Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

Another Napa Valley Blogger

In my haste to bemoan the fact that there are too few blogs maintained by wineries (I tend to be a hasty bemoaner) I neglected to mention another Napa Valley winemaker who has taken to the blogwaves to share his experience.

Randy Sloan and Sasha Match of Match Vineyards maintain a vintners journal as they start out  on their wine industry endeavor. As you might expect, the Journal is a bit of an insider's ( a new insider's) look into the process of starting up a winery in Napa, getting your name out there and selling the wine. As for selling the wine, it's hard to imagine that quality will be an issue. Though I've never tasted the wines I noticed they have Cary Gott on board as the winemaker and Jim Barbour as their vineyard manager...two of the best in their field.

The entire website for Match Vineyards is quite well done. And, it includes something interesting. The "Downloads" page has a number of items you'd expect to see: labels, order form, wine fact sheet. Now, I've written hundreds of Fact Sheets in my day and put them up on websites. But one thing I've never put on a client website is a Lab Report. You send your wine to a lab to get an accurate reading of things like pH, acidities, alcohol, etc. It's included on the Match Vineyards download page. Kinda interesting.

Finally, Match Vineyards seems clearly to be the kind of wired winery that pays attention to those on the Net who first noticed them. In a kind and smart move, the Randy and Sasha gave preference to those people registered over at VinoCellar.com, an online wine forum, where they have  been active participants. This kind of nod of the hat to online wine addicts has been done before...but not often. It's a nice idea.

Best Wine Review of the Year

I'm pretty convinced that the award for BEST WINE REVIEW OF THE YEAR should go to Beau over at Basic Juice for his review of the Lustau “Los Arcos Dry Amontillado Sherry.

It's a must read....go on....click on the link....Go read it...and take your time.

Evolution of a Wine Ad

Creating an ad meant to be placed in the consumer wine magazines means you are creating an ad for two audiences: the dedicated wine consumer and the wine trade. It's different than creating an ad for, say, Vanity Fair or People or Time Magazine. In fact, when you use Wine Spectator, Wine & Spirits Magazine, Wine Enthusiast, Wine News, etc. you really want an ad that will create an impression among retailers, restaurateurs and distributor sales people as much as the consumer.

That was a very important consideration behind the recent ad whose creation was chronicled here at Fermentations.

In that past post I asked Fermentations readers to comment on the picture to be used for the ad. The picture of the winery's owner and his granddaughter was picked apart by a number of readers. Many of the comments were quite astute and many pointed out what we saw at Wark Communications as we went through the many shots at our disposal: 1) The granddaughter would get people's attention but the owner was too set back, too "out of the picture". We fixed that.

Below is the final ad. We've all congratulated ourselves because we think it works. We think it introduces a new brand well by being attractive enough to stop the reader, quickly tells the story of experience and generations, and easily delivers money shots (brand and bottle).

The first job of an ad is to get the reader to stop for a moment in time and suspend their ongoing search though the medium for something of interest. After that, the ad is required to tell a story in moments. If the image of the ad alone can do this, you win big. But it rarely does. This is why ads have copy, particularly a headline. If the headline is provocative or interesting enough, it will do the job of drawing the reader into the body copy to flesh out he message and tell the entire tale.

We had a lot we wanted to say in this ad: "Experience, continuity, new brand, quality, Russian River Valley" We wanted to say this with the images and the headline. If the readers got down into the body copy they would learn even more.

We don't do a lot of ads here at Wark Communications because our specialty is public relations. However, working as we choose to do with the small and medium sized wineries we do have our share of opportunities for this kind of work. I enjoy it.

This ad has been particularly enjoyable to do because I've worked with some really wonderful graphic designers and photographers and also because the clients were easy to work with, engaged and smart. But also, the input by Fermentations' readers were an added dimension I didn't originally expect to have that turned out to be of great value. Thank you one and all.

Where are the Winery Blogs?

I continue to be astonished at the near total lack of U.S. wineries maintaining blogs. I've looked around and I can't find more than three:

Anomaly Vineyards (Napa Valley) maintain a blog that chronicles the goings on in the vineyards, in the cellar and in the market place of an ultra premium brand. (disclosure: client)

Atelier Winery (Healdsburg) maintains an occasionally updated blog that appears to be aimed at wine club members but has some interesting information nonetheless.

Bradley Cooper's Wine & Vine BC (British Columbia) is not so much a winery blog as it is a winemaker's blog, and he does a really great job.

I'm reminded of the time it takes to maintain and continually update a blog when I consider why there are so few winery-relate blogs. But even an ongoing diary of daily events I think would appeal to a substantial number of wine lovers.

Many wine drinkers have a pretty romantic idea of what happens at a winery. Many think it's a matter of blowing fairy dust upon the vines, getting together a happy clan of pickers to sing and bring in the grapes, then cheerfully stomp the grapes into wine. Meanwhile, in between there's just a string of fine dinners and tastings to enjoy.

It's kinda different than that. Maybe the illusion is something best kept in place. Still, this is one PR fella who is convinced that a regularly maintained winery blog would not only be a service but a boost to business.

Wine: Evil and We Like It!

There is  great deal of discussion lately of the alcohol levels in wines, with many suggesting the higher alcohols we are seeing just aren't attractive. But there is one thing about the alcohol in wine that doesn't often get mentioned:

We like alcohol. It makes us feel good.

I was reminded of the obvious as I read a story by Michael Chatfield in the Hollister Freelance. In the story he poses a good question: If it doesn't have alcohol, is it wine?

The answer is no. If it doesn't have alcohol it is just a beverage.

The focus of the story my Chatfield was non-alcoholic wines such as "Fre" by Sutter Home and "Ariel" by J. Lohr Winery. He tasted both and concluded that if he had to refrain from alcohol he'd rather just  drink Welches.

I agree. Alcohol is at the very center of the allure of wine. Were there no "Buzz" that came after that third glass of Cabernet or Chardonnay I seriously doubt we would still drink it and learn about it with the gusto that many of us do. There is the slightest bit of "evil" in alcohol that draws us to it, and this diabolical nature that is part of wine makes the beverage just slightly unsafe, somewhat in need of careful handling.

I'm not Saying that wine is evil. Just that the element of wine that is evil is a large part of what attracts us to it.

The Economist Is Right About Wine

"The more this happens, the more devalued it becomes, and the less consumers want to pay for it"

The "This" Monsieur Patrick Aigrain, a wine economist, is referring to is the use of geographic appellations on wines. He's talking about reference on wine bottles to the source of the grapes that went into the making of the wine. "Bordeaux", Russian River Valley", "Macon, "Rioja", "Anderson Valley."

He's absolutely right.
(Alder at Vinography has taken on this issue himself and has an interesting perspective.)

To quote M. Aigrain completely from the Decanter.com article:

"Three quarters of all wine produced in Europe now bears a specific geographic reference. The more this happens, the more devalued it becomes, and the less consumers want to pay for it....We wanted to use AOC to help differentiate our offering in the New World, but now they have it too."

Aigrain is an economist. A wine economist in particular. What he is saying is that wines that carry a specific AOC (Appellation d'origine Controle---a place name) no longer garner that  much higher a price than the average wine because a far higher percentage of wines carry such a designation on the label. But there is something else going on here too that he is not talking about.

The most famous appellations such as Bordeaux and Burgundy now have stiff competition for the title of "Great Wine". There was a time when Bordeaux and Burgundy was the best you could get. If you bought a bottle that had either of these words on it you had the expectation that you'd get something better than average. That still may be true. The problem is that wines every bit as good come from a number of appellations in Australia, South Africa, Argentina, California, Oregon and numerous other winegrowing areas. This is what the good economist was really alluding to.

There is a lot of talk these days about what the French in particular must do to combat this competition that is leading to falling prices and falling sales. And all this talk is going to lead to a significant philosophical crisis within the French winemaking community.

It appears that the rather stringent laws that govern what a winemaker must do to put an appellation on their label in France are going to come under question. Every time this questioning arises and someone suggests that the restrictive laws are loosened, you will hear someone lament the fact that terroir is being devalued. And they will be right. Terroir—the notion that the land is the source of wines' quality and character—is at the heart of the French labeling laws. It's why a wine is labeled Bordeaux or Burgundy, rather than Merlot or Pinot Noir. If you move away from that concept by allowing, for instance, the varietal to take center stage on the varietal instead of the appellation, you are in fact devaluing the idea of terroir.

Will French vintners allow this to occur? Probably. Particularly if the sales crisis that is affecting the French wine industry isn't corrected. I'm going to enjoy the philosophical debates that take place as the French talk this over because these conversations go to the heart of what wine is and should be.

Wonderful Wine Blog: "Wine Waves"

And then you come across a wine blog you haven't seen before but that is really doing it right.

Wine Waves is a wonderful blog focused on tasting notes. It's easy on the eyes too with great shots of labels and bottles to go along with the astute reviews.

I really love coming across new sources like this; blogs that you happily had to your blog roll. Jerry Hall is the culprit, a part wine wine consultant in a retail outlet in Nashville and a member of the sign making guild on the side.

Jerry does something interesting with each review. He(?) tells us what kind of closure the wine uses. He's partial to screwcaps...particularly for whites, and doesn't like the composite cork closures.

Go see this wine blog. Well worth your time.

These Wine Bloggers Need Encouragement

It's not comprehensive, but it is interesting.

Alfredo, Angelique, Florencia, Michael and David have opened up a blog devoted to Argentina wine and their adventures making wine in Argentina. This is one of those blogs that seems to have wonderful potential if the authors would just take it a bit more seriously.

Vino Tourism Argentina offers quick snippets of adventures at the winery and wine related economic news from Argentina. It needs word. But I think with some encouragement we can spur them to give us more daily details of what's happening in their world.

Go check it out.

Best Books on California Wine

Corktease.com has published my first article for them:

Canon of California Wine."

This article puts forth those indispensable books for anyone wanting to learn more about California from the best volumes on the subject.

What are the best books on the subject of California wine? Check it out.

Read The Wine Media Survey Results

The results of the Fermentations Survey "How Do We Consume Wine Information" are in.

The results can be found here.

A few things you need to remind yourself as you look at these survey results. First, it's a fairly small sample of Fermentations Wine Blog readers only. Also, it is important to not extrapolate to far out toward the general wine consumer. It is best to think of these results as "How do WINE BLOG READERS consume wine information?"

That said, what  do we know?

1. Getting information about our hobby is a daily ritual

2. The Internet is our "go to" medium for this information

3. We read The Wine Spectator far more regularly than any other print wine publication

4. We have  respect for the quality of information found in wine blogs, newsletters, magazines and wine forums

5. Newspaper wine columns and radio/TV wine information is low on our list of quality info sources.

6. It's wine reviews that are generally sought out

7. This was a survey of predominantly middle aged males who drink far more often than the average person.

Anyone else's take on these survey results would be  very interesting to read.