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August 26 2009
Often, particularly in areas of marketing and promotions, the rug doesn’t match the drapes, so to speak.
That is, the promotion is intended to convey a certain reality that doesn’t exist. Think about the Swiffer floor mop and you’ll see that the advertising and promotions are designed to offer the softly spoken tangential benefit of a whistle-clean floor AND spare time to spend with your family.
Now, using that Swiffer, my floor may indeed be super-duper clean, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a frolic in the park is in the offing with a precociously cute toddler and the shiny-coated Labrador Retriever – the main culprits in many a dirty floor anyways … Yeah, this flight of ideal and fancy imagery is stock-in-trade stuff for consumer packaged goods. However, I would argue that the best marketing and promotions deliver on reality – as in, a reality that already exists if you seek it out.
Fortunately, the folks that manage the marketing and public relations for the statewide tourism program, Travel Oregon, can deliver on reality. Not only do the rugs match the drapes, but the paint matches the décor, as it were.
Outside of the cornucopia that is California food and wine, Oregon leads the pack for those that are food and wine inclined with a richness and diversity in comestibles that makes a foodie and a wine geek rub their thumb and middle finger together in Zen-like bliss, and they do so without much of the well-heeled luxury spin that is the double-edged sword of California lifestyle marketing.
No, Oregon keeps it real.
And, you can find out for yourself. Travel Oregon has launched the Oregon Bounty Cuisinternship promotion – an opportunity to win one of seven all-expense paid one week trips to Oregon to shadow with an expert in their field.
Partnered with a mentor, entrants can choose to work with a chocolatier, a brew master, a chef, a rancher, a fisherman, a distiller or a winemaker – Lynn Penner-Ash from Penner-Ash Wine Cellars in the Willamette Valley.
Personally speaking, an all-expense paid trip to learn at the knee of Lynn Penner-Ash, an award-winning winemaker who turns out lush Pinot Noir, seems like a pretty good deal to me.
And, it’s super-easy to submit to win the trip for your preferred experience – simply submit a short video to traveloregon.com/bounty and a Twitter-like statement of brevity in 140 characters on why you’re the perfect candidate. Entries will be received now til September 18th and winners will be announced on September 28th.
As a volunteer judge for the promotion, representing the wine blogging community, I caught up with Lynn Penner-Ash for a couple of questions:
Good Grape: What do you think the next 10 years holds for the Oregon wine scene, particularly the quality of the Pinot and its mark on the national and international scene?
Lynn Penner-Ash: We will see continued and greater consistency from the top tier wineries but wineries that didn’t manage to gain brand strength before this current economy will begin to populate a second tier - meaning lower price point. I imagine Oregon will start to have more price levels for the Pinot Noirs and more wines to choose from in those tiers. There are many acres of fruit just coming on line that were planted prior to 2008 when fruit seemed scarce and grape pricing was at an all time high. I think we will see more fruit available and more negotiable prices - which will then develop more brands in the 20 to 30 dollar range and continued growth of the under 20 wines.
Good Grape: You don’t see much Viognier coming from Oregon and you produce a relatively small amount—what was the impetus for doing a Viognier instead of a Pinot Gris or other white more typically associated with Oregon?
Lynn Penner-Ash: I have always been fascinated by Viognier, it can be so lovely and intoxicating and at other times alcoholic and mean spirited. We initially started working with Viognier to co-ferment with our Syrah. Having made what seemed like a million cases of Pinot Gris and Chardonnay in my 20 years of winemaking, I wanted to make a white wine that wasn’t what everyone else had to offer. Viognier was new to Oregon and a challenge for me.
Good Grape: Portland is a progressive city ... any thoughts on Portland’s food and wine passion that play into Oregon Bounty?
Lynn Penner-Ash: We have so much available to us locally - fresh produce, cheese, beer, meats, chocolate and wine that it encourages creative thinking. The “community” for the most part doesn’t take themselves too seriously so there is a greater sense of support and friendship. We get together with local chef friends, they make dinner, we open the wine and we all play a game of ping pong - we go camping and a friend creates the meal with what’s fresh or freshly caught and we provide the wine! We’ve got the easy deal, great food, great chefs and all we have to do is bring the wine! The best part is we enjoy each other’s friendship and don’t get caught up in the pretense. It’s an engaging lifestyle, supportive of experimentation and creativity.
Good Grape: Thanks, Lynn!
As we climb out of this economic hole, I’m personally pleased that we’ll do so with what seems to be a more grounded pragmatism about life and enjoyment – food and wine, friends and family, life experiences, those are the markers of a life well-lived, not necessarily the car you drove up in or the big house that you left ... So, leave the floor dirty for just a couple of minutes, submit to reality, Swiffer or no Swiffer, and enter to win an all-expense paid trip in the Oregon Cuisinternship program.
if you’re interested in a 130 page free Oregon Bounty cookbook with food and drink recipes, hit this link (PDF download)
To get more of the spirit of what the Penner-Ash wine Cuisinternship might be like see the short video below with Chef Gabe Rucker (shhhh … he’s a Napa native, now a Portland resident) and Lynn from Penner-Ash.
May 13 2009
As host for the May edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, my thematic request of participants is to revisit a California wine that marked a memorable moment in their wine journey.
What is your California Inspiration?
With a widespread retelling of the special moments in which California wine played a role, these blog posts also act as homage to Robert Mondavi, who passed away on May 16, 2008.
One year later, Saturday, May 16,, 2009 marks my proclaimed “Robert Mondavi Day,” a day to pause briefly and reflect fondly on Robert Mondavi and his contributions to the California wine industry we know today, not to mention his philanthropic largesse.
A legend, Mondavi, in my opinion, did more to raise the quality and image profile of Napa Valley, and by extension, California, than any one person before or since.
Committed to an air of collaboration and information sharing, Mondavi took the nascent California wine industry of the 1960s and grabbed it by the lapels becoming something of a Patriarch to the industry in the process.
In a job interview years ago I was asked what men I greatly admired and why—my answer was, in no certain order: Michael Jordan, Frank Sinatra, Lou Holtz and Robert Mondavi.
Each achieved greatness and followed unlikely paths to their destination, inspiring millions along the way.
The specific wine for my California inspiration could be any number of memories with a bottle of vino central to the occasion, one of which I’ll elaborate more upon when I do the Wine Blogging Wednesday round-up, but for today, I merely want to raise a glass and toast to Mondavi.
I know he’s drinking the Angel’s Share wherever he is.
May 7 2009
Who knew the California wine industry was the center of the non-believers, not even agnostic, uncertain about God’s presence because s/he has never revealed himself, simply non-believers without faith, atheists.
Atheists are usually reluctant to reveal themselves, as it is something of a social taboo to cop to being faithless.
Yet, I know a dense number of atheists exist in California and on the West Coast, particularly the wine industry, despite what the statistics tell you about population and religious identification.
There cannot possibly be much Christmas in Napa, Sonoma and elsewhere.
Despite this obvious Godless existence in the wine industry, I do not hold it against them, I am generally open and welcoming of things I do not totally understand, even if others are not.
There are approximately 80-90 million Catholics in America and I am one of them, at least by baptism, church protocol and 12 years of Catholic education. One in four people in the U.S. are Catholic, and the numbers add up even more as a percentage of the population if you count total Christians.
It is a funny thing about Catholics (and all Christians). We actually believe that Jesus was born by Immaculate Conception. Immaculate Conception as in: God put Jesus, the Son of God, in the tummy of Mary, without Joseph even getting to do the fun part, and unto us was born a Savior.
Another funny thing about Jesus – he could work miracles – cure lepers and turn water into wine.
And, Jesus was able to do something that nobody I know of has been able to replicate – he was dead for three days and then came back to life.
Wow. Now that is a party trick.
Catholics even add to this wonder with some specific beliefs and rituals. There is communion at every Mass and Catholics believe that the Eucharist and wine, when consecrated by the Priest, actually turns into the body and blood of Christ—literally, not symbolically.
Catholics also believe that we can be absolved of our sins by periodic visits to a priest to confess our sins and serve a penance, usually some “Our Fathers” and “Hail Mary’s.”
Likewise, Catholics believe in purgatory, so, you know, if you are not ready to go straight to heaven because you are carrying venial sin (essentially a forgivable offense) then you can hang out in Purgatory for a while to work the sin off, kind like a New Year’s diet to work off 10 holiday pounds.
You know this Christianity stuff is, if looked at objectively, peculiar stuff.
After 12 years of Catholic schooling, theology classes, Mass attendance, altar boy work and the like, I was imbued in the faith. I was a believer, or at the least, not a conscientious objector.
Then, I fell in love with a Jewish girl, my wife. To her, Jesus was a fine Jew and a carpenter, but not The Chosen One, as he/she has yet to grace us with their presence.
We could both agree on the God part, though. My wife and I have an interfaith marriage. When we start a family, according to Judaic canon a child born to a Jewish mother is Jewish. We will raise our kids with respect to the Judaic tradition with a nod to Unitarianism. Though, admittedly, I feel more spiritual than anything and I worship at “St. Mattress” on Sunday mornings. St. Mattress is the Patron Saint of Sleeping, particularly on Sunday mornings before drinking coffee and reading the New York Times, you may worship with him, as well ...
Seriously, though (kind of), the Unitarian church is rather welcoming, it is not your God, or my God; it is more of an “All God’s Creatures” kind of thing, recognizing Jesus, but not necessarily his divinity, which is good because I actually like the Eastern philosophical nature of it, very welcoming, very open to a diversity of views and individual expression of belief and faith. I bet you there are even some neopagans like Wicca practitioners that believe in the religion of nature that happen to attend Unitarian churches.
It is inclusive, not exclusive.
Now, all of this introspection about the nature of religion is well and good, but it really is related to wine, particularly Biodynamic wine.
There is a backlash against Biodynamic wine. A bunch of people in the wine business think it’s voodoo, shamanistic withcraft and a quasi-cult. These people have strong opinions, including St. Vini from the wine blog Zinquisition and Stuart Smith from Smith-Madrone winery (amongst many others not as vocal, albeit at stage right speaking in a stage whisper).
These people, who are vocally critical of Biodynamics are undoubtedly atheists—restless, rootless, faithless and Godless.
This Godlessness amongst so many in the wine industry is somewhat hard to believe, I know, but it is true. St. Vini even thanked God twice in his recent post that was rich with Biodynamic skepticism, a Freudian slip, undoubtedly.
Yet, I know that he is an atheist and without faith.
How do I know? Because surely anybody that looks down their nose at somebody who practices something that isn’t completely understood, can’t simultaneously also believe that Jesus was dead for 3 days and rose again to be the Lord Savior, as all Christians believe. Nor, just to make sure I have covered all of my bases, can he have any faith in any religion that relies on divinity in their belief system.
Therefore, I am left with only one conclusion: if you do not believe in BioD, you do not believe in any higher power.
Faith does not discriminate.
May 6 2009
I don’t particularly enjoy talking about Robert Parker or discussing the relative merits of the 100-point scoring system, mostly because nobody has had an original thought on him, his influence or the 100-point scoring system for the last 15 years.
I am no different. I don’t have anything to add that is profound, revelatory or enlightening.
And, that’s precisely why Parker is so important.
He is unassailable.
He is the rock of Gibraltar that cannot be chipped away, despite documentaries and barrels of ink against his influence and palate.
And, even when you do confront him, with journalistic intent, as writer Tyler Colman did two weeks ago, he responds with a red herring that distracts from the issue.
Wine bloggers were so lathered up talking about his message board post calling us “blobbers” and besmirching the Wine Blogger Conference, bloggers as the proverbial kids at the secondary Thanksgiving table, that we all forgot to check back and see what the net result was of Colman’s inquiry and Parker’s audit “with consequences” on the Jay Miller Argentinean junket.
Meanwhile, Colman was undoubtedly trying to put that lid back on the can of worms as quickly as possible, thankful for the red herring, preserving his own sanctity.
As far as I can tell, Parker artfully snuck his way out of a closed loop on the “Big Jay” imbroglio.
Yet, you sense that the duality of a sustained economic downturn affecting the high-end of wine coupled with the youth movement in wine consumption is going to put his reputational influence on the wane.
Perhaps the man, the Emperor of Wine, is on the wane. However, what is not on the wane is the use of the 100-pt scale.
Regardless of whether Parker retires in five years, or continues on years into the future in order to have a prodigiously long career akin to Michael Broadbent, what seems empirically clear to me is that the 100-point scale will be his legacy, and just as people come in and out of our collective consciousness, what doesn’t leave is their influence.
The Beatles haven’t released an album since 1970. Sinatra hit his apex in the early 1960’s. Perhaps it is hyperbole to compare Parker’s 100-pt. scale to The Beatles, but you get the point.
More importantly, music is getting the point(s).
Paste Magazine is an indie music magazine, and a good one. They focus on that sweet spot of music that is just above ground and quality-oriented, but below the collective consciousness.
They focus on the type of music that is very similar in number of fans and awareness, by analogy, as the 1000’s of boutique wine producers in the U.S. and elsewhere.
And, here’s the funny thing. As of September of ’08, they use a 100-pt rating scale for record reviews.
I caught up with Kate Kiefer, the reviews editor at Paste, for her comment on Paste’ use of the 100-pt. scale.
Question: When did you implement the 100 pt. scoring and what was the thought process behind doing so?
Kate: We started using the 100-point rating scale last September (Issue 46). We felt limited by our five-star scale—there were way too many three and four star ratings. Three stars didn’t really mean anything anymore. We like the nuance our new scale provides.
Question: Any thought to an empirical measurement of what many consider to be “art?”
Kate: Applying a qualitative number to a work of art is certainly an odd concept, but ratings provide context, and it’s nice to be able to glance at a score quickly. I’d encourage our readers to put more stock in the review itself than its rating though.
Question: What is the ranking criteria for the 100 point scale?
Kate: Here’s our scale: 0-25 regrettable, 26-49 forgettable, 50-74 respectable, 75-90 commendable, 91-100 phenomenal. Because everyone’s used to school-style grading, a reader might see a score of 70 and think it’s not very good, when it’s actually a good score—falling on the high end of “respectable.” Since our scale is relatively new, I think that readers will get used to the fact that a 60 is not a failing grade. We use 90 and above very sparingly.
It’s an interesting perspective on a review system borrowed from the wine world.
Music, art and wine can all be considered within the same subjective realm of evaluation, yet Paste views it as a tool that provides “context” and “nuance,” suggesting that readers look at it holistically with the review. And, it should be noted that they haven’t bastardized the scale to 80 +, deeming good work in the 50 – 74 range.
Regardless of whether wine enthusiasts love or loathe Parker, think his influence is diminishing or will continue, love his palate or hate it, one thing is clear, the 100-pt system is so well entrenched, and so influential that his legacy will undoubtedly be as the catalyst for the 100-pt system, regardless of where he ends up in the book of history.
It may make sense for wine enthusiasts to battle for a more normalized 100-pt system then the abolition of it. That seems like one area in which the Rock of Gibraltar that can be chipped away, red herrings or not.
April 20 2009
There are two unequivocal truths in the world of wine – Robert Mondavi was a legend whose impact is unquestioned and the other shaping factor in wine over the last 30 years has been the indelible imprint of wine ratings.
Robert Mondavi Day on May 16th
In a little less than a month, we’ll mark the first anniversary of wine industry titan Robert Mondavi’s passing. Few argue about his impact on the business from both an industry and a consumer perspective. He was a giant who cast a shadow that may be equaled, but won’t be eclipsed.
I’ve been a fan of the man for as long as I’ve been a wine lover, it was Mondavi who greeted me and welcomed me into the world of wine – he was an unknowing ambassador for so many people’s entry into the world of the grape by virtue of his role as unofficial spokesperson for California wine.
In order to commemorate his passing in an unofficial capacity, I’ll be doing a couple of things – on Wednesday I will announce Wine Blogging Wednesday for May that will have a California theme with a loose Mondavi tie-in (in order to be inclusive, he would have wanted it that way. In addition, I’m pondering creating a Facebook Fan Page for an unofficial declaration of May 16th as “Robert Mondavi Day,” and, finally, I’ve created an embeddable social object for others to use, marking Robert Mondavi Day.
If you are inclined, please consider grabbing the HTML from my site and embedding the icon/social object on your site to commemorate the anniversary of his passing.
I intend to observe May 16th every year, and if you’re even tangentially a fan of US wine, I urge you to celebrate with me, honoring a man whose impact on our domestic wine life can’t be underscored or minimized.
Dullard Dogma in Wine
I have been giving a lot of thought to wine criticism lately. As people posit about the rise of Internet wine writing relative to print journalism, Spectator, Enthusiast, et al, one thing remains very clear to me – ultimately, Spectator and Enthusiast may morph into more of an Advocate style work, with less lifestyle editorial and more of an emphasis on ratings.
Clear, simple and to the point, no pun intended, wine ratings aren’t going anywhere.
Therefore, our popular media and the cult of personality with critics aren’t going anywhere either. So, even as our culture speeds out of an aspirational lifestyle focus, one constant will remain – wine consumers of all stripes will still look for arbiters of taste.
Laube and Spectator, Advocate and his team, and others, even emerging voices, borne out of the Internet, will continue with influence.
At this point, it’s cultural that we look to others for guidance or validation in opinion influence.
However, and this is a big however, the limitation, and the void that I think needs to be filled is more of a holistic approach to that arbitration of taste.
Simply, the mark of intelligence is the ability to argue both sides of an issue with equal vigor. If you’re smart, you have an opinion, but you can address the issue of gun control from both a “liberal” and a “conservative” perspective.
It’s only the dullard who argues vigorously with dogma.
Reasonably enlightened people, typically those who enjoy wine, understand that our world isn’t fraught with issues black and white, but rather subtle shades of gray.
Therefore, shouldn’t wine criticism follow this same line of thought?
Unfortunately, at least today, it’s not so: this dullard dogma is a primary limitation to wine criticism:
It’s not a 360 degree perspective on a wine
What would be really helpful, for the development of wine criticism, since it’s not going anywhere, is instead of wine critics dividing up the world and one guy focusing on California, the other on France, etc. is to have two people focus on a country and give notes on the same wine like Siskel and Ebert.
You get to see pros and cons this way. The legacy movie critics would frequently disagree on a movie, but at least a consumer walked away understanding an opinion on the movie from two perspectives, more holistically.
I may be more art house than blockbuster in movie taste, but seeing both sides of the issue helped me decide whether a movie was worth seeing.
For example, nothing is as polarizing as oaked California Chardonnay. It’s also a style that a good many consumers like.
It’s like that for most wine issues related to style – New World vs. Old World, natural wine vs. “normal” wine, oak vs. unoaked, big fruit vs. restraint, food wine vs. high alcohol, etc.
If wine reviews were undertaken like movie reviews by the old Siskel and Ebert, then a review would present both sides of a wine in a manner that allows a reviewer to make up their own mind, not having to align with a historical understanding of a single critic’s palate.
Call me crazy, but the dullards dogma seems to be something that is easy to move beyond and a primary inhibitor.
Look for a new voice to emerge as the voice of reason in an otherwise unreasonable world, somebody who transcends the hegemony of points to holism, while fitting into a point driven culture.
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