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July 2 2009
Wine wisdom earned is wine knowledge learned.
One of the most valuable aspects of being a wine lover is the lessons wine imparts, mostly with subtlety, sometimes with blunt force, always valuable – a Zen master or Buddhist monk-like giver of insight into the world around us.
Being a lifelong learner, something my mother imparted upon me, I don’t ever consider myself a finished product – what’s next is always going to be even better than what just passed. Are we ever done? Perhaps, we’re done only if you’re running a sprint through life and not a marathon, a draining choice that presents short-term gratification, but long-term agony. Related to wine, the answer is a definitive “no.” There is always something new to learn, a region yet to discover, a varietal still to try, an interaction that leads to inspiration …
Here are just a couple of things that wine has taught me.
Beginning is Easy, Continuing is Hard
Saying you’re a wine fan or enthusiast is easy, real easy. A couple of bottles in a countertop bottle rack, correctly pronouncing Viognier and you’re pretty much down the path, never having to explore much deeper than the supermarket wine aisle, which a good many people don’t. That’s okay, certainly, but it doesn’t come close to opening up the lifetime of enjoyment that wine can bring – the most notable, as mentioned, is the contribution to lifelong learning because wine is such an inexhaustible subject. My grandmother will be 101 years old in November with her good health and mental acuity intact – should I live 64 more years I know I will never conquer wine, and I like that.
The other key aspect is the appreciation of the flavor components in a wine – identifying “mushroom” versus “forest floor” may be tiresome for some wine fans, hard work, a commitment to understanding something that is of relatively little consequence in the grand scheme of things, but it’s really at the core of appreciation, and it takes continuing effort.
Likewise, in my opinion, passive wine fandom, while giving of enjoyment, doesn’t give the passive participant enough context to appreciate the alchemy that can only occur when good food, good friends and a perfect bottle co-mingle to capture that picture perfect mental snapshot of time and place.
Without an understanding of the wine in the glass at sunset, at that beach, with those laughs, and the food marks a mental vivid snapshot, surely, but it will never quite transcend to a moment in time that you spend the rest of your life trying to recapture.
Wine Wisdom: Wine has taught me persistence, to ask the additional question, to be adventurous in spirit, to keep an open mind and to continue on … to learn perpetually. The gift it gives for those who pursue its delights are returned to the recipient 100-fold.
Everything is Funny, as Long as it happens to Somebody Else
Wine is wrought with unspoken protocol that, let’s be frank, isn’t native to a lot of people.
I’ve seen firsthand a friend who bought a $150 worth of wine as a gift, didn’t realize its perishable nature, and let it simmer in a hot car on a 95 degree summer afternoon. The corks pushed. An analogized lesson from the wine retailer on whether or not you would keep a gallon of milk in a closed, non-air conditioned car for five hours and $300 worth of total wine purchased, it’s a good laugh ipso facto.
I’ve also been witness to a tasting room crowd where a very loud guy went on and on about how good the “Mer-Lot” was, pronouncing it with a hard “t.”
And, I’ve been at a holiday party where the hostess prepared a glass of red wine for a guest, in an appropriate glass, on the rocks with ice.
Wine Wisdom: Wine has taught me that for all of its seriousness, enjoying the light and absurd moments can be fun, and bring welcome perspective to laughing at ourselves, not always an easy task – a task made easier and given as perspective especially if we’re enjoying a harmless and discrete chuckle at the expense of someone else.
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
We’re truly living in a golden age of wine. Aside from a wine that may be a bit “hot” or have externally caused issues from a bad cork, etc. how often is a bottle of wine truly, technically undrinkable? In the highest probability circumstance, maybe 1 bottle in a 100? I like those odds.
And, in addition, I may never have a DRC, a Chateau d’Yquem, or a 1st Growth ’82 Bordeaux with regularity, but in the grand scheme of things, I will have tried dozens, perhaps, 100s of bottles that were sublime at the moment, and especially in my mind’s eye.
Wine Wisdom: Wine has taught me to appreciate what I have, my experiences earned, and to not regret the things I do not have.
Overall, there are hundreds of lessons that wine teaches you, but in this day and age, with the crush of information, the news that is one button push away from invading our thoughts and anxieties, realizing that wine helps you be a lifelong learner, to be lighthearted while appreciating and savoring the small blessings in our life seems like a powerful antidote to our times.
Postscript
This blog was inspired in part by a recent post at Under the Grape Tree where writer Kevin muses on wine as a “life condiment” a turn of phrase I really like.
In addition, wine writer Elliott Essman is completing a wine book called, Using Wine to Make Sense of the World. It will be published in the fall. You can join his Facebook fan page to keep up to date on the books progress.
What I Wrote About a Year Ago
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July 1 2009
Your Daily Laugh
If you’re not in the habit of reading Decanter.com news, you’re missing some of the best comedy in the world of wine, laugh track not included.
Literally, on a daily basis, it’s a treasure trove of folly.
Based on a sometimes arched eyebrow approach I take to a lot of wine issues, I looked up the definition of “curmudgeon” just to make sure that at my still spritely age of 36, I wasn’t turning into too much of a “crusty, ill-tempered man, usually old.” I feel safe in now saying that, no, I’m not a curmudgeon just a head-scratching observer of foolishness.
Take this Decanter report for example. The CEO of Vinexpo, Robert Beynat, in response to an inquiry about new media replacing trade shows, an industry that is being hammered in the global recession, said:
The Internet is not the right medium for the sale of wines and spirits, it is not a real alternative to traditional sales circuits and will never reach more than around 8% of the market.
Besides the absurdity of the 8% reference, a number seemingly pulled from thin air, it’s a very narrow view of the world and the future of technology. Though, being a Luddite and French isn’t a mutually exclusive proposition.
I’m reminded of Thomas J. Watson, the formative President of IBM during the first half of the 20th century, who is often credited for famously saying, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
Internet sales of wine may be an infinitesimally small percentage of overall wine sales now, but all bets are off for what happens in the future. Methinks blanket statements of fact based on misguided perspective are funny.
Put another way, with the completely life-changing effects of the Internet and mobile that has occurred since 1995, should anybody really be making such foolish, “head in the ground” declarations? Hell, is anybody really certain what’s going to happen three years from now, let alone 10 or 20?
In more humorous Decanter.com reporting, pundits at Vinexpo called France and Bordeaux “dysfunctional.” This, of course, is no revelation and seems as obvious to me as saying “rain is wet.”
Welcome to the Party
Elsewhere in “news of the weird,” the National Consumers League (NCL) is getting on a bandwagon with a lot of other people who are singing the same tune about preservation of place in wine labeling, while banning misleading identifiers.
Now, mind you, I’m not dismissing the need for “truth in labeling.” In fact, I advocate for it, but what I am poking a little bit is the notion of outsiders getting in on the action without understanding the issues. It reminds me of Jesse Jackson or the Rev. Al Sharpton both of whom are notorious for getting in front of any cause as long as there is a camera crew present.
The NCL’s letter to the Department of the Treasury and Timothy Geithner in December originally took the tact of advocating for labeling information on alcoholic beverages related to nutrition and caloric information. Now, their press release from June 29th indicates a different focus on labeling information based on origin of source.
It’s just not politicians that move with the wind, it’s advocacy groups, too.
The National Consumers League even cites Champagne as an example – a word that has largely become extinct for makers of U.S. sparkling wine. I’m surprised they didn’t reference Port, too – another product descriptor that has largely been banished to its rightful home in Portugal.
The National Consumer League notes in a press release:
NCL’s comments reflect growing consumer support for more accurate wine labels. A recent national survey of U.S. wine consumers found that 79 percent agree consumers deserve protection from deceptive claims on food and beverage labels, and 63 percent support a law prohibiting such misleading wine labels.
You can almost imagine the survey question that led to this survey result, “Do you agree that you should know where your food and drink comes from and you should be protected from acts of deception?”
Um, is there more than one answer to that?
Good for the National Consumer League for advocating the important work of indicating that detassling corn for teenagers can be dangerous work, but they need to sharpen their pencil and stick to a position if they’re to lobby Washington effectively around wine issues and if they are really hardy souls they should wade into the minutia of AVA’s as the real source of contention. I doubt they have the fortitude for that level of self-interested public interest work.
Or, alternatively, they can just advocate for the use of an electronic nose, as reported from London, a device that:
Researchers analyzed the compounds in vaporised samples of wine to produce detailed chemical signatures that can be matched against a database of characteristics to identify a wine’s source. They did so by using a kind of electronic nose, known as a mass spectrometer, reports The Telegraph.
From the Office of the Obvious
I tend to revisit several topics with regularity – traditional wine media for missing most of the audience for wine enthusiasts, lemming-like groupthink amongst wine lovers and academia for lumpy bits of research that are in the moment of the cultural zeitgeist, but hardly newsworthy or groundbreaking.
Take, for example, an article yesterday from Wine Business Monthly.
A professor at Sonoma State University indicates from a survey sample size of just forty Millennial’s, who were likely not randomly selected:
In conclusion, based on this short SSU survey of Millennial wine marketing preferences and the statistics highlighting how Millennials have embraced technology, there appear to be new opportunities for wineries to expand their online marketing, as well as to continue to reach out to Millennials in face to face settings at events and other tasting venues. Of key importance, is maintaining an authentic and honest brand message which highlights how your winery and wine is different from others.
Now, take the three major components of this summary:
1) Millenials embrace technology
2) There are new marketing opportunities for wineries
3) Brands must be authentic and honest
Anything new here unless you’re Rip VanWinkle awaking from a five year slumber?
And, in other breathtaking wine consumer research, it’s reported that woman prefer wine to beer … which is actually funny for its like obviousness, but that was put on the wire in a press release, as well.
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June 29 2009
It’s too bad about a certain movie that had a certain impact on a certain varietal that helped ignite the wine industry (and the Central Coast) to its current heights in the wine consumer renaissance.
Unfortunately, It seems almost cliché to make a reference to said movie for fear of being labeled as “That Guy”— the one that drops cultural references to movies that stopped being cultural touchstones four years ago. Doing so would be an indignity in the same realm of egregious faux pas as wearing all white sneakers and pulling out a travel map on the corner of 54th and Broadway when the world is right in front of you, with neatly marked street signs to boot, as multi-cultural, trend-forward, non white shoe-wearing “natives” jostle you out of the middle of the sidewalk.
That said, Sanford Winery is featured in a certain movie, it’s located equidistant between Lompoc and Buellton on a lonely, dusty stretch of pavement called Santa Rosa Road, and visiting Sanford is a nice companion to a dinner stop at a certain restaurant (that serves a tasty Santa Maria tri-tip) that figured as a minor player in this major movie.
Sanford is also a good introduction to what equity partners can do when they endeavor to raise the stakes—Sanford Pinot, in the past, has always being a nice, well-made wine, but it never quite transcended to the top of the vista in between the twin peaks of delicious and reliable. The Terlato Family have added much to quality in the bottle.
Vague introductions and sideways (ahem!) acknowledgements aside, the thing you should know is simple: Sanford Winery makes some killer Pinot and Chardonnay.
So good, in fact, they have now been inducted into my brand ambassador hall of fame alongside other favorites like A. Rafanelli and Dry Creek Vineyards.
To my palate, both the Pinot and the Chardonnay typify what is great about California wine —wines that are wrought with a deft touch and speak to a fruit-driven California sensibility that is unmistakable, while also being food-friendly.
The 2007 vintage is currently available; I would urge you to try both the Pinot and the Chard—K&L Wine Merchants has the Pinot and the Chard is in good distribution nationally found by searching Wine-Searcher.com
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June 28 2009
More doodlings on the back of a wine stained napkin ...
I don’t mean to pick on university professors or researchers, but I can’t help but notice that the preponderance of research that comes out, specifically wine-related research from universities, is usually pretty lame.
Yeah, I get the “publish or perish” notion, but is our academia sector now reduced to studying whether its more important for a winery to build a brand or to focus on high-quality? I suppose these two things can be mutually exclusive of each other, but on the branding front, didn’t Proctor & Gamble figure out this brand marketing thing 60 years ago?
The world is littered with “better” products that weren’t marketed well ... you have to be a savvy marketer to survive these days ... in wine or any consumer product category.
Excerpt from a Lubbock Online regarding a Texas Tech wine marketing study:
High brand awareness is more likely to lead to brand survival than high perception of wine quality, according to the study. It tracked the fates of 25 Texas wineries since 1991, when more than 900 Texas wine enthusiasts rated the quality and name recognition of the wineries’ products.
Researchers found an unmistakable trend: the more recognizable the brand, the better its rate of survival. They found no such link between quality ratings, so wine makers may be better off investing in marketing rather than expensive grapes, the study indicates.
With so many brands to consider, Texas consumers tend to put more weight in a wine’s cover than its content, the study also suggests.
“A lot of wineries put so much effort into improving the quality, but not as much attention is being paid to marketing. This study shows it needs to be done,” said its lead author, Natalia Kolyesnikova
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June 27 2009
In the realm of words that are in danger of becoming utterly meaningless, “value” is right up there next to “strategize” and “authentic.”
Every year it seems more and more words take on a subjugated role in our daily lexicon and in the process they get used with mixed meaning to the point where the word loses all relevance as an individual contributor in the English language.
That said, the word “value” in wine is on the cusp of becoming utterly meaningless.
While true, I do feel like I’m doing a Jerry Seinfeld stand-up routine, all rhetorical questions: What does “value” even mean?
And, whose “value” is it?
Is it intrinsic value?
Is it real value?
Is it perceived value?
And, by what criteria is this “value” conveyed?
What is the “value equation?”
No comedy routine, trying to make sense of this value equation is The Wine Blue Book.
In doing so, they use the notion of Quality-to-Price Ratio – a value indicator that is seldom seen outside the wine world – the notion of a baselined, good bottle of wine at a lower price than its peers.
Using Quality-to-Price Ratio (QPR) based on an aggregation of wine points ratings, The Wine Blue Book is essentially a peer review process based on price and based on major critic scores.
Thus, if a Napa Cab scores 95 points and costs $30, it would have an off the charts positive QPR as measured against other Napa Cabs that may score less and likely cost more—thus representing good value.
I wrote about The Wine Blue Book a little over two years ago when they had a name changeover in a branding exercise—you can read my previous post here.
With the current mania (née focus) on “value” this and “value” that in the wine world, I caught up with Neil to see how business is going.
In that conversation (excerpted), Neil raises several interesting points:
Good Grape: Do you have any thoughts on this “value” push in wine? Do you think that the term “value” is bastardized with no true meaning? What’s your definition of wine value?
Neil / The Wine Blue Book: Value isn’t just an inexpensive wine. Value is when the wine is the same or better quality and costs much less than average. The 2008 Chateau Pontet-Canet Bordeaux from Pauillac region costs $80 but it received an average score of 95 points. Well the average price for a 95 rated Bordeaux is $245, so $80 is 33% of that cost… a “value” in my book. You can buy a bottle of 2006 Chateau Margaux for $537 but it only received 94 points. I would rather pass on the 06 Margaux and buy a six pack of Pontet-Canet for $480.
For the numbers aspect of defining value, if the price of the wine is 25% below the average cost of a similar scoring wine then we call it a “value”. At 50% or below it is a “Great Value” and 75% or below it is an “Outstanding Value”. In the June 2009 issue we had five “Outstanding Value” wines, 91 “Great Values” and 230 “Value” wines out of the 1,197 wines that were included in the issue.
Good Grape: Have you seen an uptick in your business over the last few months with people wanting to be savvier with their wine spending dollars?
Neil / The Wine Blue Book: Yes, we have seen an uptick in new subscribers; I think the excessive spending mentality is frowned upon because of the economy. Spending money wisely is now “in fashion.”
Good Grape: Since you and I last talked, have you seen an increase in the use of points as a scoring mechanism?
Neil / The Wine Blue Book: Yes. Some folks continue to dismiss the 100 point system but they choose a 10 point system and then score wines 8.9 or 9.6 which just translates to an 89 and 96. The 20 point system is the same but just 20% of the 100 points.
The folks who dismiss the system advocate “trust your retailer” but since a retailer’s income is dependent on the wine the consumer purchases, I would rather trust the scores the critics provide since their income isn’t dependent on the consumers purchase.
Good Grape: Do you have any growth plans for the business that you can share?
Neil / The Wine Blue Book: Based on our subscriber survey and non-renewal survey we conducted earlier this year, we confirmed some of our current policies:
- 86% want us to continue with our policy of only listing wines that have been scored by two or more sources.
- 71% indicate the price we show is “accurate”.
We are working on adding another varietal within the next two months to bring the total to 19 varietals tracked.
We now include Outstanding and Great Value wines, by varietal, from the past 12 months, in each issue. This allows subscribers to walk into a wine shop with a list of great values by varietal.
Good Grape: Thanks, Neil
No doubt, the notion of value and all of its subjective meaning creates a flashpoint in the wine world, particularly when combined with the equally contentious use of wine scores.
However, points aren’t going away, critics aren’t leaving the wine scene and a truly valuable aggregator of these scores provides a meaningful service to those that want to spend their wine money in a way that is more reliable and less crap shoot.
For $25 bucks a year and a QPR rating on thousands of wines, it seems to me that Neil and The Wine Blue Book are providing consumers a tremendous service and, yes, value.
Photo credit: B2B Knowledge Sharing
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