Vinotology Wine Blog

February 18th - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

This week yielded a couple of items that warranted consideration for The Good. The first comes to us from my friend Joe Herrig of Suburban Wino. After all these years of fumbling around, trying to figure out how to behave myself at wine tastings, Joe has finally shone some light on the subject.

The second was a great piece of marketing that I found through Dr. Vino's blog. Move over Old Spice Guy, now the wine world has its own twist to the iconic ad campaign.

The Bad this week is the very thought that HR5034 might resurface again this year. At least there are efforts to get out in front of the sh%&ty legislation. Tom Wark posted on a report in WineBusiness.com that "...associations representing nearly all the wine, beer and spirit companies operating in the U.S. issued a letter to all members of Congress urging them NOT TO SPONSOR any new version of H.R. 5034 that will likely be introduced again this year." I find it hard to believe that this legislation would ever pass, but I would really prefer that we not even get close to finding out.

For those who aren't up on the details of last year's HR5034 bill, There's a great two minute long video that my friend Chris Oggenfuss from VinTuba put together last year explaining.

 

It is with great sadness that I must include this news of dumb-assery that took place in Austria. Vinography posted this story from the AP, about vandals chopping down a gruner veltliner vine that was over 500 years old. Think of all the things that this vine had to survive to make it 500 years on this earth, and it all comes to an end at the hand of one jackass. RIP old guy.

Cheers!

What Does Precept Growth Mean to Washington Wine Industry?

Anyone who has been paying attention to the ways of the world in the last few decades could tell you that the times, they are a changin'. There has been a steady move away from the locally owned mom and pop businesses in favor of larger corporations. In some industries this comes in the form of big box retailers moving into an area, displacing the locally owned stores, and in some cases it is in the form of the larger companies buying out the smaller ones. The wine industry has certainly not been an exception to this trend, and we have seen an acceleration of this trend in recent years, with brands like Constellation growing ever larger in their holdings. The state of the economy over the last several years has certainly contributed to this, as more and more people are becoming value conscious with their wine purchasing decisions.

Washington State has long been the home of smaller production wineries, with the exception of a couple of juggernauts. One of the larger companies in the state is Precept Wine Brands. This week Precept announced two purchases that are expected to push their production up to around 900,000 cases this year. With the acquisition of Canoe Ridge Vineyards and Sageland Vineyards, Precept builds on the large purchase of Corus Estates and Vineyards (which included Alder Ridge and Sawtooth wineries) last year. In addition to the wineries, the acquisition of Canoe Ridge Vineyards has brought the vineyard holdings of Precept up to approximately 3000 acres.

One representative from a winery contacted me this week and posed some questions about what affect the growth of Precept will have on the smaller wineries in the state. The concern that was implied in the questions was that the purchase of heritage brands and subsequent lowering of the price of the wines could be potentially damaging to producers who must charge a higher price for their boutique and small production wines.

A counter argument was presented almost a year ago by Paul Gregutt on his blog. Gregutt had interviewed Precept Brands Founder/CEO Andrew Browne, and his take on the issue was that the growth of Washington owned companies was a positive thing for the state's wine industry, potentially aiding in establishing Washington wines in other markets. His point, as I understand it, is that the growth in the sub-$15 wine market from Washington and increase in production are likely necessary to make Washington a true player in the global wine marketplace. He sums up his point in the comments when he says that, "...a rising tide floats all boats."

So what is the overall effect of the consolidation of wine brands under larger corporations? It's hard to say at this point. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for locally owned business. I generally avoid Starbucks in favor of local options, and I'll always shop at a locally owned option over a big box store when possible. I certainly think that, at least in the short term, the trend can make it harder for smaller brands to compete. Having heritage brands on the market for $15 a bottle is bound to move some sales away from brands that are in the $30+ price point. The question is how large this move is going to be, and how many brands will be able to weather the storm. The centralizing trend will likely only accelerate as some brands aren't able to remain profitable and join the other labels that have been purchased by larger companies. That being said, Paul Gregutt has a point. When I lived in Texas, the only Washington wines that were readily available to me were Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest and Hogue. These wines were all of high quality for their price point, but didn't give me very much choice when it came to Washington wines, which hurt the state's ability to grab my attention overall. Having more options for Washington wine in markets around the country (and globe) does seem like it would help to more firmly establish the state's wines in the minds of consumers around the country.

Ultimately, the questions won't really be answered until we've had several years to observe the trends. I would definitely be interested to hear the thoughts of those in the Washington wine industry on the question (either on or off the record.) I would also be interested in hearing some thoughts from producers in California, who have already had to deal with these kinds of issues for some time.

Sharing a Little Madness - Folie à Deux Wines

It's not often that I get wine that was named after a psychological disorder. I think the closest thing is probably the Delirium Tremens beer that I occasionally indulge in. I recently received samples of three different wines produced by Folie à Deux, the famed subsidiary winery of Trinchero Family Estates. Folie à Deux is perhaps best known for their Menage à Trois wines (the red Menage à Trois blend has been reported to be the best selling red wine in America.) The wines that I received are part of their slightly higher price-point offerings, but still retail for $24, and can often be found between $15-20.

The winery was originally started by two psychologists who chose the name Folie à Deux, which means "a madness shared by two", or more flatteringly translated as "shared fantasies" in the literature. I will admit that I spent a little time on Wikipedia to learn this, but the condition is really quite in interesting, so you might want to give the post a little gander, but I'm getting off track. When it comes to the wines, I think that these wines are crowd pleasers. They aren't overly complex, but they are eminently drinkable, and represent good value for Napa wines. 

The Wines

2009 Napa Valley Chardonnay

This Chardonnay was aged in a mix of stainless steel and oak (less than half fermented in steel), and I think that this was a good choice. This Chard definitely has what you expect from a Napa Chardonnay, complete with butter and oak, but not in overwhelming amounts. There is still plenty of room for the tropical fruit and apple to shine through. Well balanced acidity, fruit, and oak make this one an enjoyable quaff, and I think that it is a good value if you find it for under $20. If you are a fan of California Chardonnay, you could do a lot worse than this one.

2008 Napa Valley Merlot

The Merlot is an easy drinking wine, with some red fruit, berries, and spice coming into play in the glass. A little hot (14.5% ABV), but still pleasant to drink. Despite only being in oak for seven months, the oak notes are definitely evident in the wine. The addition of a bit of Cabernet to the wine also seems to have had the desired effect, contributing a little backbone. Overall, a decent but unexceptional Merlot. Still a good value in the price-point.

2008 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Very pleasant Cab offering, with nice dark fruit, cherry, and raspberry, coming together with some strong oak notes. This was Mrs. Vinotology's favorite of the three wines that we tasted. Nice big fruit on this wine, bold enough to stand up to a lot of foods. This would probably be a great wine for someone who is just starting to venture into bolder reds. Not the most complex of Cabernet experiences, but will go over well at most dinner parties. 

 

The Finish

I wouldn't be embarrassed to serve any of these wines to guests with dinner. They are all very drinkable, and are available pretty much anywhere in America. None of the wines had much in the way of complexity, but for a grocery store wine, they were all enjoyable to drink. If you are looking for a wine for your wine snob (and I say that in the nicest way possible) friends, you will probably want to go a different direction, but for a Tuesday night wine with friends, any of these three wines should do the trick. 

February 11th - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Hardy Wallace was on fire this week on his Dirty South Wine blog. He had not one, but two squirt milk out of your nose funny posts this week. The first had Hardy laying the smack down on lame digital and social marketing shiz. Hardy wasn't done though, as he posted this work of art that shows what the wine industry could learn from the world of hip-hop.

Dr. Vino posted this week that wine investment fraud may run as high as £30 million a year, not that I know how much that is exactly in American money, but it sure sounds like a lot. The source for the report was a segment on BBC London.  

I always know that I can count on my friend Katy Pizzuto to talk sense when the world is going crazy around us, and this week was no exception. On her Gonzo Gastronomy blog Katie pretty well outlines how ugly the world of Valentine's Day can be. Fortunately, she also has a great prescription to the problem (aside from the obvious, more cowbell.) I think there would be a lot of marriages that would be better for listening to Katie's sage advice.

Cheers!

Photo taken from Dirty South Wine

The Michigan by the Bottle IPhone App Giveaway

I love people who see a need and work hard to fill that need. The wine industry is full of technological gaps compared to a lot of industries. It seems like the industry is just a little behind on taking advantage of the technology that is available to support their interests. My friends at the Michigan by the bottle blog have really positioned themselves as the go-to team in supporting their local wine scene, and the recent release of their IPhone app is just the latest example.

Shannon and Cortney Casey have been tirelessly covering the world of Michigan wine on their blog for quite a while now, and have been really instrumental in my awareness of Michigan wines. They have used blogging, video blogging, and Twitter tastings to spread their local wine gospel, and have now released an IPhone app that has information about every winery in the state of Michigan. There is a surprising lack of local wine apps on the market right now, and I think that this is a segment that could really be exploited to bring attention to various regions, and to help local wine enthusiasts plan tasting trips and make purchasing decisions. I expect to see a lot of wine regions beginning to fund mobile apps in the near future, and MBTB's app could serve as a good case study for how these apps might be useful.

Shannon has graciously offered to let me give away a free download of the app to a lucky Vinotology reader. If you have any interest in Michigan wine, if you would be interested in reviewing the app with an eye toward creating a regional IPhone app for your area, or even if you are just curious, leave me a comment on this post to be entered into a random drawing for the app download key. To whoever wins the drawing, I'm sure Shannon and Cortney would appreciate that you leave a rating and review of the app after you have had a chance to try it. Also, if you are just interested in purchasing the app, you can do so here.

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, as you can see, the switch-over to the new site design is not in place yet. I have been having some issues with getting my hosting set up, but I am ready to start back to normal posting. The new site will hopefully be up soon, but in the meantime I wanted to go ahead and get started with posting again.

When I embarked on this project to change up my site I had some grandiose plans about drastically changing the format of the site. I had some different types of posts that I had been wanting to do, and felt that they didn't really fit within the style that I have established here. While I was working on getting the new design together I started to question the changes that I was going to be making. I have jumped into some new business endeavors, and I started to realize that the changes that I was going to make might not fit the brand that I have been building. It's possible that somewhere down the road I might start a spinoff site for the ideas that I have, but I won't be going there on this blog right now. That doesn't mean that there won't be changes, because there are going to be some pretty significant changes taking place.

The biggest change is that I am going to be officially starting to focus more on the Washington wine world. I'll still post about other regions, but the bulk of my work will be focused on my Washington wine journey. I will be introducing some new features in the coming months that will be geared towards the Washington community. I hope that the changes will still be enjoyable for those outside of Washington, and I intend to have some specific content geared towards non-Washington readers about wines that are likely to be available in their markets. 

I appreciate the support that all of you have given me over the last year or so, and I look forward to sharing this new stage of my wine writing life with you. I'm very excited about some of the content that I'm working on, and I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it.

January 28th - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

After some chatting on Twitter today, Paul Mabray from Vintank convinced me to interrupt my hiatus to put out an installment of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly this week. For those who have been wondering about me, the plan is to relaunch Vinotology next week with my new design and format. The plan has morphed a little bit from what I had originally intended for the relaunch, but there will be some changes in store, beyond a new look for the site. Looking forward to resuming my daily duties on the blog soon, and thanks for your patience.

Without further ado, here's TGTB&TU:

During my absence, there has been some great content coming from some of my favorite blogs. One of my favorite posts (actually a two part series of posts) was from the 1WineDude blog. There have been a lot of bloggers who have tackled the issue of biodynamics on their blogs, but the two part point-counterpoint series by Joe Roberts is one of the best explorations of the subject that I have seen. He did a great job of getting both sides of the story, straight from the horses mouths. The interviews with Alan York (pro) and Stu Smith (against) were both expertly done, and did a great job of shining some light on the two perspectives. Check them out.

This next item could just have easily slid into the Ugly this week, but the competition for that category was fierce, and I managed to find something even uglier than cookbooks centered around fart inducing food. Go figure. Katie Pizzuto is awesome, as always, in her post on the sickeningly titled "THE FART WITHOUT FEAR COOKBOOK".

The Ugly this week centers on some controversy that cropped up this week about wine database and social networking site Snooth, courtesy of some good investigation by the Vintank folks. The first bombshell game in the form of an exploration of some numbers that were reported by Snooth. Vintank did some digging to explain the numbers, which yielded some evidence that seem to reinforce the old axiom about "lies, damn lies, and statistics." 

Unfortunately for the folks at Snooth, the hits kept on coming. In a follow-up post Vintank supplied evidence that Snooth had been populating their database with data taken from online wine review juggernaut Cellartracker. In a follow up response, Snooth founder Philip James provided an apology and explanation. While I appreciate the fact that Snooth seems to be acting to clean up the mess, it seems like a case of "too little, too late" to me. At best Snooth might have gotten caught asleep at the wheel when it comes to cleaning up old data, and at worst they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. It will be interesting to see what comes of this in the long term, as the possibility of legal action has been bandied about in the comments on some of these posts. This one really is a cautionary tale for anyone looking to do business online.

Cheers!

A Brief Hiatus (sort of)

I hope that everyone had a very happy holidays, and that you all got what you wanted from Santa this year. Now comes the short gear up to New Years, and locating the perfect bottle of bubbly for your NYE party. I love this time of year.

I have had a few people ask me what was up with my disappearance from the blogging world over the last week. There have actually been a couple of reasons for the absence. The first is that I have been unholy busy with work on my business and the typical yearly Christmas blitz. It's been a good kind of busy, but it has made it difficult for me to keep up with the writing. The second reason is that I have decided that I will be doing a bit of an overhaul on the blog in the coming weeks. The overhaul is going to be a pretty big change, which I realize is a dicey thing to do to an established blog, but I think that it will be for the best in the long run.

I have always used this blog as a spot to write about what I want to write about. I don't really make much in the way of monetary compensation, so the main motivation for the blog is that I enjoy doing it. Recently I have started getting some ideas that I thought would be fun to play around with, but I felt like they would make the blog feel disjointed. I have been working on a way to tie all these ideas together into a more coherent package, and I am really excited about the direction that I've come up with. Some of this involves a redesign of the site, which I will be doing myself (again, no significant money coming from the blog), and I will also be modifying the content a bit. Don't worry, much of the stuff that you have read here in the past will still have a place on the blog, it will just be tweaked slightly to fit into the new format. I'll still be doing The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (almost) every week, and I will still be writing about wines and wineries, but everything will be pulled together a little differently.

I really believe that this new direction is going to be something that you all enjoy, and that I will enjoy writing, but it's going to take some time for me to put it all together. I will probably be posting periodically during the revamp, but I will be taking a bit of a break from daily posting while I work on the redesign and update. I'm looking forward to sharing it with you all soon. Thanks for all of your support over the last year, and for your patience with my new adventure. Cheers!

December 17th - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I somehow totally forgot about this post for last weeks TGTBTU, so I decided to give it some props this week. I have gushed on this blog before about how Katie Pizzuto's Gonzo Gastronomy blog is one of the most consistently interesting and unique blogs out there, featuring some fantastic writing and loads of attitude, but I will reiterate that here. If you aren't regularly reading this blog, you should immediately change that and add it to your RSS reader. 

Katie was recently sent two sample bottles of the new wine created for the HBO show, Bored to Death (a must-watch BTW), and she posted a contest on her blog that challenged readers with a desert island scenario (you are stranded on an island and can only have one {fill in the blank}...) for drinks and a television show. She would pick the winner based on her appreciation of the comments for both drink and show. The winner would then help produce a co-op post on the wine. Last week she posted the results, and behold, it was Good. I especially love the synopsis that Katie had for this Chardonnay.

Finding a chardonnay from CA that doesn’t taste like Dole pineapple juice stirred with a 2×4 is a rare cause for glee in my house, and that’s what this wine was—like he said, compliments don’t come much higher than that.

Josh Wade posted this week on the problems that growers in Washington State could be facing due to some early frost. I always hate to see reports of trouble from the vineyards, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best for all of the growers in the NW. 

Steve Heimoff writes poetry..., enough said.

BTW, I'm just playing around with this one. I love Steve's writing, and I actually think that it was a cool way to announce a day off on the blog. Still, as a poet, Steve makes a hell of a wine writer. :)

The Wine Trials 2011 Enters My Court

I've been intending to do some reviews of books that I've been reading for a while now, but haven't gotten around to it. I finally have decided to dive in, and I'll be starting off with a book that I recently received as a sample from the publisher, The Wine Trials 2011 by Robin Goldstein with Alexis Herschkowitsch, and Tyce Walters.

For those not already familiar with the previous editions of this book, Goldstein has created quite a stir in the wine world. He exposed a ploy to sell advertising in the Wine Spectator that was masked as an "Award for Excellence" for restaurants, incited some spirited debate with Eric Asimov, and talked about RUSH with 1WineDude. As for the book itself, it made claims that a number of wines priced under $15 were routinely preferred to other wines priced over $50, including some very famous brand names. The book describes the large blind tasting that was set up, and gives a guide to a number of the sub-$15 wines that fared the best from the tastings.

The 2011 edition of this book follows the same format as its predecessors, giving an updated list of the expanded tasting (175 wines listed in this edition), and an update on the content of the book. Much of what is said in the book has to do with Goldstein singing the praises of blind tasting, and discussing aspirational wines, the flagship example in the book being Dom Perignon. The list of wines features wines that have production of at least 10,000 cases, meaning that most should be readily available to people in different areas. Each wine must be available for under $15.

I found myself bouncing between agreement and disagreement with the book. In general, I think that the message is accurate. The average wine drinker doesn't need to spend $50 on a bottle of wine to find one that they will enjoy. Even the more experienced drinkers can find wines that they would enjoy in the $15 price range, and I do agree that there can be a psychological effect in play when it comes to perceptions of a wine for which you already know the price. It's hard to argue with the numbers that the book lists when it comes to comparing that bottle of Dom to a bottle of Domaine Ste. Michelle, even among "expert" tasters. Where I found myself having the most trouble agreeing was when it came to the subject of exclusive blind tasting for reviews. I would certainly like to see more blind tasting in reviews, and less manipulation of blind tasting scores for the benefit of advertisers, but I found myself getting off the bus when it came to not even knowing the varieties of wines. 

I can think of several instances where I tasted a wine, and enjoyed drinking it, but couldn't get past the fact that it didn't share the characteristics that were common to the variety. In those cases I would have said that the wine was a nice wine to drink, but that it wasn't a good Cabernet, Pinot Noir, or whatever the variety in question is. While this might not have a bearing on whether or not the average consumer would enjoy the wine, it is information that I think should be available to the consumer in a review. I'm not saying that I think that this is an argument against blind tasting in reviews, but I think that it is something that needs to be taken into consideration in the review process. Perhaps that would mean that the variety is the only information known to the tasters, or that there is a secondary typicity review after the wine had been tasted, but I think that the typicity is something that should go into the score of the wine.

Aside from that, I was impressed overall with the work that was done for this book. I haven't read previous editions of the book, but I have read elsewhere that they have upped the scientific nature of the study to counter some of the criticisms that some might have had in the past. I did appreciate the fact that the authors addressed one of the questions that popped into my head early on, that of who was doing the tastings. I would be curious to see a more complete breakdown on how the different wines fared among the "expert" tasters and the "non-expert" ones, but I was glad to see that the wines were tasted by both. Goldstein admits that the results did differ somewhat between the two groups, and it would be interesting to know more about the specific results.

In general, I think that this book is a great fit for the average wine drinker, and for any of us who have an interest in finding good wines in a lower price point. I know I was ready to run out to my local shop and pick up some of the wines that were mentioned to try them out myself. As much as the artistry of a fine wine is something that I can appreciate, I also have a great appreciation for good value wines. I think that most consumers are looking for wines that they can keep on hand for that Tuesday night, and this book gives a lot of good recommendations for people to try. It also does a great job of establishing its case for blind tasting, and I think that Goldstein is right when he recommends that people try more blind tasting. It is always fun to see the results of these tastings, and I would recommend organizing a blind tasting event to anyone who likes to put together wine events. You might be surprised at the results.