from the separation. Not particularly compelling. And not particularly pro-consumer.

4. Allowing Sunday Sales of Alcohol
That some states keep in place their state-wide bans on the sale of alcohol on Sunday is testament to the nation's long and intimate connection to the Christian religion. It is a hold over from those days when adherence to what was believed to make a God happy held some sway over public policy. These laws are profoundly illogical and anti-consumer and should be overturned.

5. Allowing Corkage in Restaurants
There are states that ban the practice of bringing one's own wine into a restaurant. Put another way, these laws ban restaurants from allowing patrons from bringing in a special bottle of wine and paying a corkage fee for doing so. Restaurants should have the right to either allow the practice or deny it. Those remaining states that ban this practice demonstrate a profound disregard for the free market by banning a harmless practice that could help restaurants and that would be truly consumer friendly. The only remaining argument in favor of statewide bans on corkage is that it would hurt those restaurants that would choose not to allow patrons to bring in their own bottles of wine and pay a fee for doing so. Again, very uncompelling.

Every state has the right to and should consider laws that protect citizens from the dangers of over consumption as well as the danger that results from minors drinking alcohol. Every state has a right to tax alcohol. Every state has the right to regulate particular alcohol sales and distribution activities that are predatory and harmful. Yet the types of laws outlined above do nothing to advance these goals, but instead simply harm the consumer, diminish a legitimate marketplace for wine and punish the consumer. In almost every case the types of bans listed above are still in place not because they have popular support among citizens of a state, but because they protect special interests. They should all be removed in order to address consumer interests and stimulate the legitimate wine marketplace.

New Jersey and the State of Direct Shipping

With New Jersey passing direct shipping legislation on Monday and the governor only needing to sign it, really one more significant state exists where the wineries and significant numbers of wine consumers need to get direct shipping: Pennsylvania. Yet the New Jersey experience demonstrates all the various dynamics that are currently in place in the world of direct shipping politics.

1. The Minors Issue Is Played Out
Although opponents to direct shipping will sometimes argue that Direct Shipping will lead to minors getting their hands on alcohol, this argument is rarely taken seriously anymore. In the NJ hearing on the direct shipping bill, legislators asked for proof that minors' purchases of wine or instances of drunk driving increased after direct shipping started. There was no evidence.

2. Wine Industries Are Seen As Assets By States
One reason that wineries have in six years gotten direct shipping legislation passed in so many states, besides the Granholm Supreme Court decision, is the view by lawmakers that wineries are important to the state. And they are. Not only do they see it as a very high value-added industry, but state wine industries in places like New Jersey, Michigan, Tennessee and other states are perceived as prestigious. They also promote tourism—another source of tax revenue. Finally, they preserve Ag land. It's hard to ignore these things even when powerful opponents of direct shipping with loads of campaign contributions are asking lawmakers to ignore them. This view of wineries was the overriding factor driving NJ lawmakers to support direct shipping legislation.

3. Imported Wines Are Left Out
Only 14 states allow their consumers to have imported wines shipped to them. Only these 14 states allow French, Italian, German, Austrian and wines from all other non-American terroir to find their way to consumers via direct shipping. This is due to the fact that only retailers sell these wines and only 14 states allow out-of-state retailers to ship in. I've gotten a close up look at this situation as a result of being Executive Director of the Specialty Wine Retailers Association. Two factors have led to this appalling situation to be in place: 1) Courts have been split on whether the Granholm Supreme Court decision applies to retailers as well as wineries. 2) The overwhelming majority of wine retailers don't ship wine and would prefer to lobby to see that out-of-state retailers don't ship wine into their state. One result of this is huge state losses of tax revenue. Retailers were left out of the NJ legislation.

4. Consumer Interest is Not Considered
Despite the outstanding efforts of UncorkNJ and their fantastic testimony in hearings leading up to the passage of the NJ direct shipping law, consumer interests was not an issue in the move to get legislation passed in that state nor in most other states where direct shipping legislation. This is primarily due to the fact that wine consumers simply don't have a powerful voice working on their behalf in the media and in the halls of government. During the NJ hearings and debates, only once were the interests of consumers actually mentioned by lawmakers. As a result, what consumers get is half a loaf: no shipments of imported wines, 12 case annual maximums, etc.

There is a great deal to do across the country to make consumer interests paramount in the alcohol regulatory world. And the industry too still has a great deal to do in order to level the playing field and make their marketing deliver real ROI.

 

Policing Booze And Beer (And Wine) Online

There appears to be a nascent move among public health advocates and government consumer protection agencies to much more carefully monitor how alcohol is advertised and marketed in the digital world. The Sunday Baltimore Sun Article, "Review Shows Alcohol Companies Reach Youth Online", demonstrates that alcohol companies may soon be targeted in an effort to diminish the capacity of alcohol to market its products, particularly in the social media world in order to reduce minors' exposure to such efforts.

What I'm wondering is the extent to which wine and wine marketing efforts could be sweapt up in any efforts the Federal Trade Commisson and others might propose to fully protect that most vulnerable group in the world: "Youth".

The Sun article notes that the FTC "is collecting comments for another study on the market size and reach [of the alcohol industry online]. Officials plan to issue recommendations aimed at protecting youth as well as privacy, likely in 2013. 'We'll figure out if there should be a better self-regulatory approach, which is the primary way we address marketing to minors," she said. "We really use the bully pulpit on industry.' "

Industry self-monitoring of its marketing efforts has always been at the heart of efforts to control how youth experience alcohol-related marketing. The beer, wine and spirits industry have all adopted codes that support the notion of only using advertising and communication mediums and venues that have a small percentage of youth as an audience. This, by most accounts, has worked out well for all.

However, others think the FTC needs to go further in monitoring how alcohol companies work their marketing magic. Again, according to the Baltimore Sun article:

"The Center on Digital Democracy, which monitors on-line marketing and privacy issues, said the FTC could be doing more. Among other things, the group says the agency should investigate alcohol companies' use of techniques that influence subconscious responses. It should also investigate the adequacy of age verification mechanisms and insist a higher percentage of an online advertiser's audience be an adult."

"Influence subconscious response".

Trying to pin point ways to reduce the way communication can "Influence subconscious response" sounds a little intrusive and wide ranging to me.

That said, as in all efforts to control the impact of Alcohol on youth, I wonder what the odds are that the wine industry won't be swept up in any efforts that are largely aimed at controlling what spirits and beer marketers do on-line. It is a fact that wine is simply not the beverage of choice of underage adults. It never has been and likely won't be until it is put in colorful cans, pounds of sugar are added to it, grain alcohol is added to it to pump up the potency and some Rapper du Jour is seen swigging it at the MTV Movie Awards after party. In other words, don't hold your breath.

That said, if you are wondering, there is no possibility that any new directives from he FTC or any other official body that aims to quell alcohol marketing won't effect wine marketers just as much as it effects beer and spirits, the choice of America's youth.

The move to police the digital world so that our kids can live safe lives and never get in trouble while using Facebook to humiliate the gay, fat kid at school or diss the new girl with really outdated jeans deserves close watching. If ever there was an area where government mandate might become truly intrusive and quell speech rights, it's the area of regulating on-line marketing.

Alverna Mae

There is a plot of land in Sonoma Valley that is now empty.

Vines once rooted themselves there. But they got too old and diseased. They no longer produced.

They were pulled up.

I drove by this plot not too long ago and was  momentarily shocked to see it fallow and empty. Unproductive. But I remembered the vineyard well, but only as an old vineyard. I never saw it in its youth. I bet it was brilliant.

I thought about this vineyard while driving back home today with my wife after burying my mother. Alverna Mae was 38 when I was adopted. So I don't recall her in her youth either. But I'm pretty sure she was brilliant.

The beauty of fallow ground where vineyards once stood is its potential, of course. The possibility that the ground will again support vines that will bear grapes that will become wine that represents the ground.

The beauty of a lost parent recently buried lies in part in the potential represented by those they helped raise up. My job is clear.

 

Republican Politics: The Wine Factor

Any wine pundit worth his syrah must at some point make the effort to evaluate the quadrennial crop of presidential candidates for their potential to promote American wine. Who would be most likely to push American-made wine front and center not only with visiting dignitaries, but in front of the American people?

I'll grant you, most presidential candidates don't exactly make haste to be identified with the elitist, effeminate, non-beer drink that is wine. And it's likely that the 2012 campaign for president will continue the tradition of candidates keeping any personal appreciation of wine to themselves.

However, For those of us who vote based only and solely on a candidate's likelihood to drink wine, promote the drinking of wine or simply promote the American wine industry, we are obliged to do the political math. Here's mine:

MITT ROMNEY
Mitt appears to be the designated driver among the current crop of Presidential candidates. As a member of the Mormon religion who takes its rules on drinking and smoking quite seriously, it is quite likely that Romney has never had a sip of wine in his life—and this despite the fact that he apparently spent a good deal of time in France and Bordeaux on missionary business in his youth. However, it's even more likely that the man will never have a sip of wine for the rest of his life. However, and importantly, it was then-governor Mitt Romney in Massachusetts that vetoed a a bill that would have allowed direct shipping to his state residents, but only from in-state and out-of-state wineries making less than 30,000 gallons of wine per year. He believed the bill was unconstitutional. His veto was overridden the cap on who could ship wine into the state went into effect. The law was later ruled unconstitutional. However, it's unlikely that as president, Romney would ever find himself in a similar situation and if asked to sign H.R. 1161, the anti-consumer wine bill now languishing in Congress, it's likely from his views on states-rights that he would overlook the the bill's likelihood of leading to restrictions on consumer access and sign it as a gift to those who believe the 10th Amendment is the moral basis of good government.
VERDICT: HIT'S HARD TO SEE A PERSON WHO HAS A MORAL AVERSION TO WINE MAKE AN EFFORT TO PROMOTE WINE.

JON HUNTSMAN
Huntsman too is a member of the Mormon faith who, despite reports that while Ambassador of China he was known to take a diplomatic sip of Chinese wine before switching to water, is a known abstainer who's views of alcohol and drinking are informed by his moral world view. While I get the impression that Huntsman is somewhat more likely to be influenced by a more worldly perspective and with it an understanding that wine has a place in the world, I'm not sure this perspective would lead him to be any kind of advocate for American wine or wine drinkers.
VERDICT: DON'T COUNT ON A PRESIDENT HUNTSMAN TO BRING THE VIRTUES OF WINE INTO THE PUBLIC SPHERE

MICHELLE BACHMANN
In 1977, while a Junior at Winona State University in Minnesota, young Bachmann led a political effort to allow alcohol in the dorm rooms on campus. She took her crusade all the way to the governor. Later, while running for Congress in Minnesota three times, Bachmann took $24,000 from the National Beer Wholesalers of America. The former action appears to be the action of a person simply willing to get involved, rather than as an advocate of consumer access to a legal product, while the latter strikes me as par for the course as the National Beer Wholesalers of America tend to give campaign contributions to any candidate that demonstrates a heartbeat. It should also be noted that in October, Bachmann came to Napa Valley, ground zero for the American wine industry. She spent a few hours at the Napa Valley Country Club picking up checks from supporters and members of the Napa Tea Party. That said, there is no indication that Rep. Bachmann takes much delight or interest in things gourmand. She strikes me as the heir to Midwestern conservatism where public displays of refined appetites dont' sit to well with her peers.
VERDICT: WHILE NOT AN IDEOLOGICAL ENEMY OF WINE, A PRESIDENT BACHMANN ISN'T LIKELY TO DEMONSTRATE ANY DELIGHT IN AMERICA'S WINEMAKING HERITAGE.

RICK PERRY
There are indications that Governor Rick Perry might be the best hope for wine lovers. To begin with, he has campaigned at wineries in Iowa as well as in Sonoma, where he spent time at Jordan Winery at a $500 a plate fundraiser. But consider that it was also reported that Food & Wine Magazine was among the few magazines are delivered by mail to the Governor's posh digs in Austin. If nothing else, this indicates that Perry, or at least those closest too him, isn't afraid of wine and may even appreciate the idea that some American's are proud of their food and wine heritage. But consider this, Governor Perry has, at least twice, used location-based social media tool FourSquare to check in at liquor stores and proclaim his desire to get him some good Texas wine by using the #gotexanwine hashmark and the Governor wagered a case of Texas wine, not Texas Barbecue or Texas boots or a Texas cowboy hat, on a basketball game involving the Aggies and Notre Dame.
VERDICT: RICK PERRY HAS GONE OUT OF HIS WAY TO PROMOTE TEXAS WINE AND HE APPARENTLY LOVES TEXAS WINE. I'D BET HE'D BE A STRONG PROMOTER OF AMERICAN WINE IN THE WHITE HOUSE ON THOSE OCCASIONS IT MAKES SENSE.

RICK SANTORUM
Rick Santorum probably has the clearest statement on his relationship with wine. Upon being asked by a reporter about his fluency in being able to describe what kind of beer he liked, the former Senator said: "I don't do wine tastings, I do beer tastings."
VERDICT: NEXT!

RON PAUL
As the libertarian in the race, one gets the impression that Paul's disposition toward wine is constructed around the idea that citizens ought to have access to it. However, his fervent belief that the state must control nearly everything, probably would lead him to believe that Granholm v. Heald was decided incorrectly and state could do as they please with regard to blocking access to wine. As far as I can tell, the only time Paul has even come close to commenting on wine is when he notes when arguing for the legalization of marijuana that dope is safer than alcohol. So, connoisseurs of marijuana probably have a very good reason to support Paul.
VERDICT: NOT MUCH FOR WINE LOVERS TO CHEER ABOUT

NEWT GINGRICH
One gets the impression that Newt Gingrich is the most "worldly" and culturally sophisticated person in the Republican race. And let's face it, anyone with an expense account at Tiffany's probably has a penchant for spending on the finer things, a category that wine fall into. But who knows. The man has had little to say about the subject of wine or alcohol in general. It's merely a suspicion of mine that if place in the White House, Gingrich would be quite pleased to bring out the good stuff when dignitaries came calling.
VERDICT: LIKELY TO POUR, BUT NOT PROMOTE.

Natural Wine: The Ugly Underbelly

I can't recall an example within the wine industry where one product category was largely defined by its proponents' denigration of competing products. Marketing-by-denigration isn't actually common in any product category with the prominent exception of politics where candidates for office routinely denigrate their opposition in order to prop up themselves and their own candidacy.

Proponents of the Natural Wine movement, however, seem to be the anomaly in the wine business: in order to gain attention for the wines, gain legitimacy for the wines and in order to define the wines, proponents of Natural Wine have taken to denigrating wines and winemakers that, in their view, fall too far outside the "Natural Wine orbit.

This marketing strategy concerns me. Consider:

"I think that these are two very different worlds or markets out there (ie, the ‘natural/organic/ecological/biodynamic/macrobiotic/whatever’ wine market as opposed to ‘conventional/industrial/chemical/mass-produced/supermarket wine market), and there will always be room for both. I think it’s like for any other product: ie utility cars / sports cars, or any everyday bog-standard product / quality special product.
Fabio Bartelomei

"Natural winemaking will always produce a better, more individual wine than conventional methods used on the same site.....A natural winemaker is a genuine artisan. Natural winemaking requires skill, patience, nerve, and hard physical labour. In most cases it brings small financial rewards. There is more money, less risk, and far less work in making wine conventionally."
More Than Organic

“If you are intervening too much you’re not an authentic, but a commercial product....Today the lowest common denominator of wine is higher but it is still incredibly mediocre.”
Douglas Wregg

"Natural wines have purer flavours, more personality and are easier to digest. They are also better for you....The heavy-handed use of synthetic fertilizers, weed-killers, fungicides, pesticides and inappropriately applied heavy metals like copper have destroyed soil life in most vineyards....Wine today is far removed from its original definition of fermented grape juice. It is the by-product of chemically induced and tightly controlled fermentation through the aid of additives and structure altering equipment. Why? Because the vast majority of wine has become about the bottom line. I tis about producing more and more for less and less cash. It's about producing it as quickly as possible then flogging a brand—an illusion of people at one with the earth, translating a grape and a piece of earth into a bottle."
Isabelle Legeron

No matter what you call minimal intervention wines, it's all about returning to a more sensible time in wine making when an ego stayed out of the winemaking and stayed in the farming and what was in the glass dazzled....More wine makers who are happy with small scale production will see if they make the wine they actually want to drink, there are customers waiting to drink with them. And happily, more and more farmers will be going organic, biodynamic and the real love of farming will come back to the vigneron."
Alice Feiring

"The Natural Wine Movement doe not expect the Wine Industrial Complex to be won over to natural fermentation, low sulphur and what-have-you. Even if it were, it would still be making unfathomable, undrinkable stuff."
Joe Dressner (deceased)

IT CAN BE NO OTHER WAY
This is merely the very tippy top of a very deep and wide collection of disdain that proponents of the natural wine movement regularly heap upon wines and winemakers they deem not sufficiently dedicated to making real wine.

And yet it can be no other way for the simple reason that the Natural wine movement is based upon the notion that only extreme non-intervention in the vineyard and cellar can result in authentic wine or wine that accurately depicts a terroir. This idea of course has no merit. However, that aside, note that in order for those promoting the virtues of Natural Wine to make their case, they must make the concurrent case against "commercial" or "industrial" wines. The case for Natural Wine cannot be made without making a case against non-Natural wine.

I'm again trying to recall a marketing effort in the wine industry by any association or group or collection of producers or promoters that demands denigration of other products in order to succeed. I can't come up with an example.

This alone should go a long way toward explaining why so very much of late has been written about the Natural wine movement, against the natural wine movement and in defense of the natural wine movement. The simple fact is that natural wine promoters have not mustered the the necessary creativity to find a way to explain their wines and their philosophy without also denigrating their peers. It's a little ugly to these eyes...and I'm a publicist for heaven's sake.

THE MEANING OF THE MOVEMENT
This is not to accuse the natural wine movement of insincerity. There is no question of the passion that drives many in the movement. Nor can it be said that the wines coming out of this movement are not interesting, inspiring, or delicious.The fact that some "natural" wine is criticized as flawed is an observation about some bottles, not a condemnation of the category.

What's most important to understand about the natural wine movement is its meaning. I see it not as much a response to perceived homogenization of wine styles or "Parkerized" wines or industrial wines. No. This natural wine movement is much more. It exists as part of a response to a much smaller world where regionalism has been replaced by globalism. It is the slow food movement, the anti-globalization movement, the embrace of Rachel Carson, the culture's retreat from ordered sectarianism into a more disorderly paganism. And in many cases it is a desire by some to find meaning for their lives in a world that too often can sweep them up into digital collectivism that threatens to strip the individual of their individuality.

The response is often to strike out against the machine. But in the world of wine, the precieved machine is in decay and has been in decay for quite some time. The diversity within the world of wine has never been as great as it is now, and whether the "Naturalists" appreciate this or not, it is a fact that more artisan winemakers toil today than ever before, producing wines of great individuality in a world where the depiction of terroir is the be all end all, both in marketing and in reality. The Naturalists are in fact not leading a charge away from industrial or commercial wines. That charge began long ago and it was begun by a generation of winemakers that took to crafting artisan wines that depict a piece of dirt and doing so without denigrating anyone else.

WATCHING FOR SOMETHING BETTER
I will be keenly watching to see whether the current proponents of Natural Wine are capable of presenting their wines without the aid of a bludgeon and without the need to denigrate those that look different than they do. As long as the terms "natural" or "authentic" are attached to their movement, I fear they will be bound to an adversarial relationship with most of the rest of the wine industry. Personally, I like the term "Minimalist" to describe the wines and philosophy that these passionate folks represent.

Until, however, they are able to rid themselves of their false veneer of superiority and until they can find a way to discuss their ambitions without looking down their crooked noses at the rest of the wine world, they will find themselves constantly on the defensive and looking quite ugly as they defend the rickety perch they are attempting to build.
_________________________

UPDATE: Here is one more example of the denigration in which it is claimed non-Natural wines will give you a rash if you drink them after sampling a Natural Wine

Winter's Dread In Napa Valley

These very short days that we find ourselves in now cast something of a pall over wine country. A dark or tinted light tends to predominate. It's quieter too it seems, though surely it really isn't.

There is a loneliness to the vineyards this time of year. The carcass of the vine is exposed as the leaves fall and the shadows cast by the vines are often longer. Drive by or walk through the Napa vineyards on a day like this and each vine takes on a separateness, rather than the community feel you get when the leaves are full and green and mask the vines' singularities.

The chill adds to the quiet and dormant feel. It's not a cheery or vibrant temperature now. It's very cool. The stillness of the breeze now lets the chill settle around you and the motion of the vineyards is gone, leaving them to carry frost in the mornings that just sits until the sun creeps over the eastern hills and cleans them up.

This time of year always put a certain dread in my mind, despite the real and undeniable beauty that surrounds me in Napa Valley. It's a dread that really only is left behind when the days start to elongate and the buds form on the vines and then finally push as the days become warmer and the sap flows.

This is a good time of year to surround oneself with family, friends and lovers. They keep out the cold and the chill and the dread. This is a good time of year to linger in a restaurant that is warm and dimly lit and to play with the wine in your glass and think long and hard about the cassoulet or the beef bourguignon.Thankfully we have many fine places to linger here in the Valley.

The saving grace is that today is the winter solstice. This is a good day despite the dread and the chill and the loneliness in the vineyards. The days will start to get longer now. More sun.

 

Authentic Wine and Mistaking the Tail For the Snout

I don't like the idea of taking issue with Jamie Goode. He's smarter than me. He's a better writer than me. And he's better looking than me. But on this issue of "Authentic Wine", the topic of his latest book, Jamie gets it wrong.

In fact, it's the very premise of his and Sam Harrop's "Authentic Wine: Toward Natural and Sustainable Winemaking" that can't be justified. In their introduction they write:

"Wine is now at a metaphorical fork in the road and from here it can go one of two ways. The first is to continue down the road taken by New World branded wines: huge volumes, a reliance on technology and marketing, reliability at the cost of individuality, an emphasis on sweet fruit flavors and a loss of terroir....The Other road involves a retracing of steps and a celebration of what has made wine different and special: a respect for tradition, a sense of place, and an acknowledgement that diversity is valuable and not just a convenience."

Jamie and Sam have penned a false choice and they've done so based on a fiction.

The great defining aspect of the world wine industry in the last 20 years is DIVERSITY. In California alone the vast majority of wineries are small or medium sized wineries that focus on an artisan approach to winemaking that values terroir, estate vineyards and single vineyard wines with the goals exposing terroir. This isn't opinion. This is fact.

Yet the set up in "Authentic Wine" would have you believe that unless the right choices are made, wine lovers will be hurled down into a pit of sameness, no long able to access unique, terroir driven wines.

The authors go on to offer another great fiction: "The middle ground, once flush with diversity, has rapidly eroded, and those still in the game are seeing their access to market dry up."

Wrong. Right now, within seconds, I can locate 1000s of wines from 50 different states. Give me a few more seconds and I can locate many thousands of wines from countries such as France, Australia, Germany, Uruguay and Canada. There's no erosion in the wine marketplace. There is hyper diversity.

I honestly don't know how Jamie and Sam come to this conclusion that diversity in wine is diminishing. It's a notion that is undermined by logging on to the Internet and marveling at the huge, vast diversity of wine in the marketplace and available to all. It's a notion that is undermined by tasting the wines from various vineyards and regions in California, Oregon, Texas, Washington, New Zealand and nearly every other serious winemaking country.

But it occurs to me that there must be a good reason to write a book that attempts to define and explore  "Authentic Wine". That reason has to be based on the defense of something. The "Natural Wine" movement has a very evangelaic quality to it. Those who adhere to this undefined realm of winemaking either imply or say that they are trying to save the wine industry from itself, from forces that are pushing what was once an authentically artisan, craft-laden endeavor toward eventual sameness. Marking a metaphorical fork in the road is one way to do that...even if it doesn't exit.

In many ways the "Natural Wine" and now "Authentic Wine" movement is well behind the curve. Winemakers the world over have long embraced the notion of exposing terroir and connecting a wine to the plot of land from which it derives. Sustainably farmed vineyards proliferate all over the globe. Minimalist cellar techniques are common place. Native Yeasts have long been favored by many winemakers without even knowing there was such a movement as "native wine".

Those currently pushing the idea of "Natural Wine" think they may be on to something transformational and important when in fact what they have done is mistaken the tail of the dog for its snout.

The Best Gifts For Wine Lovers

Believe it or not, it's much more difficult to list the best wine gifts than it is the worst wine gifts. The worst ones stand out like bruised, battered and worn out soar thumbs. You can't miss them. But the best wine gifts is a subject that requires much more nuanced appraisals of the needs of wine consumers and the recipient. It's good to know, for example, just how much of a wine fiend the recipient is and just how indulgent they have been in their quest to satisfy their fiendish desires.

Nonetheless, I think it is possible to take a good stab at curating a list of great wine gifts that are likely to appeal to wine lovers. These are gifts real lovers of the vine will appreciate, whether they know it now or not.

THE OXFORD COMPANION TO WINE, Edited by Jancis Robinson
The wine lover that does not possess this tome of wine information simply doesn't have at their disposal the means necessary to truly indulge their love of wine. The Oxford Companion To Wine is a true encyclopedia with 1000s of references written by the experts in the field. It's big and bulky and heavy, making it extra special to give. $40.00

 

A MAGNUM OR LARGER OF A FINE WINE
A bottle of wine is  nice gift, but it will to many feel like an after thought and most wine lovers will have lots of these. But a large bottle of wine, a magnum or larger, well, that's an occasion! The large bottle is also an unusual thing. Most wine lovers simply don't possess very many if any. It's a gift that says "drink up" or "have a party". Plus, a fine wine in magnum will age more slowly and allow the recipient to keep the wine in their cellar longer without fear of it getting too old.

TWO TICKETS TO THE CLOSEST GREAT WINE EVENT
If you are n the Bay Area, it's the ZAP Tasting. If you are in the Boston area, its the Boston Wine Expo. If yo are in Colorado, its the Aspen Wine and Food Fest. The fact is, there are great wine events and wine tastings all across the country. Find out where and when the best one is near the recipient, and get them two tickets. Wine lovers enjoy mingling among their own. Plus, two such tickets give them something to look foward to, which is in itself a real gift.

SUBSCRIPTION TO A WINE MAGAZINE
It's the gift that keeps on giving...all year long. It could be the Wine Spectator, Wine & Spirits, Wine Enthusiast, Mutineer Magazines, or World of Fine Wine. Or, you might consider a subscription to Jancis Robinson's Purple Pages or to eRobertParker. The point is that this kind of gift brings pleasure all year long and continues to remind the recipient that you care about them.

 

EIGHT VERY NICE WINE GLASSES
Yes, eight of them because 8 is a dinner party. Wine lovers NEED glasses like they need wine. We break them and can't have enough. But you want to get them something nice. You don't need to go the Riedel Sommelier route, however. I've got some of these and every time I drink out of a $100 wine glass I'm thinking about breaking it. A wine glass should be nicely shaped, simple, elegant and you should be able to break it and not feel like the bottom just dropped out of your investment. The Riedel "Wine Line" Chianti/Zinfandel glass is a great choice: $25/2 glasses

SOMMELIER "ENRICO BERNARDO" CORKSCREW FROM LAGUIOLE
Yes, most wine lovers will have a number of corkscrews, of various design, knocking around the house and cellar. But they won't have one like this. This is a hefty number that is beautifully designed to look at and use. It's made by one of my favorite companies in the world that makes create blades and fantastic wine openers. My own Laguiole corkscrew is unfortunately gone, lost somehow in a move. But I still think about it every time I pull something inferior out of the drawer to open a bottle....which is every single time. It's a gift your recipient will really cherish...even if they lose it: $229.00

LE NEZ DU VIN
This remarkably well packaged kit filled with vials that contain aromatic examples of various wine characteristics (pineapple, cassis, vanilla, oak, etc) is a great gift for a budding wine enthusiast that you know is getting their feet wet in wine and who you know is keen on education and educating thier palate. It comes with a book that delves into the aromas of wine, but the best thing about this wine is that it helps breed the confidence in young wine lovers that is necessary to truly explore the wine world. I prefer the Nez Du Vin that includes aromas from both red and white wines.$239.00

A GREAT WINE CARRIER
The only thing wine lovers do more than drink, cellar and talk about wine, is carry it around. We take it to friends houses and restaurants. Any self respecting wine lover ought to possess a nice, elegant, useful wine carrier in which to transport a couple bottles of wine. It doesn't need to hold more than a couple bottles. But it should be easy to tote around and it should look nice in the recipients hand and or on their shoulder. I'm partial to the Vino 2. It's leather. It's nicely padded and it looks good. $70.00

The Worst Wine Gifts

Few other consumer products, and particularly consumable consumer products, have spawned as many "accessories" as wine. If you have a wine lover on your gift list this holiday season, it's pretty easy to satisfy them without ever digging into your cellar for a bottle.

Yet with abundance, comes absurdity also. With all of the following Stupid Wine Gifts, what really interests me is the moment of conception. I would have wanted to be in room to hear those famous words, "I have a great idea", and actually listen to these folks explain the necessity of getting the following to market

WINESTEIN: THE DOUBLE WALLED GLASS MUG
Yes. It's a wine glass embedded into a beer mug. Why? For those who like wine, but presumably prefer to drink out of a beer stein. The question arises, what disability of mind or body would provoke a person to prefer the "WineStein" to the wine glass. And of course, the even more interesting question is what set of circumstances would convince a friend that a wine-loving person in thier lives needed this thing. The product description alerts us, presciently, to the following: "Handsomely gift boxed for giving or storage". Storage is likely to be the key use of this gift. Only $14.00

GIANT WINE GLASS—2 PACK
Like so many stupid wine gifts, the primary problem with the "Giant Wine Glass" is that the creators don't know its a novelty item. Instead, they think its an item of great utility. This in turn means the creator of this 750ml wine glass, which holds an entire bottle of wine, assumes there are folks out there who much prefer to empty an entire bottle of wine into their glass, rather than refill the smaller glass on occasion. Does this need really exist? And don't those that possess the need to carry around 750ml of wine in a single vessel know that such a thing already exists and in fact is free with every bottle of wine they buy? Only $20.00

BOSCH IXO VINO CORDLESS LITHIUM-ION SCREWDRIVER WITH LIMITED EDITION CORKSCREW ATTACHMENT
Is getting  cork out of a bottle really that hard? Maybe not because this is clearly not a simple cork removal devise. It has much more utility. From the product description: "The newly designed IXO Vino not only makes the perfect Christmas gift for any DIY enthusiast, wine fanatic or anyone who appreciates inventive design, it’s also a great talking point when opening wine over a festive dinner". I don't ask much of my FERMENTATION Readers. But this I will ask: If my ability to find things to talk about at my own dinner parties deteriorates so greatly that I need to resort to power tools, please....put me down. I'm done. Please note that the corkscrew attachment to this cordless drill is a "limited edition". Get'em while they last. Buy it here.



FRED AND FRIENDS FINGER FOOD
This is not the first contraption to help us lug around a wine glass and a plate. Just the dumbest. I really can't do this little product justice, so allow me to let the product description speak for it: "Ever been at a party and wondered how you'll balance you wine glass, hors d'oeuvres and scintillating conversation all at the same time. Our handy little Fingerfood plate slips onto you finger just like a ring, so now you can hold your snack and your glass in the same hand, leaving your other hand free for eating, shaking hands, or general gesticulating. They're certainly conversation starters, too - so eat, drink, and be merry. One size fits most." Best of all, "one size fits most". $9.31 for ten little finger plates

THE WINE RACK
This product is apparently sold out in most places. That means one of two things. Either the creators of this product, like me, underestimate the desire of women to carry 25oz of liquid in their bra or many women, upon seeing this incredibly sexy hidden bladder devise, just had to have it. I'm not sure which. However, It is clear that the wine rack is design to get alcohol into places where it's not allowed to be. A worthy goal, I agree and there is no doubt that the Wine Rack would likely get the job done. What I question is the value of having a friend who either needs this item, wants this item or would use this item. From the product description: "Take a bottle of wine, a mixed drink or a fifth of your favorite hardstuff to the movies, ball games, EVEN THE PTA MEETING" (emphasis mine).$30.00

VIETNAMESE SNAKE AND SCORPION WINE
I'll admit that there are wine lover and wine collectors that will go out of their way to put something in their cellar that few others possess. Many of us know these folks. But there is a limit to the degree to which we help foster such obsessions. I think Vietnamese Scorpion Wine might just fall into that category. It's said that these items are aphrodisiacs. Here's the thing, if your woman or man will drink this stuff, its equally likely that you don't need them to drink this stuff to convince them to get it on with you. They'll clearly do anything. And if you are considering this for the wine lover that has everything, consider that it's really not necessary to possess absolutely everything.  $99.00

THE CORKCICLE
What ever happened to the refrigerator? Hell, what happened to the freezer? The Corkcicle will get your wine to the temperature you want it by placing the Corkcicle into the wine bottle. Note, a full glass worths of wine needs to be removed from the bottle before the Corkcicle will fit into the bottle. I wonder if you chill the bottle first, to make sure that first glass is appropriately chilled, before chilling the bottle with the corkcicle? It doesn't matter. This is one of those wine tchotchkies that someone, somewhere believes wil produce a demand large enough to go forward with design, development and production. :::sigh::: Don't buy this for your wine loving friend. For the cost of the Corkcicle, you can buy a dandy bottle of wine that your friend will actually use. $22.95

RENT A ROW OF VINES
Do you really want to rent a row of vines for the purpose of having access to wine made from the vineyard in which the row you rented resides? Really? Let me break this down. Sold primarily in the UK, Rent A Row of Vines sells for 99 British pounds. For this, you two bottles of wine from a specific vineyard, a gift box, and information about the vineyard. This is one of those gifts aimed at the wine lovers who have just now learned the difference between Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and area ready to move on to Cabernet Foolishignon. Again, just buy your friends a couple of bottles of wine the same way someone would buy their their good friend a telescope instead of a star named after them. However, if you must....

WINE STEM GLASS HOLDER
Call me an introvert or too vain, but this "Wine Stem Glass Holder" is the dumbest looking piece of paraphernalia a wine lover could possibly wear. This weird cross between a glass holder and fashion accessory is built for someone that has ZERO vanity but who also spends way too much time at gatherings keeping their hands full of food. My advice is this: find a place to set down your wine glass, hold the plate of food in one hand, use a utensil to eat from that plate, put the utensil on the plate when a bout of thirst arrives, pick up glass, drink. Better yet. Sit down at a table. $5.00

 

Wine Trends To Watch in 2012

What can be expected in the wine world in 2012? What trends will move the industry in 2012? These are questions I think about more often this time of year if only because I find myself more reflective as the year ends and another arrives. These are the trends I see being most prominent in the wine industry in 2012.

CONTINUED REFORM OF WINE REGULATIONS
After elections in Washington State that got the government out of the business of selling spirits and a move in Pennsylvania that has started to undo that state's firm grip on all elements of the alcohol business, it appears there is a real move afoot, slow as it may be, for states to reform the way they regulate the sale and distribution of alcohol, including wine.

Going forward in 2012 we will hear more out of Washington State due to lawsuits challenging the recent vote to deregulate spirit sales there. The wrangling over Pennsylvania's archaic regulatory system will continue. And Michigan is taking a long hard look at how to alter its current, oppressive system of alcohol regulation. In addition, state regulation and control will be at the center of the ongoing debate on Capital Hill as H.R 1161 inevitably moves forward with hearings sometime n 2012. Finally, given the movement on regulatory reform, expect the "Proponents of No", America's beer and wine wholesaler associations, to squeal about the dangers of a more free and fair wine marketplace.

NATURAL WINE MOVEMENT EXPANDS
This issue of Natural Wine, what it is, and what the idea means for those presumably less natural or unnatural is not going away. In fact, it's building a head of steam. In 2011 we saw books entitled "Natural Wine", "Authentic Wine" and "Voodoo Vintners". The issue has move forward much faster in Europe where proponents of natural wine are holding debates and working to make a strong case for the benefits and utility of the "natural wine" philosophy.

Look for the debate to become stronger and more forceful among the American wine community in 2012 and onward. The Natural Wine movement is founded on an ideological base that is a reaction to globalism and transcontinental marketing. This is a forceful movement that is impacting all industries and spreading.The Natural Wine movement is coming to America.

WINE BLOG BURNOUT
The Wine Blog explosion was just that. Over the past few years it has spawned 100s of blogs. However, I see it this movement to use the blog publishing format by wine lovers waning. I see fewer new wine blogs launched. The retreat will be slow, but the retreat will be with us. However, we will see the most active and most competent bloggers take on greater authority not just with the wine trade, but with consumers. Put another way, influence will consolidate.

CHINA KEEPS RISING
The other day the Wall Street Journal published a story wondering if the boom in wine sales in china was on the wane. This story could only be written if the boom in sales in China were remarkable. The fact that wealthy Chinese may not be buying 1st Growth Bordeaux at the same remarkable clip they were six months ago is no indication that China may not be the enormous marketplace that it surely is. 2012 will see wineries across the globe and most certainly in America shooting for a piece of the Chinese market because that market is going to grow and grow large.

EXPANSION OF  ON-LINE WINE MARKETPLACES
Expect to see the number of on-line wine marketplaces expand in 2012. Not only that, expect to see larger on-line wine marketplaces enter the market. A number of factors make this a sure thing. First, the recent advisory by the California Alcohol Beverage Commission provided non-licensed third party marketers with a road-map for marketing wine legally and compliantly. This is huge. That same advisory gave suppliers like wineries and importers the knowledge of how to sell wine with the help of third party marketers and do so without risk to their license. This is huge.

We've also seen the success of flash sale sites. From where I sit I don't see these kinds of marketers going away as inventories are reduced. Consumers have become accustomed to and happy with the flash sale model. More will follow. Finally, there are very big players on the sidelines of the wine marketplace that will not sit over there forever.

RECOVERY IN THE MARKETPLACE
The recover in the wine industry from the dark days of 2008 and 2009 is underway. While not a surprising item to put on this list, the continued recovery in the wine industry will be an important trend. We are currently seeing this recovery in the upper end of the market. In addition, we saw direct to consumer sale increase significantly in 2011. I expect to see the higher end of the market continue to do well and I expect the mid range to recover also. Much depends on the the course of the American economy. I"m feeling better about the health of the economy. And I'm feeling very good about the growing health of the American wine market.