Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

Anti-Wine Groups Start PR Effort in Michigan

It appears that the foes of the consumer and foes of the small winery are beginning pull out their guns in the battle over direct shipping in Michigan.

As I've reported here before, the Michigan Wine & Spirit Wholesalers Association wrote a bill (isn't that the legislature's job) that would ban all direct shippment of wine in Michigan and found a legislator in the Michigan House to introduce it. Yet, up to now the anti-consumer wholesalers had not launched any significant effort to support the bill through PR efforts. That silence has ended.

Most recently Executive Director of the Wholesalers Association Mike Lashbrook made a false claim in to the media that 10% of Minors nationwide are getting alcohol via the Internet. That claim has been debunked here in an earlier post on Fermentations.

Yesterday, the "Coalition for a Safe and Responsible Michigan", a front organization for the wine wholesalers, announced that they had organized a sting against Internet wine sellers in which seven boxes of alcohol were shipped to a 20 year old intern working for the "Coalitiion".

We have to assume that this new strategy of trying to convince legislators that wine is regularly shipped to minors comes in the wake of significant disapproval in the media of what appears to be vote buying in the Michigan legislature on behalf of the donation-crazy Michigan wine wholesales whose goal is, appartently, to call in it's markers with legislators in support of killing Michigan wineries' ability to make a living selling wine.

Though the point hardly needs to be made, it will be here. Well over 99% of all alchol that lands up in the hands of minors, goes down their throats and plays a role in their deaths through auto accidents is goes through the hands of the wholesalers. The vast majority of these sales go though brick and mortor stores that have no use for the Internet. However, the wholesalers would argue that Internet sales need to be outlawed altogether. Wouldn't the more logical step, if you are concerned about alcohol sales to minors, to ban sales from those outlets that are putting most of the alcohol in the hands of minors?

Reason does not play a large roll in this debate currently raging in Michigan. It's about Money.

Currently there are other bills awaiting hearing in committees that would allow limited shipping to Michigan residents by that state's wineries as well as out of state wineries. However, much of the what happens in Michigan will depend upon what Governor Jennifer Granholm chooses to do. If she gets behind a limited direct shipping bill, there will likely be a compromise that allows direct shipping.

Parker the Wine Dictator? I Think Not

Boy, THIS is what makes it so easy to blog on a daily basis.

Hugh Johnson, one of the greatest wine writers to ever walk this planet, has stumbled into a quagmire by proposing that "Imperial hegemony lives in Washington and the dictator of taste in Baltimore…Taste in the past was largely a matter of harmless fashion. In American hands it feels more like a moral crusade."

Johnson, the author of the groundbreaking "Vintage: A History of Wine" and "World Atlas of Wine, perhaps one of the best wine books ever written, makes this comment in an interview with Decanter Magazine and apparently in a forthcoming book, "Wine: A Life Uncorked".

Among the other tidbits Johnson drops are these:

Parker feels he has the right to tick off people who don't do “Better”, whereas I don't feel any such right.'

"Robert Parker deals in absolutes, and castigates those he sees as backsliders."

Johnson makes the fatal mistake of confusing the role of critic with the role of cheerleader, or commentator at best. And make no mistake, this is not just offhanded comments by Johnson. This is criticism of a critic based on what they like. In other words, its the most common of criticisms you see aimed at that long-established and well-honored writing genre.

You also get the impression that Johnson is motivated by an impatience with American foreign policy. This part doesn't bother me as much, since I like the using various lenses to examine a subject. But more than anything, this diatribe by Johnson bothers me because I have such huge respect for the man and his work and I think this kind of invective is below him.

 

Promoting the Wines of a Country

Working with an association of wineries is a notoriously difficult task for wine publicists and marketers. There tends to be a lot of decision by committee as well as indecision by committee. You also tend to have a lot of complaining about some members getting more attention than other members. It can be a minefield.

Yet, we find ourselves here at Wark Communications actively working on a proposal for representing a group of wineries...a proposal for creating a promotional organization to represent a country's wines that, amazingly, have little or no representation here in America.

The marketing of an entire country's wines is in some ways an easier task than representing a single winery if your goal is to raise visibility for your client. It's easy to ignore one winery if you are a member of the press. It's more difficult to ignore an entire country's wines. On the other hand, it's more difficult to effectively deliver a marketing message for a country than for a single winery.

Some organizations have done amazingly good work. Napa Valley Vintners comes to mind. Also, Russian River Valley Winegrowers are another promotional organization that has done a very effective job of promoting their region.

Budgetary constraints are always a huge issue with associations. They tend to be notoriously small. This means that most of the work is done in the trenches, interacting personally with the media, standing behind lots of tables at wine events, and making your printed materials go a long way, while relying on electronic communications quite heavily. The proposal we've developed for this potential client reflects these realities.

Yet, with all the obstacles that come with association PR, I must admit, the idea of promoting the wines of an entire country through a group of member wineries really is exciting. It's the opportunity to do some real education that gets the blood flowing. It's the opportunity to introduce not just the wine trade and media, but consumers also to a whole universe of wines they've never tried before. And it's the opportunity to participate in the growth on an important part of a country's export economy.

Why Wine, Not Beer?

LA Times reporter Robin Abcarian asks the right question: "What Does it Mean"?

The question refers to a surprising finding in a new Gallup poll that shows that more Americans choose to drink wine than beer. This is the first time wine has outpaced beer in the poll Gallup has been taking since 1992. The poll found 39% choosing wine vs. 36% choosing beer. This is a near 50% increase in the number of respondents who cited wine as their drink of choice over the 27% who named wine in Gallup's first poll on the subject. Indeed, what does this mean?

The responses found in the LA Times story are not quite off the cuff and infused with a bit of silliness, as well as playing off "masculine beer people" off the "know-it-all" wine people. However, two bits of insight are revealed in the story.

First, they properly point out that there is a lot of affordable wine out there to be had. It really doesn't matter what the product is, once price comes down enough and once the perception of the price of a product is understood as a value, more people will consider purchasing it. This certainly has occurred with wine. We can thank a number of factors for bringing this into play:

-The lake of wine combined with economic downturn in the early 00s resulted in terrific and very visible bargains.

-The imports into the American market have mainly been value priced wines

-A lot more marketing of wine has been undertaken, particularly by the large drink conglomerates that have been increasing the size of their portfolio, upping production and looking for new customers.

One suggestion to explain the new found status of wine is the impact of the movie "Sideways." There's no doubt the film has spurred an increase in Pinot Noir sales, and it would be foolish to suggest that an across the board increase did not coincide. This brings me back to a theme I've written about before: the impact of pop culture on commerce. Those of us who tend to work in the more rarefied end of wine sales sometimes ignore the impact of pop culture trends and themes and how they related to marketing. We tend to focus on that core group of drinkers that stay in the $20 and above area, visit wine regions, eat well, and buy upscale goods. Yet the ability of pop culture to inspired sales trends is undeniable and probably even more impacting than mass marketers even appreciate.

Clearly a number of factors have come together to see this shift in drinking habits. It's not one thing.

The health benefits of wine drinker is another factor for sure. Since the 60 Minutes documentary on the "French Paradox" in the early 1990s showing that while the French drink more, they have less heart disease, a number of other studies have been rolled out showing any number of other benefits of wine drinking. This consistent barrage of good wine and health news surely has had a cumulative effect.

Yet it seems the real increase in wine consumption is coming from women and young people. The poll showed that 52% of men still choose beer over wine, suggesting that a whole lot of women are buying the wine. In addition, the millennial generation, those essentially in their 20s, are adopting wine at a much faster rate than Gen X or the baby boomers.

What does all this mean for the wine industry? Clearly it is good news. They are attracting a larger piece of piece. The mass market brands will do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to continuing to attract wine drinkers and who are likely to be attracted to the low end of the price scale. However, a good number of these value drinkers will move up too. They'll graduate from the $10 a bottle to the $20 dollar a bottle and some will make their way to the $30 and up bracket.

For those of you looking for quality at every price point, the increase in wine's popularity and in wine drinkers is a good thing. The more drinkers, the more opportunity for sharp winemakers who have a quality vision to find enough consumer support for their efforts.

Better Wines Through Science.

Better wine through science. I like this idea.

So do the Italians and the French who have together embarked on a "genome" project to create vines that they hope will result in a number of improvements including:

-vines more resistant to pests
-vines more resistant to disease
-vines that produce grapes that offer greater health benefits to drinkers
-vines that can grow in a variety of terroir previously inhospitable to grapegrowing

One wonders if in the future, as we think back to the wines we are drinking today, if we will be comparing apples and oranges. I think we will be. Yet, you can say the same about today's wines vs. wines of 50 years ago. Technology has played a significant role in changing the character of wines. There is nothing wrong with this.

The Art of the Vineyard

We like to think, perhaps too often, of wine being an "art". It could be fairly said that this comparison is often overused. However, what you don't hear all that often, but which strikes me even more as having true qualities of art, is the vineyard.

I was up early today running errands. On my way to Santa Rosa in Sonoma County I drove past Matanzas Creek Winery in Bennett Valley, a sub-appellation of Sonoma Valley (and really a world apart). I noticed that Matanzas had finally gotten around to replanting a vineyard that had held the same vines since around 1980. It had mainly been Chardonnay and Merlot. I suspect at least more Merlot was planted given that winery's reputation.

The vines were small, recently planted, laid out in perfectly straight rows, enclosed in milk-carton like boxes with the top of their shoots poking up through the milk cartons that protected them. There were acres and acres of new vines. The vertical steadfastness of the stakes, the splash of identical white splotches of the milk cartons and the spike of green, covering acres, delivered a really entrancing geometric design...it was artful.

The geometric quality of the vineyard, with it's straight rows and even spacing between them, makes this a familiar sight in wine country. Each vineyard is somewhat different however, with some rows reaching up over hills, some with wider spacing, some with different trellising, and in some vineyards seeing rows going on at different angles.

Then you have the seasons. In the winter it is the bare bones of the vines that make up the spines of the vineyards, giving the geometry of the spaces a somewhat morbid quality. Yet in the fall, many of these well aligned pieces of art take on amazing splashes of gold, red, yellow and crimson, particularly among the older vines.

In my view, it is far easier to see art within the vines than in a glass. The art of the vineyard seems truer to me; more literal, more mathematical than the art in the glass.

If you are around Sonoma County, take a drive out Bennett Valley road and grab glance at the new Matanzas Creek vineyards. And keep your eye out for the art of the vineyard whenever in Wine Country. It is, perhaps the basis of the beauty that is Wine Country

Your Wine Survey Results are HERE

RESULTS OF THE COUNTRY WINE SURVEY

You can see the results of the survey by clicking HERE.  A total of 216 people took the survey.

A quick summary and additional interesting observations are below.

1. QUALITY COUNTRIES
-France, Germany and Italy come in for the highest regard for their wines, with France being named by nearly 60% as producing wines of the highest quality.

-Poor Canada. Only 11% said they produce very good or top quality wines, while nearly 60% ranked their wines of only average or below average quality.
This is unfortunate as I'm inclined to believe this result is only due to Canadian wines being fairly unknowns. Canada hardly has a reputation for making poor wines. What they need is better marketing. Is anyone aware of a well distributed Canadian value ice wine? There's a niche.

2. LEARNING
-Spain walks away with the award for most intriguing wines. Nearly 60% said they definitely want to learn more about this country's wines. Italy is not far behind.

3. BEST VALUE
Ask to choose three countries with the best value, 50% looked to Spain, perhaps explaining why so many wanted to learn more about that country's wines. No other country really comes close, though Australia, supposedly the "value continent" comes in with 38% naming it as full of value

4. WORST VALUE
Are California wines really this over-priced. Just over 70% of respondents said California provides the worst value wines. It must be an issue of price as respondents put California wines near the top for quality.
I honestly never thought of CA wines being a bad value as it appears most of you do. I look at the price of the very best German and French wines, for instance, and see remarkably high prices. Meanwhile, I never have a problem finding very good $30 California wine, even $20 wines. However, I do believe I am biased.

5. QUALITY EXPECTATIONS
-No country even comes close. 63% of respondents believe that Argentine wines will improve the most a decade from now.

-The other interesting finding, but perhaps predictable since is is already ranked of the highest quality, is that France appears to have no room for improvement.
Argentina, in my estimation, does indeed appear to be a sleeping giant. The wines I've tried ave been very good, yet I've not tried that many.

6. WHAT YOU BUY
-No surprise here. 70% of respondents said they buy CA wine often or very often. France is not far behind.

-The Value King, Spain, interestingly, is only purchased often or very often by 34%. Australians, who sure do know how to export is bought often or very often by 35% of respondents.

7. GENDER
-It's true. The guys are the geeks. 90% responding to this survey are guys.

8. AGE
-A near perfect curve. Less young-ens. Many middle agers. and only a few oldies

9. TIME DRINKING WINE
-Not surprising. It matches the Age Curve

10. KNOWLEDGE
-It's nice to inhabit a world where no one considers their knowledge base below average. Or, it could be no one who believes they have something to learn about wine frequents this blog.

REALLY INTERESTING STUFF
-Among those who said CA makes the highest quality wines, 68% said it was the worst value and 90% buy it often or very often. Message: They can't help themselves

-Looking at responses by women  you see virtually no differences in their answers from men

-Those who consider themselves wine experts have a higher regard for French and German wines, are much more likely to find value in French wines, are even more convinced Argentina will be producing much better wines in a decade, drink a lot more French and Austrian wine, and, can you believe it, are 100% male.

-Respondents who are between the age of 21 and 30 are much much more likely to want to learn about French wines, are more fed up with CA wine prices and less fed up about French wine pricing, have MUCH greater faith in the future quality of Chilean wines, are more likely to buy French wine than CA wine, and are somewhat more likely to consider themselves expert or VERY knowledgeable about wine.

-Looking at the Francophiles, those who buy French wines "very often," we find that they are nearly half as likely to call CA "Top Quality", believe French wines are the best values, believe CA offers the worst value to the tune of 84%, are far less likely to buy Australian wines, tend to be younger, and tend to think themselves more knowledgeable about wine than the average respondent.

-Among those who believe Australia provides the best value wines they are much less likely to want to learn about European wines than the average respondent, believe French wines are the worst value by far, buy more New Zealand and CA wine than most respondents, and tend to be younger

The Most Offensive Wine Web Site Ever?

Thanks to an alert Mike Duffy over at the Winery Website Report Blog, I do believe I've laid my eyes on one of the most offensive wine-related websites: BumWine.

Yes, "Bum Wine".  The Authors of the website explain their mission this way: "Call them bum wines, street wines, fortified wines, wino wines, or twist-cap wines.  Whatever you call these beverages for the economical drunkard, this page explores the top five.  So curl up on a heating duct and enjoy..."

Very nice, isn't it? However, they do explore those wines we all snicker at but never lay out hands one including "NightTrain", "MD 2020", "Cisco", "Thunderbird" and "Wild Irish Rose".

However, like good wine reviewers, the authors to deliver on their promise of explaining the drinks. For example here is their description of  MD 2020:

Some test subjects report a slight numbing agent in MD 20/20, similar to the banana paste that the dentist puts in your mouth before injecting it with novocain.  Anyone that can afford a dentist should steer clear of this disaster.  Available in various nauseating tropical flavors that coat your whole system like bathtub scum, but only the full "Red Grape Wine" flavor packs the 18%.

"Bathtub Scum"

There's an "Accident-on-the-side-of-the-road" quality to going through this website. You know you shouldn't be browsing around, but you can't stop yourself from looking as you surf past.

Quick...take the wine survey!

The time for participating in the currrent "FERMSURVEY 3.0: Country Wines" is coming to an end. I'll be closing it down tomorrow.

If you've not already taken the survey, I urge you do to so.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY

Thanks to EVERYONE who has participated. We've got some interesting results coming.

What's Going On With Wine Blogging?

In October 2004, the best listing of wine blogs on the Internet, listed a total of 26 blogs devoted to wine. Today, that number is at 81. More than a three-fold increase in the number of wine blogs being tracked in less than a year.

What's going on?

Here's what I think:

1. Blogging has gone mainstream in the past year, spurring vast numbers to try their hand.

2. It's not difficult to achieve a huge percentage increase in wine blogs when you start with 26.

3. Yet, the wine blog universe is "nichifyng"...we have wine blogs devoted not only to wine in general but to very specific wine topics: winery web sites, Pinot Noir, Rose, specific countries, specific wineries, winery tasting rooms, etc.

4. By all the reports I get and from my own experience more and more people are turning to wine blogs for their literary satisfaction. Traffic to wine blogs is increasing.

5. Wine bloggers hare becoming a common and legitimate audience for publicists and marketers. A number of publicists and PR agencies regularly distribute press releases to wine bloggers as well as invite them to cover events. Wark Communications now does this regularly as well.

6. Still, no wine blog has broken out of its relative anonymity and become a critical element of the "wine media" in the way some wine magazines, wine columnists and other wine websites have. But it's only a matter of time.

7.Based on my own surveys, the people who frequent wine blogs tend to be VERY wine & food Savvy, signs of a communications medium that is still in its infancy.

8. The only thing holding back a very good wine blog from attracting significant readership is the willingness to engage in a serious marketing campaign to attract readers.

9. Nevertheless, we are beginning to see the mainstream wine media and trade media reference wine blog-originated stories as well as cover wine blogging as a story.

10. Those 81 wine blogs will seem quaintly small in number in another 12 months.