good grape daily: pomace & lees free run: field notes from a wine life around the wine blogosphere wine: a business doing pleasure good grape wine reviews new world influences red wine wine white wine wine blog news robert parker wine bloggers notes & dusty bottle items wine sediments wine business wine blogs historical wine book excerpts tasting safari: wines you can buy online cluetrain manifesto revisited winecast: a year in collaboration wine spectator wine blogger robert mondavi wine marketing indy food & wine vin de napkin vinography dr. vino appellation watch: midwest regional review new vine logistics alice feiring wine blogging luxury wine tom wark natural wine gary vaynerchuk american wine blog awards wine critics wine reviews cameron hughes wine books wine writers biodynamic wine best wine bloggers california wine a really goode job robert mondavi day robert mondavi winery fermentation blog penner-ash wine research wine ratings fred franzia tyler colman steve heimoff oregon 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June 14 2010
In the real world, the “Negative Nancy” type is the person who finds fault with every situation and sucks the life out of her social sphere causing sure and instant alienation with those that prefer to see life optimistically. Yet, in the realm of wine criticism, I’ll take somebody who isolates wine faults any day of the week over a “Positive Pollyanna” who only sees the good.
To paraphrase Mr. Furious Styles in the movie Boyz in the Hood, “Any fool with a tongue can be a wine lover, but it takes a real man to be a wine critic.”
Nowhere was this more evident than at a recent tasting with a group of wine writers who were waxing their most clever verbally declaring their tasting notes as “Prince Albert blonde tobacco, pole beans, carnauba wax, and the rind of a Honeydew melon, Meyer lemon pith and overripe mango.”
Everybody wants to identify the esoteric to nodding agreement, yet when the rubber hit the road and a bad bottle surfaced, the group was left simpering, sent into a confused tailspin.
Nobody quite came up with, “Kimchi and wet band-aid.” Instead, it was a ponderous mixed bag of “Pin the tail on the wine fault.”
“It’s oxidized.”
“No, it’s corked.”
“This is definitely brettanomyces.”
This situation has caused me to think about the nature of the quickly expanding field of wine criticism. Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible, amongst other items on a resume that shames all but a few in the pantheon of wine knowledge, recently noted (paraphrased), “When everybody is a critic, nobody is a critic.”
There’s a lot of wisdom in that statement.
Opinions are like noses, everybody has one and the great democracy that is wine enthusiasm has left the meritocracy aspect of reviewing wine based on some level of experience in the dust, even if identifying faults is a weak spot.
Of course, this is a flashpoint issue with no shortage of opinion citing the need for wine reviewers to have some combination of tenure, travel experience to the region(s) in question, breadth and scope of experience, singularity of focus and a slew of other aspects that serves to tie wine criticism to a competency level out of the reach of professional amateurs.
Yet, Robert Parker, Jr. said in a recent interview with Joe Roberts at 1WineDude, “Most people tend to see wine as I do, with a ‘glass half full’ philosophy, so positive comments generally outweigh negative ones as people are looking to buy good wine and good wine values.”
Fair enough, but any fool with a nose can be a “Positive Pollyanna.”
With dynamics in the wine world that include:
• Increasing wine availability, from all over the globe
• Online publishing tools that allow anybody to be a publisher
• Wine ratings that show unabated growth with, arguably, a scale that starts at 80, with real importance beginning with scores of 90
• Wine certifications as a nascent marker for knowledge
• A genteel culture that forsakes a frank edge to criticism for the sake of collegiality
I would posit that no longer is it acceptable for “quote, unquote” professional wine reviewers to merely cite the good, the positive and the glass half-full. It’s time to put some teeth into “wine criticism.”
Real wine criticism needs to move into the realm of the real analysis, warts and all, with empirical leadership.
If there is indeed going to be a line of demarcation between professional wine reviewers and pro-am, then our times will get more interesting, indeed.
No longer will an out of balance, hot Zin simply not show up in the ratings database, and no longer will a winery with “brett” be saved the embarrassment of being called out.
Real, valid, professional criticism will include the good, the bad, and the ugly with a level of confidence in statement that marks the “real” from the “want-to.”
In other words, “Negative Nancy” needs to get into the ring with “Positive Pollyanna” and kick her ass.
June 10 2010
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.
With the dismantling of the major label system, however, a new breed of artist-centric management companies have sprung up that offer a range of ala carte services to musicians – everything that is necessary for success separate from their core strength – the music. And, should they choose, distribution assistance is available, as well.
This is the new way forward for musical artists –moxie, brand building and leveraging resources.
The reason this model of management services is important is because the missing link in the wine business with burgeoning direct-to-consumer and direct-to-trade sales opportunities coupled with mainline three-tier distribution being effectively shut down for entry by small brands is the fact that small wineries are not equipped to manage the complexity of brand-building, both in a traditional marketing sense and by virtue of the work necessary to build from the street-level up.
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.
June 7 2010
Two advertising campaigns, one for Starburst candy the other for Miller Genuine Draft 64, are running with similar taglines – “It’s a Juicy Contradiction” and “A Tasty Contradiction,” respectively. While mildly interesting as a footnote in Advertising Age magazine, what’s more interesting to me (at least from a contradiction perspective), are the “juicy” and “tasty” competing forces we’re seeing in the wine world.
It used to be that a trend was a trend – until it stopped being a trend, embedded as cultural fact, exposed as fad or reversed by competing forces.
The Baby Boomer led growth of Chardonnay and Merlot that lasted for fifteen years or more (and still felt today), comes to mind as one enduring wine trend. Yet, nowadays, our zeitgeist is so accelerated that we’re faced with competing trends that are diametrically opposed to each other. Color me confused because we’re the midst of simultaneous movements as confounding as 5th period Organic Chemistry.
Consider the fact that at no time has our global wine marketplace ever been more diverse. Just today, I was tipped off to the Wines of Tunisia – from North Africa for those of you that slept through Organic Chemistry AND World Geography.
This past weekend I read a fascinating article about Swiss wine in a new culturally-centric, down to earth travelogue magazine called “Afar.” (As a parenthetical aside, “Afar” is a must read companion to Saveur magazine as they are similar in editorial style and erudite accessibility – NPR-like for travel and food)
Throw in some vino from Tasmania, the Republic of Georgia, India, China and additional countries that are represented in the World Cup (see the 2010 World Cup of Wine here) and diversity is at an all-time high, a veritable United Nations at the wine shop.
Yet, on the flip side there is also a burgeoning local wine movement. Some called it being a Locapour, a variation on the locavore movement of eating local, which has significant momentum vis a vis farmers markets and the like.
Drinking local is gaining as a regional grassroots movement, particularly as areas like Virginia, Michigan, Texas and parts in between increase in quality by leaps and bounds.
Is it possible to be politely xenophobic about your wine while the global village continues its growth? Or, alternatively, will Francophiles become global wine polyglots, forsaking the local? Or, are we seeing the growth of a third pattern – all the worlds a vineyard, drink from its sweet cup and worship the nectar of the Gods, wherever you may worship?
I don’t have an answer, I’m curious if you do, however. Leave a comment on how you classify your drinking: “local,” “global” or “Ghandi” (I love everything) and what you think will happen with the competing forces between globalization and local and artisanal.
I’ll buy a one year subscription to Afar magazine for the provider of the best comment.
June 6 2010
You missed it didn’t you? The media-generated furor over Facebook privacy controls led to a so-called, “Quit Facebook Day” on Monday, May 31st and, near as I can tell, all of five people actually followed through on their outrage against an invasion of online privacy, which – in and of itself—is near oxymoronic given the very nature of social media. But, these are the mainstream media times we live in – Newton’s law of motion coming home to roost.
I don’t mean to brusquely gloss over the legitimate outrage of others, but it strikes me as so much ill-advised window dressing. The fact is, behavioral targeting is one of the benefits of the internet – one-to-one marketing is a good thing and Facebook isn’t the first to address the topic—the conversation has been going on in online advertising circles for some time and has been addressed by the FTC, as well. It just so happens that a 25-year old billionaire happens to be the broadest target for mainstream backlash—puberty to wealthy pariah in 10 years – we should all be so lucky.
Forget the fact that database marketers have been trying to get to this point for 25 years (what do you really think happens when you swipe your grocery store card for discounts? Supermarkets sell that info off …), I would suggest that behavioral targeting via one-to-one marketing is a benefit – case in point, I log into Facebook and the pizza shop that is literally ¾’s of a mile away from my house has an ad and link to a coupon that shows up on the right hand side of my screen at 4:30 pm on a Friday afternoon. I’m in the pizza buying aperture, the timing is right, and I get a coupon while the local, independent pizza shop snags some business. What’s wrong with that? So long as one-to-one marketing knowledge doesn’t cross the border into nefarious concern, then all the better.
Okay, I’m getting off my soapbox, but, this Facebook preface does have a point related to this post – for the connected wine enthusiast that did exactly nothing in response to Facebook privacy concerns, we can all get along with Facebook with vigor, and that now means games, the colossal time killer.
Anybody who has been on Facebook for more than a week knows about the games Farmville and Mafia Wars, amongst others. These are incredible time sinks for the people that play them and a head scratcher for those that don’t based on the persistent emails and such that the players send out to everybody they’re connected with.
Thus far, I’ve resisted participating, but not for too much longer… my wife is embroiled in a work research project that has her playing Farmville, and actually enjoying it … it helps that she’s a Master Gardener, I suppose …
And for me, wine-inclined, enter two new Facebook and wine-related games (file under “no new idea goes unduplicated”)—My Vineyard and Vineyard Country.
First out of the gate was My Vineyard, launched in mid-April. With 873K users already playing this game, it won’t be long before somebody is asking you to rate their wine, one of the social aspects that has been built into the game that, while first to market, seems disappointingly mundane compared to its newest competitor. Launched last week is Vineyard Country, a visually interesting game that offers dead simple intuitiveness and enough detail to be engaging – like grape varietal controls for viticulture and a separate winemaking function.
While I’m no gaming expert, and have happily glided along life without an Xbox or a Sony Playstation, I know that both Facebook games are enjoyable as a downtime killer and I’d give a slight nod to Vineyard Country based on look and feel.
What’s your take on Facebook, privacy, sharing of information online, and killing time in front of the glow of the screen, all intertwined with your interests, like wine? Sign of the times or something else?
June 4 2010
In my prior post, I lamented the fact that I don’t have a pat answer for the oft posed query to the wine enthusiast, “What would you do if you were going to get into the wine business?”
It’s kind of embarrassing when you stumble and stammer through an innocent question making it more than obvious that a seemingly simple question is anything but. A 7th grader at his first dance has been smoother than I have been trying to answer the wine business question.
It’s not that I wouldn’t love to get into the wine business (I would), it’s more about what the heck would I do that has a legitimate shot at being successful? The world isn’t exactly looking for a new wine brand, now is it? And, being a writer, particularly a wine writer, noble it may be, isn’t exactly a situation that has a bright, “pay-the-mortgage, send the kids to college and feather a nest egg” type of future.
Nope, I’d probably go in a different direction ...
By way of background, I should note that I have a hearty respect for business people that have a keen intellect and a tactical touch: the type of smarts that can incisively cut into a situation, separate the meat from the bone, and determine a path forward with a crystalline clarity and confidence that emboldens those around them.
We always respect the things that we’re not.
Instead, I tend to lean more towards ideas and my Journalism education, wanting to know the 5 Ws before determining a path forward – not only is this good for amassing knowledge(that, unfortunately, isn’t always actionable), it’s also beneficial for having full context, something that I thrive on. In doing so, I tend to operate more on the basis of building a case.
For this reason, maybe my answer to the question of what I would do in the wine business is best said by building the case – building the case that the wine business, as currently constructed with its value-chain of service providers, is untenably broken and lacking the necessary support to create anything but, at worse, the status quo, and, at best, the same house with a new coat of paint.
I started thinking about this last year when the former Inertia Beverage Group (now just IBG) acquired New Vine Logistics—memories of my participation in the development of IBG’s Direct-to-Trade (DTT) program refreshed in my mind’s eye. Deploying a successful direct-to-trade initiative for a winery, what has been called the 2.5 tier for those that need it most – the under 10,000 case winery, is reliant on a critical component from a winery –marketing and sales activation. This reflection came right around the same time that Scott Becker (formerly at Global Wine Partners) wrote a guest post for my site with a principal takeaway being that the wine business is short on data for effective decision-making. While not implicitly stated, what Becker was suggesting is that sales data for all but the Top 30 wine companies is locked away in individual winery accounting programs, making knowledge sharing (and learning and developmental growth) very difficult.
Later on last year, I noticed that a couple of new companies, Vinovisit and CellarPass, came to market focused on scheduling reservations for consumer winery visits, and they both quickly aligned with winery-centric ecommerce providers, creating some integration, but also another connection point for wineries to manage in touching their customers.
Of course, in the realm of technology, over the last two years, hardly an hour goes by in which something new to know related to social media and the Internet doesn’t come to pass, truly a blessing and a curse at the same time, and it’s only going to get more complex and fragmented with mobile and internet connected TV certain to completely and utterly break our information consumption and the media landscape into fragmented bits.
Meanwhile, I’ve read two recent articles in both Wines & Vines and Wine Business Monthly about the burgeoning growth of third-party telesales companies that make outbound calls on behalf of wineries, selling some wine direct-to-consumer in the process. This formerly heretical notion is now being deployed with a handful of service providers.
In the last month, I also read the Silicon Valley Bank 2010 – 2011 State of the Wine Industry report from resident sage Rob McMillan. In that report, McMillan nearly implores wineries to get sharper about customer relationship management (CRM), database intelligence regarding their customers and market segmentation.
Of course, while the economy has magnified the situation, even before the meltdown the three-tier system was considered all but closed for wineries that didn’t have significant brand awareness or support to create sales velocity—distributors have demonstrated by deed that they simply want to manage logistics and transactions, not necessarily engage in brand-building.
Professionally, I work for a digital design studio that principally works with advertising agencies and I continue to witness the shifting dynamics where agencies are increasingly more accountable for work throughput and results from the companies they serve.
From my own wine-related research, I’ve also noticed how import intermediary companies like Old Bridge Cellars, Cape Classics and Folio Wine Partners have built their portfolios by directly engaging the market – consumers and the channel (three-tier) while supporting their brands from soup to nuts.
So, what do all of these seemingly unrelated items mean -
• The development of an end-to-end solution for ecommerce, compliance and shipping with a still-yet-to-be plugged hole for success with the “2.5 tier”
• A call for actionable sales intelligence
• Rapidly changing dynamics in marketing and engagement wrought by the internet and technology
• Development of add-on functionality for DTC engagement
• Development of winery sales related telesales organizations
• A call-to-action for CRM and market segmentation
• A complete three-tier meltdown for small brands in the channel
• A shift in marketing to external firms with increasing amounts of accountability
• Development of import marketing companies that control everything but the viticulture, winemaking and delivery on premise
To me, it means an entirely new class of business is developing before our eyes in the wine business, not quite fully fleshed out, based on marketing, automation, end-to-end accountability and the people power that wineries have difficulty investing in.
This new breed of service provider develops with a core set of services that brings to bear all of the functions a winery needs to do to create success that isn’t growing the vines, putting the wine in the bottle, or creating hospitality at the winery.
Oddly enough, this model, while somewhat new to the wine business, has already been developed in music industry with musicians (brands) focusing on their core strength – making music, while the rest of the stuff is outsourced in a manner that can be executed at a high-level.
So, the answer to the question, “What would you do if you were going to get into the wine business,” well, my new answer instead of “Not sure” will be, “It’s kind of complicated.”
In my next post, I’ll do a postscript about how the music business works within this model.
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