March 12 2010
…Flotsam and jetsam that doesn’t fit into a regular blog post…
Wall Street Journal and Wine
A very interesting (and lengthy) profile on Wall Street Journal (WSJ) owner Rupert Murdoch in the March 8th issue of New York magazine (a far more interesting and diverse read than the New Yorker in my opinion, even if it doesn’t earn you faux intelligentsia status).
The article isn’t about wine, but it is about Ahab’s Murdoch’s pursuit of Moby Dick defeating the New York Times.
The article is worth the read. If nothing else it offers some circumstantial insight into the abrupt disappearance of former WSJ wine writers Dottie Gaither and John Brecher and their subsequent replacement by Jay McInerney.
When winning is your goal, money is no object and you have the temerity to battle Google even, jettisoning everyman wine writers for somebody that is a New York society scenester who can figuratively hold down the other end of the wine bar against Eric Asimov at the New York Times begins to make some sense.
Garagiste
If the definition of persuasive charm is getting somebody to agree to do something before thinking about it, then I give Jon Rimmerman my Claude C. Hopkins Lifetime Achievement Award for his incredible (sales copy) writing at Garagiste.
Secondarily, for the contrarians who have marked Parker for dethronement, the news of his untimely demise is still awaiting coincidence with market realities.
Finally, for wineries who say they don’t kneel at the altar of Parker, they are only talking about the wines that DON’T get reviewed.
Take, for example, a recent Garagiste offer for Chardonnay that had me pulling my wallet from my back pocket before consumer jurisprudence took hold (quoting Rimmerman in a Garagiste offer):
A few weeks ago, I was offered this wine for what now appears to be among the best price/value ratios in a number of years. At the time, the wine was floundering around without much market demand and the prospect of the 2008 vintage right around the corner. I found the wine to be quite agreeable, even very fine (for domestic Chardonnay) and was surprised that it was not in greater demand. While I would rather not be known as a domestic Chardonnay specialist, the wine was quite surprising and I knew a number of you would be happy to enjoy it. I secured the wine (at a great price) and had it scheduled for the first week of April. That was two weeks ago.
Last week, the new Wine Advocate was released and Parker gave this the highest score in the last 5-10 years for a domestic Chardonnay in this price range (maybe the highest score in the last 15 years). For arguably the most influential voice of California wine, that is a major statement indeed. Let the market frenzy ensue…
The offer was for the 2007 Chateau St. Jean Belle Terre Vineyard Chardonnay, a wine that was going into “deal” (read: priced to move) mode at $16.99 from Garagiste before Parker gave his review (a 93 score).
According to Rimmerman in his email newsletter, “…we can only have one shipment at the deal price – if we re-order, it’s at a “corrected” tariff that accommodates for the WA93.”
The “corrected tariff” means in winery parlance, “The bluebird of happiness of just shit on our desk and we’re no longer going to ‘fire sale’ this wine.”
These are interesting times we live in ... related to the wine world, I sometimes feel like it’s the ultimate game of bluff poker.
Personally speaking, I’d go to my local bottle shop and buy two bottles of the Snoqualmie Chardonnay (wooded or unleaded) and call it a day.
File in: Free content
Speaking of Claude C. Hopkins, he’s the forefather of advertising sales copy. He wrote a seminal book called “Scientific Advertising” that is as relevant today as when it was first published in 1923. The book is in the public domain and can be found at Scribd, a content sharing site.
Check out Scribd for a bunch of other interesting wine-related content, too. Recent wine books include:
• A History of Wine in America by Thomas Pinney
• Wine and Philosophy edited by Fritz Allhoff
• A Taste for Wine - 20 Key Tastings to Unlock Your Personal Wine Style by Vincent Gasnier
Winemaker Extraordinaire
In the fall, I highlighted a wine game called, “Wine Tycoon” that had an hour’s worth of notice in the wine world news cycle. And, I also just recently tripped across another game called, “Winemaker Extraordinaire” which is surprisingly well-reviewed and inexpensive ($6.99), compared to $19.99 for “Wine Tycoon.”
Released in the spring of last year, “Winemaker Extraordinaire” follows a Peter Mayle-like plotline:
When Maria Bellaventura finds out that she has inherited an Italian winery, she must leave her stress-filled life as a corporate lawyer to take over the family business.
I have downloaded the game and will do a head to head analysis between it and Wine Tycoon. If you’re the gaming sort, “Winemaker Extraordinaire” is worth a look.
Posted in, News, Notes & Dusty Bottle Items. Permalink | Comments (2) |
I TOTALLY missed the Dottie and John departure announcement until last week. To say I was crushed is an understatement. Dottie and John are legends in the wine media world, not just “writers”. They made wine accessible to tons of people who otherwise would not have ventured to try and learn about it, including me. Murdoch threw the baby out with the bathwater with this move. I would hope WSJ would have the decency not to make them sign a non-compete agreement (a la Conan O’Brian).
I hope they land somewhere soon and bring us those wonderful columns again.
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So is THAT why Dottie Gaither and John Brecher left WSJ—so the WSJ could up their snootiness factor with “a New York society scenester” who can compete with the Times’ Eric Asimov? That is the best explanation I’ve heard so far; it makes all the sense in the world.
It makes me sad, though. I just got turned on to Dottie and John’s columns a few months ago, and loved them for their lucidity and plain-spoken insight. Sure, McInerney is a fun read, I have two of his wine books, but c’mon! I’d rather have Dottie and John back.
I just hope they pop back up somewhere soon, I loved their warm and approachable style.