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August 24 2010

New, Notes and Dusty Bottle Items – The Best of What’s Around Edition

Odds and ends from a life lived through the prism of the wine glass …

Mainstream Wine Media

If you’re not already a subscriber to Wine & Spirits magazine, do yourself a favor and at least head to your local bookstore and pick up the current issue.  Focused on the issue of alcohol in wine, it is an incredible read from cover to cover – literally.  Tyler Colman from Dr. Vino leads off with a piece on the TTB, taxation and alcohol levels that is highlighted by a table that lists deviations in wines from their stated label alcohol and third-party testing (also referenced on his site).  The last piece in the magazine is a fascinating editorial from Frog’s Leap owner John Williams on the cause of high alcohol in Napa Valley wine.  Williams’ opinion may surprise even the most knowledgeable of wine enthusiasts.  I won’t play spoiler, but it doesn’t have anything to do with global warming. 

The entire issue is really well thought out and an example of excellence in wine journalism; it is the sort of deep dive coverage of an issue that is being lost in the bytes online.  Kudos to Josh Greene and team at W&S.

Speaking of wine magazines on the newsstand.  The current issue of Wine Enthusiast has a two-page spread advertisement from the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office.

On the surface, it’s two pages that most readers quickly flipped through.

However, on closer inspection, it speaks to a seismic change in potential focus that will take place over the coming decade for the U.S. wine industry.

The summary copy to the word intensive two-page ad says:

“An overnight boom in wine trade occurred in February 2008, when Hong Kong eliminated the wine duties.  Merchants are seizing the opportunity to increase shipments and establish a greater presence in Hong Kong.  Companies from various sectors of the wine industry are seeking to uncork the huge potential market in Asia and particularly mainland China – a region on the verge of becoming the driver of global wine sales in the next decade and beyond.”

Whoa.  For reinforcement it said, “…The driver of global wine sales in the next decade and beyond.”

That’s enough to pique somebody’s curiosity.

Now, to be fair, the opportunity in China isn’t new with this ad.  W. Blake Gray had a nice piece on it yesterday, Robert Parker is heavily engaged in Asia and there’s a general awareness that the international opportunity in Asia is on a serious upswing.  However,  I’m always interested in the things that have public awareness, but no actual supporting knowledge – things like healthcare bills, NAFTA and other large scale initiatives that provide vacuum-oriented conversational fodder.

The “in a vacuum” conversation goes something like:

Bob:  “I hear the Chinese are really getting into wine.” 

John: “Yeah, I heard that, too.” 

Bob:  “Hey, when is your fantasy football draft.”

Practically speaking, nobody really knows much except that something is happening.

And, happening it is.  In addition to the lift on duties (taxes), Hong Kong and the U.S. signed a “Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation in Wine-related Businesses (MOU)” in May of this year.  And, Washington state and Oregon signed a similar deal with Hong Kong, as well.

Quoting Rita Lau, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development,  “Today, our relationship with the U.S. takes another major step forward. Riding on this MOU, we will strengthen our joint efforts on promoting wine-related trading, tourism, investment and education.

“The MOU also covers a number of special areas. These include promoting wine alongside regional and local cuisine, facilitating the organization of wine auctions in Hong Kong for U.S. wines, and encouraging the provision of quality wine storage facilities in Hong Kong,”

It’s anybody’s guess how China will impact the domestic wine business, but we know that the existing auction market and Bordeaux futures are largely being driven by the Chinese. 

According to reports, US wine exports to Hong Kong totaled $49 million in 2009-2010.  And, it’s been said that the U.S. wants to be the number one exporter of wine to Hong Kong and mainland China.  If that revenue number increases by 5X in the next ten years will that have an impact in focus from our wineries and the U.S. customers they serve? 

If for nothing else other than edification purposes, I would encourage all wine enthusiasts to dig into this a little deeper and develop an understanding early in the process.

Google:  “Hong Kong U.S. Wine MOU” and you’ll find plenty to research.

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July 23 2010

News, Notes and Dusty Bottle Items – Reconciliation Edition

Odds and ends from a life lived through the prism of a wine glass …

Managing “The Conversation”

I have an appreciation for couples who share their wine enthusiasm.  My wife Lindsay enjoys wine, but is far removed from having enough interest to be considered a wine enthusiast.  My interest in wine is, largely, an individual pursuit. 

Because of the gulf that can be created by passionate interests that aren’t shared in a relationship, there are situations that need occasional massaging.  The act of buying wine when you have a basement full of wine is one situation that requires careful explanation.  Spending a significant amount of time writing about wine, sometimes in lieu of time spent together, is another landmine that requires careful and persistent navigation.

Now, I’d be lying if said there hasn’t been a conversation in which my perspective was different than Lindsay’s perspective about how I prioritized my free time around the good grape. 

In her view, there’s a sense of, “Why do you spend so much time doing something for strangers, when you could be doing something with your wife.”

It’s a rational argument, unless you’re consumed with the victory of creating something from nothing, a blank page that is soon filled with 800 words that mean something. Men are from Mars and Woman are from Venus was written for a reason.

However, recent research distills the notion of conflict in a relationship into as tidy of a bundle as possible.

Dr. Keith Sanford, a professor at Baylor University conducted a research study, created a conflict assessment and determined that there are two primary issues when there is a disagreement in a relationship.  According to Sanford, it all boils down to a “Perceived threat” – that one’s partner is being hostile, critical, blaming or controlling.  And, “Perceived neglect” which is a perception that one’s partner is failing to make a desired contribution, commitment or investment in the relationship.

Within the realm of wine, wine writing and time spent, the biggest contributor to relationship strife has to be “Perceived threat” – as in, spending too much time with mistress wine.

Something tells me that armed with this knowledge I’m going to be more diligent going forward about taking the dog for a walk together and making sure the trash is never so full that you have to do the double arm compactor.

Another Noun to Lose its Meaning

The word “transparency” is one of those words that has transcended meaning and moved into nothingness cliché.  Another word quickly traversing the same path is, “artisanal.”

A recent, lengthy piece in Details magazine discusses the cultural phenomena of “artisanal” products.

While overall, the piece is mostly a frothy first-person narrative absent much in the form of a takeaway, there was one excerpt that jumped out at me.  Quoting the article:

”… We’re all agents of the artisanal movement now—call us authentivores, hungry for backstory, intrigued by provenance, hooked on the high of ever more specialized knowledge, and willing to spend to get it.”

It’s a good observation.  And, it’s an observation that the boutique portion of the wine industry is well-poised to continue to capitalize on – “artisanal” for the wine industry isn’t marketing schtick to back into, it’s the reality.  “Artisanal” as a word may lose its meaning, but it will be replaced by something else that really just boils down to finding an audience and telling a story.

Supertasters, So What?

In May, fueled by a “Supertaster” test released by Cornell University, there was a mini-spike online in discussion about the phenomenon of being a “Supertaster.”  Tim Hanni has a test and multiple other online resources have a test, as well.  They all vary slightly in form.

Related to wine, however, who cares?  It really means nothing at all.

One thing I’ve been thinking about is the nature of wine reviews and palates.  It seems to me that one persistent argument about the 100 point systems, critics and such is the advice to find a critic who aligns with your palate.

Well, that’s good and simple on the surface, but aside from third-party definition of Robert Parker, Jr., I’m not sure that any critic has a stated palate definition, nor would they want to.  It would require them to indicate bias, and objectivity is sacrosanct to the art of being a wine critic.

I know my preference is generally cool climate.  I like food-friendly New World wines, fruit forward, but with depth, structure and an acidic backbone.  I enjoy New Zealand and northern Rhone wines, as well.  Yet, most mainstream critics would rather be caught dead then focusing in on a stylistic preference.

Even Parker bristles against such categorizations of his palate preferences.

Going forward, however, with the explosion of wine reviews online and what that means as wine criticism becomes more democratized, yet chaotic, I think a scenario of having a wine critic, any type of wine critic, quantify their palate and palate preferences by some independent, objective means is going to occur.  Think of it like a fingerprint, or a passport of sorts—validating security credentials as a credible measure for their reviews. 

Having a palate tested and then quantified by bias as a known reference marker for wine reviews then becomes an important criteria for credibility that can then be augmented by embedded knowledge and wisdom – how much does a wine critic know about wine, separate from the validity of their palate profile – that then begins to separate the wheat from the chaff in an increasingly confusing world of wine criticism.

The wine world might not be ready for a quantifying benchmark in the realm of the subjective, but neither is it ready to spin into the chaos, the trajectory it’s headed with the online wine world increasingly complementing mainstream media. 

Something is needed to make sense of it all.

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June 10 2010

News, Notes and Dusty Bottle – Redo Edition

Odds and ends from a life lived through the prism of a wine glass …

The Elevator Pitch

Over the four and ½ years of writing this site, encompassing over 1100 posts and well over 800,000 words, there have only been a handful of times where I wished I had a redo – a chance to rewrite a post that had a good point that got lost in my translation.  Now, that’s not to say I think everything I write is good.  Articles or posts aren’t like children; I don’t love them all equally.  But, it does mean that I’ve only been regretful a few times.

The reason I bring this up is because I fumbled a post lost week.  It usually happens when I’m trying to get a point across that either needs to be short and to the point or it needs to be a whitepaper – and, instead, I try to bridge the two with 1400 words.

I wrote, “What Would You Do if You Were Going into the Wine Business Pt. II” and it fell flat under the weight of my own turgid explanation.

The good news is, I don’t have an editor, and so aside from trying to maintain some professional decorum in these parts, I can do what I want.  So, herewith, is my redo, formed into an elevator pitch:

The wine business would do well to look at the shifting business models that have occurred over the last 10 years in the music business.  Music used to be bottlenecked with its own version of the three-tier system (artist , record label and retailer), but the internet and digitization changed that.  Now, there are no barriers in between an artist and her ability to cultivate a fan base and access the market.

Therefore, if I were to enter the wine business, I would not make wine, I would help a winery succeed, by creating a management firm and correlating services to help a small brand grow and sustain their business to the point that they feel successful as measured by market dynamics.

For wine business context, the most similar models to this are Folio Fine Wine Partners and Wilson Daniels, progressive outliers to where the market is heading.

For additional reading on Nettwerk and MusicToday (recently acquired by concert promoter LiveNation), two management services pioneers in the music industry, see the following articles:

Fast Company magazine article on Musictoday

Wired magazine article on Nettwerk

Blog post from Nettwerk CEO Terry McBride on “artist management”

Paste magazine interview with Nettwerk CEO Terry McBride elaborating on “artist management”

Selling Anytime, Anywhere

One of the reasons the above is so important is because technology and sales and marketing are colliding forcefully, and, in my estimation, it is nigh-on impossible for all but the very savviest wineries to stay on top of, adjust for and capitalize on the rapid change that is happening.

Consider that the iPhone has mobile credit card processing capabilities – so a winery can scan credit cards and sell at a farmer’s market, a tasting, anywhere legal.

In addition, a company called Payvement is in beta for their application that creates the ability to create a Facebook ecommerce store. 

It’s hard to underestimate the value of a winery creating a slick Facebook fan page, aggregating brand enthusiasts, using some of the third-party tools like Nutshellmail (emailed status updates) and Divshare (uploading documents) for ongoing fan engagement and then being able to embed commerce in that same Fan Page. 

The conundrum is, again, – it’s a full-time job to stay on top of trends, which is separate from the full-time need to implement, which is separate from management thereof.

By providing a services model for wineries to achieve their goals, they are focusing on their core, while their partner focuses on accountability for development, with all interests aligned.

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May 24 2010

News, Notes and Dusty Bottle Items – Miscellany Edition

Odds and ends from a life lived through the prism of the wine glass …

Dot Wine

In December of last year I wrote two posts (here and here) that covered the hypothetical development of a new top-level domain for .wine.  The premise was that a benevolent and unified approach to winery data and subsequent ecommerce using a URL extension like .wine (example: http://www.wineryname.wine) was an important necessity for the growth of winery ecommerce, taming what is now an unruly and fragmented beast (and chaotically typical of the wine industry which is splendiferous in its iconoclasm).

Without overstating the fact, a .wine URL extension can be a game changer for the wine business provided that there is a level of collaboration amongst the industry for the purposes of unified usage – like having each winery’s ecommerce on the domain http://www.wineryname.wine.

This subject is timely because nobody “owns” the internet, especially domain names.  However, ICANN, which has traditionally administered domain names is now undertaking the process of permitting “sponsored” ownership of domain names.  Therefore, Coca-Cola could apply and secure .coke as a URL extension, using it for marketing and profit purposes, as one example.

Now, mind you, securing a “top-level domain” like .wine is an expensive undertaking full of red tape, making it predisposed to entrepreneurs with OPM (other people’s money) or large corporations, but the gist of my posts were to focus on the positive benefit of this for the entire industry.

While my writing and reflecting on this topic were largely in the vein of, “Somebody should do this,” I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find out that, yes, somebody is doing this.

DotVinum is a project based in France that does endeavor to create a .wine URL extension for what appears to be reasonably benevolent means.  The charter for the project, as presented on the DotVinum web site notes:

A .WINE LIKE A .COM - .WINE is the first level domain for amateurs, consumers and wine professionals. It is the domain name extension that brings together all the wine community on Internet.

CREATION OF THE WINE CULTURAL IDENTITY ON INTERNET,
FOCUS POINT FOR ALL THE WINE INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS,
CROSS-ROADS FOR “WINE” ON INTERNET,
A REFERENCE FOR ALL.

The DotVinum project also notes that domain name extensions won’t be available until 2011, at the earliest.  I revisit this topic of a top-level domain for .wine because it bears watching and I stand by my assertion that winery ecommerce is still in its infancy with a need for order.  Dynamic innovation in wine-related, consumer-focused winery ecommerce with a special focus on ease of purchasing and shipping is still on the horizon as both a need and an opportunity.

Google Maps and Wine

Also in the technologically “geeky” category for the wine enthusiast is the recent announcement that Google Earth is now directly integrated into Google maps.  Want to check out the “terroir” of that wine?  Get an up close and personal view of vineyard terrain by going to google.com/maps and type in the address of your favorite vineyard and then click on “Earth” on the right hand side of your screen.

Taking a slightly different and more stylized twist on this is King Estate in Oregon.  They’ve combined some really nice illustration and interactivity with the Google technology to create a very well done tour of their property.  If you can’t physically be there, viewing this map feature is a very cool alternative.  You can see the map at this link.

Food Revolution

I’ve never met a single person that was serious about wine that also didn’t have a special interest in food.  Sometimes the foodies dabble in wine enthusiasm and sometimes the winos dabble as junior foodies, but regardless of which side you’re coming at it from, it’s manifest reality.  And, mostly, anybody interested in food also has a vested interest in ensuring that fast food doesn’t completely clog our path to the table.

With that in mind, if you missed Jamie Oliver’s reality-based docudrama on ABC this spring called Food Revolution, you’re in luck because the essence of that six-part show which acted as a healthy, real food, “get rid of the junk diet” manifesto is distilled down to about 20 minutes in a TED talk that can be found on YouTube.

I like TED because it takes big ideas and presents them in a consumable way for anybody with desire for knowledge.  Oliver’s talk is no different.  Check it out below. 

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April 12 2010

Small Ripples Can Make Waves in Wine Media

Subtly, in the last week, there has been an evolution in wine media.

First, Gary Vaynerchuk, somebody who, without empirical quantification, I would consider to be the 2nd most recognizable figure in the world of wine behind Robert Parker (No, I haven’t forgotten about Robinson, Spurrier, Broadbent, et al) revealed via his personal blog that a one man media empire has limitations.

He noted in a 15 minute video soliloquy, replete with bags under his eyes denoting an unspoken dogged tiredness (a re-occurring condition for him over the last nine months), that he was limiting his activities over the balance of the year – Twitter and social media, speaking engagements and such.

It’s an interesting move, and very Urban Meyer-esque, albeit not surprising for anybody who has logged 80-hour weeks for a period of time and knows the diminishing returns.  While Vaynerchuk pins his public respite on, “Going Buddha” and a Monk-like exile (mixing metaphors) in order to read, learn and think about the current state of technology, his unspoken truth has to be that you can’t keep that work pace up without A) Burning out B) Getting divorced or C) All of the above.

It’s anticipated that he’ll continue with Wine Library TV, his raison d’etre, which has seen diminishing quantity over the last couple of months as his travel and other responsibilities have dictated divided attention.

I don’t think Vaynerchuk’s ambition will allow him a very long break, but it would be nice to see him focus his efforts on the wine world where he has done much good (in a short amount of time) to engender a new generation of wine drinkers, while not exactly kowtowing to the establishment.  Wine can use him.  Selfishly, I’d like for him to be an agent for change for the wine business (with both feet in, instead of one) as opposed to carrying a symbolic banner for social media and trying to buy the NY Jets.  His calling card and influence could be worldwide during a transformative period in wine in which Parker’s replacement is ready to be anointed, as a gigantic generation of wine drinkers come online.  Time will tell, however.

Second, I noted with interest that Deb Harkness, writer at Good Wine Under $20, won the best wine blog award in the Saveur magazine blog awards.

Good for Deb, I say.  She is a gem of a woman and one of the most genuine souls I know.  Her win is interesting to me because Joe Roberts from 1WineDude won the same award from FoodBuzz in early November.  And, Alder from Vinography has won the last two years at the American Wine Blog Awards, which closed nominations for the 2010 version last week.

Ironically enough, according to compete.com, none of the winners can hold a candle to Dr. Vino in terms of readership, and he didn’t win any of the awards.

What do three different winners in three different contests (with 10 different finalist nominations spanning 14 total nominations and one separate leader in total readership) mean?  There are a lot of good wine blogs out there.  More importantly, it means that wine blogs are splintering and growing with different audiences.  Instead of one mass of blogs being a bit on the clique-ish and insider-ish side, it means that wine blogging is segmenting into sub-niches.  One man’s Vinography is another man’s Wine Whore.  Much like high school, you’re starting to see the “cool kid” grouping of wine blogs, the “jocks,” the “smart kids,” the “hang out on the bridge, smoke cigarettes and wear black” wine blogs and those that transcend and straddle groupings, to use an analogy.

In this period of time, wine blog growth is unwieldy, because what was once a small community is, like Gary Vaynerchuk, becoming bigger than itself.  The next year or so will have bloggers in their gawky, awkward phase, but the future looks good for independent, online wine writing.

Next, that “thud” you hear is Wine & Spirits Daily going all subscription-based for its daily wine and spirits business missive.

In the wake of Rich Cartiere’s untimely passing in the summer of ’08, the wine newsletter business has seen Lewis Perdue launch “Wine Industry Insight” to fill the gap next the Wine Business Insider published by Wine Business Monthly magazine and now Wine & Spirits daily tries its hand at a paid scheme.

Ponderously, Wine & Spirits Daily is going all-in, all at once, stopping their daily email/web site article and going paid, for $290 a year (or $5 cheaper than Wine Business Insider).

Really, the only way you can go paid subscription for an online product would be to double-up the content, give some away for free and keep the good stuff behind the gate and then lead your readers into the premium content.

To go from free to pay in the span of 24 hours without a substantial change in the scope, quality or quantity of your product?  I dunno.  A double “I dunno” when according to compete.com Wine & Spirits Daily site traffic is a fraction of this site.

Time will tell if there is a paying audience for wine business writing that is long on witness reportage and short on insight and analysis.  Most people don’t give a damn that there was a car accident.  They want to know the whys and wherefores.

Finally, Jay McInerney and Lettie Teague launched their wine writing efforts for the Wall Street Journal.  I speculated on the reasoning behind their appointment a couple of weeks back.  The launch of the WSJ’s “On Wine” roughly coincides with the aggregation of Eric Asimov’s The Pour blog at the New York Times into a bigger blog called “Diner’s Journal,” that includes Mark Bittman and other contributors.  It’s a welcome change for me, given that I like the Times writers across the board and I harbor a longing for a life of leisure in which my morning coffee and New York Times segues into writing a blog post before I plan dinner.  Others haven’t cared for the silo-based Asimov blog being lumped in with others.

Speaking of not caring for it much, the real interesting aspect of the Saturday Wall Street Journal column that will alternate between Lettie Teague and McInerney, is the blog that accompanies it. McInerney has always been a bit of a cad, and critics historically haven’t been afraid of taking shots at him for being a nouveau rich, exhaust sniffing socialite.  Personally, I like his writing – he’s my favorite wine writer next to Matt Kramer.  I’m glad he has a venue for wine writing and I hope he engages in the comments section. 

Speaking of which, the comments to the first blog post widely lamented the loss of Dottie and John ...

You can bookmark the WSJ wine site here.  Or, load into your RSS feed reader here.

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