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September 23 2007
I was given this wine as a gift from a business associate, a wine distributor in the state of Florida that sells exclusively the wines of New York to New York state ex-pats (and natives) in the state. Brad Emler from NY Uncorked is somebody that knows and understands New York wines, you kind of have to when it’s your main business.
With the exhortation that the Rkatsiteli is a special wine, made in small quantity by Dr. Frank, it was given to me as a gift of cordiality. And, what a gift it is. Perfect. Thanks Brad!
I do have to note that the wines circuitous voyage does nothing for green practices as it went from its New York birth to Florida to California where I received it and then to its final resting spot in Indiana before landing down my gullet. The Rkatsiteli was no worse for the wear despite its cross-country journey, though I’d hate to add up the carbon offsets that might be required based on this single bottle of wines frequent flier miles …
Not being familiar (at all) with the varietal, I wasn’t sure what to make of it when pulling the cork. Simply, this wine is a winner, a big winner. It tastes like a blend, with a bracing acidity and spiciness, but fruit a plenty and a touch of herbal notes. If forced a guess in a blind tasting I would call it a Chard/Sauvignon Blanc/Gruner Veltliner blend with, perhaps, a smidgeon of Viognier. To get all of that into one wine varietal has to be considered an intriguing possibility for cool climate, East Coast vintners.
In doing a touch of additional research on this wine I realized that my other favorite New York expert on wine, Lenn from Lenndevours, featured this wine favorably on Appellation America and his own site.
By way of background, Lenn’s Finger Lakes correspondent Jason Fuelner had this to say on the Dr. Frank’s Rkatsiteli:
Currently, Dr. Frank’s has 10 acres of rkatsiteli planted and produces about 3000 cases each year. Fred Frank considers 2006 a great growing season for rkatsiteli, and this wine recently won a Gold Medal at the New World International Wine Competition and was also awarded Best in Class.
Lenn noted in his tasting on Appellation America:
Rkatsiteli is a grape that you don’t hear much about, but it’s been around for a long time. It’s an ancient vinifera grape dating back over 5000 years to Georgia. No, not the state, the republic that was once part of the Soviet Union. It’s still extremely popular in Georgia and other former Soviet nations. In the United States, plantings are limited and found almost exclusively in the eastern US, including the cool-to-cold Finger Lakes region.
This wine goes a little bit against the grain of my tasting ethos—wines that can be found pretty much anywhere, but thanks to the Internet and e-commerce, this is practically true. I would encourage you to buy some at the Dr. Frank’s web site and try out this very intriguing varietal.
My tasting note can be found here.
September 21 2007
It’s no wonder wineries are confused and immobilized with fear of new marketing practices and technology. Primary learning opportunities at seminars frequently fall into the category of gobbledly-gook babble.
If you get the occasional whoosh of air blowing upward, it was probably somebody pumping sunshine up your skirt.
If you can’t baffle ‘em with brilliance, befuddle ‘em with b.s., I guess.
Thankfully, some people speak in a language you can understand.
We have the makings of a speaker-based Wine 2.0 Marketing Battle Royale. In one corner is Gary Vaynerchuk, Director of Operations from Winelibrary TV and in the other corner is Google’s Kevin Kells, Industry Development Director of Packaged Goods, a title that in and of itself is pretty darn confusing.
You see, both gave remarks recently to winery audiences around the topic of wine and technology—what is popularly referred to as “Wine 2.0.”
Vaynerchuk spoke at the recent Wine Industry Technology Symposium (WITS) in July and Kells spoke most recently at the Wine Industry Financial Symposium that took place on 9/17.
Again, just to make sure we’re clear, they were both speaking about the use of technology in wine marketing.
Kells had the following to say, as quoted and excerpted from a Wine Business Monthly article posted today:
Kells contrasted the marketing approach used in traditional media, in which marketers “zap” advertisements where they think consumers will be looking, with what he called the “computing cloud,” an abstract place containing “all information: websites and all the findable, usable and more mobile services people use online.”
“capturing engagement in that cloud” is a two-way exercise. The Internet is a database littered with people’s intentions, he explained, and “you want to over-surf” the sites that matter as much to the consumer as to you. “While the cloud is abstract, the users are real.”
Kells provided a “brand steward’s checklist” with questions brand managers should be asking, such as: Is my brand missing out on engagement opportunities? In response, Kells said it was “physically, mentally and structurally impossible to do marketing that is sight-based anymore. You need to get your brand stewards more in tune with the instrument-based market. Just because you don’t always see it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
Computing cloud? Brand steward’s checklist? Sight-based marketing? Instrument-based market?
Mind you, Kells was simply talking about using the Internet as a marketing asset for wineries.
Somewhere Jess Jackson was enjoying lunch and counting his money probably clairvoyantly picking up that somebody was blowing some sunshine up somebody’s skirt somewhere on the other side of the valley.
As a contrast to Kells, let’s take a look at a news report on Gary Vaynerchuk’s speech at the Wine Industry Technology Symposium (WITS) in July. Excerpts from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
The wine industry is missing a huge opportunity to build stronger relationships with its consumers using new technologies like Web videos and wine blogs.
That was the blunt message delivered to wine industry executives in Napa Tuesday by a young, outspoken New Jersey wine retailer who said the industry needs to embrace change or die.
“Ninety-nine percent of the people in the wine business are really blowing it,” said Gary Vaynerchuk, director of operations for the WineLibrary, a Springfield, N. J. wine store with a popular interactive Web site.
The wine industry for too long has catered to a handful of critics whose opinion means nothing to the average wine drinker, Vaynerchuk said. What matters far more to most people are the opinions of other consumers, and wineries need to wake up soon to this new reality, he said.
“Now everyone has got an opinion. Everyone’s got their two cents. Every single person you cross paths with in this industry — whether at an in-store tasting or a stock boy — you need to fear, and you need to embrace,” he said.
Vaynerchuk agreed. Wineries that are complacent and unwilling to engage new consumers in their own language will soon find themselves left behind.
“Get out of your comfort zone and embrace change,” he said. “If you are scared, you are going to lose, and losing sucks.”
Same message delivered differently.
Now, who would you take wine marketing advice from? More importantly, if you’re a consumer who would you buy wine from? Google or Winelibrary TV? My advice to wineries? Listen to the guy that uses the word “suck” and try if you must, but lightly parse the wisdom from anybody that uses the phrase “Brand Steward Checklist.”
September 19 2007
You’ll be glad to know that new word additions to the 2006 edition of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary include “agritourism,” “ringtone,” “supersize,” “drama queen.”
I have a suggestion for entry in 2007: Spoofulate and its plural form, Spoofulation.
I’ve seen this word a couple of times on Josh’s Pinotblogger site. I fancy myself a man about town, in the know, hip with the current vernacular … except, in this instance, I had no idea what the heck “Spoofulate” meant.
Clearly, I can’t be the only one.
If you do a Google search for “Spoofulate” you get a mere 256 search items from Google and searching for “Spoofulation” returns a scant 362 items-this is almost, positively obscure particularly when you consider that the word “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” returns 316,000 search items. And, well, the search term “Jeff Lefevere” returns 28,000 entries. Clearly something is amiss …
I did some sleuthing on the word, and according to Joe Dressner, from his site, “The Wine Importer” the word can be attributed to Harmon Skurnik, a partner with his brother in Michael Skurnik Wines, a high-end importer and distributor of merit in New York. The term was popularized, apparently, by Michael Wheeler ex-employee of Michael Skurnik Wines and a principal in Polaner Selections, another meritorious importer and distributor of wines in New York.
Basically, Spoofulation means, according to Dressner:
Spoofulation is a form of manipulation which takes wine away from nature and into the technological world of fake extraction, fake aromatics, fake flavors, fake density, fake acidity, fake tannin levels, fake color and fake sugar levels. Basically, fake wines.
The source of the phrase is traced back to 1990 Chateau Montelena winery in Napa and Harmon Skurnik’s interaction with a tasting room employee. He explains in this excerpt:
The Year Was 1990 (give or take two years) - my wife Lori and I were traveling through Napa Valley and we stopped upon the tasting room of Chateau Montelena…as we tasted through their wines, the pretty young girl behind the counter explained to us how Montelena’s Chardonnay did not go through malolactic, and therefore retained some acidity and freshness, after which she uttered the famous words, “not like all those spoofulated Chardonnays being made in the Valley these days”.
I proceeded to ask her what she meant by “spoofulated” and she explained that she meant the new (at the time) style of Chard i.e. full malolactic, ultra rich, lees-stirred, golden, extracted, low acid Chards that were just starting to be produced by the likes of Helen Turley etc (and which Parker, incidentally, had yet to discover). She was passionately defending Montelena’s style of Chard, which was old fashioned (and frankly works quite well in the often torrid Napa
Valley)...
The word is broadened by Mike Wheeler when he says the word encompasses a much wider swath of wine to include:
These include: 200%+/- new oak, rottofermenters, micro ox, oak chips, de-acidifying, spin cone, reverse osmosis, adding nontraditional/not approved grapes to blends ... also spoofed wines are wines where enzymes/yeast/flavors are added to “create” a wine etc.
Spoofulation nowadays, I think, refers to a “New World” style of wine, high fruit, low acid and something that Parker might like hence Josh’s in-joke reference to the style as he tries to balance elegance and fruit in his own winemaking efforts.
If wine bloggers start using the word enough we might have enough influence to have it included in a future dictionary—right after “soul patch” and before “unibrow.” But, you’ll have to excuse me now. I need to do some more “Googling” on “Parker Points.”
For more reading on Dressner’s site please see these two links—the original post and a follow-up post.
September 18 2007
Fans of the Food Network know, ad nauseum, that Emeril Lagasse is Portuguese. So, I guess, in an incredibly anglo-centric manner, the upcoming Wine Blogging Wednesday (WBW) on October 15th, featuring the wines of Portugal, might be best dubbed, “What Would Emeril Drink?”
Somewhere, I can feel the more internationally savvy Wine Blogging Wednesday participants cringing. But, asking what Emeril would drink is a pretty good question because I have little clue what he would drink besides Port, which is kind of the point of WBW—to stretch the boundaries of comfort and seek out that which is new. Portugese table wine only, please. Ditch the Taylor Fladgate and the Fonseca Port.
To get intrepid wine drinking souls moving in the right direction Ryan and Gabrielle from Catavino, the hosts for the 38th edition of Wednesday communal wine drinking affair, have provided some ground rules and an excellent primer. In what I believe to be a first, Ryan and Gabrielle are bringing their “A” game and providing a 12 page primer to the wines of Portugal. Check it out here.
And, while Catavino is providing bonus points for meeting certain criteria, there is no stated bonus for matching a Portuguese wine to Emeril’s creole cuisine.
Start your Portuguese wine search now and see you on the 17th.
September 17 2007
Eric Arnold, a Wine Spectator Editor, released his first book today called “First Big Crush,” a Hunter S. Thompson-esque romp (minus the hallucinogens, but with a ratcheted and commensurate amount of beer) through a vintage year at Allan Scott wines in New Zealand.
Inspired by unemployment (and sans the WS gig which came after the fact) and taking a risk to write a book on what I assume to be spec., Arnold has written a bawdy and lively story that is part voyeuristic romp and part ex-pat “tales from the fermentation tank.”
If you’re interested in learning about the winemaking process, but bored with the stuffy idea of wading through textbook definitions of malolactic fermentation, then this is the book for you. Arnold writes like the Graduate Assistant you wish you had for that 400-level class in the last semester of your Senior year. Accessible, insightful and refreshingly free of any of the b.s. artifice that is the crutch of people hanging onto insider status, this is a FUN book that reads like a serialized blog, complete with a voice that resonates for anybody under the age of 40, or the young of heart. Make sure you drink some Hogue Fume Blanc when you’re reading the book. Arnold’s introduction will explain in some detail why Hogue is significant, and I will let you in on the fact that being “socially adjusted” makes the book even funnier, like listening in on a conversation at a bar.
I caught up with Arnold for a quick Q & A. The following is our un-edited exchange. My questions are bolded. His answers are italicized.
Good Grape: The Book has a very blog-style, first-person Gen. Y voice to it. Did you go into the writing of the book thinking you wanted to write something that might hit an audience more like yourself and less like the typical wine enthusiast?
Actually, I’m Gen X. At the very tail end of it, anyway. But yes, really from the first sentence my intention was to use the voice in which members of my generation speak to each other. Otherwise, what would have been the point? Why write a wine book that’s the same as so many of the others (boring, elitist and failing to really focus on who makes the wine, how they make it and why it tastes the way it does)? However, I also tried to follow the idea that any good, immersion-style nonfiction writer does his or her best to convey the style and voice of the people they’re profiling. On top of that, too, I think the voice in the book matures significantly by the final few chapters, as I – and the reader, hopefully – gain a much stronger grasp of what goes into winemaking. I’d love to tell you that that element was intentional, but I don’t think it was. Growing up just sort of happens whether you like it or not, and least of all when you’re actually paying attention. A total bitch, ain’t it?
Ed. Note: I think Arnold is 30, the same age as my wife. A small quibble, but he’s the first year of Gen. Y—my benchmark being a relative appreciation for the John Hughes films of the 80s, which mostly missed my wife, but something I’m incredibly fond of as a Gen. X’er a couple of years older.
Good Grape: Do you read wine blogs and if so, do you have any favorites and what do make of writing and video bloggers gaining notoriety in what has traditionally been a very closed-off media circle covering the wine industry?
Absolutely, I read and watch them religiously, especially Dr. Vino, Tom Wark’s Fermentation blog, and primarily Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV. What he’s done is immensely important for a range of reasons, all of which become more and more apparent the more you watch. Mike Steinberger from Slate.com really captured Gary’s appeal and significance perfectly. But most of all, what Gary’s done that’s so brilliant, is remind people that wine is supposed to be fun. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come close to pissing myself laughing at some of the things he’s said and done – and learned at the same time.
Also, I think all the Wine Spectator editors have done a very good job with their blogs, and embraced them as an opportunity to connect with and respond to readers – really put a face with their scores, descriptions and general ideas and experiences. That’s been a great first step toward opening that very closed-off media circle. They’re showing that they’re just regular people who care very deeply about providing their readers with the best information they can.
Good Grape: You mentioned in the book that Hogue Fume Blanc got you onto wine because it was a cheaper way to drink on a Saturday night when you were in college. When was the last time you drank a Hogue Fume Blanc and do you agree that college students are drinking a ton more wine then they used to? What do you think is the college student wine equivalent to “Natural Light” or “Keystone Light” i.e. decent, but cheap?
Last time I drank Hogue was probably less than a year ago. I’ve got to say, it’s still a really good wine for not that much money ($8 or $9 retail, depending on where you go). It’ll never knock your socks off, but it won’t taste like squirrel piss either. It’s a great party wine.
Do I agree that college students are drinking more wine now? Couldn’t tell you, since I haven’t set foot on a college campus in a long time. But next time I do, I hope the experience is like something out of Old School. The KY wrestling match is one thing I never managed to accomplish in my four years.
In all seriousness, though, the research stats you hear from the wine industry these days would indicate that college students are indeed drinking wine, mostly to pregame…but hey, it’s a start. As for calling Natty Light or Keystone decent and cheap, um, where did you go to school exactly? Cheap yes; decent, no.
Good Grape: If somebody in their twenties gets really excited about wine after reading your book, what’s another book you would refer them to? It doesn’t have to be a reference book.
Ooh, tough one. I could give you a much longer list of books NOT to read. But a lot of people tell me they really like Matt Kramer’s books since he has a very no-nonsense approach (and he’s hilarious as a speaker, if you ever get the chance to see him in person). I’m looking forward to Dr. Vino’s book, which probably comes out next year. Just knowing him and his approach, I think it’ll probably be a natural step from my book to his.
Ed. Note: This was a loaded question because I would recommend Matt Kramer’s “Making Sense of Wine.” I wanted to see how he would respond.
Good Grape: You have a good wit that shines through in your writing with a non-traditional, occasionally off-color sense of humor. Four part question, here: 1) Who is your favorite comedian, 2) Please quantify how it is that you have nicer tits than Andrea Immer, 3) What’s a good one-liner that got edited OUT of the book, and 4) Do you fear reaction from your normally staid colleagues at the Wine Spectator?
1) Dana Gould, probably. Though Drew Carey, in his standup days about 10 years ago, was amazing. And I hate to say it, but John Valby, aka Dr. Dirty, the guy who plays the piano and sings all those unbelievably filthy limericks, is a misunderstood genius. I remember seeing his shows in college, and you felt like you were going straight to the lowest circle of hell to have your brain gnawed on for eternity. But it was worth it.
2) I don’t have nicer tits anymore… I lost almost 20 lbs. in New Zealand from doing all that manual labor.
3) There’s a cocaine joke in there that mentions Chris Farley. Originally it was Lindsay Lohan, but the lawyers made me change it since, at the time, she had never been arrested for possession, never been in rehab, and stated in her Vanity Fair interview that she’d never done blow. The book was practically being printed when she ran her car off the road and had enough Charlie in her pocket to be called Pablo. I was so pissed off about that. But lawyers do what they have to do….
4) Who said they’re staid? Most everyone here is very laid back, very friendly and has a pretty good sense of humor. You’ve really got the wrong idea about them. I bet the guys who write for The Economist show up to work naked half the time.
Good Grape: Aside from the inspiration at your high school reunion and your buddy Jim, did you look into going to another English-speaking country like Australia or a place that might have helped your love life like Italy or Chile?
Believe me, I was thinking about my sex life first and foremost! But ultimately it came down to me simply being legal to work in New Zealand at the time, since I was under 30 and qualified for a visa. I wanted to go there anyway, of course, but at the same time, who really wants to read another book about Italian wine or French wine? Who gives a shit? I needed to go someplace new and fun – a place that could benefit from me as much as I could from them. My sex life had to take a back seat. And oh my, did it ever.
Good Grape: What did you spend your book advance on? Any wine to celebrate?
Paying off the debt I incurred writing it. I’ll spend the remainder on one of those Thomas Jefferson wines since they’re basically worth about as much as Hogue Fume Blanc now.
Good Grape: Good hook-up with Sammy Hagar for the jacket blurb, I enjoyed that Spectator article a few months back. With the original Van Halen reuniting for a concert tour, are you a David Lee Roth or a Sammy Hagar era fan of Van Halen?
You know, in high school everyone liked David Lee Roth – they all said he had the showmanship and all. But I first listened to them with Hagar, and he was definitely the better songwriter and singer. I see the appeal of Roth, don’t get me wrong. But in all honesty, I was only enough of a fan to buy Van Halen CDs, not enough go see a show. I was more into Tom Petty, the Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who and Aerosmith, as well as some more off-beat stuff like The Pixies and Jesus and Mary Chain.
Ed Note: This too was a loaded question as I wanted to see how he answered. I prefer Sammy Hagar-era Van Halen. David Lee Roth is the popular choice, though.
Good Grape: What do you make of the dichotomy of winemakers being drinking, cussing farmers and most wine enthusiasts being conservative, Lexus driving elitists?
Well, I think we’re stereotyping both sides of it, here. Sure, winemakers can be drinking, cussing farmers, but they dial it back depending on who they’re talking to and when. And I’d say that most conservative, Lexus-driving elitists I know let the expletives and bad manners out much more naturally than anyone, but they keep it toned down for business situations, funerals and weddings – and maybe not even then. They’re assholes, really.
Good Grape: Who is better dinner conversation? Suckling, Laube, Kramer or Eric Arnold?
You’d have to ask my friends and family, who’d probably all say, “Any of the three but Eric. His minimum number of penis jokes per course seems to be on the rise lately.”
Good Grape: What’s the next book going to be about?
This interview, and what a joy it was. Right on the same level with Internet porn… just a click away from this interview! Explore the parallels for yourself!
Good Grape: Thanks for taking some time out, Eric. This is probably the first time I’ve had a reference to sex, penises, Andrea Immer’s breasts and wine in one conversation. We need to hang out more often.
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