Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

The Mission of Family Winemakers

Family Winemakers of California is best known as the host of the most diverse and comprehensive wine tasting in America: The annual Family Winemakers Tasting in San Francisco.

Yet, the organization's true mission is to support smaller, family-owned wineries. That was the mission when a small group of vintners such as Bill MacIver of Matanzas Creek Winery, Brice Jones of Sonoma Cutrer and Patrick Campbell of Laurel Glen, all dissatisfied with the orientation of the California Wine Institute, choose to break off and start a new organization that would promote values important to smaller wineries.

Based on the editorial I read today in the Orlando Sentinel by Family Winemakers Executive Director Paul Kronenberg, that mission is alive and well:

"We believe distributor middlemen should compete based on delivering service and value and think it is wrong that the distributors are telling consumers which wines they can and cannot enjoy. America's 3,500 wineries produce more than 10,000 new wines each vintage, more wines than distributors can stock and sell. So why are distributors restricting consumer access and threatening winemakers? One word, greed."

Paul's editorial was in response to a wine wholesaler-supported initiative in Florida that only allow wineries under a certain size to ship wine direct to Floridians. It is a wholesaler protection law, as they all are.

And Paul is right. Wholesalers should be forced to compete based on the services and value they can deliver, rather than under the auspices of a state-mandated three tier system that amounts to state welfare for huge wine distribution companies.

State of the States: Money, Wine & Politics

Continuing FERMENTATION's look at money, wine and politics, we turn in this post to the money spent on political campaigns at the state level. It is here, in the individual states, where nearly all legislation and regulations concerning alcohol, its production, its sales and its distribution is undertaken.

Between 2004 and 2006, contributions to state level political campaigns from beer, wine and spirit concerns totaled $21,362,727.

The overwhelming majority of this money comes from distributors and wholesalers of alcohol.

This fact makes sense. Wholesalers and distributors have more to protect in terms of wealth related to alcohol than any other industry, including producers. They are also concerned with protecting their privileged place within the 3 tier system, that model of sales that exist in most states that mandates nearly all alcohol sales, including wine, go through the hands of a wholesaler.

In addition to cash contributions to political campaigns in the states, many of the wholesaler organizations retain lobbyists and lawyers to represent them in the legislatures. In nearly every state, less California, wholesaler influence from campaign contribution outnumbers contributions by wine producers by many fold.

Below is a chart of the amount of campaign donations from the Beer, Wine and Liquor industries given to state political campaign between 2004 and 2006.

STATES: They are listed in alphabetical order
CONTRIBUTION: The total amount given by the beer, wine & liquor industries, 2004-006
PER CAP CONS: The per capita consumption in the state
POPULATION: The population of the state in 2003
$ PER PERSON: Amount of contributions per capita for that state.

The above figures were culled from The Institute on Money and State Politics

Why Are Drinkers Smarter?

Why are drinkers smarter?

That's the conclusion of a study I read about recently.

"A study of more than 6,000 Londoners ranging in age from 40 to 68 found that drinkers in general performed better than teetotalers on tests measuring such things as verbal fluency and inductive reasons.

The study indicated drinkers performed better whether they had one drink a week or 30-plus drinks a week. Even occasional drinkers did better on the tests than non-drinkers, leading the researchers to write, "In terms of cognitive function, we found that frequent drinking may be more beneficial than drinking only on special occasions."

The researchers apparently have no explanation a to why drinkers do better on tests of verbal fluency and inductive reasoning. Does it actually have something to do with the reaction of the chemical compound that is alcohol and the functioning of the brain? Or, should we instead be contemplating the disposition of the teetotaler.

I remember when the first studies started to emerge suggesting that wine in particular made you healthier, or at least less likely to die below the average age. Then, and even now, I suspected it had more to do with the lifestyle of the person likely to have a couple drinks of wine a day than with a magical influence of the properties of the grape and grape skins as many point to now. I still believe this plays an important part in it.

But in this case we are talking about drinkers vs. non drinkers. Again, I think the emphasis might properly be placed on the teetotaler in this study. What do we know about the person who has decided, not because their doctor has told them too, but for ethical reason, not to drink? I could be wrong, but I think we are talking about people who 1) are driven to severe and judgmental action by philosophical or religious inspiration, or 2) fear their own ability to react well to the slightest  change in body chemistry, or 3) have probably been driven to teetotaling by an incident or situation that once scared them.

I could be wrong about these kind of generalizations. But let's say I'm not.   Let's entertain the idea that teetotalers tend more than drinkers to be driven in their daily lives by types of fear and admonitions than by what I think drives people to drink: the enjoyment and social factors as well as the appreciation of the buzz.

What marks the drinker as different from the non-drinker is an element of curiosity and optimism that seems absent in the teetotaler.

Is the explanation why teetotalers don't perform as well on intellectual acuity tests that they are somehow affected by having shut down their natural curiosity and have an outlook on life less disposed to optimism.

Let's step out of the generalizing limb and consider that I've observed that serious wine drinkers, real wine aficionados, do tend to be brighter. These people also tend to be far more curious than your average person and your average drinker, in my experience. And, they tend to be optimistic, looking forward to the next experience, the next vintage the next vinious revelation.

Or, it could be simply the chemical compound that is alcohol reacting with our brain. In that case, let's make a pill and distribute it.

Money, Wine & Politics: The Wholesalers' Moneybags

No single wine related organization in America contributes more money to political campaigns than the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association. A national association representing 90% of America's wine wholesalers, WSWA is a strong and powerful proponent not just for its members across the United States but for the entrenched three-tier system.

WSWA has been instrumental in crafting and delivering the message that minors can and are put in danger by direct shipping to consumers. WSWA was instrumental in getting passed in Congress the 21 Amendment Enforcment Act that allowed State Attorneys Generals to prosecute winemakers in Federal Court. WSWA has promoted front organizations that claim to be "citizens group" opposing direct shipping because it would harm kids. WSWA's CEO and Executive Director, Juanita Duggan, formerly represented elements of the Big Tobacco as well as Big Chemical. Recently, WSWA has wieghed in via the media on varioius state battles over direct shipping and the rights of wineries to self distribute.

Clearly, WSWA's primary strategy to gain access to the political process as well as to influence legislation is via campaign contributions.

Since 1998, WSWA has contributed $2.84 million to candidates for federal office and other PACs.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FEDERAL CANDIDATES  & PACS
FROM WSWA BY ELECTION CYCLE
1998: $305,701
2000: $400,677
2002: $658,973
2004: $913,018
2006: $571,914

The current 2006 election cycle is far from over, meaning the 2006 number cited above is likely to increase. However, WSWA has been busy donating to federal candidates during 2005 and 2006. WSWA tends to give more donations to Republican candidates. For the 2006 campaign cycle, WSWA has bestwoed 73% of their donation upon Republican candidates.

Contributions by WSWA to federal candidates and PACs in 2005 and 2006..
(Sorted By Amount)

RNC Joint Candidate Committee, Washington, DC      $35,000
Republican National Committee, Washington, DC     $15,000
Democratic Congressional Campaign Comm, Washington     $7,500
Democratic Congressional Campaign Comm, Washington     $7,500
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Washingt     $7,500
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Washingt     $7,500
National Republican Congressional Comm, Washington     $7,500
National Republican Congressional Comm, Washington     $7,500
National Republican Senatorial Comm, Washington, D     $7,500
National Republican Senatorial Comm, Washington, D     $7,500
America's Foundation, Washington, DC     $5,000
American Success PAC, Washington, DC     $5,000
ARMPAC, Washington, DC     $5,000
Blue Dog PAC, Washington, DC     $5,000
Cantor For Congress, Richmond, VA     $5,000
Congressional Majority Committee, Alexandria, VA     $5,000
Eric PAC, Richmond, VA     $5,000
Freedom Project, Washington, DC     $5,000
Friends Of Kent Conrad, Bismarck, ND     $5,000
Friends Of Kent Conrad, Bismarck, ND     $5,000
Friends Of Robert C Byrd Comm, Washington, DC     $5,000
Glacier PAC, Washington, DC     $5,000
Great Plains Leadership PAC, Washington, DC     $5,000
Hatch Election Committee, Salt Lake City, UT     $5,000
HAWKEYE PAC, Des Moines, IA     $5,000
Hoosiers Supporting Buyer For Congress, Monticello     $5,000
Hoosiers Supporting Buyer For Congress, Monticello     $5,000
House Conservatives Fund, Arlington, VA     $5,000
KOMPAC, Washington, DC     $5,000
National Leadership PAC, New York, NY     $5,000
New Republican Majority Fund, Alexandria, VA     $5,000
Pryce Project, Alexandria, VA     $5,000
RELY ON YOUR BELIEFS FUND, Washington, DC     $5,000
RELY ON YOUR BELIEFS FUND, Washington, DC     $5,000
Reynolds For Congress, Victor, NY     $5,000
Searchlight Leadership Fund, Washington, DC     $5,000
Senate Majority Committee, Washington, DC     $5,000
Talent For Senate Exploratory Committee, St Louis,     $5,000
TOMPAC, Arlington, VA     $5,000
Trent Lott For Mississippi, Jackson, MS     $5,000
Victory In November Elections PAC, Washington, DC     $5,000
VOLPAC, Nashville, TN     $5,000
CPC-PAC, Washington, DC     $4,000
Hastert For Congress Committee, Batavia, IL     $4,000
Jon Kyl For U S Senate, Phoenix, AZ     $4,000
Leadership PAC, Alexandria, VA     $4,000
McCrery for Congress, Shreveport, LA     $4,000
Prosperity PAC, Alexandria, VA     $4,000
Tom DeLay Congressional Committee, Stafford, TX     $4,000
Tom DeLay Congressional Committee, Stafford, TX     $4,000
Restore America Leadership PAC, Alexandria, VA      $3,500
Friends Of Craig Thomas, Casper, WY     $3,000
Honorable John Ensign, Las Vegas, NV     $3,000
People With Hart Inc, Wexford, PA     $3,000
Trent Lott For Mississippi, Jackson, MS     $3,000
CAMPAC, Midland, MI     $2,500
David Scott for Congress, Atlanta, GA     $2,500
Freedom Project, Washington, DC     $2,500
Friends Of Clay Shaw, Fort Lauderdale, FL     $2,500
Friends Of Mark Foley For Congress, Chantilly, VA     $2,500
Friends Of Rahm Emanuel, Chicago, IL     $2,500
Jim Gerlach for Congress, Arlington, VA     $2,500
Kentucky PAC, Louisville, KY     $2,500
LINC-PAC, Washington, DC     $2,500
LINC-PAC, Washington, DC     $2,500
Mary Bono Committee, Palm Springs, CA     $2,500
MINT PAC, Alexandria, VA     $2,500
NELSON 2006, Washington, DC     $2,500
NEW PAC, Visalia, CA     $2,500
Reform PAC, McLean, VA     $2,500
Senate Victory Fund, Alexandria, VA     $2,500
The Bluegrass Committe, Washington, DC     $2,500
The Bluegrass Committe, Washington, DC     $2,500
The MikeR Fund, Arlington, VA     $2,500
The Republican Majority Fund, Washington, DC     $2,500
Whitfield For Congress Comm, Hopkinsville, KY     $2,500
Whitfield For Congress Comm, Hopkinsville, KY     $2,500
Bill Thomas Campaign Committee, Bakersfield, CA     $2,000
Blackburn for Congress, Franklin, TN     $2,000
Chris Chocola For Congress Inc, South Bend, IN     $2,000
Dreier For Congress Committee, Upland, CA     $2,000
Friends Of Conrad Burns, Billings, MT     $2,000
Friends of Mike Sodrel, Jeffersonville, IN     $2,000
Friends Of Roy Blunt, Strafford, MO     $2,000
HALPAC (Help America's Leaders PAC), Washington, D     $2,000
Hatch Election Committee, Salt Lake City, UT     $2,000
Jon Kyl For U S Senate, Phoenix, AZ     $2,000
Mchenry For Congress, Cherryville, NC     $2,000
Mike Ferguson For Congress, Red Bank, NJ     $2,000
Nunes for Congress, Pixley, CA     $2,000
Re-Elect Nancy Johnson To Congress Com, New Britai     $2,000
Rogers For Congress, Brighton, MI     $2,000
Santorum 2006, Alexandria, VA     $2,000
Santorum 2006, Alexandria, VA     $2,000
Sue Myrick For Congress, Charlotte, NC     $2,000
TENN PAC, Alexandria, VA     $2,000
Texas Freedom Fund, Alexandria, VA     $2,000
Trent Lott For Mississippi, Jackson, MS     $2,000
Western Action PAC, Alexandria, VA     $2,000
Charles Boustany Jr For Congress, Lafayette, LA     $1,500
Freedom Project, Washington, DC      $1,500
Friends Of Conrad Burns, Billings, MT     $1,500
House Republican Campaign Committee of PA (HRCC),     $1,500
Re-elect Bobby Jindal, Metairie, LA     $1,500
Ted Poe For Congress, Humble, TX     $1,500
The Republican Majority Fund, Washington, DC     $1,500
Upton For All Of Us, St. Joseph, MI     $1,500
A Lot Of People Who Support Jeff Binga, Falls Chur     $1,000
Anne Northup For Congress, Louisville, KY     $1,000
Anne Northup For Congress, Louisville, KY     $1,000
Anne Northup For Congress, Louisville, KY     $1,000
Ben Cardin For Congress, Baltimore, MD     $1,000
Berkley 2004, Las Vegas, NV     $1,000
Bill Nelson For U S Senate, Tallahassee, FL     $1,000
Bill Nelson For U S Senate, Tallahassee, FL     $1,000
Bill Shuster For Congress, Hollidaysburg, PA     $1,000
Bob Beauprez For Congress Committee, Wheatridge, C     $1,000
Bob Ney For Congress, St Clairsville, OH     $1,000
Boyd For Congress, Washington, DC     $1,000
Brown-Waite For Congress, Brooksville, FL     $1,000
Burgess for Congress, HIGHLAND VILLAGE, TX     $1,000
Cantor For Congress, Richmond, VA     $1,000
Cardoza For Congress, Sacramento, CA     $1,000
Chandler For Congress, Lexington, KY     $1,000
Charles Boustany Jr For Congress, Lafayette, LA     $1,000
Charlie Melancon Campaign Committee Inc, Napoleonv     $1,000
Charlie Melancon Campaign Committee Inc, Napoleonv     $1,000
Chris Chocola For Congress Inc, South Bend, IN     $1,000
Coble For Congress, Arlington, VA     $1,000
Coble For Congress, Greensboro, NC     $1,000
Comm To Elect William J Jefferson, New Orleans, LA     $1,000
Comm To Elect William J Jefferson, New Orleans, LA     $1,000
Committee To Reelect Ed Towns, Bklyn, NY     $1,000
Committee To Reelect Ed Towns, Bklyn, NY     $1,000
Congressman Bart Gordon Comm, Murfreesboro, TN     $1,000
Cooper for Congress, Nashville, TN     $1,000
CPC-PAC, Washington, DC     $1,000
Crowley For Congress, Elmhurst, NY     $1,000
Dave Camp For Congress, Midland, MI     $1,000
Dave Camp For Congress, Midland, MI     $1,000
Delahunt For Congress Comm, Quincy, MA     $1,000
Delahunt For Congress Comm, Quincy, MA     $1,000
Demint For Senate Committee Inc, Greenville, SC     $1,000
Doris Matsui for US Congress, Washington, DC     $1,000
Earl Pomeroy For Congress, Bismarck, ND     $1,000
Earl Pomeroy For Congress, Bismarck, ND     $1,000
Engel For Congress, Bronxville, NY     $1,000
Friends For Cliff Stearns, Ocala, FL     $1,000
Friends Of Clay Shaw, Fort Lauderdale, FL     $1,000
Friends Of Craig Thomas, Casper, WY     $1,000
Friends Of Dave Reichert, Bellevue, WA      $1,000
Friends Of Dave Reichert, Bellevue, WA     $1,000
Friends Of Dave Reichert, Bellevue, WA     $1,000
Friends Of Dave Reichert, Bellevue, WA     $1,000
Friends Of George Allen, Alexandria, VA     $1,000
Friends Of John Conyers, Alexandria, VA     $1,000
Friends Of John Peterson, Pleasantville, PA     $1,000
Friends Of John Tanner, Union City, TN     $1,000
Friends Of John Tanner, Union City, TN     $1,000
Friends of Mike Sodrel, Jeffersonville, IN     $1,000
Friends of Mike Sodrel, Jeffersonville, IN     $1,000
Friends Of Ray Lahood, Peoria, IL     $1,000
Hastert For Congress Committee, Batavia, IL     $1,000
Heartland Values PAC, Sioux Falls, SD     $1,000
Herseth For Congress, Washington, DC     $1,000
Honorable John Ensign, Las Vegas, NV     $1,000
Hoyer For Congress, Mechanicsville, MD     $1,000
Hoyer For Congress, Mechanicsville, MD     $1,000
Hudson Valley Victory Fund, Katonah, NY     $1,000
Hulshof For Congress, Columbia, MO     $1,000
Hulshof For Congress, Columbia, MO     $1,000
Inslee For Congress, Seattle, WA     $1,000
J D Hayworth For Congress, Scottsdale, AZ     $1,000
JAZZPAC, Washington, DC     $1,000
Jim Ramstad Volunteer Comm, Minnetonka, MN     $1,000
Jim Ramstad Volunteer Comm, Minnetonka, MN     $1,000
John D Dingell For Congress Comm, Washington, DC     $1,000
John D Dingell For Congress Comm, Washington, DC     $1,000
Keller For Congress, Alexandria, VA     $1,000
Kenny Marchant For Congress, Carrollton, TX     $1,000
Larson For Congress, East Hartford, CT     $1,000
Lee Terry For Congress, Omaha, NE     $1,000
Lesley 'Les' Miller For Congress, Tampa, FL     $1,000
Lewis For Congress Committee, Redlands, CA     $1,000
Lieberman Committee, New Haven, CT     $1,000
Lieberman Committee, New Haven, CT     $1,000
Lincoln Diaz-Balart For Congress Committee, Coral     $1,000
Linder For Congress, Atlanta, GA     $1,000
Linder For Congress, Atlanta, GA     $1,000
Lot Of People For Dave Obey, Washington, DC     $1,000
Lot Of People For Dave Obey, Wausau, WI     $1,000
Mac Collins For Congress, Jonesboro, GA     $1,000
Mac Collins For Congress, Jonesboro, GA     $1,000
Mac Collins For Congress, Jonesboro, GA     $1,000
Marion Berry For Congress, Jonesboro, AR     $1,000
Mark Udall For Congress Inc, Westminster, CO     $1,000
Mary Bono Committee, Palm Springs, CA     $1,000
McCrery for Congress, Shreveport, LA     $1,000
McCrery for Congress, Shreveport, LA     $1,000
Mchenry For Congress, Cherryville, NC     $1,000
Menendez For Congress, Union City, NJ      $1,000
Mike Thompson For Congress, Washington, DC     $1,000
Mike Thompson For Congress, Washington, DC     $1,000
Moore For Congress, Lenexa, KS     $1,000
NELSON 2006, Washington, DC     $1,000
Nunes for Congress, Pixley, CA     $1,000
Nunes for Congress, Pixley, CA     $1,000
Nussle For Congress, Manchester, IA     $1,000
Otter For Idaho, Boise, ID     $1,000
Oxley For Congress, Findlay, OH     $1,000
Pearce For Senate, Hobbs, NM     $1,000
People For English, Erie, PA     $1,000
People With Hart Inc, Wexford, PA     $1,000
People With Hart Inc, Wexford, PA     $1,000
Pete Sessions For Congress, Dallas, TX     $1,000
Pete Stark Re-Election Comm, Fremont, CA     $1,000
Phil PAC, Alexandria, VA     $1,000
Price For Congress, Roswell, GA     $1,000
Rangel For Congress, New York, NY     $1,000
Rangel For Congress, New York, NY     $1,000
Re-elect Bobby Jindal, Metairie, LA     $1,000
Re-Elect Harold Ford Jr, Memphis, TN     $1,000
Re-Elect Nancy Johnson To Congress Com, New Britai     $1,000
Reed for Lieutenant Governor, Duluth, GA     $1,000
Renzi for Congress, Flagstaff, AZ     $1,000
Reynolds For Congress, Victor, NY     $1,000
Richard E Neal For Congress Comm, Chevy Chase, MD     $1,000
Richard E Neal For Congress Comm, Chevy Chase, MD     $1,000
Richard E Neal For Congress Comm, Chevy Chase, MD     $1,000
Rocky Mountain PAC, Washington, DC     $1,000
Ron Lewis For Congress, Elizabethtown, KY     $1,000
Ryan For Congress, Janesvile, WI     $1,000
Ryan For Congress, Janesvile, WI     $1,000
Santorum 2006, Alexandria, VA     $1,000
Santorum 2006, Alexandria, VA     $1,000
Schakowsky For Congress, Evanston, IL     $1,000
Schultz Debbie Wasserman, Weston, FL     $1,000
Searchlight Leadership Fund, Washington, DC     $1,000
Sensenbrenner Committee, Menomonee Falls, WI     $1,000
Simpson For Congress, Blackfoot, ID     $1,000
Sue Kelly For Congress, Scarsdale, NY     $1,000
Sue Myrick For Congress, Charlotte, NC     $1,000
Team Emerson, Cape Girardeau, MO     $1,000
TENN PAC, Alexandria, VA     $1,000
Texans For Henry Bonilla, San Antonio, TX     $1,000
Texans For Henry Bonilla, San Antonio, TX     $1,000
The Congressman Joe Barton Committee, Ennis, TX     $1,000
The Freedom Fund, Washington, DC     $1,000
The MikeR Fund, Arlington, VA     $1,000
Thelma Drake for Congress, Virginia Beach, VA     $1,000
Tiahrt For Congress, Wichita, KS      $1,000
Tiahrt For Congress, Wichita, KS     $1,000
Tom DeLay Congressional Committee, Stafford, TX     $1,000
Tom Feeney For Congress, Oviedo, FL     $1,000
Tom Feeney For Congress, Oviedo, FL     $1,000
Volunteers For Shimkus, Springfield, IL     $1,000
Walden For Congress, Hood River, OR     $1,000
Wally Herger For Congress Comm, Marysville, CA     $1,000
Weller for Congress, Washington, DC     $1,000
Weller for Congress, Washington, DC     $1,000
Westmoreland For Congress, Sharpsburg, GA     $1,000
Westmoreland For Congress, Sharpsburg, GA     $1,000
Charlie Crist Campaign Fund, Tallahassee, FL     $500
Friends Of Conrad Burns, Billings, MT     $500
Mccaul For Congress Inc, Austin, TX     $500

(Totals taken from Opensecrets.org and represent contributions up to January 31, 2006)

Biodynamicism: Rant Meets Reason

Yesterday's post on Biodynamicism, faith, gambling and viticultural techniques appeared to some (see comments) as a bit of a rant...perhaps even over the top. First of all I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, that anything that appears on FERMENTATION would be considered a rant. I much prefer it be considered "unhinged verbosity."

That said, There is a place where one can go to find a someone different, and perhaps more reasoned perspective on the state and nature of Biodynamic Viticulture.

Leave it to Fredric Koeppel at Koeppel On Wine to deliver not merely a fine commentary on Biodynamicism, but a series of reviews of wines produced with this.....approach.

Who Gives, Who Gets: Money, Politics & Wine

Over the past few months FERMENTATION has tried to cover a variety of political battes involving wine and wine distribution and sales in particular. We've been candid in our position that money usually sways the outcome of these battles. That is to say, campaign contributions tend to deliver not only access to office holders, but too often results in success in state houses across the country and in Washington.

With the 2006 campaign cycle roaring into high gear, we thought it time to take a closer look at money and politics and alcohol. This is the first of a series of posts concerning MONEY, POLITICS & WINE

We start with campaign contributions to candidates for federal office originating from alcohol companies. Below are two lists: The top 20 recipients of "alcohol dollars and the top 20 contributors to federal campaigns...

The figure represent amounts donated in 2005 up to the present time. The total amounts for this campaign cycle will not be totaled up and available until well after the election in November. This information was culled from the Open Secrets website.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

TOP 20 CANDIDATES RECEIVING CONTRIBUTIONS
FROM ALCOHOL RELATED COMPANIES (2005 - Present)

Rank, Candidate, Office, Amount
1 Thompson, Mike (D-CA) House $139,204
2 Talent, James M (R-MO) Senate $65,350
3 Allen, George (R-VA) Senate $36,400
4 Burns, Conrad (R-MT) Senate $31,699
5 Reynolds, Tom (R-NY) House $30,200
6 Kyl, Jon (R-AZ) Senate $30,099
7 Northup, Anne M (R-KY) House $29,700
8 McHenry, Patrick (R-NC) House $27,900
9 McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) Senate $27,100
10 Hatch, Orrin G (R-UT) Senate $26,000
10 Hastert, Dennis (R-IL) House $26,000
12 Santorum, Rick (R-PA) Senate $25,200
13 Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA) Senate $24,998
14 Nelson, Bill (D-FL) Senate $24,250
15 Gard, John (R-WI) House $22,652
16 Conrad, Kent (D-ND) Senate $22,575
17 Boehner, John (R-OH) House $22,500
18 DeLay, Tom (R-TX) House $22,000
19 Cantor, Eric (R-VA) House $20,100
20 Clinton, Hillary Rodham (D-NY) Senate $19,775
(Thomspson, number one on the list, represents the Napa and Sonma region. Jim Talent, number 2 on the list, hails from the home state of Anheuser-Busch)

TOP ALCOHOL-RELATED CONTRIBUTORS TO FEDERAL CAMPAIGNS (2005 - Present)

Rank, Contributor, Amount
1 National Beer Wholesalers Assn $1,491,250
2 Anheuser-Busch $448,868
3 Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America $291,500
4 Silver Eagle Distributors $77,584
5 Brown-Forman Corp $73,958
6 E&J Gallo Winery $71,501
7 Southern Wine & Spirits $54,900
8 Empire Distributors $45,500
9 Wine Institute $45,204
10 Reyes Holdings $43,250
11 Miller Brewing $42,000
12 United Liquors $40,905
13 Astrale E Terra Winery $39,400
14 Georgia Crown Distributing $37,500
15 Quintessa Winery $33,400
16 Constellation Brands $30,500
17 Abbe Ranch Vineyards $25,000
18 Molson Coors Brewing $22,799
19 Magnolia Marketing $21,700
20 Golden Eagle Distributors $19,350

Does Global Warming=Homegrown English Claret?

When considering the apparent rise in global temperatures, wine types tend to ask, what will be come of my Bordeaux or Napa Cab or German Riesling as the temperatures continue to rise? There is a worry that these wines, forced to be produced with grapes asked to thrive in warmer temperatures will just not be the same.

Decanter Magazine has an article concerning just his issue and how it was addressed at the recent World Conference on Global Warming and Wine held in Barcelona  on March 24-25. Here is an interesting conclusion from one of the presentations:

"Taking the Mean July Temperature of various regions he showed how their viticulture character would change if you add 2degreesC.

Santa Maria, with a MJT of 17.3C would become Napa, at 19.3, St Helena at 21.7C would become Stockton at 23.5C, Healdsburg would become Modesto, and Fresno, Bakersfield."

If you know anything about the California grape growing industry you know that the last thing you want is to grow just about any grapes meant for fine wine in the areas Modesto, Fresno or Bakersfield.

What intrigues me more, however, is not what will be come of the current top wine grape growing regions as the temperatures rise over the next 50 years, but rather which areas will be transformed into winegrowing meccas as a result of the temperature swing.

I wonder, will the rise in temperature finally give the English what they've always wanted, the perfect climate for producing claret on their own shores? Will German Pinot Noir break out of it's also ran status as these wines become richer and more endowed as a result of more heat? Will Oregon Pinot no longer be an "on the edge" sort of endeavor but rather a sure thing as in Russian River Valley?

The possibilities are endless.

In the end, if the warming trend continues, I suppose we will see our traditional growing regions slowly switch to more appropriate varieties for the hotter climate.

50wines/50states/50weeks

Nothing like a man on a mission!

Lenn of LennDevours Wine Blog has announced his mission of tasting and reviewing 50 wines, one from each of the 50 states, in 50 weeks.

It makes sense that Lenn would be the man to do this. His championing of NY wines, and his ability to stay on message at his blog makes him the rare wine blogger to focus on wines outside the major wine producing states of CA, WA and OR.

However, he does have a challenge. My guess is he'll have to have at least 40 or 45 of the wines shipped to him or he's going to have to go on a serious road trip.

What I'm looking most forward to his the review of wine from Alaska. I've never seen one or tasted one (how fascinating would it be to visit those vineyards and wineries). I've always wanted to try Sparkling Rhubarb wine.

Faith, Gambling and Technique in the Vineyard

The Associated Press' Michelle Locke has written a story about Biodynamic farming of wine grapes in the United States focusing on Benziger Winery in Sonoma Valley and Quivera in Dry Creek Valley.

It's very much like other Biodynamic-centered articles in which the personalities at the center of the story claim to have had great success with the system, yet prefer to either discount the somewhat loony alchemical aspects of the practice or speculate that these practices "must be doing something" in the vineyard.

You don't have to go back very far to see farmers applying mystical techniques to try to influence the creation of a better crop. They've used prayer, dances, and sacrifices in order to influence the outcome of their annual plantings. Biodynamics seems just about the same thing.

You have to remember, farmers are one part technicians, one part faithful and one part gamblers. The technicians in them employ the techniques in the vineyard they know help produce a better crop such as, in the case of wine grapes, particular irrigation regimes, certain trellising systems and the use of various crop covers among other techniques.

The faithful part of the farmer hopes, prays, looks to the sky and assumes this year will be like last year. Sometimes they help their faith along by employing somewhat odd practices such as many of the Biodynamic techniques that, well, are a bit odd.

The gambler in them is demonstrated by basing their living on the odds that the weather will be like it usually is, though they know that any number of natural disasters could arrive, without much warning, to wipe out their crops: Torrential rain at harvest, massive frosts during bud break, intense and extended heat toward the end of the growing season. While these aren't "likely" to occur according to odds informed by past performance of Mother Nature, you can't rule them out.

It's not difficult to understand why some vintners would succumb to their faithful part and employ all the facets and practices of Biodynamic farming.

Wine & Hissy Fits

Yea...Michigan State officials are throwing a real hissy fit.

They are apparently upset with the costs they are obligated to pay the attorneys that beat them at the Supreme Court last year in the Granholm v. Heald wine decision.

Their tantrum boils down to this: They don't like what it cost their opponents to beat them. Among their claims is that it was unnecessary to bring in Kathleen Sullivan, Dean of Stanford law School, to write the "merits brief" as well as to argue the case in front of the court.

"The hiring of Kathleen Sullivan to write the merits brief in the Supreme Court and to conduct oral argument was the result of political correctness, not legal necessity," Michigan officials claimed in a legal brief filed last week."

Or, it could have been that wineries defending their right to sell wine just wanted to have the best representation they could get in the biggest case they'd ever see.

Basically, they don't want to pay the legal fees. I suspect also that Michigan residents are a bit peeved that their government not only lost in their bid to prevent them from obtaining the products they want to buy, but that they now also cost the tax payers a decent amount of cash.

Michigan's officials are simply throwing a tantrum...I hate tantrums..

Florida's "Twilight Zone" Wine Laws.

I've recently come across one of the most bizarre suggestions yet as relates to the issue of shipping wine directly to consumers.

In Florida, the state Senate is looking to formalize their decision to allow direct shipping of wine to its residents. As expected wine wholesalers and their friends in the Senate are attempting to put restrictions on the legislation that amount to a "Wholesaler Protection Act." The current idea is to limit the wineries that can ship to residents to only those that make less than 250,000 gallons of wine per year, or about 100,000 cases of wine annually.

Wholesalers across the country are trying to put these kind of limits on direct shipping legislation. Why? Because they can? The presumption is that the wholesalers feel by keeping large production wineries out of the direct shipping market they will protect their cash flow, something that comes primarily from their distribution contracts with larger wineries.

But then you've got Florida State Senator Steve Geller, who is backing restrictions on direct shipping by large wineries. What is his rationale? Wait for it:

"No one is going to be buying bottles of $100 wine through the mail but they may be ordering a case of $8.99 bottles," he said.

If these State Senators only read wine blogs they'd realize that the chances of a minor buying wine over the Internet and having it delivered to their house is pretty small. But I don't think they even believe it, to be honest. It's just the most obvious argument they can make as they try to protect  their campaign contributors' businesses. They simply can't believe what they are saying.

The problem is that these kind of restrictions are most certainly going to be challenged in court, as they should be. So, they are already looking for a way to prevent larger wineries from shipping without undermining constitutional requirements that restrictions on alcohol sales be applied fairly. Guess what they came up with?

"One solution would be to attach the 250,000-gallon limit to specific labels, not a manufacturer. So a Kendall-Jackson "boutique" variety not readily available in Florida could still be sold.

   "That seems to be a logical conclusion," said Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville."

What's not being said here is that the Kendall Jackson label would be prevented from direct shipping. One presumes the Phelps Insignia would be prevented. One also presumes that While Mondavi wines would be prevented from being shipped, the Opus One wine would be OK to ship.

This is nothing more than a Twilight Zone proposal that would be stopped in its tracks before you couls say "legal challenge".

Who wants to start a pool on how long it would take Mr. Jess Jackson to dispatch lawyers to Florida if the legislature there prevented the Kendall Jackson label from being distributed direct to consumers while it was OK for his "Matanzas Creek" label to be distributed? I'm taking the 10 minute and 15 minute squares.

Reading (wine blogs) Is Fundamental

Some Editorial Updates For Your Reading Pleasure:

1. Wine Sediments, the new wine blog on the WellFed Network is humming along. My most recent post, "What Next? Republican Wine"? is currently at the top of the list.

2. Taj at Cork & Demon continues her Western Wine Tour, a tour de force wine road trip that currently puts her in the Central Coast area of California. Her tour and chronicle of her adventures is well worth a read.

3. FERMENTATION is now listing events it wants to attend under the "GREAT EVENTS" headline over there in the left sidebar. If you've got an event you think I'd love to attend and that others need to know about, let me know. No promises. But let's here about it.

4. In my mind the best new wine blog of the year is clearly THE GOOD GRAPE. It is currently running the forth in a series on the Cluetrain philosophy that "Conversations Among Human Beings Sound Human" and how it relates to wine and how we talk about and sell and buy wine.

5. It's hard for me to express how proud I am of two Wark Communications clients that have taken up blogging in gusto and have both delivered outstanding posts. the REthink Wine Blog from Inertia Beverage Group is blogging the hell out of the direct sales issue with some great posts on how wineries can care better for their customers. Meanwhile, Annette Hoff over at the Cima Collina Winery Blog has some opinionated and insightful posts on what it's like to be at the helm of a start up winery.

Screw Caps Banned!

The cork manufacturers of the world are pretty smart, visionary folk. Early on, when the first alternative closures for wine hit the market in  response to too many wines gone bad due to tainted corks, cork manufacturers when on a promotional crusade to keep corks relevant. I learned today of what must be their greatest coup yet in their battled to maintain their closure market dominance:

They've simply found a way to keep the market all to themselves.

A press release hit the wires today noting that Spain has outlawed the use of anything but cork in wines made from 11 different wine region, including Priorat. In order for the wines from these regions to earn DO status, the equivalent of America's AVA, they must close their still and sparkling wines with cork. It's essentially a move to ban screwcaps.

"This Spanish law is yet another endorsement for the cork closure," says Elisa Pedro, Director of Communication & International Relations for APCOR, the consortium of Portuguese cork producers. "Spanish law makers and wine producers are responding to what wine drinkers the world over have been telling us for a long time -- cork is a sign of quality for wine."

So how do you save the market for cork? You dismantle the market all together. I'm pretty sure Franco would have appreciated this law. Probably Mussolini too.

Let's be clear about something here: There is no relationship between the use of cork to close a wine and the quality of the wine under the cork. Corks do not make wine better or of higher quality. In fact, cork is among the only closures for wine that is likely to make the wine worse in some cases as a result of contaminated  corks infecting the wine with TCA, a compound that offers wine that unique wet cardboard aroma. Yummmmmmmmmm..

What I don't know is exactly how this kind of idiotic, anti-free market law got past. It might have something to do with the fact that 23% of the world's cork forests are in Spain that account for 32% of the worlds production.

The press release, sent out by the Portuguese Cork Industry association (APCOR), does not mention this fact. Rather, it implies that the decision to ban all other closures  besides cork in 11 Spanish wine regions is one that was taken to insure quality...This, of course, makes no sense.

A recent survey of members of the wine trade in the United States, including sommeliers, showed that half of them preferred closures other than cork when enjoying wine IN THEIR OWN HOME. These are people who are IN TO WINE, who obsess about wine, who see out the highest quality wines, who are most concerned with the drinking the best.

It's true that the average wine drinker still believes the best wines have cork in them.  And this is largely true. However, the changeover to screwcap closures as well as other alternatives to cork continue to rise and gain acceptance. Screwcap, non-cork closures continue to become a cheaper alternative for wineries than cork and they have the added benefit of not tainting the wine. Current estimates of the percentage of wine killed by cork taint ranges from 3% to 10%.

I imagine that in the near future the wineries in these 11 regions of Spain will come to regret and dislike this new industry protection law as they see the rest of the world adopt alternative closures that keep their wines safe. This in turn will be bad for the Spanish cork producers who will continue to see their markets shrink and the prices they can command for cork diminish.

I wonder what kind of law they'll come up with then?

The Aesthetic Value of Vineyard Restrictions

Where ever there are hills and vines I think we can expect a movement to restrict exactly how vineyards are planted. We are seeing this scenario play out once again, this time in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco and one of the most impressive growing regions in the state.

Napa Valley and Sonoma County has already dealt with the issue of where and how vines can be planted on hillsides. The movement to preserve the hillsides as well as prevent erosion that might damage streams and creeks is one you really must respect.

MOUNTAINS & HILLSIDES DEFINE COMMUNITIES
One can make a very strong argument that, from a visual perspective, hillsides are far more important to protect than flat lands because they are so dramatically on display and often times are the most prominent geographic feature of a region or  community. No matter where you are in Napa Valley, for example, you are surrounded by or have a perfect vista of the hills and mountains. And while we all seem to appreciate the green and symmetrical beauty of a well-planted vineyard, they can appear as great scabs on a hillside. Add to this the fact that vintners, given the opportunity, would probably pull down every last tree and shrub on a hillside simply because the grapes that are grown here are often very compelling and produce terrific wines.

In the Santa Cruz region it seems they are primarily making an argument that too many vineyards will cause excessive erosion. This may or may not be true. Nevertheless, it seems that they ought to be making an aesthetic argument too. You can guarantee the people of this region will enact some sort of ordinance restricting particular types of hillside planting.

What, Me Worry About the Wine Spectator?

Saturday was an interesting and educational day for me. I was reminded that most people think that a wine publicist's job is to track the every day movements of the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker.

Saturday I lectured at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa at their "Business of Wine" course. The class is headed up by Judd Wallenbrock of Humanitas Winery who has probably worked in every facet of the wine business.

My task was to explain just what goes on in the mind of a wine publicist and explain how public relations supports sales. It's true that part of our job is to make sure that wine writers and wine publications receive samples of our clients' or employer's wine. But frankly, that's pretty darn easy to do and takes up about 5% of our time. Anyone could do it. Yet, there is this perception that PR in the wine business means getting the Spectator or Robert Parker to review your wine and review it well.

The students I lectured in front of were a pretty bright lot, a combination of retailers, restaurant workers, winery staff and others looking to better their background in the wine business. Yet more than half of their questions were about dealing with Parker and the Spectator. This meshes with the calls I get from wineries who have decided they need PR help. At least half the calls we get at Wark Communications result from the winery owner wanting help to get better reviews, or at least more frequent reviews.

Can you imagine the power someone would wield if they had a 1-2-3 formula for assuring wines are reviewed well by Parker or the Spectator? I can. But I don't think about it much. The best a publicist can do is advise their clients when to send the wine, how to send the wine sample and whether or not it makes sense to send off a wine sample.

Ninety five percent of the wine publicist's time is spent crafting and delivering their client's "story" to a variety of different constituencies in a variety of creative ways. We are on the phone often. We do a lot of writing. We do a lot of planning. And we do a lot of strategizing. What we don't do a lot of is worrying about what Robert Parker and the Wine Spectator have to say about our clients' wines.

A Wine Blogosphere Update: WOW

In November of last year I had the gumption to make a series of predictions considering the Wine Blogging world. Among them was this one:

3. The number of wine blogs will double In November 2004, 26 blogs were listed on Wine Blog Watch. In July of this year 82 blogs were listed. Today there are 120 listed. Lots of people will take up wine blogging in 2006. The question of interest though is who and why?

Well, today Wine Blog Watch is tracking 214 wine blogs. Not a very good prediction, was it.

In fact, in only four months the world of wine blogs has nearly doubled. Since I launched FERMENTATION in November 2004 the number of wine blogs has increased over 800 Percent.

What the hell is going on?

Clearly we are looking at a technology that has a tremendous ability to empower the individual. If you are just a blog reader, and not a blog author reading this, you must have some inkling of just how easy it is to launch and maintain a blog. If you are an author...you are well aware of this.

Consider the change. I was watching C-SPAN this morning and there was a journalist recounting her time in Vietnam during the war. She wrote for magazines. She explained that to file her story she got out an envelope, dropped in a typewritten manuscript, put a stamp on it and sent it off to America. Today, she would log on to the net, write the story, hit a button and it is likely published instantly.

Yea...things have changed.

MAINSTREAMERS COMING ON BOARD
The growth in wine blogging and wine blog readership has resulted in a number of interesting developments. First, we now have a number of professional writers or journalists who have taken up blogging: Jon Bonne of MSNBC, Mark Fisher of the Dayton Daily News, Eric Asimov of the New York Times and Alice Feiring of Time Magazine. I'm sure I'm missing a couple too. This is significant. Both the NY Times and Dayton Daily News sell ad space on their blogs, meaning they believe in its power to attract an audience. It's a very confirmational development.

AGGREGATORS GET IN THE GAME
Second, we see a number of wine blog aggregators out there now where you can go and read in one place the entries from a number of different bloggers. Among them are EwineCentral, WineLust, and AlaWine.com. Again, this is another strong indication that a perception exists that wine blogs are adding considerable value to the world of wine information.

ADVERTISING: IT'S A BUSINESS
Third, it's not just the mainstream media blogs that have attracted advertising. There are not a number of wine blogs (including this one) that are accepting advertising and getting it. And we are not talking about Google Ads here. Also, there is now a "Winebloggers Network" at BlogAds where you can by an ad across a range of different wine blogs in one easy swoop. Another indication that we are talking not merely about a bunch of geeks spewing wine ratings, but about a full fledged medium that works.

I'm going to be teaching a class tomorrow at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa on Winery Public Relations. I'm going to be asked a series of questions about wine blogs. At this point I honestly don't know what I'm going to say when I'm asked, "What's the future of Wine Blogs from a publicist's perspective?" I just don't know where this is leading either for the bloggers (of which I'm one), for advertisers (of which I'm one) and for wineries and their marketing types (of which I'm one).

I do know this, the growth in wine blogs is not close to peaking. Not nearly. There will likely be 300 tracked at WineBlogWatch by next year. And every time a NY Times, MSNBC or Dayton Daily News jumps into the game, it will result in more mainstream media and more individuals being inspired to do the same.

MY ADVICE
So here's my advice to an entrepreneur out there. Don't just build a blog. Build a KILLER wine blog aggregation site where readers can go and look over the very best of the wine blogs. Make it timely. Apply an editors eye to the stories you allow to be re-posted. Set up your own blog on the site. Promote the hell out of it. Become the champion of wine blog-produced information. And SELL ADVERTISING!!

Terroir Discovery Comes To Paso Robles

Six or seven years ago Wark Communications was retained to do some PR work for the Paso Robles Vintners and Growers Association. I recall my trip down to the region to take it all in and get the lay of the land. The first time visitor is struck first by the dynamic differences between west and east Paso Robles: East is flatlands, West is all hills. It was like two different regions under one name.

Mary Baker of Dover Canyon Winery in Paso Robles and a fine blogger, has been brought on by Appellation America to write about the region as well as begin the "Discovery Panel" process that is hoped to bring clarity and reason to the notion of "terroir" and, in this specific case, to Paso Robles terroir. This is, by the way, the second blogger to be brought on board by Appellation America to help move their complicated and meaningful process forward. Earlier this month Lenn of LennDevours was announced as the New York correspondent for Appellation America.

Mary has posted her first article on Paso Robles terroir at Appellation America. It's worth your time to read and contemplate.

The Theater of the Bland

I'm a father. So, believe me when I tell you that I really do have concern for the welfare of my kids, and with the ability for all kids  to interact with our culture and society safely. However, I can't help but think that our nation's obsession with "demon rum" too often goes over the line and just looks dumb.

In Boise, Idaho there is a movie theater that is very unique. For a long time it has offered it's patrons the opportunity to buy a beer or glass of wine to sip while watching aliens devour humans or cowboys frolicking on a mountain. Now how cool is this?

I admit to being a popcorn and Pepsi aficionado when it comes to sitting in a theater. But, wouldn't it be nice to slurp a beer while watching Johnny Depp do his impression of a swishy Keith Richards in "Pirates" or take in one of Scorcese's masterpieces of mob noir?

The Idaho legislature thinks this is just do dangerous to the kids to continue to allow.

The good folk who legislate on behalf of the good folk of Idaho voted down legislation that would have formalized what has been going on at FLICKS theater for some time. The concern of course was that kids might be having at it in some dark corner:

"It's not an issue of serving the beer or wine the problem is minors being in the same area where the alcohol is consumed. There's specific restrictions on minors being at those," Lt. Bob Clements said. He's with the Idaho State Police Alcohol Beverage Control and worries a minor could be drinking in a dark theater."

Unless legislation is passed, this most civilized theater in the West will be forced to only accommodate people like me: Pepsi and popcorners. It seems like such a loss when a unique approach like this is squashed in order to maintain a 100% liability free atmosphere where it concerns alcohol.

The idea that 18 year olds could not buy a beer in most states always struck me as plain dumb, considering they could also vote and lose a limb or two while fight for their country. But, I got used to this sort of thing as well as other elements of our Nanny Society. I'm just wondering if it's in our society's best interest to try to legislate away all risk in the pursuit of a Society of the Bland....I guess so, as long as it's "for the children".

Off My Butt..Into the Vineyard...Photos to prove it.

Wark Communications keeps me on my butt and with a phone to my ear a great deal of the time. Too much really. So, when I get the chance to get out I take it. Today was one of those days. I went over to Bucklin Winery's Old Hill Ranch to take photos of the newly prunned vineyard.

Strolling, looking for useful shots, taking in the scenery, talking with Will Bucklin.....all very inspiring.

From today's stroll in the Old Hill Ranch Vineyard in Glen Ellen in Sonoma Valley. First planted in 1852. 14 acres "field blend". 25+ different types of varieties in the vineyard:

Appellation Vs. Terroir

On occasion Roger Dial of Appellation America shoots off an e-mail to their mailing list. They are very often very interesting missives. Todays was particularly enlightening and held one particular statement of great importance and foresight.

In general, Roger is arguing that understanding what makes America's appellations, and the wines that come from them, unique is of critical importance to the American wine culture. But the very last paragraph of his communique reads like this:

The fact that so much terroir talk is bull, and so many appellations are just distribution-minded assemblages, only heightens the need for pushing the process of documenting terroir from the ground up, and doing radical surgery on appellations to give them ecological authenticity.   Then, and only then, will the North American wine industry be secure and the wine culture enriched.

YES!!  "Radical Surgery on Appellations"

If the American wine industry wants to truly place the notion of terroir next to the idea of well-defined appellations, then radical surgery of the appellatlons is needed. The notion that the Russian River Valley can possibly possess a single terroir that will deliver a similar character to any wine made from its grapes is just silly. Russian River Valley alone should be broken up into at least five different appellations just to begin to the region real terroir-based meaning.

Well said, Roger!!!

Below is the entire text of Roger Dial's email:

APPELLATIONS AND TERROIR
Not too long ago our Mendocino editor, Thom Elkjer, penned a rather assertive piece called "Terroir vs. Appellation"

in which he concluded that terroir is spin, whereas appellation is fact.  Of course, both concepts are mobilized to peddle wine, but the latter has accountability in regulatory law, whilst the former is subjective, at best, and ultimately meaningless, in Thom's view. 

Thom isn‚t the only one to lay the "meaningless" charge at the doorstep of the vocal terroirists.  As Roger Bohmrich MW says in an informative piece on the "terroir debate" in Wine Business Monthly

, when the definition of terroir goes much beyond nature (climate, exposure, etc) to encompass nurture (viticultural and vinicultural intervention), terroir becomes everything, and therefore nothing.

Bohmrich, in much the same voice as Appellation America's own Alan Goldfarb

, would have us assessing the nurture part of what makes the wine what it is in terms of specific sorts of human interventions, categorizing them as favorable, neutral, or suppressive to the expression of terroir in wine.  He offers us a "Terroir Wheel" as a canvas on which to focus the ongoing debate. It's a handy graphic, which I've already got pinned up over my computer.

Mirroring the terroir debate is the controversy about the concept of appellation. Thom Elkjer's defense of "appellation", notwithstanding, the chorus of antagonists —"appellations are created by marketing departments not nature"— is very persuasive.  Appellations are just spin! Terroir is just spin!  End of debate.  Well I hope not, because when we retire these debates, it WILL BE THE END of the North American wine culture.

We need to ask ourselves WHY it is that we need to identify terroir and delineate appellations in North America∑ admittedly we are late coming to the game that has been the foundation of the world wine culture for eons.  I would argue that this need (for terroir and appellations) borders on desperate, and, yes, marketing is central to that need.  But the marketing department doesn‚t have to be central to the process of identifying terroir and delineating appellations. 

Put simply, the compelling public-consumer interest in wine is in its diversity.  Terroir distinctions, based in ecological fact, and appellations delineated in respect of those ecological facts, are the mapping tools of diversity.  To be sure, well-defined appellations should also "map" diversity in nurturing elements that contribute to the taste-of-place. 

The fact that so much terroir talk is bull, and so many appellations are just distribution-minded assemblages, only heightens the need for pushing the process of documenting terroir from the ground up, and doing radical surgery on appellations to give them ecological authenticity.  Then, and only then, will the North American wine industry be secure and the wine culture enriched.

A, +15, **** = YUMMY WINE

I like to think of myself as a bit of a connoisseur of wine ratings and reviews. I've been observing them fairly closely now for almost two decades. And, I've been using them to help sell wine for clients.

So, I'm always interested when I see a new rating system come before me, particularly one that offers added context to the wine.

The Good Taste Report is a blog I came across recently. Its owner is out of Texas and tastes a good deal of wine. What's interesting about his rating system is the symbolism he used to convey a variety of information:

THE CHARACTER GRADE: A to F grade for the quality of the wine's character

MARKET VALUE GRADE: A number greater than or less than the price of the wine indicating what the wine is worth on a price/quality determination

THE STAR-BUY GRADE: 1 to 5 Stars Indicating how important it is to buy this wine

I'm particularly enamored with the "Market Value Grade". Other professional reviewers have attempted to indicate the value of a wine either by simply stating it is a "Best Buy" or "Good Value" or by applying a 100 point score to the wine's value. But this system gets nice and specific telling me that the wine in question is either $15 too expensive or $15 under-priced.

So, a wine rating from the Good Taste Report might look like this:

2003 FERMENTATION Pinot Noir
A, +20, *****
Meaning: A wine of awesome character priced $20 below its true market value that should be purchased at all costs.

Or

2003 FERMENTATION Cabernet Sauvignon
C, -10, ***
Meaning: This is over-priced, barely drinkable wine that should probably be ignored when spied on a store shelf unless there is nothing else on the shelf.

By the way, the Good Taste Report Blog is really quite good. Heavy on the ratings, as you might imagine, but filled with thoughtful commentary as well.

Screaming Eagle Cabernet OR The Island?

Yes, it's true. Napa Valley's Screaming Eagle winery has been sold. It is, perhaps the most iconic of California's Cult Wineries and likely the inspiration for a number of new Napa Winery owners who both wanted the kind of prestige that this operation brought its owner and who also eyed the kind of cash it generated.

Think about it: 500 cases of wine annually. $300 per bottle. That's $1.8 Million. That's some inspiration.

There was a time, however, when Screaming Eagle made lots of money not only for its owner, but for a huge number of people on its mailing list.

Back at the turn of the decade, Screaming Eagle was the most sought after wine made in America. If you were on the mailing list you could buy it for $75 to $100. However, if you wanted to purchase the wine and were not on the mailing list, that was a different story. The "aftermarket for Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon was running in the neighborhood of $300 to $400 per bottle.

So, imagine you are on the mailing list and you bought six bottles. You could put the wine down and look forward to popping the cork one day at a future anniversary or special event. Or, you could sell the wine immediately at auction and take a Caribbean vacation.

I've had the opportunity to taste Screaming Eagle on a number of occasions as well as several vintages. It's proto-typical modern California Cabernet. Dense, Rich, powerfully perfumed with moderate tannin and actually very drinkable when young. Yet, having experienced both the wine as well as a Caribbean vacation, I'd take the latter.

The fact that a number of people on the the Screaming Eagle mailing list had the same addresses (the Winebid.com or Christies' auction houses, wasn't lost on the owner. The only way to slow down the immediate resale of the wine was to raise the price. It was raised and the owner still sold every bottle.

Huge over at Zinquisition has a GREAT rundown of the dealings and speculation regarding the sale of this winery.

Is Wine Back as an Investment?

It has been a while since talk of wine as an investment has come up on my radar. In the late 1990s and early 00s, particularly during the Internet Bubble, there was a good deal of stirring among many about wine not only as an investment but as a way to make a quick buck.

Today I came across an article at the Wales.co.uk in which the fine art of wine collecting as an investment and the factors that go into this pursuit. A fine wine retailer from Cardiff is quoted at length and offers some pretty interesting perspective on using wine as an investment.

Among other things, he suggests sticking with Bordeaux and only in very good vintages as well as buying multiple cases if the budget allows. But what caught my eye was his analysis of how the market for collectible wines changed in the mid 1990s. The retailer explains that three things changed in particular:

1. People stopped buying Vintage Port as a mainstay in their wine investment portfolio
2. New wine regions emerged, enlarging the market of collectible wines
3. The emergence of the wine writer as purchasing adviser replaced the once reliable wine merchant.

All true.

But what was not mentioned was the new reality of arbitraging with wine: no one has more information today than anyone else. This is the key to making a great investment: having more information than the person on the other side of the transaction.

I was speaking with Oren Michels, a pretty brilliant guy, not too long ago. Both of us were at Winebid.com in its early days, me in marketing and Oren as President. We were discussing the current condition of Winebid.com, wine auction houses in general, and the differences that have emerged in just a few short years to that have made it more difficult to really make a killing on wine fast.

"Everyone has the same information about prices now," Oren noted. "You just go to winesearcher.com and you can easily find the lowest price on nearly any given wine. It makes it near impossible to flip a wine for significantly more money when everyone has the same information."

He's right. Back in the day, not even the wineries were aware of what their wines were getting on the open market. One could purchase some Napa Cabs for $75 and sell them the next day for $300 to those who were not lucky enough to be on the wineries mailing list. Since then many wineries have caught on and raised their prices. The same was the case with Australian wines before they were discovered by Robert Parker. At the time no one knew where to get there hands on these wines so they went to Winebid.com or other auction houses and paid a real premium.

Today, the game is different if you want to try to buy and quickly resell a wine at a real profit. It's about speculating on what scores Parker will give newly released wines. It's also about looking for those new, undiscovered wineries that just might make into the "cult" realm and having your large allocation before they are discovered or given top scores.

What can't be counted on today is having certain knowledge about the secondary market that others do not have. It's just too easy to know what a wine is worth given the access the Internet provides to information of this sort.

And so, we have something very akin to the securities industry where everyone is supposed to have the same information. This is probably a good thing.

Michels wasn't so sure if this sort of market is a good thing for auction houses like Winebid.com. I'm a big believer in the on-line auction market for luxury goods, particularly goods that are in small supply. They remain an active market place for those who simply want to acquire these wines, rather than buy and sell them quickly at a profit.

The other interesting thing is the fact that we see a story on wine as an investment. Will we see others? I suspect so. This is a comment itself about the general trend of our economy.

Roadkill Red Wine

Maybe it's my natural aversion to things "cute", but it does appear we have a candidate for the most overused term in wine for 2006: "Critter Wine".

Are we tired of this yet? Not the "critter wines",