ampelography

Time to Think about Pink

2012-01-23T09:06:00.003-05:00

This is the time of year when importers, distributors and ultimately retailers forecast and commit to their Rosé purchases for the warm months of 2012. We have seen a steady increase in the sales of rosé for as long as I can remember, and we are now at a point where every fine wine shop and restaurant in the country is doing something with this category. The mantra is: Rosé is brought in right after the wine is finished and sold out before it hits 1 year old. Rosé is seemingly held in the same regard as Beaujolais Nouveau, if you don't drink it, it will be dead wine in 2 years. This is absolutely absurd. Rosé lives longer than many similarly priced white wines, and unlike it's white counterparts, actually could use a bit of time to develop. I'm not talking about cellaring these wines, but I certainly would think that a 2 year old Rosé isn't the kiss of death we have come to believe in this industry.
I not sure how we got this way. The demand for early arrival dry pink is so great that many producers have prioritized it's bottling and release before that of many white wines. Who decided that was a good idea? And who decreed that 2 year old rosé is the kiss of death? My theory is it is the mentality of the people taking the risks of buying and selling the wines. If they place some sort of hard and fast parameters and metrics on these items, they are held less accountable for taking risks. Unfortunately, they are setting themselves up for some degree of disaster. Purchasing agents groan when confronted with having to buy in on rosé, and many feel like they get burned every year because it isn't all sold out by August 1. Then they need to discount it, sometimes at a great loss, and then the cycle starts all over again, because the market does demand rosé. Admittedly, rosé has become closely associated with Summertime, and rightfully so. We all know that rosé does quite well year round though especially at Thanksgiving and Easter. It's a breakable cycle if we as a wine community can teach and learn just two thing about rosé: it improves in year 2, and we can and should drink it year round.
Not too many generalizations work in wine. I am pretty confident about this one. I would estimate that 95% of dry rosés out there will peak in the 18 month- 24 month window, 6 months after many have been closed out. I'm not suggesting buying these and sitting on them for 2 years as that's pretty bad business. What to do, and now is a great time to do it as rosé continues to gain popularity, is to educate the wine community, starting with consumers, sommeliers and retailers as to the durability and year round drink-ability of rosé.
Perhaps if we band together, we can help out those poor purchasing agents staring at their rosé offerings with dread right now.

Who's the Boss?

2012-01-10T08:49:00.002-05:00

The customer is always right. Duh. That's like rule number one of business. For some reason, the beverage business blurs this line a little bit (or a lot). Theoretically, each lower tier of the distribution model becomes a customer for the tier directly above it. The distributor is the customer for the supplier, the retailer is the customer for the distributor. These are both true, but the lines can go both ways. The distributor, since they are the single outlet for the supplier, often receives pressure from the supplier. The supplier always has an option to find another customer. That just sounds weird. The supplier can fire their customer and find one that will buy more of their product. Does this happen anywhere else? The dynamics of this possibility make this relationship strange. In many instances, the distributor and the supplier are on the same page and partnered up. If not, the supplier needs to gingerly apply pressure on the distributor to buy and sell more product. When push comes to shove, who wins out? Well, no one. It's sort of a dance to see if each others abilities, pocketbook and priorities are even in the same ballpark. If not, lawyers step in, then everyone loses in the short term.

Ordinarily I'd try to insert some nugget of wisdom or perspective into the proceedings, but today, I have none. It's a strange dance, built around strange laws and everyone I know has battle scars to show for it. I'm lucky to be with like-minded distributors who are largely on the same page. I have no illusions that it will stay this way, but today it is, so all is good.

Quit talking about yourself, and start being yourself (another social media lecture)

2011-11-30T08:44:00.004-05:00

Most of you are creating noise. I follow tons of wineries, distributors and wine people in general. Most of you are selling, or trying to sell. Instead, you are selling out. Social media is the wrong medium for selling (directly). As a member of the community, your obligation is to show yourself or your brand as being candid and authentic. Be you. This is why you have followers, because people want to hear what you have to say. They want a rallying cry. They want your unedited opinion. They must already like you or your brand. It's the difference between selling cars and working in a restaurant. Cars, you have to make sure the customer doesn't leave, so you sell them on everything. In restaurants, they're already engaged, you don't need to sell them on how great your food is anymore. Your followers are already in your restaurant. Now that they're there, you have a chance to engage them, inspire them, humor them, or make them think. Nothing is more authentic or effective than you being you.

Escape or Contribute?

2011-11-16T09:22:00.004-05:00

Growing up in Toledo, I was trained to say that "this town sucks", that "I can't wait to get out", "There's so much more to do in other cities". This was the anthem of the youth in the 80's (maybe today too, for all I know). Well, I got out. And I really enjoyed my time in California. And I got some perspective on the Midwest. Ohio remained, home. For several years, I had a conflicted perspective on how I felt about Ohio. I missed the little things, but I could never imagine myself placed back in the gray and gloomy backdrop, with the backwards culture, and depressing politics. Eventually, my desire to be surrounded by family got the best of me and I submitted, we returned.

Upon returning, I regretted the move almost immediately, I felt like, I had really overestimated how much I missed the place. Time went on, and the wine business worked pretty well for me here. I eventually discovered that, I wasn't alone. There were many talented, and experienced food and wine folks returning to their hometowns. The cost of living on the coasts and the relatively meager existence that this business sometimes offers made people grow up and re-calculate their life choices. Maybe it was the family heartstrings. These weren't people that failed in New York or Chicago and were now in their parents' basements, these were people that made a conscious decision to continue their career progressions in cities that weren't necessarily synonymous with food, wine or culture, but that they wanted to be a part of building that. What was seemingly a move of necessity or convenience has turned into reverse migration with a noble common purpose, to make the most of what we're given.

I'm not going to delve too deeply into why we felt that the big city held the life satisfaction. We all agree that there is no shortage of things to do, or culture in the biggest of cities. While that may be what lights your fire, I'm here to tell you that the Midwest, and certainly my little corner of it has something that the big cities have a hard time offering-chance to build something together.

Thanks in large part to a litany of chefs from Cleveland returning to their roots, and hometowns in the last dozen or so years after success in L.A, Chicago and New York, Cleveland has undergone a Food and Wine Renaissance quite unlike any American City I can think of. The national food media has begun to pay attention. That idea that we, as Ohioans, or Michiganders (cue the Chrysler Eminem commercial), can get together with our friends and families and with a twinkle in our eye and with the nearly forgotten histories of what our cities were like long before we were born, make this, our homes and hometowns, the place that satisfies our wanderlust. Bring the proverbial Mountain to Mohammed.

This movement is not limited to chefs. Living in the breadbasket of America, we grow stuff, and the growers have all changed. We now have cheese-makers, dairy farms that follow their own strict guidelines, cattle, hog and chicken farmers raising free range, naturally fed livestock, and entire markets devoted to nothing but locally grown and produced products. The Midwest as an artisan mecca is becoming a reality. People that left or would have left a dozen years ago are opting to be a part of the movement here at home.

I've seen varying levels of this movement in all of the major cities I call on, whether it's Detroit, with the incredible ethnic food and underground wine and supper clubs or Cleveland with the Celebrity chef fueled downtown and surrounding neighborhood reinvention to Cincinnati and Columbus's burgeoning food scenes, change is happening right here, right now. I say this with all sincerity- I've never been more professionally satisfied or inspired than I am right here, right now.

There are no "bear and bull" vintages

2011-11-03T14:32:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Global warming and modern winemaking techniques, we have fewer poor vintages than in the past. We also seem to have more of the "great" vintages handed to us as well. I touched on this before. Time has passed, and now, I have dealt with the 2008 Rhone fallout.

The Southern Rhone has experienced a string of easy vintages. In the last 10 years they have had 9, really great years. With the consensus exception of the 2002 vintage, they were all vintages worth buying. The 2008, sandwiched between the 93pt-2009 Vintage and the 98pt-2007 vintage (heavily overrated in my opinion), received a measly 86 points. Looking down to the bottom of the erobertparker page, that translates to "very good to excellent". I agree, completely. 2008 was a good vintage. The wines are generally very good. This was not the vintage of the century, but I thought it was very much like the classic 2006 vintage, which scored lower than the 2005 (90 vs. 95pts), but has proven to be a better and more age-able wine. Warmer vintages tend to get higher scores, and show well younger, but don't seem to hold up as well, generally.

It is within every wine buyer's nature to buy when the vintage is good and pass when it's not. It is their responsibility to buy selectively and in the best interest of their clientele. The other force, the wineries and the wholesalers, say that they have wine to sell from the vintages that are not as well received. This creates a logjam and in many cases, creates turmoil for the brands. Wholesalers and wineries plead with the retailers to keep buying in and out of the vintages and sometimes try to tie next year's allocations to the purchase of the "off" vintage. This usually just creates ill will.

Back to the Rhone problem. I have dealt with many, many buyers that were passing on the 2008 vintage because it wasn't very good. Parker thought it was good, just not as good as the surrounding vintages. We have now created a wine buying society that takes these cheat sheets and mistakes this for being savvy, at the expense of the very producers that they covet in the great vintages (which seem to happen 8 of every 10 years). I had these buyers passing on the 2008's, tasting them and agreeing they were great, but that they would be a tough sell. I don't want to marginalize the impact a consumer with just enough information to be dangerous can have on your sales. These vintage charts made a fair amount of sense in 1970, when you didn't really know if you should buy the 1966, 1967, or 1963 vintage of Chambolle Musgny for $18. For the record, they were all bad years-see how much times have changed? It is these pocket vintage charts plus the expectations of 94pt vintages every year that are dampening our collective sales.

It would seem that a compromise is available. When a less than 95-point vintage comes along, there must be a way for a retailer to explain to the consumer that they "hand select" each of the wines from these "off" vintages. This could potentially offer some killer deals for the consumer as many Old world wineries discount these vintages to move through them. This is the buying savvy that we all need.

A solution to the blisteringly easy target that is Marvin Enterprises and the Wine List Award Company.

2011-10-29T10:26:00.006-04:00

I represent a pretty specialized group of wineries. Wineries that largely make sense in an interesting restaurant program. Therefore, I see an awful lot of those "Award for Excellence" plaques hanging beside the bars of my clients. When I was a somm, I coveted these distinctions. I felt like it validated everything I was working for. I worked hard to achieve the 2 glass award. I spent hours assembling the most attractive package to send in, with beautifully written verbiage about the passion behind our wine program, to only receive, 1 glass, again. Frustrated, I stopped submitting, writing them off as tools, accurately albeit prematurely.

Then, I traveled. I traveled many parts of the country, seeing these signs, and looking at lists, and here's what I've concluded: Wine Spectator doesn't care about your wine list. Hilarious individuals have completely debunked this entire process and proven as such. This is obviously (partially) a moneymaking scam for Wine Spectator. Here is the math: If you employed 1 full time employee to read every submission during their 150 day submission period, it would add up to about 20 minutes per wine list assuming an 8 hr work day. Heck, double it. Lets say you have 2 full time employees, and you pay them each $50k per year. What would you need to bring in in order to justify that? Last year, they gave 2827 Awards for Excellence (1 glass), 833 Best of Award of Excellence (2 Glasses) and 74 Grand Awards (3 Glasses). It also costs $250 for every submission, regardless of what or if you win. So that makes $933,500 in revenue from this program. Yeah, that probably justifies 2 full-time employees (but I bet they use interns).
So now that that we acknowledge that this process has been corrupted by money, what does Wine Spectator want to do? They want to keep you happy and receiving awards, so you keep handing a $250 invoice to your restaurants accountant each January. The tragedy is that, the people that run these wine programs could use a legitimate award. The majority of the people that receive these awards probably deserve them. People that care enough to send in for this sort of thing tend to run pretty legitimate operations. Wine Spectator has parameters and qualifiers, and I've even heard that they visit every Grand Award winner each year (that would certainly increase the cost of running such a program). But the flip side is that anyone with a passing knowledge of wine can throw together an award winning list with no interest in developing a dynamic and interesting wine program. They just want the hardware.
Beyond the critique of the motivation behind these awards, I have a huge issue with their parameters. They set large and arbitrarily high numbers of selections, with too much emphasis on holding older vintages of wine and collecting verticals. I'm much more interested in restaurants that are focused and always changing their selections. I believe that creativity should be awarded, and exposing people and educating them to new wines, and especially new wines in interesting contexts should be lauded. Flights, pairings, glass pour depth, events and staff education have no bearing on the criteria. A wine list never lives in a vacuum, it always depends on the people within the program and the interactivity in that dining room.
Here is what I offer to you, restaurateurs. I will give you my own award. No one has ever heard of it, but I'll give you something with your name on it, that gives my professional opinion that you have a kick ass wine program. It won't cost anything. There are no parameters. You don't need to buy any of my wines. You just need to care. send me an email, FB or Tweet me (follow the links to my sites). Tell me about what you do. If you really rock, I'll talk about it out there. All I care about is that you have a passion for your wine program, you have really interesting wines, and you are showing some sort of creativity. Bonus points for spreading the gospel out there via interweb.

Good Luck, and suck it Wine Spectator!

preplanning will save you from a snowball?

2011-10-20T08:44:00.004-04:00

Being a wine sales rep is easy right? Your job is so glamorous, all you do all day long is listen to music in your car in between quick friendly back and forths with your friends/ buyers, who also happen to give you glorious orders on a regular basis. Well, at least it feels that way about 2% of the time. The rest of your days are filled with dread trying to get ahead of all there is to do without making any major mistakes. If you forget one thing, it will snowball and bury you in an instant. Music in your car? Maybe in between deliveries on a Friday, otherwise, car time is phone/text/email time. Feeling helpless within the machine is de rigueur in the wine biz. So, how is non-sociopath supposed to deal with this constant dread and feeling of drowning? Organization.

This is not a 10 step, motivational, "what I learned in business" post. I am just telling you the one thing that any decent manager has already told you, that pre-planning is key. I ride with about 50 different sales reps on a semi-regular basis, I like to think I've seen it all. The best reps, without question, are the reps that have great organizational skills. In such a bohemian industry, where we are all peddling expressions of art/ intoxicating elixir/ natural products, it would seem that listening to "the man" would go against all of the rebellious intuition that landed us in the business in the first place. It does go against our instinct. It feels like a corporate, commodity driven approach to such a romantic product. Fight against that stigma. Here's the clichéd expression I'll trot out for this: "If you're not ahead of it, you're behind it". There's no way around it, all the charm and good intentions won't save you.

So, you may ask, how am I supposed to change? I'm not an organized person, my car is a mess, I'm a right-brainer for god's sake! That's fine, that's why you get excited about sherry and "a little" bret. You don't need to change you DNA. You need to do just 2 things: preplan and take notes.

You know how it's awesome how you can't even see your first account before 10am? That only means that you need to get all of your day's planning done before that first appointment. What do you need to plan? You need to have a quick outline of everything you need to talk to everyone about, written down. You need to remind them about old business(that taking notes thing), follow up on things they've asked you about previously, inform them of product updates, etc and scout new opportunities. Then there's note taking. While you are working your day, your accounts will invariably assume that you are their secretary. It's your role to keep them on point and reminded of all of the things they asked you to remind them about. They have a dozen sales reps, you have 80 accounts. They aren't expected to remember stuff, how are you supposed to? Write it down! Figure out a way to plan things forward, look back at notes, figure out your best method. Maybe you use a tablet or a computer. Whatever works. Just stay ahead of it.

You know how they say that showing up is half the battle/ well, your competition shows up too. I guarantee, if you are the most organized rep, you will sell the most wine.

a word about the tomato

2011-09-18T09:45:00.003-04:00

Tomato season is winding down very quickly, and I feel like I have tomatoes on the brain. I've recently noticed that I seem to have a perpetual debate among people that know a thing or 2 about wine, regarding wine and tomatoes. A majority of Americans seem to think of tomatoes as an Italian staple, and therefore automatically look to Italian wines for pairings. This is a hazardous tact, and one that needs needs a bit of discussion.
Italians have only had tomatoes since the 17th century (possibly 16th), the fruit is actually indigenous to South America, and first introduced into Spanish Cuisine about 100 years before Italian. Until 1800, tomato sauce was known as alla spagnuola, "in the Spanish style." Today, India eats 5x as many tomatoes as Italy, which is actually 5th in worldwide consumption. Why do we think of Tomatoes as Italian? Probably because of the "Sunday Gravy", the immigrant version of a Neapolitan peasant dish. Naples was one of the first places in the world to perfect preserving tomatoes, making tomatoes affordable, available year round, and a major ingredient in peasant food throughout Northern Italy in the 19th and 20 centuries.
Unlike, say, Loire, where the best pairings for foods grown there, are from the neighboring vines, tomatoes cultural significance in Italy has more to do with food production and preservation science than natural integration.
So, let's hit the reset button for a second. Tomatoes, Culinarily speaking, end up in 2 forms-cooked and raw. Raw, it is often fresh off the vine with high acidity and sugar. Cooked, the acids turn a touch more bitter, and the sugars become richer and more caramelized. These both pose challenges for pairings. acid +acid is a minefield. wines that lead with acidity are automatically out. Wines that have acid, but are buoyed by minerality, rich (not overwhelming) fruit or a touch of sweetness may work well with fresh tomatoes, and further do well with the the oils, herbs and vinegars we use with the fresh tomatoes. For cooked tomatoes, specifically sauces, high acid reds are typically poor pairings. This can refer to the sour acids, but it also refers to tannins. Both behave similarly in the presence of the sugars and acids in tomato sauce, they become astringent and intolerable. The better tact is to look to low acid reds, of which there are a multitude of choices from Italy, ironically though, not really from the regions of Italy from where tomatoes sauces have become famous.
To bring this full circle, think about where fresh tomatoes have excelled in the last 300 years: Warm, Mediterranean climates. The wines that do well with tomatoes? Also from warm climates: Languedoc, Rhone, Southern Italy, Spain, California are all great places to start. What to avoid? Burgundy, Bordeaux, Piedmont, Tuscany, and Veneto. Total generalizations I know, Dolcetto is pretty decent, and some Barberas are ok too. This is just an exercise to demonstrate how we need to take a fresh look at how we think about some clichéd wine and food pairings.

You're not selling wine

2011-09-01T08:29:00.002-04:00

Sales people are notorious for feeling like they just don't have control of their sales and growth. Every single day, you are selling 2 things, and it's not as small minded as the wine in your bag or the wine on program: It's your book and you. Think about that. You are selling you as a person and as a rep, and your book, the quality of the wines your represent, the company behind them and your knowledge about them.
You are in the customer service industry. There are a thousand boring and few inspirational books out there talking about excellent customer service. You shouldn't have to read them to know that every opportunity you have to help your customer is an opportunity to raise the value of your stock as a salesperson. The most beloved salespeople are the ones that will go above and beyond to act as a resource to their accounts regardless of whether or not it will directly result in an order. This definitely includes finding out who carries a competitor's product. Want to own a wine list? Throwing deals, smack talking and bullying is cruel mistress. There's no loyalty in that tact. If you want to own a wine list, you need to be the greatest, most honest, dependable resource for your account. This demonstrates that you place their success ahead of yours (you should). Everything else is just petty.
Selling your book is a little more nebulous. It's not just sampling (although this is part of it). You really need to go back to the beginning of your relationship with your employer. Did you choose the book because of the quality of the company? Quality of the wines? Hopefully both. If you believe in both, you should be proud. 3/4 of the reps out there work either for a crappy company, a crappy book or both. Being a distributor is difficult. There are a million details that need to happen correctly for your accounts to receive their order correctly each week. Every distributor makes small mistakes once in a while, it's impossible not to. In order for your account to love you and your book, you need to defend your employers inevitable mistakes up to a point. You also need to do your best to help your employer succeed at programs and projects, even if you don't agree. This will help your employers to improve your book and work environment. Don't air your laundry to your accounts either. They don't want to hear about commission rates or goals. Discussing these details with accounts is petty, and lowers your stock. You can't truly be successful if your account doesn't think your employer is successful. If you don't like the way things are going, give feedback to your boss. If they don't improve, update your resume.
As a sale rep, you are all at once a Promoter, P.R., delivery driver and E.R. Doctor. doing all of these tasks well will help you to make the most of every opportunity. If you place a priority on a) helping your account be successful b) helping your employer be successful-you will be successful.

Allocations are dead

2011-08-29T10:56:00.004-04:00

Once upon a time, a decade or so ago, the word allocation struck both enthusiasm and fear into the hearts of the world of wine. You see, there were wines that were so sought after, that wineries and wine distributors would deem whom to be worthy to be doled out in bottle quantities, often after fulfilling other obligations. So egregious were these allocations, that they were sometime linked to completely disparate products from suppliers that have no relationship. Others were so unrealistic that only a few could really ever earn these allocations. It was a time when a high Parker score on a relatively inexpensive aussie wine sent buyers into a fervor. Allocations were once so crazy that large wineries didn't sell, they just handled allocations. Then the wine industry changed forever. Some people like to think that it didn't, but it did. It changed forever and will never be the same again.

Without reliving the economy, 9/11, housing bubble, etc. What has really happened is that buyers have rebelled against the allocations and told wineries and distributors to shove it. They don't need the wines that they were allocated. They have learned that being a good wine merchant is not determined by how much you can bully your rep and distributor into increasing your allocation, it is about finding the road that is perhaps, less traveled. It is about forging your own path, on your own terms, not being beholden to sell anything you don't want to just because they have something you do want. Most importantly though, consumers have stopped (although not completely) seeking out these rare, highly rated prizes. The ratings don't matter so much anymore, and the droning white noise of the greatest vintage ever proclamations has long since stopped shaping anyone's cellar.

It has been replaced by an egalitarian-merit based wine buying populace, that is more concerned about the opinion of the guy in the wine shop that some douche-y wine writer (thank you internet). The feeding frenzy has subsided.

How would you feel if you were on the other side of that equation? Where you don't get allocated something? You wouldn't take real kindly when the well dried up and you got your crack, would you? That's where we are now. Now, when people say allocation, I worry that this will set off some latent response that they wish they would have said to their distributor in 1999. Suppliers need to de-emphasize the idea of allocations (assuming there are many left that still need to do this). Distributors need to switch over to the old-school method of an offering. It's a much more humble tact, and more appreciated. allocations implies that only these people are going to be "offered" these wines. Take everything you get, say thank you for every order, and if you can only offer a finite amount of wine, be courteous and tactful, it will go a lot further.

Jean Louis Chave Hermitage

2011-08-25T10:19:00.006-04:00

One of the greatest mountains I have to climb is giving a brief explanation of what makes Chave so special. "Scoreboard!" Is neither respectful, nor accurate. I've bought or sold Chave practically my entire wine career. I've tasted the wines countless times. I've probably tasted every vintage for the last 20 years, not to mention a respectable smattering of 60's, 70's and 80's bottlings. Yet, even after all of these years, I am just now beginning to be able to articulate what makes these wines quite unlike anything else the world of wine has ever produced.

History
Let's get this one out of the way first. Chave has been passed down father to son since 1481. 500+ years. To put this in perspective, They were old when Galileo was born. When they first planted Syrah in this family at this site, Columbus had not yet left for the New World. That's pretty old, and they've been an elite producer as far back as the books go. 16 generations. Although, if you speak to people in Hermitage (a scant 326 acres), you'll learn that Syrah has been grown here since about 500 B.C.

Varietals
"More than anything Hermitage is great, in the sense of Grand Vin, and quite unusually, it is great for both the white and the red wines. It is very rare to have an appellation where you can make both red and white at the same level of quality." -JL Chave

In my (probably controversial) opinion, you can make a claim that Syrah is France's one true Nobel red grape. Pinot Noir is a close second, however, Pinot Noir is a little too fickle in tough vintages. It's many things, and not to downgrade Pinot by any measure, but it just doesn't quite compare to the upside of Syrah. These wines are tremendous in off vintages and age beautifully. It is a varietal that grows well seemingly everywhere, but nowhere else does it become what it is in Hermitage. There is no mono-varietal wine in the world that reaches the heights of Hermitage. The whites on the other hand are remarkable in how they elevate 2 grapes that cannot stand alone, but together, make what many believe to be be the greatest white wine in the world. Roussanne and Marsanne are difficult and unruly. They can get out of whack very easily. When they are done right, it's like suspended animation, these wines don't age, they slowly accelerate. They live seemingly forever without even turning color.

Hermitage
"When you look at our bottles you see what you need to know about us. We don't want to be Chave, we want to be Hermitage. That's where the wine comes from. It just happens to be Chave. Our vineyards are on the hills because they need to look for the sun. Hermitage is Hermitage because it faces south. If there is a place that ever was supposed to be a home for grapes it is Hermitage. I thank my history and my family for finding it. We are very lucky to have these vineyards." -JL Chave

Jean Louis Chave and Hermitage are synonymous. Chave will go to great lengths to keep the conversation about Hermitage rather than about Chave. It is these 326 special acres that is so unique, and Chave is fortunate to own about 10% of the AC including parcels of 9 of the 18 vineyards in Hermitage. Granite hillsides and a very cool climate encourage minerality and slow development. 75% is planted to red 25% is a field blend of Roussanne and Marsanne. The vines are very old, many over 100 years. So old that when they were planted, they didn't realize that Marsanne and Roussanne were different grapes. Chave does not know the percent of the white varietals only the percentages from each of the vineyards.

Grand Vin
What can be said that hasn't already been said? The critics have always (rightfully) fawned over both the red and the white. The red can show: black raspberries, creme de cassis, camphor, acacia flowers, tobacco, truffle, cocoa, braised fig, warm black currant, crushed plum, black cherry, incense, iron and black olive. all with a balanced acidity and silky tannin structure. The white, is something altogether different: Aromas of white flowers, quince, and honeyed citrus, zesty acidity, truffles, white peaches, honeysuckle, marmalade, and crushed rocks. The white is a clinic in both weight and acidity.

Winemaking
It's obviously sacrilegious to even use that term when the wine gods have given you something as rare and special as Hermitage. Manipulation is not only out of the question, it is unnecessary. Hermitage gives a bounty every year, only the great vignerons can find that bounty.
"We make each parcel separately, and we keep them that way. You have to wait until the very end to see each wine express its personality, and then to finally be able to answer this question: what is Hermitage? There are different answers to that question, but as we like to say, we don't propose more than one each year. Making wine is not our job, it is our life. So this blending every year is not something to do on the day you go into your cellar and say "I feel well, I'm going to blend today." You think about it all the time. You blend in your mind, all the time. It is definitely emotional, and the emotional is important. But you can't be entirely emotional about it, because it is also your livelihood. You need to be objective sometimes, too."
While this may be a decidedly hand's off winemaking (perhaps elevage-ing?) approach, it is not a task that is taken lightly. The composition of the art is dependent on the color palate each vintage. Chave is blessed by having more to choose from than anyone. 500 years of intertwined DNA between the vines of Hermitage and the Chave family has brought both wisdom and humility with one pursuit: to showcase the very best that Hermitage can be, every single year.

Wild Hog Vineyards

2011-08-10T10:22:00.003-04:00

Once in a while, you come across a winery that is beyond comparison. A winery that sows their own path and is unique in every sense of the word. I've represented Wild Hog for a number of years. Each wine they make is singular. Specializing, but not limited to Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Italian Varietals. Each vintage is a completely unique experience.

Daniel and Marion Schoenfeld began making wine in 1977. Located in the "true" Sonoma Coast, barely 5 miles from the Ocean, but above the Fog Line. Theirs is less a vineyard than a working farm. Providing year round vegetables for their table, the Schoenfeld's do everything they can to live sustainably. Their farm and vineyard was certified organic 30 years ago. All of the buzz words we use today to describe artisan wine is the only method they've known. No filtration, handmade, clean wines is all they do. Each vintage acts differently, Daniel encourages this expression.

He loves dense, robust, and fascinating wines. Each is rich, but with tremendous structure and acidity. Most importantly, each wine is it's own journey. A wise winemaker once told me the secrets to secondary flavors in dense wines-ripeness and hands off winemaking. Having exactly zero winemaking experience, I took him at his word, and Wild Hog's wines certainly seem to affirm this theory. While the wines have pretty fruit, it's the secondary flavors and aromas that make these wines so unique and special. Many of the wines have herbs and flowers on the nose, but also the unmistakeable nose of the outdoors. Maybe it's the power of suggestion, but I feel like I get the reflection of the land in the wines, just as you hear the sound of the ocean in a shell. I hope it's true, because that would certainly seem to be Daniel's loftiest goal, to purely reflect the land.

Randall Grahm Ohio interviews 5-7

2011-08-08T10:17:00.005-04:00

One of the coolest parts of my job is spending time with fascinating wine people. Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards is one of my most visible. These are parts of a fascinating hour Randall spent with Austin

Our good friend, Austin Beeman, interviewed Randall Grahm back in March while I was chaperoning him around Ohio.. This very well structured and respectful interview was conducted one morning in Akron. Randall has some tea, and was quite engaging. Kudos to Austin's interview style, I've seen countless "professionals" step all over Randall's thoughts. These are parts 5-7 (of 10).

Austin has a video blog called Understanding Wine HD, you can also follow him on Facebook.
This isn't his first go-round with a world class wine personality, and his interviews are always fascinating.

Advice for Wine Newbies. (part 5 of 10.)

on Minerality (part 6 of 10.)

on the Meaning of Wine (part 7 of 10.)

Why local hooch is good

2011-08-04T09:36:00.004-04:00

Recently, I have participated in a couple of County Fairs as a wine judge. The entrants were all home winemakers, and about 80% of the wines were made from fruit other than grapes. Historically, I had scoffed at fruit wines. As wisdom (perhaps) has crept in, I've begun to philosophically understand the importance of these wines.

I was surprised at how much I loved a few of the wines I tasted, especially a local blueberry wine that was mostly dry. The local fruit wines outshone the grape wines, either local or from kits. Local produce and the products made from local produce, usually, have the highest ceiling. No matter what anyone says, we just don't have great grapes to make wine from, so blueberries make a lot of sense.

This is a tremendous exercise for any wine professional. when you really start to delve into some 200 odd wines, made from a wide variety of different fruits, you begin to realize something: only grapes seem to present the "secondary" flavors that we associate with quality wines. Fruit wines, generally, taste like the fruit from which they came. Fruit wines also tend to surprise the seasoned wine cynics. They hit our palate and evoke memories long dormant (think of the ratatouille in "Ratatouille"). This really helped me to sort through the differences in cherries, raspberries, cranberries, etc on the palate

Making wine is difficult. It's tedious and messy. Making wine from fruit is as much a skill as canning or preserving, it's an important culinary trait. Grapes ultimately have more upside, but I suspect, it's much tougher to make wines from grapes than from fruit. Grape winemaking, must surely be the pinnacle of the fermented fruit arts, and tasting 200 good fruit wines, helped me to remember the skill it takes to ferment clean, and create wines that are even drinkable, let alone trans-formative.

The 2 things every rep can do to sell more wine

2011-07-05T10:57:00.002-04:00

I work with nearly 100 sales reps on a regular basis. There is an alarmingly large proportion that don't do the 2 things that will help them to sell more wine. They are:

a) Ask for the sale. In an otherwise innocuous conversation, you may be compelled to be their friend before their rep. Make no mistake, you are there to sell wine, they are there to buy it. If you don't ask, they probably won't order it. This isn't selling something they don't want, it's not like not taking "no" for an answer. Pretend you're writing a "high school" paper and at the end of each meeting, you need to try to end with an "in conclusion" paragraph.
b) Reminders. Remember how you're there to sell wine? Sometimes your buyer likes something, and just isn't ready this week. They may ask you to remind them. Your odds of closing the sale are highest the day of the initial conversation, so try to do it then (see "a"), but if not, you'll need to remind them. I have always made it a habit of keeping the buyer reminded of all of the things they've liked. Organization and routine are key to this. I can't tell you how often I'll ride with a rep, and they'll be asked to remind the buyer. We'll get in the car, and the rep will assure me they'll close the deal next week when they remind them. I can always tell if they're telling the truth based on what they just reminded the buyer of. If they don't discuss previously tasted wines while I'm there, then the buyer's "remind me" answer became an automatic "no". While this can invariably be a cop out, sometimes, the buyer really needs a reminder. They may have 20 reps, it's hard to keep all of the slots straight. Your organization will be appreciated and rewarded.

These are 2 easy, routines to increase sales. They are usually a pretty good indicator of the level of sales training as well. It's nearly impossible to passively sell wine.

It's easier to say no than to have to break up with a winery

2011-06-22T20:17:00.002-04:00

Since starting ampelography some 2+ years ago, I have thought a lot about what it takes to be a good rep/ supplier/ distributor/ winemaker/ buyer/ blimp pilot/ NBA free agent, etc. I had not, until now, thought too much about what it takes to be a really good winery partner. This, to date, has been my biggest failing.

I have assumed (despite my Father's clichéd warnings) that good wine + nice people would make good supplier partners. Sadly, it's just not that simple. I have learned that there are many hurdles to overcome when building a portfolio, and working productively with wineries. Here are some of the finer points I will now check on when looking at new producers:

Do they run their business well? Desperation NEVER sells wine and makes you do bad things for branding.
How is their consistency? Are the wines correct? always? Ever make any big mistakes? Do they really know what they're doing?
Do they understand that the tasting room isn't the same as the street?
Do they average less than one National Sales Manager/ year?
What are their expectations? Are they realistic?
Do they have a good distributor strategy?
Do they respect you as the primary communication channel to the distributor and on the streets?
How are their organization skills? Do they return emails, phone calls, etc?
Can they keep you abreast of pricing, inventory, etc.?
Tech Sheets? Marketing materials? graphics? anything?

This is just the tip of the iceberg, sadly. There are many tremendous wineries that make great wine AND are great people, but either don't understand the tiered business, or even the wine business. It sucks. But now I know to be a little more careful and thoughtful when selecting wineries. These are not issues that I can easily fix, but they are completely avoidable. It's not just about the wine, but I will always try to keep it MOSTLY about the wine.

Adelaida Cellars

2011-06-21T10:18:00.004-04:00

Spending time in Santa Barbara in the early 2000's, I was exposed to, but not intimate with Paso Robles. To me, at the time, the wines seemed to be good, not great, and certainly more rustic. I was exposed to endless overcooked Zins and Petite Sirahs, which tainted my initial impressions. Being that I am a devout Rhône-head, I was intrigued by some of the early proponents of these varieties such as Tablas Creek and l'Aventure. My interest was piqued by the possibilities.

Fast forward to 7 years later, as I was forming ampelography, I was approached by Paul Sowerby, the Sales Manager for Adelaida Cellars. I was familiar with Adelaida, and always had some affection for the wines from my early years in the industry, but hadn't tasted the wines in some time. As Paul guided me through a dozen or more wines, I was impressed by the balance and structure of these wines. The reds had no "over/super ripeness" and perhaps more impressive, the whites were just beautiful with a healthy dose of minerality. Where had these wine been? Why were they discovering me, when in reality, I should have come across these sooner. It was one of those moments of epiphany.

The subsequent summer, I took a trip out to Paso and spent the day with Paul in the vineyards and with winemaker Terry Culton in the cellar. Terry had clearly put his mark on the wines, which is to say a minimal hand. Terry worked at, among other places, Calera (which has always been one of my all time favs). Calera and Josh Jensen are known for being proponents of Limestone soil. Coincidentally, but probably not, Adelaida is largely situated on Limestone. This made perfect sense. Here's what I didn't expect: Adelaida is quite climatically cool. Most of their vineyards are 1800 ft above sea level and just a few miles from the Pacific as the crow flies. Tremendous air flow and marine influence from the Pacific + the Templeton gap from the south have really made this area unique within Paso Robles. So much so that there is a proposed AVA including a handful of additional top producers within this microclimate to be hopefully called: The Adelaida District.

Adelaida dates back to 1981, but the vineyards that comprise it are in some cases, much older. The oldest Pinot Noir vines south of Sonoma are here, at the HMR Estate. No one is sure of the clone, but it's cool climate, limestone soil, 40+yr old pinot vines that are naturally low yielding. Yeah, the wine is pretty good. In fact, it's one of the most unique, yet totally pinot-like wines I've ever had. The true stars though are the Rhône blends. Syrah and Mourvedre put on quite a show varietally speaking here, but once they are blended with the usual suspects, you get the sense of a wine with an amazing pedigree. The same holds true of the whites, the stars there are of course, Rousanne and Grenache Blanc.

It's easy to become cynical in the wine business, after a while you think you may have it all figured out. Then a small producer from a pristine corner of Paso Robles knocks on your door, and you begin to realize how much you still have to learn.

Randall Grahm Ohio interviews parts 1-4

2011-06-20T10:00:00.000-04:00

Our good friend, Austin Beeman, interviewed Randall Grahm back in March while I was chaperoning him around Ohio.. This very well structured and respectful interview was conducted one morning in Akron. Randall has some tea, and was quite engaging. Kudos to Austin's interview style, I've seen countless "professionals" step all over Randall's thoughts. These are the first 4 parts of 10.

Austin has a video blog called Understanding Wine HD, you can also follow him on Facebook.
This isn't his first go-round with a world class wine personality, and his interviews are always fascinating.

Affirmation Society

2011-06-17T11:23:00.002-04:00

Political talk radio, opinioned bloggers (ahem), sports talk, all are seemingly controversial, however, the reason for their existence is they make people feel better about themselves. As we form opinions, we lack confidence to make those opinions into conviction immediately. It takes time for these ideas and opinions to become part of our fabric. Pundits that say what we are thinking help us to become more confident in these fledgeling beliefs, until we feel that our opinions are fully affirmed. The rate of this transformation is more about our own self-confidence than the conviction of the person delivering the message.

Now place this in the context of a wine salesperson. Let's assume that most wine salespeople know how to talk the talk, but few reach a point that they have confidence in a vacuum. In other words, their affirmation comes from other sources as well. The further you go into this industry, the easier it is to be intimidated by very knowledgeable and loud (or even worse, knowledgeable and quiet) buyers, suppliers, etc. The lower our confidence (which is different from knowledge), the more we need affirmation to give confidence.

We all hate scores. We all rail against bias, ad selling glossies, smokers palates, etc, it's a very tired topic. Fine, and as much as I hate press, I love it for selling wine. I'm not talking about selling to accounts or consumers. It also works on reps, in fact, it probably works more on sales reps than anyone. As a supplier, it's important for the rep to have total and utter faith in you product. Absent of existing sales and momentum,I can't always just tell someone that I have great wines. Sometimes I need back up or affirmation. The best place to find that is in those loathed glossies. Once a rep starts to get confidence in the wine, they carry themselves differently, they are prouder and can now use this new-found conviction to help affirm the next person's belief.

My Peeps

2011-05-27T09:45:00.003-04:00

This crazy, mixed up world of wine we live in has a few governing principles. Of those, one of the most universal is that we're all a little damaged. That damage can be that we just don't fit into other business cultures due to genius, ADHD, or borderline personalities. That's what makes this so much fun, that we can connect to our fellow "damaged" people. If we are wine geeks, and indeed, you must be if you are reading this, we are inevitably geeks about other things. You can usually bet on the following mix of common interests in descending order of likelihood: Food, Music, Film, Art, Pop Culture, Liberal Politics, Environmental Issues, and Cars. Connecting to these people is one of the perks about this business, or as Cameron Crowe put it more eloquently: "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool. " Lester Bangs-Almost Famous.

I am a supplier, my job is to sell my clients' wine. The best way to do that is to either get the salespeople from my distributors, or their clients excited about my producers. Since each salesperson's bandwidth is so limited, exposure and attention are difficult to find. One of the best ways I've found to connect with these people is through Twitter and Facebook. I don't believe in egregious self-promotion. I do believe in the ability to bond with like minded people through mutual interests in the forum of social media. As the years have built up, I've found that I bond with more reps and clients through these mediums, and take a away a tremendous amount on enjoyment and satisfaction over the connections, comments and general witticisms shared. As a result, I've been fortunate enough to develop a shorthand relationship with many people I see infrequently, but have a true connection with. Hopefully, each of the connections has an affinity for what I do (from a business perspective) and appreciates my dialogues with each of them within this community.

Would you hand a hot piece of iron to a distributor?

2011-05-05T08:47:00.002-04:00

Salespeople sell. Sales managers want salespeople to sell. It's in their DNA. Selling more wine can ultimately solve all problems. So why would anyone want to deal with "branding"? Simply put-the strength of your portfolio is often determined by how well your wines are branded. The success of many distributors is built by their branding efforts. Branding is the image and perception that you influence. Distributors have input into the packaging or language on the label, but the guerrilla branding is done by the distributor. The accounts you sell to, the way the wines are displayed. The waiters and clerks that sell to the end-user, and their training. This all helps or hurts your brands. Taking the time to execute this well is the most important thing a distributor can do for the long term health of a winery.

So why is it seemingly so hard to execute? Reread the first line of this post. Branding slows down sales. Branding can get in the way of a commission check. Salespeople, by culture (Pavlov's dog. Higher sales=bigger check=conditioning) are single minded, you probably can't change this. Frankly-you probably shouldn't change this. While writing this I keep seeing images from "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" for some reason. In order to brand a winery, someone, with authority, needs to devise a branding strategy, and set a road map for salespeople to execute while increasing sales. There is a nimble balance, but at the end of the day, it adds value to the portfolio and long term brand equity. Your wineries will thank you for taking the time to do this.

Dare to be great situation

2011-04-21T09:12:00.002-04:00

My all time favorite movie, "Say Anything" is full of inspiring, and hilarious moments, perhaps none more inspiring than the following:

Mike: I don't know you very well, you know, but I wanted to ask you - how'd you get Diane Court to go out with you?
Lloyd Dobler: I called her up.
Mike: But how come it worked? I mean, like, what are you?
Lloyd Dobler: I'm Lloyd Dobler.
Mike: This is great. This gives me hope. Thanks.

When I worked for a small distributor, I heard this sort of line from many of my small competitors. Being small, and boutique doesn't mean you don't deserve to play with the big boys. Sometimes a little unbridled enthusiasm and not knowing what you're not supposed to be able to do goes a long way.

The lie in your sample bag

2011-04-06T08:27:00.002-04:00

Wine samples are one of the best ways to demonstrate the character of a wine. As a rep, we take a bag full of different wines to show our customers. It is assumed that every day, we will bring a fresh set of samples, and the wines will show very much as they would if you opened it and drank the entire bottle in one or 2 evenings. In many cases, in an effort to save money, either from the distributor, or the sales rep (preserving their sample budget), the rep takes wines out a second day. This is one of the absolute worst things a rep can do.

Day 2 wine samples are very different than day 2 wine on your counter. Every time you open the bottle, pour a splash, you are decanting the wine. With that fresh oxygen in your bottle, you now take that wine, shove it in a bag, swing it for a walk to the car, stick it in the trunk, and then speed off to the next account. Silently, in your trunk, the wine is continuing to react to the new oxygen and agitation. A half dozen accounts later, and you have effectively aged this wine the same as spending 3 days of being open on your counter. Take that same wine out day 2, you are a) not really going to sell anything based on the tasting profile b) showing a wine that isn't acting like itself, doing a HUGE disservice to the brand and the people that made that wine. Many accounts won't really comment about a wine on the second day because they may not know how the wine is supposed to taste, they will just be underwhelmed and pass on the wine and the brand.

There are of course some exceptions. You can't kill Amarone or Ripassa. Many high alcohol, high acid wines do well on day 2. Warm weather wine that doesn't see much oak does ok, and the best for day 2 is without a doubt, great Mosel Riesling (ironic since it is such a delicate and seemingly sensitive wine). This is a limited list, and most aren't really optimal on day 2 (except Mosel Riesling).

If you have concerns about stretching samples, pull 2 bottles or squeeze in more appointments. You can always contact the supplier and ask for a free sample bottle, they will always prefer to pay for a bottle vs you showing a bad day 2 version of their wine. At the end of the day, it's a judgement call, and it's your judgement call.

The whole megillah

2011-04-04T10:06:00.006-04:00

Steve Jobs is evil. Steve Jobs is brilliant. Steve Jobs is megalomaniac. Sick of hearing about Steve Jobs? Me too. However, he is the shining example of "user experience" for consumer products. Apples feel and act differently. The sounds they make, the package they come in, the store you walk into, the support you receive. He has defined exactly what your experience will be in regards to his sacred fruit, and for that, he is a genius. We need to approach wine in the exact. same. way.

There is a disconnect between what's in the bottle, what's on the bottle,and how we get the bottle into your hand. Using Apple as a guide, we should be rethinking how we deliver that user experience. A more distilled approach may be that we need to give affirmation of the correct purchase.

Since a bottle of wine is a decidedly smaller investment than a computer (usually), and more acutely judged, the experience needs to strike hard and fast. Every tiny decision that goes into the ultimate purchase and consumption can shape the experience of that wine.

Bad name? Difficult to pronounce? That wine will need to overcome these obstacles not only to find itself a home, but to get a repeat buyer. Wines you can't pronounce or remember will give you less bragging ability. Don't think this is important? Any day now I'm expecting Apple owners to start going door to door with cheap short sleeve dress shirts asking if I've heard the good word. Part of consumer satisfaction is the ability of the owner of the product to revel in the brilliance of their selection. Bad names make this difficult. Why do names like Jordan and Silver Oak resonate?

Fit and Finish is thrown around when describing Apple as well. This translates exactly to the bottle appearance. Not just the label, but the details, foil, closure, size and shape of the bottle, color of the glass, these all speak to emotional satisfaction just like brushed nickel and soft white light does. We've all beaten the topic of labels to death, but I will say this without hyperbole- The most important single decision you can make, marketing-wise is the label, and winery owners' hubris derails this faster than anything.

The way the wine is sold has an impact. Communicating an interesting story all the way down the supply chain can have a huge impact. The end consumer being able to tell the story of a winery is absolutely irreplaceable. This is part of that invaluable emotional connection.

The wine needs to fulfill all of the promises made. Promises as to what's in the bottle are made at every micro-decision deep within the brain. The package, the story, the name. they are all part of that expectation. This is not as simple as a checklist, but rather an emotional and mental bridge connecting all of the extraneous factors and the way the wine tastes.

When all is said and done, and true satisfaction is met, the consumer will want to affirm their decision by repeating as much about their experience as possible. This is evangelizing. See Guy Kawasaki for more about evangelizing a product. And this, this enthusiasm, this consumer selling for you, this proselytizing , this is what Apple does. If they just built great computers or OS, they'd be Linux, but because they control the User Experience they are Apple.

2 years! 2 years.

2011-03-31T22:39:00.003-04:00

April 1, is the 2 year anniversary of official start of ampelography. I'm less nostalgic than introspective about the date. Interestingly enough, I'm just now beginning to be understand what my job is. That's an awfully strange proclamation to hear myself make, but I'll lay out some nuggets of what I've learned in the last 730 days, and maybe you'll agree.

If you have good marketing, good people, good wine, and the correct prices, distributors can only fail you
Wine is visceral, understand this
Distributors are always highly protective of their worst salespeople, if they weren't, they'd be long gone
wine country will always make you late, plan to take longer to get where you need to be.
The faster a distributor pays, the slower they place orders and the faster they place orders, the slower they pay. I don't know why.
Some distributors appreciate the support, some resent it. If they don't appreciate the support, you have no swing with them whatsoever, don't even waste your time.
Some wineries are just assholes
If you can't inject your personality into the proceedings, what the hell good are you?
There are 2 kinds of people in this world, wine people and sales people, surround yourself with the former, identify the latter. Salespeople will never be irrelevant, but they'll derail a wine person without acknowledgement.
On Premise builds brands, the wrong off premise can destroy them. If you wheel and deal with retail, it will catch up with you.
If your distributor replies to 20% of your emails, it's because they like you
The hierarchy is as follows: Winemaker, Owner, National Sales, Broker, Sales rep. Brokers just aren't important to buyers.
If every time you see someone, you bring them something interesting, new and a great story they'll always welcome you and your wines.
Want to impress a chef with your wine knowledge? Talk to them about food.
Be a foodie.
You will have allies, they may take time to identify, but they're integral to your success and will sell for you when you're not there. Never take them for granted.
I'd rather be someone's first workwith than the 100th.
Always stop for lunch.
No matter how tempting it may be, don't throw your distributor under the bus.
If you write enough blog posts, one day you may actually meet people that read them.

Thank you to everyone that has supported ampelography so far. At the end of the day, I like to think that great wine is a noble pursuit, and since I don't make it, the least I can do is try to identify and introduce it to the right people.

PT Barnum and his "declassified" Scarecrow

2011-02-18T10:13:00.004-05:00

Ever walk into a retailer and have them extoll tales of the double secret declassified grapes that Cult Napa producer basically gave away? It's one of the most cliched scenarios, retailers make bank off this idea, and the reality is, you're getting duped. It's not necessarily the retailer that's doing the duping though. It could be the producer, it could be the distributor. No matter, the truth is, you just cant get Screaming Eagle for $30.

There are 2 ways for the winery to get grapes, they can grow it or they can buy it. Most of the great wines are vineyard specific, or at least a small collection of vineyards specific. None of the top producers use all of their grapes. Not because there's not a market or because they need cash, but because the grapes simply don't make the cut. No matter how good a vineyard may be, there will always be some sub par grapes. Rather than throw these away, they are often sold off on the open market, sometimes as grapes, sometimes as juice, sometimes as finished wine. Typically, there's not enough of any one of these producers left to do anything substantial, production wise, so they need to be blended with other sources. This is the great secondary market, and it produces some very solid wines. For a $20 Napa Cab, or a $15 Monterey Chardonnay it's worth every penny.

Once in a great great while, an esteemed producer will declassify their grapes because their harvest was inferior. They will either put these into one of their own proprietary wines, or sell these off to a separate label. It's these wines that are rumored to be "whisper whisper whisper, Napa Cab" that usually sells for $100. It actually doesn't really matter if it is. This isn't TJ Maxx, the wines are getting discounted because the label is ripped, or last year's item. They are discounted because they are inferior. That means they're not up to their standard, so no, it's not Screaming Eagle. Your harvest is everything, when it sucks, it sucks. You just can't fix it. I'm not saying the wines are undrinkable. Maybe, in the right hands, the wines can be quite good. Then you throw in the rumor/ hype factor. By the time the information gets to you, how accurate is the story? The bottom line is, you get what you pay for most of the time. Don't get super excited that a retailer tells you about the amazing deal they scored by a declassified something or other. Just remember it got declassified for a reason.

Let your customers in

2011-02-07T07:41:00.000-05:00

I'm so sick of hearing about your social media, blah, blah blah. We're all on Facebook now, and frankly, many of us have moved on after the awkward reconnection with high school friends we barely remember. What are you supposed to do with Facebook if you don't do farmville? Twittter? Yeah, I do that to, but keeping up with all of the goings on over there can be somewhere between counterproductive and obsessive. For those of you that have found the balance for twitter in your lives, including my brothers (@endcycle, @bradmahler), you are more man than I (or perhaps just less neurotic). And LinkedIn, well, that's just really no fun. Apparently, you're not supposed to have a sense of humor and be in business.

So what's a guy to do? Here's my solution, and I think I have some evidence it works. I decided a while back that social network is like public speaking (I guess, in some form, it actually is public speaking).With public speaking, you sort of just have to go for it. I speak to crowds rather frequently, and I'm just not the polished public speaker type, but I have to let my personality come through. If I didn't I'd end up in a fidgety fetal position. So I let it fly, because that's the only way I deal. In the end, I get comments like "impassioned", "funny", and sometimes "weird". That's ok, that's who I am, and at least I'm being honest. Facebook should actually be the same way. I am a highly opinionated individual, releasing those opinions and experiences on facebook have proven to be a good thing. I don't want to get too narcissistic, but, that's sort of what it's there for. I have 2 places for facebooking, my personal page, and my business page (facebook.com/ampelography). I basically use my business page to talk about wine, and personal for everything else. I try to keep both light and witty, with my personality imposed on both. Here's what I've discovered: this has helped the people around me (customers & consumers) to get to know me a little better. And it's really me and my personality. If, as a salesperson, you're trying to make that personal connection, what's easier than letting your acquaintances read about your adventures and opinions about crappy movies? It turns out that even though not everyone feels compelled to post (it is like public speaking), many read, and they read daily. For business, it can be very good that your customers, even though they may not actually interact with you or your posts, have registered opinions and thoughts about things you've said or done. When you walk in that door to sell them something, it's not that it's been months since you've seen them in their mind, they're already caught up.

So how do i know they're reading? what's the impact? Well, in November I grew a beard. It was my "downtime beard" and before market work season returned (mid-Jan) I shaved it off. For the last 3 weeks I've been criss-crossing my market, seeing many of my customers for the first time in 2011. What did I hear more than anything? "oh, you shaved your beard". I didn't know they knew I had a beard, but there were a few photos i was tagged in over the holidays with beard. In their mind, the online reality and the actual reality were now the same. The most important thing is as these customers/ friends have gotten to know me better, they like me more (or are at least more polite),and they buy more wine from me.

The freedom to say "I don't know"

2011-01-19T08:49:00.003-05:00

I was just reading a "manifesto" from a winery (which in itself may be a bit narcissistic, but hey, they're winemakers). In it, they discuss how they harvest their grapes earlier than most, with resulting alc% around 13%. Unlike many consumers, I have a fair amount of exposure to these sorts of wines. One of my very favorites to evangelize is Nalle out of Dry Creek. Nalle has a similar approach, and their wines are amazing. Their pinots are burgundy. I don't mean because of the color, or because of the acidity, many wineries acheive this, but because of the prominence of the creaminess on the palate. So I know what they are talking about, and I'm into it. But this goes against conventional California wisdom. We usually rave about hang time, and letting acids set. Those acids go hand in hand with alcohol, which we all rail against. Then's there the whole lignification argument.

Further confusing this is the impassioned exposure I've had to many producers that make nearly 16% Syrahs that are amazing. Not Shiraz-like, but rather tertiary with olives, and bacon, and coffee, and campfire,and menthol,and all of the secondary flavors and aromas that don't come from sweet over extracted wines. Oh, and did I mention that you can't tell the alcohol is knee melting? So how can both realities exist? How can wines and grapes be maximized by 2 completely divergent harvesting philosophies? The answer is "I just don't know". I am a winemaking geek, but I've never made wine, nor do I ever intend to make wine. I think the different approaches are fascinating, and both approaches, along with dozens of others, fascinate me. I don't pretend to believe one over the other. If there was enough of a groundswell of agreement about the correct way, we'd all be drinking the same wines. Doug Nalle makes wines he likes, as should every winemaker.

I often talk about how we are naturally inclined to try to find rules and easy understanding of complex systems. This is human nature. I've abandoned hope for figuring out the right way to do things (winemaking), I like them both, and many in between. So at this point, I still believe in Chupacabra, The Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. You know what? That's ok, because I'm not a Cryptozoologist either.

Believe in your book

2010-12-08T14:18:00.002-05:00

We are the middlemen (or women) of the wine industry. We are the "tiers". We add cost to the consumers' bottles. We are human though, we need something to motivate us. We do not do this solely to make money. Actually, there are plenty of people that do this solely to make money, but they drive company cars and rarely read wine blogs. For the rest of us, we can feel unfulfilled. We want to feel affinity for something, someone, at least I do.

We are the part of the process that no one really likes (generally). We want to feel that connection with a greater purpose. For me, and most of my colleagues, it's about the "Book", the "Portfolio", the "Collection", whatever you call it, it is the groups of wines you sell. It's about taking that sample bottle out of the bag and blowing your customer away, and then doing it 3 to 5 more times each time you see them. The need to hear "wow", it's insatiable. Yet, few of us have ever had the fortune of building or contributing to a portfolio. I can tell you, it's the most satisfying thing I do professionally. Turning someone on to a producers that I "discovered". In truth, i didn't discover anyone, but I got to some before anyone else did. I recognized they had something special and had good timing. This is fulfilling. It also helps to fill this vacuum of doing something important. We identify with our group of producers, and they can define us.

My inspiration for this post was originally to criticize one of my critics. I gave a particular wine a pretty hard time recently, and someone that sells this wine took it pretty personally. I was going to rail against them for not being able to step back and have the proper perspective. The reality is that, neither do I. I am intoxicated (no pun intended) by the wineries I represent. I can no longer be a critical thinker about my group. I'm not blind, but now I have prejudice about my producers (in a good way). Looking at your portfolio without impunity is emotionally important, and in the end, makes us better sales reps. If you give in to the need to love a product conceptually, and this is how you earn your keep, this is the fulfillment. This passion will be contagious among your clientele, and in turn, through the consumer base. This will give you satisfaction, and it will help you sleep at night.

The Prisoner-(my) Final Word

2010-12-02T09:59:00.002-05:00

Rarely have I written a post so polarizing as this one. I received a ton of feedback, both in the comments, and in person.

Since this is my blog, I get the final word (I hope?). Here are my wrap up comments hoping to provide a little epilogue to the mini controversy.

This post was meant to be lesson for small wineries, first and foremost.
In hindsight, I realized that The Prisoner probably did start out as a very small boutique winery, that grew very large through the very marketing methods detailed in this post
Big does not necessarily equal bad. Although there is a strong correlation between the two.
My snarky comments probably fueled speculation that this was a passive aggressive knock on this wine. It sort of was, however, the focus shouldn't be on my comments about the winery, more so about the fact that this is truly brilliant marketing.
I do despise this wine and wines of this style, I believe that "crowd pleasing" is a cop out for dumb, sweet wines. I appreciate the fact that they have made the world safe for non-mono varietal wines, but I also think that they are leading people right down the road of the bad overpriced Napa cabs we've all grown to loathe.
It's easy to be a critic. I applaud anyone who creates. Only the most influential could ever be a victim to my smarmy backhanded critiques, so if they catch my ire, they have already funded their retirement, and it comes with the territory of being a leader.
I am not jealous. I just disagree with the style-don't confuse the two. Jealousy is a lazy knock.
I don't disparage anyone that sells this wine. They have all done well for themselves with it, and in the world of quality wine, selling out really isn't fair. We rarely have a chance to select our own portfolio, and only a fool would say no to this sort of income.
People are wildly defensive about the wines they sell-I also decided that I would be equally defensive about one of my producers-affinity for your selections is an important part of this business, and a topic I will delve further into next week.

Thanks for reading!

Your dissenting opinion may be the key to engagement

2010-11-10T08:24:00.004-05:00

Are you an affable, dependable, smiling well-groomed, honest and conscientious salesperson? That's good, but it's just not enough. You may be missing out on engagement. In this new era of social media, we are always discussing engagement. In those circles, engagement is the back and forth dialogue with the people that read your blog, twitter feed etc. The term has certainly been co-opted by the new mediums, but what does it mean in a one-on-one sales call?

Engagement is simple but very telling. It is a conversation. It can be small talk all the way up to real conversations about sales. Being that we are in the wine industry, we are surrounded by educated, intelligent, opinion spewing machines we call wine geeks. Wine geeks want to know how you feel about certain things, film, music art often will flow through conversations and a little friendly ribbing can be acceptable. When it comes to wine, however, many salespeople will be diplomats and start answering questions like they're on the witness stand. They are slightly uncomfortable with having a candid conversation and issuing a real opinion. Why do some salespeople close up the opinion shop when asked? Simple-Bad Training!

Many sales training professionals advise us to be aloof, vanilla, never controversial. This works great when you're taking an order for The Cheesecake Factory, but when you go to Joe's Underground Geek Wine Emporium, you better have an opinion to back up your TJ Maxxx tie. Your credibility as a sales rep will be made or broken depending on your opinions about all wine geek things. If you have an opinion, you'd better share it and back it up. If you don't have an opinion, you should probably ask for a different route.
This is engagement. This is the real back and forth between wine professionals besides the rote: weather kids, economy conversations. And with many accounts, its in these margins where you will succeed or fail.

Yeah, I get it, the Prisoner has escaped.

2010-11-09T08:54:00.005-05:00

November is the time of year when limited release products are often unveiled. This is not a coincidence. This is when consumers buying expensive wine seems commonplace. Great hype often surrounds the trumpeted and rare opportunity to buy velvet lined boxes of something. One of the great scams/ marketing genius moves of all time was released just last week: The Prisoner.
*As a side note, I have many friends and colleagues that buy and sell this wine with great success, and I know many consumers that have enjoyed it over the years, this is simply a commentary not on the wine, but how powerful marketing can be.

The concept is simple: The wine is a Napa Blend primarily of Zinfandel, all purchased fruit. There is Cab and Charbono in the blend as well. The wine is released, a la Beaujolais Nouveau on a set date, November 1, to great pomp and circumstance. This seemingly limited wine is pre-sold like you just won't be able to get it. The label is quite attractive, and the entire package feels special. It gets a Napa Valley appellation and it's $35. Here's the thing: they make 70,000 cases of this one wine. What does that mean in relative terms? 70,000 cases makes them bigger than 95% of the bonded wineries in California, just from one wine. Strictly from a production standpoint, this is a very un-rare wine. So how does a winery that produces so many cases, maintain the aura of being special and rare? Marketing.
Rule #1: The label matters. This hand drawn label looks like it belongs in the ranks of the wines of Sine Qua Non.
Rule #2: Mystery. The proprietary name,along with idea of a mysterious blend is intriguing
Rule #3 Score. This wine has received some nice press by placing James Laube's palate right in their cross hairs. A little American Oak and Cab to spice up their Zin, and Laube all of a sudden likes this more than most Sonoma Zins (wonder why?). Oh, that would typically get you about 92 points
Rule #4 Price. $35 seems like a lot of money for a Zin based blend. Comparative pricing puts it about the sames as Ridge single vineyard bottlings. But this isn't a wine for serious Zin people. It's a wine for people that think that a blend is something to shop for. Therefore, this is expensive, but not too expensive. This is really the sweet spot for less serious wine drinkers trying to step up.
Rule #5-Perceived scarcity-Can I just one more time say 70,000 cases!!! They have told the people that want to buy their wine what they want them to believe, that this is a limited availability wine. This is Disney and their DVD vault all over again.
Rule #6-Place is important. As long as it says Napa.

The marketing minds behind this wine have done an incredible job of selling through this wine, much to the delight of many, many people. If you happen to produce an actual limited amount of wine and are having a tough time selling through your production, there is much to learn from this example. I would not recommend trying to replicate this model as it is built on a bit of hype over reality. That's always a tough strategy for long term growth, but an excellent way to entice some sucker into backing a truckload of money up your driveway.

Looking for affirmation from critics can be infuriating

2010-11-03T16:31:00.004-04:00

Last Friday, the new erobertparker issue was released. I quickly scanned through it,as this part of my job. I had ups and downs throughout the issue. Some reviews I agreed with, some I disagreed with, and some just confused me. But I actually had an epiphany reading through these. Frankly, I may be slow to figure this out, the reason why we're all over critics-because they don't automatically affirm what we think we know.
When we scan the reviews in Spectator, or Parker, we already have a predisposed opinion about many wines. Of these wines, we have taken the time to determine how we feel about them, sometimes our bias is thrown because we have skin in the game i.e.: money or income. Sometimes it's simply because we have developed an affinity for a producer. When we see a review that doesn't go along with what we think they should be, it's tremendously frustrating.
Think about when one of the wines you love gets a great review. You all of a sudden feel redeemed. You feel like you picked out this diamond in the rough before anyone could discover. It's like you're frickin' Magellan. Feels awesome. What about when you taste a wines that you've never had before that one of the rags had dropped a 94 on? You're hypercritical, unless of course it winds up in your portfolio and you get to sell it.
Ultimately, we're all human. Try not to let your bias (you do have one whether you know it or not) get in the way. The reality is a review is just one person's attempted unbiased opinion (James Laube aside). In most cases, if this was a jury, you wouldn't make the cut, you have too much prejudice about the matter. If you really want to bag on the critics, take the truly biased ones to task first.

Isn't there some sort of line about judging not lest ye be judged? Yeah, this applies.

Our wine knowledge is turning into a wiki

2010-10-20T09:41:00.004-04:00

As wine professionals, we are all faced with the vast and impossible task of self educating ourselves. There is certainly a segment of the wine population that goes through a formalized trajectory, but this is most often associated with production and science. As a sommelier, or a sales person, we must figure out the most direct path to learn as much as possible. With the absence of a common curriculum, we usually wander and meander through wine education. We form "tribes" of tasting groups and after work, we get together to chat about wine industry gossip and some earnest discussion about arcane facts. This is our classroom.
There are certainly important figures within the wine world that have tried desperately to provide a wine course, most notably, Kevin Zraly. These people are owed a debt of gratitude, but one person, or a group of people, have been largely ineffective in teaching the masses the upper level courses of wine knowledge. The deeper you go, the scarcer the organized education becomes. I've bemoaned how, as an industry, we test well but don't teach so well.
What we have done as a group, is become our own greatest sources of information. The floating conventional wisdom of our wine tribe is ever changing, and rarely verified. This resembles the concept of a wiki. Now, we use wikipedia quite a bit, but what I am referring to is sort of the common thoughts we all gather from each other. We are all educating each other, constantly comparing notes, and ideally, constantly editing our own knowledge bases.

The thundering herd, all racing to the middle

2010-10-07T09:47:00.003-04:00

As a wine sales professional, how do you measure your success? By not catching anyone's ire? By flying under the radar? By comfortably showing up to your accounts every day, chitchatting about the weather, punching in at 10:30 and out by 4:30. It may seem good enough, but it's not.If this sounds like you, you are an order taker.

*Broad generalization alert*
I am noticing more and more, sales reps using each other as the barometer of success. They are running the race like it's a marathon, just trying to stay with the pace. When they start losing placements, the buyers become "idiots". They aren't sampling every day, and when they do, it's obviously items that are on goal and have no rhyme or reason for that account. Incidentally-it's a lot easier to fulfill goals when they sample everyday, and sprinkle them into their usual presentations, this way it won't look suspicious. If they follow the lead of the pack, then not only will they never be in control of their business, they cease to be assets and become neutral, or a liability to their accounts. This business isn't a marathon, every placement is a sprint. It's not difficult to be excellent.

There always have been plenty of salespeople out there driving their company cars with their antiquated palm pilots. Mostly, they aren't really very happy about their role in this mortal coil. You don't need to follow them to the middle. You are selling wine! I can't overemphasize how cool this is. It's not easy, but if you can stay motivated, and your own toughest critic, you can excel. I mean, you already know what the standard is, and you should be able to easily exceed it.

If you're in wine sales, the calendar just caught up with you

2010-10-06T08:55:00.003-04:00

We're here! OND! For those uninitiated, OND is-October, November and December . A time during which, we have been led to believe, all of the wine is sold for the entire year. This is obviously not true, I railed against this thinking last year. That said, OND is still very important. A disproportionate amount of wine is sold during this 3 month stretch. Couple that with the fact that you can't get a solid presentation scheduled during November and December-This is the last month of the year to influence any purchases for the next 3+ months.

Pressure? Nah. It's not as daunting as it sounds. as a salesperson, there are a few things you can do to make this last window of opportunity pay off:

Be on call 24/7-If your account calls you, even after hours, answer it. I'm all about the work/ life separation. October is the only month of the year where I say duty calls.
Do favors-Maybe this means standing and pouring at multiple charity events. Do it, this is the time when your buyer will call in those favors. It may not translate into acute purchases, but it's also an awfully good way to lose business you have just by annoying your buyer when they need you.
Be creative and observant-If they aren't already in place, help your buyers develop original strategies, whether this is displays, events or just purchases.
Do every in store/ restaurant event you can- Your buyers will appreciate the help and it's good way to get the higher traffic tastings in the next 2 months, by paying your dues in the last moderately busy month.
Sit down with your buyers to determine if you should modify your account call times for the last 2 months. Peak hours will change, and if you're sensitive to their needs, they will enjoy doing increased business with you.
Don't press-Buyers sense desperation, and will always blow you off if you sound desperate. Remember, their job is not to do you favors, but to do favors for their own bottom line.
Finally-Hustle, find your groove.

When good wine seems bad, or, nibbling at some potential hocus pocus

2010-10-05T08:23:00.002-04:00

Last week was a typical week weather wise here in the mid-west. One day it's sunny and clear, the next, cold and rainy. Temperatures were all over the map. I was mired in a series of 4 trade tastings in a row. One of my colleagues had noted that some people believe wines taste different on different days based on whether or not its a flower or root day. I had heard this, in fact, the buyers from Tesco (Large British Grocers) famously, only taste on whatever the right type of day it is. This led to a discussion about atmospheric conditions affecting the way wines show. I had never knowingly experienced this phenomenon, but it sounded like maybe it's not impossible. We then went to set up the tasting for that day. Nearly 100 bottles were opened. We discovered through the course of the day, nearly a dozen were flat out corked-considering a pretty good smattering of stelvin and vinoloks, this was a lot by any industry standard. Couple that with the fact that most were higher end wines from relatively modern winemaking facilities-this was a very significant outlier. I had just done 2 tasting in the days before, with about half as many wines, and only 2 corked bottle in the 2 days combined. The next day, again, about 50 wines, none corked. Now, I'm all about the Infinite Monkey Theorem, but this seemed more than coincidental. The bad day, was raining cold and obviously a low pressure day barometrically speaking. In addition to the corked bottles, I kept finding wines that I really know well, to be showing really tight and unforgiving. Next day, everything was fine, and it was a beautiful day.

I need to go on record as saying that I am a cynic. I would have likely dismissed all of this and you wouldn't be reading about it if I hadn't seen something like this first hand. The power of suggestion can be a powerful thing though. On the othe rhand, we've all seen wines we know and love, acting not quite the they did when we first fell in love with them. My question for you is: What do you think? Every experienced anything like this? Flower or Root? Barometric pressure? Humidity? Moon Phase? What is it? And to really make you think, is that variable actually affecting the wine or our finely tuned palate?

The inevitable trade show

2010-10-03T09:05:00.002-04:00

In most markets, September and October are widely recognized as trade tasting months. Distributors jockey for the exact date they want months in advance, try to book as many tables as possible and charge outrageous table fees. In most cases, this is a tremendous waste of time and energy. If you are a large distributor, this is an inevitablity. You don't sample enough wines during the rest of the year, so in order for your customers to get to know your product, you need to rent a hall, and serve mottled cubes of co-jack cheese.

For the rest of us, a trade show may be optional. I know that this betrays conventional wisdom, but it's true. You could actually just sink your budget from a trade show into increasing your day to day inventory and sampling budget. You would get no complaints from your suppliers, and their money is also better spent investing in your sampling programs and incentives for the sales team. If you can't shake the guilt/ obligation feeling of needing to host a trade show here are a few very important guidelines:

Don't waste anyone's time-Whether this is your customer or your supplier. Make sure there is a good reason for them to be attending your show.
Pick a good location-Sometimes the oddest venue is the most memorable.
Great and interesting food-no brainer
Be original in everything
Blow them away with your selection-Open a few ridiculous bottles
Create a buzz-If you do the above things well, this will follow
Understand why your are hosting an event-For P.R.! If you are a small distributor, you need to reinforce why people are doing business with you. This is your one time of the year to show them what your business looks like beyond 1 salesperson, 1 delivery guy and an invoice. Details are very important.
You can't replace 9 months of poor sampling and representation with 3 hours in a crowded room somewhere.
Make it fun for the suppliers-Take them out somewhere cool afterward. Arrange interesting ideas for them to burn free time. These get really old really fast. If you can coordinate some cool down time activities, you'll be a hero. Happy Suppliers= more sales.

Bottom line- This is money spent you'll have a very hard time justifying or tracking. The direct sales are pretty few and far between. If you view this as a "thank you for your continued business" and make it fun, your business just might grow as a result.

You can't discount optimism

2010-09-22T10:27:00.003-04:00

In a counterpoint to my last blog post about the "Dinosaurs of Retail", I'd like to call attention to a new species of retailer: The one that succeeds because they don't know any better.

The old guard and conventional wisdom of the wine world have a way of suppressing even the most rampant wide eyed enthusiasm. As times have changed, the merchants that prospered during the 80's and 90's became cynical as their market changed. Once in a while, you come across a retailer that hasn't been jaded, one that doesn't realize that times have changed. The state of the business today is the only reality many of them have ever know. This gives them a huge leg up on the competition. They haven't fallen victim to conventional wisdom yet, and as a result, they are discovering the new boundaries of where our market is.

Consumers haven't stopped buying wines that cost hundreds of dollars, though, that market surely has diminished. The new guard, just discovering some of the world's best wines, are coming up with creative ways to turn consumers on to them. I am now seeing break-even tastings featuring wines worth hundreds of dollars. More people will pay $25 for a 2 oz pour of Chave or a "la la" than you would expect. The rare chance to try one of these wines may be enough to turn someone into a collector. The amazing correlation to all of this of course is the decreased reliance on the Ratings Rags.

Veterans of the industry are quick to dismiss what this new breed is doing. I just can't see why they would want to squelch this approach. It seems like telling a tightrope walker to "look down". My message to them, don't trust the old guard, you're doing great.

The dinosaurs of retail

2010-09-20T10:51:00.000-04:00

It seems that no matter where you are in this country, you can always find a dusty, tired, sad, dark, cold wine shop, that is run by a crusty guy that laments on how much better things used to be. As much as the economy hasn't been all that great as of late (you may have heard this), every indicator suggests that the wine industry is very healthy, specifically in the consumer sales growth department. Some speculate that fine wines (over $20 retail) sales, growth has eclipsed 10% for more than 12 out of the last 13 years.

So why do so many veterans think the wine industry used to be so much better? The easy answer is-It's changed, and they haven't. There was a time, not that long ago, when big corporations would send a peon into their local wine shop (the aforementioned dirty dusty archetype of what a wine shop was perceived to have been) to purchase a dozen cases of overpriced, brand name Napa Cab for their 100 or so best clients. They did this a couple times a year, and was repeated by many companies. Imagine how easy those sales were. No inventorying, just clearing at a 30% markup. Thank you and thank you. This was enough business to sustain the other 10 or so months of the year when business came in the door in a trickle. Frankly, the buyers at these shops didn't feel obligated to be all that nice to the novice wine buyers that require a lot of attention for a 1 or 2 bottle purchase.

Flash Forward 10 years, what has changed? The expense accounts have disappeared and the wine buying public has been replaced by the 25-34 demographic. They grew up in the age of Urban Outfitters and The Gap. They like bright eyed wine shop owners with ample lighting and clean shelves. They also like knowledgeable friendly wine shops that have enthusiasm and patience. If they aren't catering to the novice and hosting great in-store tastings, they're just waiting to go extinct, like the gaudy expense accounts that their business was based on.

Your first wine list sucked, Sorry, but it did.

2010-09-17T19:41:00.005-04:00

I was in an account earlier this week, where the buyer had just taken over from a waiter that was handling the wine list. The new buyer was a pretty savvy guy that clearly knew what he was doing. He and the sales rep I was with were having a pretty hearty laugh at the current wine list. I immediately sympathized with the former buyer. The list was chock full of classic rookie foibles. It was a wasteland of Cakebread, Chalk Hill, Sonoma Cutrer, Banfi and Jadot. Clearly the big guys had gotten to him. Thing is, it looked an awful lot like the first wine list I wrote, and the wine list that seems to repeat itself over and over. Odds are, if you've ever written a wine list, your first one sucked too.
The above mentioned wines are fine on an educated buyer's wine list. They can often give safe harbor for the intimidated customer and can be used to fill specific needs. This guy had no idea the interplay between all of these mainstream selections. They are all safe harbors, playing it safe turns the wine list into a grocery store aisle. Rookie buyers need to be able to write a list, no matter how bad it is. They will learn. I remember thinking when I was writing my first few lists "I hope I don't make an ass out of myself on this one". The poor waiter whose list they were cracking hard on was written as a safety move, the catch 22 is, he didn't know enough about wine to write a good list yet. Damned either way.
How do they get better? Simple. It's up to us to educate the rookie. Not with propaganda, but with interesting and diverse samples. It's our responsibility to show rookies wine, even if it makes no sense in their establishment. Not for them to buy, but to help them expand their horizons. Help them figure out their palate, and what works for them. In our world, their is nothing more rewarding than putting together the best wine list of your life, and that's usually each subsequent one after the first.

Kings of the 4-day work week

2010-09-13T07:56:00.002-04:00

"Wine sales", as was once told to me by a mentor, "is the hardest business to be great in, but the easiest to be bad in". What he was getting at, of course, is the impossibility of accounting for a sales rep's time. It's pretty easy to do the bare minimum, work a modified cherry account run, and still earn a buck. As managers, we assume they are diligently seeing all of their accounts, giving solid presentations, volunteering for events, and generally being accountable. The reality is, we have no real way to know on a day to day basis what is going on out there. There are plenty of companies that try to make them submit plans for the day ahead, or for the previous week, but no one ever really double checks.
What has eventually happened, is the entire day of Friday has been largely written off as a selling day. There are usually no deliveries on the next business day (Monday), and it has become culturally acceptable to be creative with this time. This is the most common day for sales meetings, sometimes requiring many hours in the car to and from. Often the time is utilized for end of week paperwork, and emergency weekend deliveries. What if this time were used to sell wine? What if you were to take a bag of samples out, say, 2 Fridays a month?
There are a number of reasons beyond the cynical that we don't really work the market on Fridays. Many retailers are busy getting ready for the weekend, ditto restaurants. But what if you are likely the only rep out there on Friday, and you have an appointment? You will get a better crack at an uninterrupted presentation than if there are 4 reps lined up behind you. If you are well regarded by your accounts, they may even welcome the diversion. Each account is a little different, so Friday's need to be handled carefully. This presents an opportunity to be better than good enough, and certainly better than the majority of your competitors.

Jealous Much?

2010-09-04T07:35:00.005-04:00

Never waste jealousy on a real man: it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run. ~George Bernard Shaw

As of late, I have run into a tremendous amount of distrust amongst distributors. Since I am no longer a distributor, I have really been seeing it through different eyes. Perhaps naively, I put together a company that wasn't too closely linked to just one distributor, but instead diversified among a handful of superior companies. I assumed that when it came to the issue of reps seeing me on the streets with their competitors, it wouldn't be a big deal. In some cases I was right, but in many cases I was wrong. Without really getting into the gory details, I'll just say that as I am having increased success, my distributors are wondering which distributor my priorities are with. The reality is, my priority is with my winery clients. But I definitely give attention to the companies that reply to emails and phone calls. There's plenty of me to go around, just utilize me! I don't prefer one distributor over another. They are all my partners, and I sincerely want them all to succeed.
This all may speak to a deeper issue. One that isn't discussed very often. The real competitiveness of many distributors. As times have gotten tougher, I see distributors fighting each other more and more. I see maneuvering, and dirty tricks more than ever. Maybe I'm a "great society" type that says that if distributors put together great portfolios, strong training, are honest and help accountable, then attrition will take care of everything. This is all of a sudden, a very cutthroat industry at an equally cutthroat time. Everyone just needs to chill out a bit. The reality check should be that you aren't competing for just one placement. Buyers will stock their stores with as many items that a) make sense b) you give great presentations to c) fit what they need at that price. Notice how those 3 factors do not include your competitors. The truth is, you are the biggest variable, you can't worry about your competitor if you're not taking care of your other business. It's like being competitive with the weather.

Winemakers working the streets

2010-08-31T08:41:00.005-04:00

How many winemakers does it take to screw in a light bulb? One, They just hold the bulb in the air and the world revolves around them.

I wouldn't be able to pass that along were it not for a very good and self aware winemaker I know. In our little world, the winemaker is the head celebrity. They are the ones whose names are bandied about, and the ones whose mugs end up on the cover of Wine Spectator. It's no surprise that when they are in the market, they sell more wine than us civilians. Most winemakers recognize this is an aberration in the market, and that buyers are ALWAYS more likely to buy wine when a winemaker is there. Many of them further recognize that when they visit a market, it's the grunts that are putting together as good a day as possible. They will see routes that we never really see because of our obligations to run the B and C accounts as well, accounts they never will visit.

That said, there are actually winemakers out there that believe that they are better salespeople than us, and that they understand the market conditions better than we do. This, in part, is because it comes so easily to them. They also can have a valid take in some instances, when the sales reps are really sub par (and we know there's plenty of them out there). But there are winemakers delusional enough to believe that what we do (sales) is B.S. and that we're lucky to even be able to sell their precious products. I'm not going to recite the reasons why the finesse, politics, patience, hard work, timing, hustle, charm, quick wit and wisdom are skills you don't learn from racking or de-stemming. Instead I will simply say this: Unless you want to be a full time salesperson, you're going to need someone with the above attributes to sell your precious juice. No matter what you think of salespeople as a breed, you need to let them do their thing, and understand that it's apples and oranges when you're in the market. You are there to support, not compete. Don't get caught up in the idea that if you can do something we can't do, that gives you a higher rank. All salespeople are really "armchair winemakers", so it's no surprise that the amateurs sometimes actually believe they can outsell us. I'll give you a challenge, go work the market with wines that aren't yours. With wines you have no affiliation with, and give out your cell number, and occasionally show up for a reset at 6 in the morning, the day after hosting another winemaker for another winemaker dinner. Sound unappealing? That's OK, thats why you have us.

So what's the deal with Paso Robles?

2010-08-20T10:43:00.004-04:00

Paso Robles is, in my opinion the northernmost outpost on the Central Coast appellation. I know that technically, it goes further north, but here is my reasoning: The Central coast is defined by the 3 transverse river valleys, Santa Ynez, Santa Maria and Edna Valley (about 30 miles south of Paso). It's these valleys, and the funneling of the marine influence east, that provide for the wildly diverse microclimates. The reason I include Paso is because of the Templeton Gap (excellent commentary on the topic from Jason Haas of Tablas Creek). As the mountains move from east/west to north/south, the Ocean breeze swarm north along the Santa Lucia Range. North of this, the climate is different, and a little more uniform based on elevation and proximity to the Ocean. I'm sure some educated veteran will jump all over this and give me 10 reasons why my classification is wrong. That's fine, but it's my take on it, and for my me to wrap my brain around this area, this is how I call it.

A lot of hay is also made about the Eastside vs. Westside debate. By many people's opinion, the 101 freeway bisects the region, and really makes it 2 separate appellations. It's like "Zin to the right, Rhone to the left". This is oversimplified. In reality, it's a serious of triangles. Remember that Templeton Gap? Well, as it pushes cool air north it gets trapped in all of these nooks and crannies. In theory, you could have a warmer microclimate West at a higher elevation than a high elevation further East, because the winds never make it to the higher elevation vineyards in the West but dissipate as they travel East with a constant low breeze. whew.

And then there's the soil. We all know Limestone is a buzz word, and I had always heard about the Limestone was a major reason for Tablas Creek and Calera further North selecting their vineyards. But I was always a little wary of how much Limestone could really be here. Ok,it's actually Calcareous clay (thanks again Jason), but for our intents and purposes, it's limestone. Well, there's a lot. As the plates collided to form the Santa Lucia Mountains, the former seabed on the south got shoved into the northern plate to give a ton of seafloor fossils and limestone, particularly in a crescent shaped formation stretching from Lompoc about 75 miles north, primarily on south facing slopes. Ask a vineyard manager about how often they find whale bones. What's great about limestone? Well, without getting too technical (and I've read up on this) there are 2 basic reasons why limestone is great a) it is a unique soil type that retains moisture, but only gives it to the plant in times of drought, and is a well draining soil that keeps it away from the plant during time of heavy precipitation. It's like internal drip irrigation without the soil erosion. b) limestone appears to transfer more vital nutrients directly to the grapevines more efficiently. This ultimately seems to help natural acidity develop better in the wines. For me personally, I observe a savory, umami quality in wines that grown in limestone, but then again, I may just be projecting.

There is still plenty of bad wine in Paso, and even more, solid, commercial quality inexpensive grapes grown in the Northeast of Paso. But the real story is the diversity of grapes and microclimates available here. It's so diverse that there isn't one variety or group of varieties that has emerged as the showcase. Rhone, Bordeaux, Italian, Spanish, Zin, Petite and even Burgundian varieties are all excellent from top producers. Contrary to my previous skepticism, Paso is a world class grape growing region that is still in it's world class infancy.

Getting Schooled in Santa Barbara

2010-08-19T11:44:00.002-04:00

I am fortunate enough to be able to visit many of my winemaker friends every so often, and I ALWAYS learn a thing or 2. As I am in the midst of my current Central Coast tour, a few things have occurred to me.

Pinot Noir wants to be blended-Not with other grapes, but with itself. Tasting through barrels yesterday, I saw 3 equal components of what is often revered (rightfully so), of one California Best Pinots. Each of the 3 components came from the same vineyard, had the exact same oak regime (11 months so far in 20% new French). The variable was that is was 3 different clones vinified and aged separately. They couldn't have been more different. In this rare moment, just a few months before the final blend, but long enough to have developed their own personalities, you could see where it was going and why it is such a complex finished wine.
Santa Barbara is many things, this week I learned that it is not only Bordeaux but also Loire-We have been waiting for a long time for the Bordeaux wines to be great from SB County. there have been many recent bottlings that prove that they're on the right track. I tasted a 100% Cabernet yesterday that was as good as anything I've had from Santa Barbara, and competes very well against the very best of the new world. Priced in the low $30's, this could give Quilceda Creek a run for their money. That far Eastern edge in Happy Canyon is REALLY exciting. I also tasted a 1999 Cab Franc this week that blew my doors off. Old, pre-phylloxera roots and minimal intervention. This was varietally correct and absolutely rockin. A winemaker friend was with me, and we were just floored by what this was. Cab Franc as the Loire-ians (I really have no idea what you call someone from loire, Chinoions? Chinonoise?). so 2 Bordeaux varietal bottlings that really showed something that I just haven;t seen elsewhere in California, and these are "after thought" varietals out here.
Syrah needs to be ripe-Conventional Wisdom has shifted so far over to the European sensibility, that we recite what wine is "supposed to be" by rote. I've also been guilty. The fact is, Syrah is one of the most complex grapes, if it ripens. It can be highly serviceable when underripe, and offensive when overripe. But the fine line that more and more winemakers are afraid of, is ripe. This should never be confused with jammy or sweet. Ripe creates 2 things you just can't get without a steady hand 1) Secondary flavors and aromas, like olives and juniper berries 2) Higher, but still integrated alcohol. We are all very afraid of high alcohol wines, but let go of your fears. In some, rare cases, in the right hands, you need the alcohol to give it weight. It's like finishing a great sauce with a pat of butter, it gives it that finish you really need. So while we all shun and run from the "parkerized" wines, maybe it's not that simple. Maybe you can't tell a book by it's cover.

So pretty good couple of days, I didn't even mention the amazing Chardonnay, Sav Blanc, Viognier and Grenache Blancs I tried. Maybe I'm a homer, but what has happened in Santa Barbara County, from a quality standpoint, just blows me away. Next, I wax poetic about Paso

Foodie Cred Check

2010-08-03T23:44:00.000-04:00

Are you a foodie? There are a hundred names for that term now, but you know what I mean. Have your Simpson's quotes turned into Anthony Bourdain quotes? Have you drawn a line in the sand to say what precisely you won't eat (usually somewhere in the offal category no doubt)? Do you recount Iron Chef and Top Chef like you recount Football games? How do you feel about Rachel Ray? we have definitely begun turning into a nation of foodies. This isn't a food blog though, this is a wine blog, specifically, a wine business blog.

So what does being a foodie have to do with being successful in the wine industry? Short answer: everything. Longer answer: your credibility.

At this stage in your career, it's unlikely for you to turn back and go back to the restaurant business. Hopefully, you got some good foodie chops while you were in it. Hopefully, you speak chef. What does that mean you ask? Well, it's hard to describe, but it's knowing the shorthand when someone orders a steak Medium Well. You know what it means when an employee calls to talk to the chef (they're not coming in), or why you want to strangle the waiter for saying a fish is mild, like salmon or tuna. There is a comfort within a restaurant that you can't pick up from any books or cooking shows. The rhythm of a bustling restaurant is like the tide. If you do a dinner or a tasting, it says a lot about your foodie cred in the way you move, the way you say "corner" or "behind". If the chef likes you, you WILL sell more wine.

Chefs are becoming celebrities in their own right these days. all of us can name drop til the cows come home. Regardless of their fame level, they're still chefs before celebrities. If you sell them wine, don't kiss their ass. Don't get your picture taken with them. Don't ask them to autograph your menu, or magazine cover. The tough thing to do is to be the person that loved them before they were famous. Again, you can't go back and do it now. The good news though, is that the people that make chefs famous are slow moving, you should be able to pick up on it beforehand, and treat them like you're genuinely interested in their cooking. Then again, chefs are like dogs and bees, they can smell fear (and B.S.). Be a genuine foodie. If you can't love that aspect of this job, my advice to to see if anyone needs a widget salesperson.

Creativity as a commodity-Do you understand what it takes?

2010-05-19T10:01:00.005-04:00

We find ourselves surrounded by people that create for a living. For those of us on the business side of the wine industry, this is something we may never fully understand. Imagine how difficult it is to create something, then do that on spec, then do that through a series of challenges, and then imagine trying to find that inspiration on a daily basis. Couple that with constant failures, frustration & self doubt. This is the life of an artist. It holds true through all mediums. Think of all of the tortured artists, musicians, actors, etc. Now, think of a winemaker or chef in the same light. If they are good, they are somewhat tortured. They struggle to find inspiration. They struggle on a daily basis with what they create.

Now take yourself, in a tie, driving around all day selling wine. Sometimes you have a winemaker as a passenger, sometimes you don't get along. Sometimes they beat you up. This is a sign that you don't understand what it takes to do what they do. You call on chefs, sometimes they seem erratic. You don't understand why their standards are different than yours. You can't seem to relate to their approach. It is not for you to question why. When working with creative types, you need to maximize their potential for success. You don't need to set the parameters. Your standard and their standard are probably different. That's ok, because it's their name on the bottle or on the menu, not yours.

Your job is easy, you can leave it at the office. People that create never punch in or out. That doesn't mean they work harder, it's just impossible for them to separate their brain functions. Sounds like you don't want to deal with them? Well, you do. They are the pinnacle of our industry. The people that create are the reasons you have a job. If you take the easy road, you'll never end up on top. If you can align yourselves with the needs of the creative people, you'll always be on top.

The wine knowledge chasm that no one sees

2010-05-18T08:56:00.002-04:00

Wine education. I constantly harp on our inability, as a business, and as a niche, to bring people into our fold. We continue the path of exclusivity rather than inclusiveness, yet, despite our snobbery, our sales and growth continues.
The big gap seems to be from novice, to a general comfort level in a wine environment. Part of the problem is human nature. We are biologically programmed to analyze the problem (no wine knowledge) assign a few key terms and rules, and be on our way. Wine just doesn't work that way, and is therefore uncooperative. As a result, we find a wine we (think we) like, and cling to it like gollum. Then, we think we've beaten the system, and try to find validation for our beliefs. This is when wine merchants get frustrated, but it's difficult to remember a time when we were in the exact same situation. We aren't born with wine knowledge. Why do we vilify those that haven't "seen the light". It is within the wine novice on up that opportunity lies. We'd all love to have collectors lined up out our doors, but those were the 70's and 80's, time to adapt.
Here are some guidelines when dealing with the novice crowd:

Don't show off and get geeky. You're the one servicing them, it's implied you know your stuff. Make them comfortable!
Explain that their tastes are always developing and changing. Hold their hand and don't let them be surprised. Don't sell them Whole-cluster Grenache if they like a soft fruity red. They don't need to validate your tastes either.
Encourage in store tastings, designate these as the place for them to learn and expand their palate. This will save them money and frustrating purchases. It also helps the dialogue.
Encourage discovery and broadening their comfort zone, sometimes just inches at a time.
Don't want people buying on points? Stop relying on them. Let them know the only thing that matters is what they like. You've spent countless hours selecting your set, that's the endorsement.
Shelftalkers are salespeople's way of marginalizing you. If there aren't any of those, you will stand a fighting chance.
You know how doctors have something called "bedside manner"? Well, you ain't House, work on yours.

The world would be a better place if everyone was a wine geek, I know. But let's face reality, your job is to sell wine. Buying and tasting is secondary, even if it's the best part of your job. Be kind and gracious, it's takes courage for someone to say they don't know and need help. Understand that they probably won't, so you need to be there to offer it sincerely anyways.

Latitudes are all relative

2010-05-17T10:59:00.002-04:00

I can't believe how often I hear people using the latitude of a winery to sell their wines. "Oh, it's the same latitude as (fill in the blank). That reasoning is an easy, lazy and completely misleading way to compare 2 wineries that are continents apart.
I know, it sounds easy to use this not only to explain, but to help understand. Wine grape growing is a complicated matter that depends on many factors for success. Latitude is unfortunately, usually not the most important factor. Cleveland, Chicago and NYC all lie along the same Latitude as Burgundy, Napa is considerably further south than Bordeaux, and actually, Willamette Valley is the same Latitude as Bordeaux.
Factors we don't discuss often enough are the Trades (or Tradewinds) which save Dijon from Midwest-type Winters, even though it is further North than Minnesota. Diurnal temperature swings, which have more to do with relative average humidity than global position, unless you factor in marine influence. Then there is alkali vs. acid soil types, which is a completely different set of micro-factors.
It's tempting to try to oversimplify something as complex as grape growing, but as consumers dig deeper to try to figure out why their Pinot Noir from Winnipeg tastes more like something you'd find in a salad than what you might expect to find in Burgundy, you'd better come up with a better explanation.

Are "showy" wines also great? or "Why can't you form your own opinion?"

2010-05-11T09:21:00.004-04:00

I have been spending quite a bit of time recently considering the 2007 vintage in the Southern Rhone. Even if you haven't had the pleasure of tasting these wines extensively, stay with me here, I've got a larger point to make.
Many have hailed this vintage as the vintage of a lifetime. In my humble opinion, this might not only not be the best vintage of my lifetime, but in my estimation, it's maybe the 4th best of the decade. Now, I'm not going to lay out my case vintage by vintage. I will say this, I get why this got HUGE press. It's a very flashy and showy vintage. The entry level wines are great, and this is the best crop of Cotes du Rhone I have ever seen, that I will grant you. Parker goes on to say that Gigondas and Vacqueyras have never been better. This I disagree with, vehemently. These 2 appellations, in particular, show a ton of up front fruit, but that's not really what these wines are supposed to be, nor is it what makes them so appealing. I prefer these wines to be full of butcher shop, sage and leather, and only after some time in the glass or bottle, do they reveal a little mysterious fruit that emerges more with aging. The Rhone is supposed to be Robert Altman, not Jerry Bruckheimer!
Then there's Chateauneuf du Pape. 10 100-point Parker wines from this crop is crap. Granted, I haven't tasted these 100-point wines, but I have sampled a great cross section of many of the 95+ wines. They are delicious, no doubt. But that much up front fruit always dies a young death. Secondly, and certainly most importantly, Chateauneuf is a blended wine. Not just of grapes (albeit most famously), but of terroirs. These ridiculous amounts of variables make one of the most compelling and complex wines year in and year out. it's that complexity and subtlety that is noticeably absent from the 2007's. It is however, in spades in the 2006's. The most overlooked vintage of the decade. This is a nearly perfect vintage for the top appellations. With an extra year in bottle and tasted alongside the 2005 and 2007, 2006 is the vintage to beat. it's better now, it will be better in a year,and will outlast both of the most recent vintages of a lifetime.
Obviously, that's just my take on it, but doesn't that bring up a continued issue with vintage reviews? That the critics give the proverbial thumbs up or thumbs down, when we really only see maybe 1 vintage a decade that isn't good (Burgundy aside). Every vintage brings something different. What makes a great vintage? Overachieving cheap wines? Fruit bombs at the high end? Easy to drink young wines? Longevity? Complexity? For me 2006 is the best of the decade, and with good 2008's being poo poo'd awaiting the arrival of the next vintage of a lifetime, 2009, aren't we trying to be a little too savvy? If I only read the reviews, I'd agree, 2007 sounds awesome. Would it hurt to decide for yourself? If you are able to establish your own take, you might even become a better resource for your customers rather than just being another Myna bird, repeating what you read and hear.

Dining in your accounts

2010-05-04T12:28:00.003-04:00

If you are worth your salt in the wine business, you are very likely a big foodie. And if so, you have many great business relationships with chefs. You also dine out in these restaurants constantly. While it's always good form to be seen dropping some coin in your clients' restaurants, it's also a good idea to remain professional and the penultimate diner.

I can't begin to tell you how annoying wine sales people can be as a diner. I witnessed it firsthand as a buyer for many years, and I still see it today. It's easy to forget that you need to hold yourself a little differently than the rest of the population. Here is how to act as a diner (in case you don't know)

Bringing in wine? Ask first,and be sure to buy wine off the list as well. This is a show of respect, and common courtesy. Always, always, always offer a taste to the Somm/buyer/chef.
Don't order off menu. This is hard to resist. you know the chef, you how good they are, and you really want to impress your friends with special treatment. Don't ask. The flip side of course is, if they offer, then you are obligated to accept.
Don't get messy drunk. If this is such a no-brainer, how come I see this all the time?
No selling! This is also hard to resist. There's a reason you make your sales calls during off hours, get your business done during that time. Although, it's a good move to leave wine for the staff or chef to enjoy after you leave.
Don't make the chef leave the kitchen during shift They are busy, leave them alone.
Leave a business card Be subtle and gracious. If you behaved well, you should be sure to let them know who you are.
Be very careful about critiquing. Often a chef/ restaurateur will ask you for your input. Tread VERY lightly. There's a fine line between good feedback and hurt feelings.
Be the leader of your group. The way the group you are with behaves will reflect upon you. Be accountable.
Tip. Don't just tip, make it memorable for the service staff. Every single buyer was once a server,and many will judge you based on how you treat non-buyers in the restaurant.

Don't forget, just because you think you are off the clock, the chef/ buyer doesn't see that distinction. act appropriately.

Wholesalers: Protectionism, and the art of self-destruction

2010-04-20T08:51:00.004-04:00

While the 3 Tier system has been under attack quite a bit as of late, I've been considering how I feel about both sides of the issue. Then there's the whole State vs. Fed argument that I'm not even going to touch. The whole sales tax thing is a sham, so don't get me started on that. Without getting too deep into politics and fair trade laws, I thought I'd bring up some points that keep getting missed.

Wholesalers are, by in large, acting like HUGE MORONS. Direct shipping won't affect you nearly as much as, say the public backlash against the three tier system, which could theoretically start a landslide of sentiment to dismantle the whole system. Tread very lightly wholesalers, the wine buying public views you as middle men that take a greedy slice no matter what. On the other hand, they sort of have a point, sometimes.

Wholesalers, are actually still vital, no matter what happens with direct shipping. Preplanned wine purchases are great for consumers, but 98% (no data to back this up, don't bother checking) of wine consumers buy in a store for near term consumption. They also need the expertise of a knowledgeable wine staff, something you can't get from the winery, mainly because it's not unbiased. Oh, and what about sampling? If we allow retailers and restaurants to buy direct, how will they get to know the wines? Will they buy the minimum shipment just to sample new items? Who will organize trade tastings? Don't forget, any wine professional worth their salt has tasted thousands of wines, in the last few years alone. How does anyone expect this to continue if the 3 tier system is attacked? If consumers think they are going to get better pricing from the wineries, think again. Most will hold the retail price,and keep the full markup, just like they (justifiably) do in the tasting room.
The answer is, no one knows. Change is always unpredictable, and often scary. Laws of protection often fail, and in this case, who are they protecting? They are probably just protecting a small group that are too narrow minded and antiquated to see themselves adapting. All I know for sure is, wine consumption is on the rise. Wholesalers should quit worrying about rigging the system for their own self interest, and do a better job of promoting and educating. Don't you think Congress has better things to do than to protect the security of the big 6 distributors?

Video: The positive effects of Global Warming (feat Dirk Richter of Max Ferd Richter) via Understanding Wine with Austin Beeman #5

2010-04-14T09:09:00.001-04:00

Moving Boxes is very different from Building a Brand

2010-04-12T13:43:00.003-04:00

There's more than one way to skin a cat. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of brand building for artisan wineries. There are plenty of "professionals" out there that can "move boxes". This is an important skill, and one that is not to be overlooked. Moving boxes is the "art" of the deal. It exists in a universe I have never visited, and don't know much about. It's easy for us wine geeks to scoff, as I often do, about these corporate minded "tools". It may be time we learned about them though. I have noticed them infiltrating my world quite a bit as of late. I can only presume this is because of the economy and these seemingly glowing resumes hunting for new jobs. Inevitably, small and mid-sized wineries look at these salespeople, and think that they are what they've been missing all of these years. Corporate placements, court-side seats, $1000 table fees, spiffs, DA's. These are their tools of the trade.
This may sound great, and maybe I'm just jealous. Or maybe, it only works in certain situations. Moving Boxes is great if your supply is large,and your margins are thin. If you are diversified enough to withstand not being profitable every couple of years. Most small wineries count this as blood money. They can't afford discounts, let alone marketing budgets, entertainment budgets, etc. The price is the price. In these situations, you need to build the brand. Building the brands perpetuates placements,and you may even turn your customers into evangelists (the best sales tools in the world). People that move boxes can't evangelize. They just aren't built that way. That's not to say they can't sell, but their skill set is better used in different arenas.
My prediction is that this market correction, will once again have another market correction. This will inevitably result in small wineries refocusing on their solid placements, and selling by brand building rather than the fast money.

Video: Aging German Wines. (feat Dirk Richter of Max Ferd Richter) Understanding Wine with Austin Beeman #4

2010-04-11T19:09:00.000-04:00

Video: Pairing German Wine with Food. (Feat Dirk Richter of Max Ferd Richter) part 3 of 5

2010-04-11T19:07:00.001-04:00

This video talks about pairing German wine with food - including advice on Riesling with a bloody steak.

Don't let bad marketing get in the way of great wine Part 2

2010-03-23T11:53:00.002-04:00

Last week, I wrote a post about producers needing to be savvy to marketing and input. As it turns out, it cuts both ways. I have recently found myself in a strange set of circumstances, and perhaps ironic given the above mentioned post.
Last week I showed the wines of 2 different producers to a large, but boutique distributor. They are just putting their book together, and it would seem that both of these wineries would have been good fits. They turned both down completely. I got a laundry list of issues about these wineries that they had, but almost none of the comments were directed towards the quality of the product. They had issues with the names of the wines, shapes of the bottles, labels, color scheme, you name it.
This shocked me. For one, I am a pretty good judge of the "whole package" and while I can see that they were not their strongest asset (the packaging), for me, it wasn't really an issue. Second, I felt that from such professionals, that this was a pretty rookie take on the wines. If you are a boutique wine distributor, you should be equipped to sell wine you believe in, regardless of what the packaging looks like. Were they using the packaging as an excuse? Do restaurants even care what the label looks like? Where is your conviction? While I ranted against producers that fail to recognize what is going on out there, I doubly rail against the machine that prioritizes packaging over what's inside. Of the 2 wines, one is such undeniable quality, that it is nearly a cult wine in it's home state, and I'm lucky to have any to sell. I respect contrary opinions, and encourage them. I take major umbrage with the prejudice that this distributor took with these products.
Don't forget, no one has ever accused anyone for having a great eye for labels in the wine business.

Being a Business Geek is as important as being a Wine Geek

2010-03-13T10:22:00.001-05:00

Why do we see so many "unprofessional" people in the wine business that have great palates, and so many "professionals" in the wine business with crap palates? Why does being a wine geek and being a business geek need to be mutually exclusive? If you make great wine, is it "selling out" if you are good at selling it? Shouldn't all great wine rise above any sort secondary issues such as: lack of peripheral marketing materials, bad packaging, bad names, no easily retold story? In a perfect world maybe.

In the meantime, you need us on that wall (to paraphrase Aaron Sorkin). The truth is that great wine is irrelevant if no one gets to drink it. Selling wine doesn't have to be selling out. Selling out is selling wine you don't believe in. If that's you, you may as well be selling widgets, please get out of my way. If you believe in your wine, then what you learn about selling is proselytizing to the masses. If you are a wine geek, that is a powerful tool in your wine sales arsenal. It ultimately doesn't mean anything if you can't present though. Doesn't it stand to reason that if you hone your presentation, and strategy, start early, work late, have conviction, you will sell more great wine? Being sloppy, and disorganized will never help you sell wine. Are you telling the world that email is too insincere, and that you don't need to multi-task? Then you need therapy. Get it together, subscribe to Inc. and Fast Company, start reading books about Zingerman's and get your game on. Otherwise the guy with the TJ Maxx tie will kick your wine geek ass all over the street with Little Penguin. Because even if he doesn't know Gruner-Veltliner from Sylvaner, at least he knows how to sell.

Cork'd content-Secret to world class riesling

2010-03-11T15:30:00.002-05:00

OK, This is going to anger some people in upstate NY, but, oh well. Please join in the discussion over at Cork'd. I try to make my case for why Riesling is amazing,and more to the point, why Mosel is where it's at.

Interview with Dirk Richter Part 2

2010-03-09T08:29:00.001-05:00

Interview with Dirk Richter pt 1

2010-03-04T22:59:00.003-05:00

Great interview (or least the first part of it), from an interview by Austin Beeman of Dr Dirk Richter, of Weingut Max Ferd Richter of the Mosel. Dirk is one of the truly special individuals in the world of wine, and a great ambassador for Riesling. We are very fortunate to represent such a gentlemen, and his amazing wines.

Austin is a gracious customer, wine, film, and history buff, and friend. He runs the wine department at one of local Toledo Grocers-Walt Churchill's Market.

Don't let bad marketing get in the way of great wine

2010-02-27T09:02:00.005-05:00

Whenever a bottle of wine is purchased, the consumer is looking for a certain level of satisfaction. This satisfaction can often be from the contents of the bottle, but rarely is it exclusively from the contents. Instead, the consumer, consciously or subconsciously, is looking for overall reassurance that the bottle they just purchased, is worth every penny. As a result of most consumers' lack of confidence in their own palates, they look to marketing for reassurance. I know, this sounds cynical and resonates a lack of faith in consumers.

Think I'm wrong? What about the crazy success of 2-buck chuck? The success of this wine is least dependent on it's quality. There are scores of people that say that there is "nothing wrong with it", but most people, again subconsciously, are satisfied buying this wine as a result of marketing. For $2, you get a wine in a bottle with a label and a cork. This is a novelty, and the package over delivers the perception of price point.

Take the other end; I know many collectors that buy simply on perceived reputation of name (Jordan, Silver Oak) without really being able to identify what they like about the wine. They are reassured buying these wines because of their name perception in the marketplace. Their packaging looks more expensive, and certainly did, 15-20 years ago when many collectors where learning about wine. Every retail shop will tell you that simply selling a wine from a wood box will double the velocity on higher end wines. Heavier bottles, wax tops, and tissue paper all add to consumer reassurance of quality. When laid out, it seems almost stupid that this can influence a wine brands' sales. I'll tell you what's stupid: newer brands that have access to this sort of information that ignore it. How many hubris driven names and labels are out there? It's a shame when consumers buy bad wine becasue of great packaging and marketing, but the worse crime is making a world-class wine that languishes because of poor marketing. Wineries don't need to pull out all of the stops, but they need to consider whether the consumer will be reassured trying a new wine, packaging and name go a long way to consumers taking a risk and trying something new.

Why Wine Blogging is Important-redux

2010-02-21T10:49:00.004-05:00

I touched on this issue about a year ago, but I'd like to revisit based on a recent article in the Sf Chronicle. According to the Chronicle, there are hundreds of voices out there, but their actual impact on the world of wine is difficult to gauge. This is not completely inaccurate. How do you measure the impact of wine blogs? If you are looking for direct influence of wine case sales, that will probably never happen. How do you take the collective voices of hundreds of "wine writers" and determine the tidal shifts? Also impossible. Should all wine bloggers be measured by the narcissism and bad writing that exists at the lowest levels? No. None of these are the actual issue.

The editorial spin could have been: "What influence do wine bloggers have on the young demographics, and how are their wine sensibilities shaped by the bloggers?" I speak with young wine drinkers weekly. The vast majority of them read wine blogs. They are on Facebook, Twitter and they follow wineries and wine writers in each of these arenas. Facebook and Twitter have become intertwined with blogs and have a ton of cross pollination. This generation has become very resourceful, and they realize the insincerity of the glossy publications. They're much more interested in winemaking theories than your typical collectors that read the print rags. Blogging, while often frustrating and amateurish, represent the truly passionate wine lovers. Their collective voices help inform those that are ramping up their love in the entry ranks from Wine Library, which yes, is a blog. All the way up to Alder Yarrow and Alice Feiring.

Further, these collective voices accelerate theory and give a forum for a very sophisticated discourse on all things wine. Even if the only people reading wine blogs are bloggers, wouldn't Darwinism help propel the upper echelon of wine theory by sheer numbers alone? Creating a think tank for wine? That is exactly what the wine blogoshpere has become. a "think tank for wine". This also could have been an interesting take on the subject. Their take that wine bloggers don't go after themselves is inaccurate, Parker is obviously a bigger target, but he has been the most successful individual wine writer/ influence.

Very few products exist in our lives that have such a diverse impact as wine. It's international and spans language barriers. It holds culturally influenced methodology. It is impacted heavily by the environment as well as geo-politcial situations. It can be produced today and live for 100 years. It is a leading indicator of business and economic health, and involves complex sales strategies. It is intertwined with food, which has become a wealth of creativity and personality unto itself. And most importantly, wine is awesome. The aggregation of all of these factors make for a very vibrant and colorful discussion that may be only partially about wine, or can be about wine as a microcosm of other more globally significant events.

The final impact that wine blogging has had on our wine culture is this-It has helped to sharpen the collective wine profession's reliance on creating their own opinions. This can't be overstated. As a collective, we have been able to distance ourselves from conventional wisdom very quickly. Robert Parker can exist in this universe, but his opinion has no more weight than the typical blogger in this world. Wine blogging has turned into the great society.

As we blog, the sincerity that creeps into the wine world cannot be measured easily. We see this everyday on the streets when 22 year-old novices say things like "Sancerre is how Sauvignon Blanc is supposed to taste". We didn't hear that 10 years ago, and Wine Spectator certainly didn't teach anyone that. It teaches people that wine is about your opinion, and having your own constantly evolving opinion is one of the amazing things about wine.

The double edged sword of the wine buzz-word

2010-02-15T10:51:00.003-05:00

For those of us whose task it is to sell wine, we have come to rely on a series of "buzz words". We use these words every day. They help us to paint a romanticized picture of a fairly technical process. We assume that members of the trade automatically understand the implications of time on lees, batonnage, french oak, <1 ton/ acre, etc. This is further complicated by the sales "tools" that rattle off this information without paying attention to how closely the buyer is following you. It's almost like sales people just memorize a bunch of facts, blurt them off to sound credible, but are ultimately unable to connect the novice to why these terms are significant.
The only way I got anywhere in this industry was by asking reps to stop and explain every term they just repeated. I either learned something new, or exposed them (unintentionally) for the tools that they were. Whenever I do a sales presentation, I make sure to gauge the buyers understanding, and give them a chance to ask questions. If they can't connect the dots, they're less likely to understand the efforts that have gone into making the wine so special. Remember, you're not selling anything, you're teaching the buyers about your wine. Otherwise, you may as well be throwing in the under-body coating for free.

California: Forgoing Terroir for Style?

2010-02-10T14:42:00.002-05:00

I'm extremely excited to be part of the cork'd family. Today, for the first time, you can read my original content on this exciting site. Cork'd content is an amazing wine community with original content provided daily by writers such as myself.

Today you can join the discussion about: California: Forgoing Terroir for Style? This is a touchy subject, and one I hope illustrates the need for demand and accountability from wine consumers. California could do it, we just don't want them to. Or at least they think we don't want them to. Terroir will always result in superior expression of the land and the grape, we really should start identifying and promoting the wineries that give us the terroir.

I hope you enjoy the post!

We need teachers, not testers

2010-02-09T11:35:00.006-05:00

The wine education system in the country is broken, and it never worked in the first place.

Now that I've been in the Wine industry for 13 years, I feel like I've learned a few things. Can I recite all of the Grand Crus of Burgundy off the top of my head? No. Have I ever needed this skill? No. But I do know the style differences of Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet. I didn't learn that from reading about it either, I learned it from tasting and discussing. Memorization is learning for 2nd graders. Blind tasting? It's a parlor trick. It's training for the day when some one's 10,000 bottle cellar somehow loses all of it's labels, but the wine remains in tact. Then, if you have this skill, you will be airlifted in. Otherwise, it's as useful as the 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon game (which, incidentally, I'm really good at). Sure, you can argue that blind tasting really just exercises your tasting muscles and is one of the only quantifiable ways to determine some one's understanding of wine. I suppose that's a fair argument, I just completely disagree with trying to test it.

There are plenty of organizations that host testing, and most people throw around the term "Sommelier" without any regard for what this means. First, it translates to "wine mule". Think about the glamor of that little nugget. Second, a Sommelier works in a restaurant. Period. I worked in a restaurant, and I passed the first level Court of Master Sommeliers in 2000. I held the title of "Sommelier" at a great restaurant that utilized the position. MS Madeline Triffon, has been know to say, you can can call yourself a Sommelier, when you are a Sommelier. Today, I am reluctant to use that term, mostly because it's flat out confusing for consumers,and they are immediately intimidated. This is problematic when trying to open people up to new ideas and discussing their tasting experiences. The only other title available is "Master Sommelier". There are plenty of other of organizations that offer similar titles such as "Wine and Spirits Professional", etc. Here is my big knock on these organizations: They are really good at holding tests, but very few offer genuine education. Further, the testing is suspect from a practical standpoint. Most of what you learn to take these tests is memorization (theme alert), which my 8 year old could do. Very few of these courses offer real world, practical experience. Last I checked, very few Universities offer much in the way of majoring in wine education either (obviously aside from the usual suspects).

Don't get me wrong, if you are a Master Sommelier, I have tremendous respect for the work you have done to get there, I could never do it. For the rest of us, what is the point in chasing all of these letters, if they don't really mean much? These letters sort of create more problems by their sheer existence. Wouldn't it be worthwhile to actually sponsor textbooks, courses and seminars absent of any testing. I remember when I took my exam, the 2 days of classes were more about trying to figure out what questions they were going to ask, rather than comprehending the material. Again, memorization.

What we need is an industry-wide, real world, practical education curriculum. Most of the people in the wine industry are lousy educators. We should enlist actual educators to help us develop courses that are engaging and promote a true understanding of wine. Right now, the testing organizations feel exclusive, if not outright, simply by the sheer existence of the silly letters. They should be resources and feel inclusive to the novices. Testing should be saved for the end of each course only used to gain access to the next level. There is no reason for someone to hold 5 different accreditation that all basically teach and test the same thing. It's like saying "I passed English-101, five different times". Right now, it's easy to find a tester, but next to impossible to find a teacher.

Cork'd Content

2010-02-06T08:39:00.004-05:00

I'm Proud to announce that in the coming week, I will begin contributing original content to the cork'd website. Cork'd content is a section of cork'd that showcases original writing by many of the top wine bloggers. You will find links here for my writing that appears on that site. If you aren't familiar with cork'd, it is a website that allows you to track your wine tasting notes, compare with others, and interact directly with wineries. Their catch phrase is " a playground for wine lovers" . Thanks for following!

Crying like a little girl

2010-02-05T09:03:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, while sampling an array of great wines, a woman was brought to tears. I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't seen it. She was perfectly happy, and conversational, but there it was, she tasted it and cried tears of joy. I was somewhat humbled by the outpouring of emotion. As the day progressed, and I relayed this woman's reaction to the wine, I received quite a bit of cynicism. And I guess this shouldn't be too surprising, I would have probably reacted the same way (with cynicism, not tears). The question is: Why not? The wine that did this was stunning, and if anything could bring a person to tears, this may be it. Wine can bring a rush of memories, and associations, some long dormant. Why couldn't this happen? If we are spending $50+ of great bottles of wine, why can't these evoke emotional responses? Have you ever seen anyone brought to tears from wine, or food for that matter? Incidentally, the wine that did this was the 2006 Drew Fog-Eater Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley.

Our world is filled by what we don't know about wine consumers

2010-01-27T10:28:00.003-05:00

Ever hear a salesperson say "It's not my style, but people love it!". My questions is, how do you know? Does the salesperson get their information from indifferent servers in restaurants? Did they follow the consumers home and ask for candid responses on their doorsteps after Desperate Housewives? Is this the type of wine your mom likes? How do you know?
I'll tell you what you think you know:

You think consumers want simple wines that aren't too complex-You are WRONG. Consumers don't make this assessment, ever.
You think Consumers want wines that are conceptually easy to understand and pronounce. You are WRONG. Consumers want to understand the wines, yes, but they are more excited when they have learned something solid and can show off their new found understanding. Don't dumb it down, you're lowering the bar.
Consumers want oaky sweet wines. WRONG- You have tricked them into thinking this is the way to go. Oaky and sweet mask a multitude of flaws, so marketers and sales tools such as yourself have repeated this mantra and created a self fulfilling prophesy. There is a segment that always have and always will stick with a very specific type of wine, don't let that cloud your perception.
Average Consumers don't "get" the world class European wines-WRONG! Just last week, I hosted a Piemonte consumer tasting with a great Barbararesco and a Moscato d'Asti. Conventional wisdom would dictate that the Moscato would be popular, and the Barbaresco would fall on deaf ears. The reality is the Barbaresco was declared The best wine I've ever had! by at least a dozen people. A high acid, earthy, tannic red from Northern Italy is not exactly lowest common denominator wine, yet, it blew the average consumer away.

The bottom line is, you think you know what consumers want, but the reality is, consumers are constantly trying to figure it out for themselves. If you wouldn't drink it, don't try to pump it up. If you are impassioned about a wine, don't be afraid to get other people pumped up about it. This is infectious. Take time to educate,and give your clients the tools to educate. Turning 1 person on to 1 new wine discovery trumps all the cheap Merlot you think you are selling. I can promise you one thing, you will get your ass kicked out there by underestimating your audience.

Toledo Free Press Article-January 24th, 2010-Wines and Dining

2010-01-25T12:03:00.004-05:00

This is an article I wrote that appeared in The Toledo Free Press of over the weekend, enjoy!

Wine can be such an integral part of our dining experience, but so often, we rely on a few rules to guide us through the complicated wine selections available. How does a novice or a veteran in a comfort zone of mid-priced cabernets widen their repertoire without sounding like a novice? Believe it or not, the answer is: “ask for help”.

Navigating a wine list? Here are a few handy rules to consider:

· Are you a scotch or a Martini drinker? Too bad, they don’t do anything for food but numb your palate, switch to wine; it will make all the difference. Good beer, that’s another story.

· See names you recognize on the wine list? Skip ‘em. Those are there to make you feel comfortable. If you want great experience, ask for help, and make sure whatever you order, it’s something the wine buyer recommends and something you’ve never heard of before. This is a sure way to elevate the experience. The wine buyer is a professional and you should trust them.

· Want the most bang for your buck? Again, the wine you’ve never heard of is the winner with the smallest markup. This pricing strategy exists to help depletions on all items on a wine list. The wines you know gets the biggest markup and the ones the buyers love the most but are obscure get the smallest. Whenever possible, order wine by the bottle instead of by the glass, this will also make you dollar stretch further as glass pours are marked up higher to accommodate the potential loss of product as it fades away. Bonus, the State of Ohio now allows you to take home opened, unfinished bottles of wine, ask your server for more details.

· Stay away from wines that have a big oak presence, this also deadens your palate, instead look for wines that are higher in acidity; this will help with any protein on your plate.

Ok, but what if you’re hosting a dinner party? What to serve? How do you make your party memorable? As always, expand horizons, here are some knock category suggestions that should be available at your local retailer, and as always ask you friendly neighborhood wine merchant for suggestions within the categories.

· Albarino-Spanish white that has awesome minerality and acidity. The best have a great “orange peel” quality. ($20 retail)

· Torrontes-Increasingly popular white from Argentina, that can range from just off-dry to steely, great inexpensive choice ($11-$14 retail)

· Pinot Gris from Oregon-This is the same grape as Pinot Grigio, but stylistically, couldn’t be more different. If Pinot Grigio tastes like Lemonade, this tastes like Lemon Custard ($20 retail)

· Cotes du Rhone-One of the most diverse and assertive red wine for pairings, Based around Grenache and Syrah, can run the gamut from red to black fruit and from soft to rich. Should be around $15

· Cabernet Franc from Loire Valley-This would be Chinon or Anjou-great spicy red that works well with fish, about ½ the price of an equal quality Pinot Noir. ($15-20 retail)

· Rosso di Montalcino-This is Sangiovese from Tuscany, but unlike Chianti, this is a much more powerful version that suits steak and all sort of rich hearty dishes. This is a steal as it is declassified Brunello di Montalcino, which are some of Italy’s most sought-after and collectible wines. ($20-$25 retail)

More dollars than sense

2010-01-22T09:37:00.004-05:00

The great cliche: Millionaire wants to own an amazing winery. Pours tens of millions of dollars of own personal fortune into winery project with no wine business experience. Wants to charge too much for their wine out of ego. Finds out that even at that price, it still loses money, and wants prices raised. National Sales managers come and go, all getting killed for being the messenger. Why does this keep happening? Why do you rich folk have such egos, and if you're so smart, why are you soooo bad at the wine business? Tired of lighting your cigars with $100 bills? Here are some handy tips if your REALLY think you want to start your own winery:

Check your ego at the door. There are too many egos to be dealt with throughout the entire chain of getting your overpriced wine onto someone's table (see: chef's, buyers, sales managers and snooty consumers).
Find good wine business people and ask smart questions, Like "Can this be profitable?" & "How much will a 5 star hospitality center on prime real estate affect the price of the wine." The chances are, you will lose some money, but hey, it's a tax write-off
Spend your down time working a harvest or 10. You will be very surprised at how much work and skill is actually involved in the production of wine.
Understand what makes great wine great. Writing a big check doesn't automatically mean you'll have great wine, this is not a new concept!
Spend a lot of time learning about how wine gets from your hands to the consumers'. A big score isn't enough, it will take a lot of work by a lot of underpaid, overworked salespeople across the country.
You made your money in some sort of business, probably a ruthless business. This isn't that business. This is a business built on relationships, trust, humility, enthusiasm and sincerity. These qualities are not what comes to mind when I think about how people get REALLY REALLY stinkin' rich like you.

So let's say I can't talk you out of it, and you REALLY want to make wine. Fine, but here's the deal, you're going to do one of a few things:

Let someone else run it for you, trust that person. And understand, you're probably going to lose a lot more money than you expected
Get really dirty. You should probably drop everything and start immersing yourself in everything from the ground up. And all of this needs to be handles with patience and great humility.
Spend your money on building a great cellar and traveling the world, this is the ultimate wine lifestyle. Leave the wine business to the professionals, we'll call you if we need a leveraged buyout, Gordon Gecko.

Won't someone think of the restaurants?!?

2010-01-12T09:02:00.004-05:00

In my travels, the one tier of wine sales that catches more grief than any other, are the restaurants. They are constantly taken to task for their unfair wine markups and margins. While every layer gets their cut along the way, some restaurants sell their wine for 2, sometimes 3 times what they pay.

It is in my best interest for restaurants to sell wine on as thin a margin as possible: I sell mid-high end wines that can get slaughtered on wine lists at these markups. Yet, I completely defend restaurateurs wine pricing!

This is controversial. Many in this business believe that restaurants are the villains, and are essentially getting rich off of markups, with no real investment in the chain of distribution. Many of these critics have never spent time looking at Restaurant P & L statements. Ironically, everyone knows how often restaurants fail, yet people complain when the restaurant's wine prices are too high.
Let's put a few things in perspective: of the 3 areas for alcohol sales: wine beer and liquor, wine is by far the least profitable. Your $9 margarita may cost $1 to make, including labor. For an upscale dining establishment to make any profit off food sales is a rarity. It is the role of alcohol to make money. The better the restaurant, the more hours are invested in the preparation of the food. Most upscale establishments employ more than a dozen back of the house chefs doing nothing but cutting vegetables, making sauce, butchering meat, ordering product. These are chefs that never touch your plate, just support staff that have already worked 8+ and are home before you even set foot in the door. The average cost for flatware and stems for a table of 4 can easily eclipse $1000, needing to be replaced no less than once a year. Rent, utilities, linens, etc, all could make your Filet Mignon $80 + if you didn't have wine to help offset these ludicrous menu prices.
Your Sommelier's time doesn't come cheap either. In addition to hours each day, tasting, ordering inventorying, staff training and rewriting wine lists, then there is the time on the floor. Without this investment, the wine list wouldn't be what it is. All of the time behind the scenes results in the enhancement of your money and time in the restaurant. We all know how much a knowledgeable wine staff can add to the enjoyment of your evening.
Once in a while, you will come across a great restaurant that charges more modest markups and have deep cellars. How do they do it? 2 ways-Capital and volume. The more capital you have accumulated, the more you can buffer the everyday expenditures that can close many competitors, by keeping prices lower, this may help your volume, and continue the cycle. This is certainly to be applauded, but it is impossible for many restaurateurs to achieve this in a brief amount of time. these establishments are often the argument from the wine elites, but they are actually the exception that proves the rule. While I defend restaurants, here are a few cautionary bits I'll give to them as a word of warning:

Do not blindly markup 3x and then get lazy with staff training, stems or most importantly, wine list selections-NO GROCERY STORE WINES
Always sacrifice profitability for velocity. The faster you sell your wine, the more $ you make. Remember, you put dollars in the bank, not margins.
If you are profitable on your food, reign in your margins, don't get greedy
Great wine makes your food better. People will like your food more with the addition of the right wines, it should be your goal to sell every table wine, even though your other bar items may yield higher margins.

And my suggestions for diners sensitive to the best use of the wine buying dollar, here are some tips:

Buy wine by the bottle, glass pours are sold at a higher markup to justify the potential loss, you pay not for a glass, but often a glass and a half. Too much wine? ask for half bottle selections
ask the Sommelier to recommend something in your price range-They will always pick the best wine for the money, never be afraid to set a $ limit on what you want to spend.
Understand that the Sommelier knows more than you do, listen to what they have to say, and don't try to trick them into telling you that you are a smart consumer for drinking Jordan.
Enjoy the experience. You have no idea how much your paper towels cost target, and if you did, you wouldn't want to shop there.

Wine for novice video-John Cleese

2010-01-11T12:09:00.004-05:00

If you haven't caught this yet, this is a great beginners video about wine. Cleese is great,and it's chock full of Santa Barbara, notice the Brendan Fraser cameo. Great to see the guys at Foxen as well as one of my favorite personalities, Kirby Anderson from Gainey.

Today is the first day of your life...

2010-01-09T18:27:00.003-05:00

January is always a time of renewal. This year, is different. In speaking with wineries, distributors and retailers, I'm struck by how everyone has sort of let out a collective sigh of relief. Everybody is looking forward to 2010 to being a great year for rebounded growth. They feel like they survived a crazy roller coaster ride, and they acknowledge that the worst is over. So when determining your goals for 2010, what is your bar? Beat 2009? 2008? Where do you set the bar now that everything has completely changed? I believe the answer is, you don't. To some degree, some forecasting will need be done, simply to justify day to day expenses. There is no way to accurately place goals on your sales team and then have those numbers hold credibility when the only thing that will happen is you'll end up being off with every rep in every market. When placing goals on sales reps, wouldn't it be interesting to just unleash everyone? Give everyone a renewed clean slate with the sky as the limit.With everyone now with renewed enthusiasm, you can't let a spreadsheet get in the way of positive momentum.

New Domino's-Now less crappy!

2010-01-07T23:16:00.005-05:00

I saw the Domino's "apology" commercial tonight, and it really left a bad taste in my mouth. They essentially admit to the fact their pizza was bad, and has been bad for oh, about.. ever! So, I am insulted that they tried to sell it to me my entire life, and now all of a sudden, they're sorry it sucked. And the worst part is, they couldn't tell, they needed "real people" who all of a sudden told them "it's ketchup and cardboard" and now they listen? To boot, now these same people have reformulated their formerly crappy pizza (but was apparently good enough for them until the masses opened their eyes), and now we're supposed to say"oh, OK, now that you're really trying, I'll buy it again." How about this for honesty: They should have said, "we knew our pizza wasn't any good, but we made it cheap, got it to you fast, and you bought a ton and made us rich. When you started buying everyone's pizza instead of ours, we panicked and decided to be honest, sort of..." Does that sound more accurate?

Which bring me to wine. If you make crap or sell crap, how is anyone ever going to trust to do anything but lie to them ever again? On the sales side, you're only as good as the wine in your bag, if this is your career, you can't afford to mortgage your reputation on plonk you don't believe in. See how stupid these guys sound?

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I am a geek.

2010-01-04T22:22:00.003-05:00

Without delving too far into the subtle differences between a geek and a nerd, I will say, that they should not be confused. A geek, while often used derogatorily, is really a term that means that someone is really into something. A nerd on the other hand, is someone, while quite possibly a geek simultaneously, is a nerd as a result of that person's general disregard or otherwise obliviousness of social norms.
There are computer geeks (natch), car geeks, History channel geeks, baseball geeks, woodworking geeks. Anyone that is into something beyond just a hobby or a passing interest, is a geek. The world needs geeks, it breeds enthusiasm, if you are lucky enough to be a geek about your profession, then you are even further blessed.
So with that bit of house cleaning taken care of, I am a geek. Specifically, a wine geek. Many of you may say that a wine snob and a wine geek are the same thing, again, this is inaccurate. A snob is someone that judges other people based on their wine choices. While I have been known to do this, I have evolved, and I hope you have too.
A wine geek should have general excitement for many aspects of wine. Some tend to geek out more on the collectible side, some on the production side (this tends to get me pretty excited). So if you are a wine geek (or a snob learning to be a geek), and you are in this business, consider yourself very lucky, every day. For those of you in this business that are not geeks (And I say this rhetorically, because only wine geeks and family read this), you are missing a great opportunity to actually love something you do, and I am offended by your sheer existence. OK, maybe I'm still a little bit of a snob...

The problem with Syrah?

2009-12-29T09:17:00.003-05:00

Arrrgh! Where to begin? Not to pick on Steve, but his latest post really got my blood boiling. I really love it when the experienced and credible wine writers rush to the defense of Napa Cabs, for too long, they have been overlooked. It's a good thing that Steve Heimoff is bringing these wines to parties, my invite to the next soiree is in the mail. Here is my point by point takedown:

I haven't reviewed too many, so it can't be that great-I'll give credit where credit is due, Qupé has always made great wine, and Ojai is a no brainer, but a handful of others? You are clearly living and reviewing in a vacuum. I'm sure this has everything to do with the fact that arguably the 2 best (or certainly most syrah-foucsed) regions on the West Coast for Syrah are the 2 furthest from your offices (Columbia Valley and Santa Barbara). FYI-Your competition placed 19 syrahs in their top 100 wines of the year, more than any other variety.
Cheap Cab is better than cheap Syrah-Yes and no. If any value winery devoted more than an afterthought to producing some solid versions, I think you'd change your mind, witness, some very good Shirazs from down under
Australia's cheap image and the assumption that people know that Shiraz is Syrah-People may not know that Syrah is Shiraz, but the presence of Shiraz really confuses them. They largely assume that Syrah is a misspelling of Shiraz, and many try to pronounce it Shirah. Try working a big retail store on a Saturday before a holiday, that will get you in touch with the proletariat.
"At its best, Syrah is slightly soft, with velvety, ultra-refined tannins and a chocolate-biscuit taste to the berry fruit flavors, which can range from red cherries and currants through blueberries and blackberries, all the way into cassis." To his credit, Heimoff does mention cool climate can coax out additional flavors. How about this: Syrah has the very unique ability to bring out Umami, that savory mysterious, subtle quality. Few wines, if any, have the ability to highlight subtle, earth toned dishes like syrah. The complexity, nuanced savory quality is exactly what is so appealing in this grape. I understand you prefer tongue scraping tannins, and probably prefer oak to black olives in wine, but understand that this quality exists. Syrah has the ability to hit practically every berry note, fresh or dried along with pork (smoked, cured and roasted), lamb, herbs (mint, sage, rosemary), cedar and black olives, and there's probably a dozen additional appropriate descriptors.
Cabernet is THE Noble variety-This is a completely wrong assertion. Noble refers to varietal wines. Wines that are bottled without the need for blending i.e. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and SYRAH. Last I checked, the predominance of Merlot blended into Cabernet essentially wrote the varietal labeling laws setting them at 25% non-labeled varietal in the blend. Coincidentally, the approx cuvée of left bank Bordeaux, the greatest Cabs in the world, often runs about 75% Cab. Side note, Syrah is considered by many winemakers to be the most sophisticated and versatile grape because it can stand alone, take on other grapes in the blend (even white grapes), or help shore up other wines with just a touch added.
American's attention span wanes after Cab, Merlot, Pinot Noir and um zinfandel?- Malbec, you forgot Malbec. I want to know how you left out the fastest growing varietal in the US, that by most accounts, is the 4th (out of 5) best variety in Bordeaux and is twice as expensive to grow as Syrah. I'd be flat out giddy if Syrah grew to half the sales of Malbec next year.

The bottom line is, you don't want to like Syrah, it's inconvenient to try to include this wine into what you and the wine media have been preaching for 25+years, that big, extracted, youthful, fruit bombs are the best wines in the world. And that outside of Napa, and maybe Sonoma, only value wines can be made in the other regions of the West Coast. It would be so refreshing to hear just one National Glossy Publication wine writer champion something worth championing, the noblest of all varieties, Syrah.

The demise of the Family owned winery has been greatly exaggerated

2009-12-21T10:41:00.002-05:00

There is considerable hubbub floating around the wine web world these days as a result of a controversial report by the Marin Institute recently reporting the fallacy of the California Family Owned Winery. As a representative of many "family owned cali wineries" I can assure you, they do exist. This report has been taken perhaps a little too literally by some. The gist of the report is pretty simple: 81.9% of all wine produced in California is under the umbrella of some half dozen or so diversified (often in Liquor and/ or beer) multinational corporations. For those in the industry surprised by these numbers, you simply haven't been paying attention.
While I could rail, and have, about the public being duped, the virtual winery betraying consumers trust, and many other problems. I will instead focus on one glaring reason why the aforementioned statistic is not changing anytime soon: distribution. What was the unspoken reason for Inbev's ludicrous acquisition of Budweiser? The channels of distribution. Trucks and feet on the streets win nearly every battle in this industry.
Now, our good friend Tom Wark probably believes that the way around this is to allow direct shipping to all states. This would in theory, open up the flood gates and change the balance. I believe the impact of this would be minor. As much as we all would like to believe to the contrary, the flow of information does not begin and end with the publications like Spectator and Parker, nor is it with the Gary Vee, but with the traditional 3 tier system. The overwhelming majority of consumers buying the wines mentioned in the report, learn about these from their local vendor. The battles aren't won in the big city wine shops or 4 star restaurants, but in the mid markets with the moderately (wine) educated that want to find a dependable brand with relate able packaging and labels. This is the arena where the marketers have won. The other? suppressing the sophistication. No, not by nefarious means, but by sheer ease of selling the generic crap with a slick package. This is the domain of the big distributors: distilling a wine down to a slick campaign, a few bullet points, and crazy competitive pricing that makes the retailer (or restaurateur) feel like the first person on the block to discover this brand new find from blah blah blah. Meanwhile, here is mister small distributor sulking in the corner with his or her crazy good, small production, single vineyard wine at twice the price and three time more complicated story. How can you win?
Here's how:

Your wine is awesome for a reason, proudly explain it, and make it simple
Your story had better be good, make sure the distributors know it by heart
Listen to where the competition lies, if you can't compete on the shelves, you're doomed before your start
Good marketing will only help you, produce great marketing materials, have a great website, and have a strong presence (i.e. Market work)
Small distributors are often labors of love, but not always tightly run. Help them where you can, but hold them to a higher standard.
Many larger distributors are beginning to realize the cache and credibility of small distributors, and are beginning to start their own smaller divisions to compete, this adds credence to the argument for family owned wines. In some markets, they may be worth taking a look at.
It will require 3 times the work to sell your small family owned wine over the next Trinchero product, but it's a noble and winnable pursuit. Building a brand takes sweat equity, but cynicism for the inauthentic wines is turning your way. Your credible story is the best thing you can have (besides whats in the bottle).

There is no good vs. evil in the wine business.

2009-12-18T11:12:00.003-05:00

Recognize the image to the right? Every city has one. It's always home to the most shameless, sell-out wine distributor in your market. You will see their trucks around town constantly, their headquarters is always referred to as "The death star". Sometimes, their competitors will hum the Imperial Death March under their breath as these reps enter an account. Evil has a name, and it is [yellowtail].

Just kidding. Here is the shocking truth.. There is no evil in the wine business. Business is business. Most of these reps in the cheap ties and Chevy Malibu's are really just trying to make an honest buck, feed their family, pay their taxes etc. It's really not fair for the wine elite to target them, as they are just doing their job. And if they weren't so good at their job, our job wouldn't be so hard. Many of these companies are philanthropic and stalwarts for the community.

That said, they do make money off the inexperience of others,and that's what frustrates us. They sell brand names that are lazy choices in the supermarket, and this competes against complex, terroir driven wines. We take out our frustrations on these people that are just doing their jobs. Their bosses are no different. They are simply reacting to what the consumer is asking for. as long as demand exists for [yellowtail], it will be sold and presented. So should we just submit? No, but here's what to do...

Stop treating them like they're the enemy, they are better financed by you, and you don't get in an argument with someone that buys ink by the barrel... or something like that.
Understand their products' appeal. Knowing what you re going up against is one area where you can beat them. There is little chance they will ever get what you are selling, you gain credibility by understanding theirs. That means taste it whenever possible.
Educate your customer! Explain what oak, butter and .8% Residual Sugar taste like, so they will recognize it on their own next time.
Inspire your customers. If you get your base pumped, they will turn around and become evangelists for your wines.
Understand that the wine business moves glacially slow, but you can still affect change- We are infinitely more sophisticated now than 5 or 25 years ago. Keep that in perspective and continue to spread sophistication. Who knows, maybe one day, the consumers will be so sophisticated that you yourself may end up driving a company Malibu, and be able to sleep at night.

Our Rock Stars aren't like your Rock Stars

2009-12-16T08:39:00.002-05:00

The bigger the wine geek, the more esoteric name dropping we do. Michel Rolland, Jim Clendenen, Josh Jensen, Heidi Barret, Helen Turley and Manfred Krankl all incite deeply held beliefs amongst wine nerds, but why? Are these people the best of the best? Do they know something the others don't? Don't true wine geeks believe that wines are made in the vineyard. I've seen thousands of signed bottles but only once have I seen actual dirt from the different vineyards in a wine shop. I am as guilty as anyone. I hero worship certain winemakers as well. Why? Just like in this commercial, we need to anthropomorph wines, and the winemaker is the very embodiment of these wines. It's less weird than worshiping the guy that invented a USB port, right?

Foodies on stage tonight

2009-12-09T09:39:00.002-05:00

If you are in the business of wine, you either "get it" or you don't "get it", as I always like to say. "Getting it", in one manner of speaking, is not about wine, but the culture that nearly completely envelops wine, which is food. "Getting it" is about understanding the importance of great food and a great food culture. The foodie culture has grown by leaps and bounds. For those of us fortunate enough to be in this biz, we get a front row seat, and often participate. The best part of my job, hands down, is the time I spend with chefs writing menus. I feed off their creativity, and the moments that I give them direction or inspiration are unlike any other. Personally speaking, I am fascinated by creativity. I find myself now talking about chefs like I used to speak only of athletes or movie directors. I try to not be impressed by celebrity chefs, but I've been too impressed by too many. It could be worse, I could spend hours reading about Brittany/Paris/Miley/ blah blah blah, instead, I fawn over people that actually create something and that represent something that is essentially art. This inspires me. Sadly, Food Network now largely sucks. Except for a few great shows (Iron Chef, Good Eats, Chopped), they've given up on the chef and inspiration angle and gone towards the "you're an idiot and don't know how to cook, so we'll put someone up there that may or may not know more than you to not intimidate, and in the end, you'll have acquired no new skill set" . So I am left with BBC America, for Gordon Ramsey in the slightly less obnoxious persona, an occasional Mario Batali spotting on PBS, and the guiltiest obsession I have which is Top Chef.
I know, how can artists actually compete, how fair can it really be? Product placements are beyond annoying. Unfair editing. Padma? Lot's of easy knocks on this show. But they get several things right. Tom Colicchio with his flabbergasted eye twitches and rolls,has taught us all where the bar should be set. That Molecular Gastronomy for MG sake is crap. That poorly seasoned and cooked meat is inexcusable. That this competition, as unscientific as it may seem, has raised the bar for an entire generation yearning for a little boob tube foodie inspiration. While it's not perfect, it's the best thing us foodie's have. While I'm patiently awaiting the arival of Ad Hoc at Home , I'll relish in Kevin's victory tonight (after all, the Voltaggios are clearly robots).

I'll give you authentic!

2009-12-04T12:06:00.004-05:00

Steve Heimoff, whose wine blog is always outstanding and insightful, really caught my ire today. His recent post Using “authenticity” as an inauthentic marketing tool completely missed the mark for me. A recent study showed that "Gen Y" holds authenticity to be a strong value when choosing wine. Heimoff rightfully challenges this concept as vague and difficult to pin down. Sadly, he also accuses marketers of taking advantage of this vaguery. Here is where he misses the mark: Authenticity, by it's very nature, is more resistant to "inauthentic" marketing techniques. Heimoff's claimed ignorance as to what constitutes authenticity is also sort of lazy. Here are some examples of things that are categorized as authentic in my book:

Any sincere attempt at the involvement of terroir
Wines that come from a specific location
Wines produced by a wine maker with staunchly held beliefs and vision

While these are very loose and certainly open to interpretation, I believe an operative term is sincere. when wines are made sincerely, the ending result is more "authentic". What is an insincere wine you may ask? Rex Goliath, Blackstone, 7 Deadly Zins, etc... While not necessarily bad wines, these wines couldn't be vaguer. They have no vision, no specific place, no style and no sincerity. These wines are all the result of marketing, and are therefore the opposite of authentic. If Heimoff can't tell want constitutes authentic in wine, maybe he should ask a Gen-Y'er, they seem to have a pretty good feel for it.

I know that Heimoff is really attacking the language of this report more than the results, but it's reckless to discount a revolution in consumer sophistication because of the language of the people analyzing the results. These are significant results.

Vintage Shmintage

2009-12-02T11:25:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time, vintages of wine really mattered. The difference between awful and amazing was dependent upon the vintage. While this certainly remains the case for collectible wines, most wine today is built for consistency.

One of my good friends that is a retail buyer called me this week to see when the 2008 Oregon Pinots would be released. We are right in the middle of the 2007 release in most cases. So I replied that they would start rolling out around April. He replied "I'll just wait until the 08's come out".

For the sake of example, the following is only in regards to Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs:

Now I understand that 2007 was not the vintage 2008 was. 2008 will likely offer more depth and longevity. and 2007 was considered to be challenging to many. In the last few months, I have tasted the 2006, 2007 and 2008 vintage of practically all of my producers. I can say without a doubt that 2007's are showing the best right now, except for the absolute top level bottlings (in which case, 06's are still showing great). This illustrates a problem with buyers. They are often buying on perceived vintage reputations written about in trade magazines. Then the buyers are staking their reputation on the idea that being selective in vintage purchases will make them a better wine shop. In some cases, this is true, but for a $25 Oregon Pinot Noir? Undoubtedly, the best of the 3 current vintages to drink tonight is 2007, and this will be the case even after 2008's are released. In fact, the 2008's won't start being great until they've been released for 6 months,and it still may take another 6 months until they actually are drinking better than the 2007's. Apples to apples it's probably true that the 2008 at it's best will be better than the 2007 but very far from it right now. The best time to sell them the 2008's will probably be December of 2010. So, is this responsible? Are you selling wine for tonight or wine for the future? You would bring in the 08's ahead of the 07's with no impunity for how they're showing today? Furthermore, are your customers stubborn about buying the 08's only, or are you projecting that upon them?

Congratulations, you're connected! How is your reputation?

2009-12-01T10:27:00.003-05:00

We always say it, the world of wine is so small. Forget 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, it's more like 2 degrees of Gary Andrus. Everybody knows everyone in this business. This is why your reputation is so important. Wine knowledge is assumed, it's the understanding of the application of this knowledge that elevates your game. Your reputation is the one thing that will follow you through your career. With so many lists out there right now, here's another one. 9 things you can do to keep yourself connected, and build your reputation:

1) Social Networking-LinkedIn and Facebook. Duh, everyone talks about these, but they are vital. People are skeptical because they have a tough time understanding how this can help in the future. That's what is so amazing about it, that the possibilities are still endless. I have found wineries and solved problem simply by engaging my network. This will keep your degrees of separation even closer. The more you engage your network, the more you will be on people's minds.

2) There's a thin line between self promotion and shameless self promotion- Be careful not to talk about yourself too much. In an industry where the only real accolades are MS or MW (and freakin' impossible to get), your resume may be verbal and you may feel the need to read it off every chance you get. Don't! The past is irrelevant, where you are right now is all that matters.

3) "Have a Take, Don't Suck!"- To quote Jim Rome, having an opinion is important. Can you imagine an art dealer not having an opinion about art? Just make sure you have an interesting and original perspective that give people a chance to challenge their (and your) deeply held beliefs.

4) Take control of the conversation- This is broad, but it refers to a few different things. You can be the beginning of a chain reaction of enlightenment. Whether this is in a public tasting where it's one on one with a consumer, a wine dinner where you can sway the hearts and minds of the adoring crowd, or your daily dealings with retailers that believe they have no control over consumers' behaviors. Don't be afraid to engage.

5) Tell the truth & be sincere-Being honest in sales seems contradictory, but nothing builds credibility faster. If you truly care about the long term success of your customers, this is the best way to prove it.

6) Think long term- If you chase the acute sale, you'll never build brands. You'll always chase a dollar number. Put the right wines in the right places, practice diligence and patience when training, and you will be rewarded.

7) Give everyone a fighting chance-Don't prejudge customers or distributors. Give them to tools to succeed, if they don't succeed, they'll know why,and it will never be you.

8)Be a grown up-We are in the business of alcohol. Keep it under control. Never give anyone in the industry a story to tell. Out drinking anyone is never good for your reputation.

9) Be tough, fair and unemotional (i.e.-leave ego and pride at the door). You are an advocate for many things, the wineries you represent, your customers, maybe your employer. When negotiating any of these, it's very important to be that advocate, no matter what it means for your bottom line or for your pride. you are always a representative of something, sometimes many things. Understand what is important, and your needs are the bottom of the list, unless you want to go back to selling copiers...

Another charity wine tasting? woo. hoo.

2009-11-11T10:39:00.004-05:00

First and foremost, it's of paramount importance for everyone that has resources, whether they are time, financial, or other, to give back to their community. Get involved in organizations. Sit on the board at least once in your life. Community service is a great way to exercise your skills for a good cause. Believe in a worthy cause, and put significant energy towards making that cause as much money as possible.

We are well into the season of the year in which Wine Galas abound. Each year, countless charity organizations decide that the best way to raise money is to host a wine tasting extravaganza. Make people feel like their $50-$500 ticket is worth it because of all of the awesome food and wine. Consumers pay the money, come taste the wines, and everybody is happy. Right? Well, not really. What is happening is these events are not only losing their caché because there are so darn many of them that they all blur together, but the supplier of the wines are starting to lose enthusiasm quickly because there are a dozen requests or more per year. The resulting donations end up being last years samples at best. The more events the more you need to say no. The more duplicate events, the worse it gets. I have been personally involved in planning several of these events, and it's always the same thing. The organizers of these events simply assume that the mere forum to taste this broad array of wines is a great way to promote one's products, and ultimately result in recognition and retail sales. this does not happen. In addition to the charity landscape sucking ass right now, no one has been able to reinvent the wheel.

I have a solution, sort of. The 2 battles that each of these events is fighting are originality/ differentiation and enthusiasm from the organizers and participants. It's time to change the format of these events. The reboot is long overdue, and as the economy is transitioning, it's time to differentiate from the crowded event landscape. Here are my suggestions of how to elevate your game:

1) Pick a new time of the year-Oct-Dec is so crowded, it's impossible to thrive
2) Pick a new venue. -No more Hotels or convention centers. Get creative. Outdoors is an awfully good place to start.
3) Pick a new format-Just because people are getting finger food and glasses of wine doesn't mean that they don't feel like cattle.
4) Act like a business. People want to help, but you're competing against other charities. You can't sell one cause over another, but you can sell them on what is beneficial for the people participating. Find out what would make them excited and want to participate, and don't assume restaurateurs and wine people will want to sit on a board. you need to go get the answer from them. Make it worthwhile
5) After someone says yes, stop asking for more-This is a huge turn off. If someone will come to an event, and stand there for 3 hours and pour wine at their expense, it's unfair to ask them to for more product. You'll inevitably get crap anyways.
6) When asking for donations, ask for something specific-sometimes the hardest thing is not deciding if to donate, but what to donate.
7) Make your event original and able to withstand the "elevator pitch" test, this is how you spread word of mouth for next year.
8) Always build towards next year. Better enthusiasm, will result in better word of moth, ticket sales and participation.

In defense of the criticism of plonk

2009-11-10T11:35:00.004-05:00

[yellowtail] is plonk. In an attempt to keep it short and sweet, I didn't explain why. In fact, [yellowtail] is short and sweet. Back story time. Randall Grahm took some heat earlier this week for his comments on splendid table. It's worth mentioning that Randall did say that his comments were not meant for every aussie Shiraz producer, but many that have defined the style. Secondly, he was trying to defend the noblest of all grapes, syrah. He raised some very important points about syrah/ shiraz, one of which is that most shiraz we experience, is pure winemaking. Terroir is out the window. Shiraz we think of is pure unadulterated fruit juice. Easy to make, easy to drink, sweet, simple. blah! I don't believe anyone in this is evil or less sophisticated, many Aussies have made quite a bit of money from this formula that Americans love. Making money is truly acceptable. And there are some amazing world class producers in Australia that are turning out amazing wines like Kaesler, Langmeil and the Burge Family.

That said, like it or not, when you make wine that is soda pop, and you have essentially confused an entire wine drinking generation about arguably the worlds greatest grape, you're going to get some heat. And you deserve it. So take it and say, I deserve it because I've made a choice in my career to make money off of people that don't know any better. And if, as Aussies, you really take umbrage with Randall's dead on comments, take it up with the people that are turning out the grape juice that has more in common with Mogen David than hermitage.

No one makes technically flawed wines anymore, we know too much and have come too far, so when I say these wines are crap, I don't mean that they have technical flaws, I mean that there's no wine in these wines. And the argument that the people that drink these wines will eventually become fine wine drinkers makes as much sense as saying that Shirley Temples are a gateway to Old Fashioneds.

The infectious wine snob

2009-11-09T10:31:00.003-05:00

This weekend, back to back incidents have given me a little perspective on my effect on my friends in regards to their wine snobbery. Not once, but twice, I had people close to me make comments about Yellowtail and 2-buck chuck. while both of these wines are pure plonk and a hindrance to the credibility of fine wine everywhere, I'm a little concerned that I have created a culture of wine criticism around me. I am a critic of practices of dumb-ing down wine. I have a good palate and recognize good wine in a very broad sense and can easily imagine all real world applications. I recognize a great inexpensive wine,and don't for a second feel that all wine needs to be expensive. That said, yellowtail and shaw are crap because they are a confection and sell a lifestyle, not because of their price. Maybe I need to be a little more diligent about explaining this side of it.

ahhh, the mouth breathing masses...

2009-11-04T08:50:00.008-05:00

*The following is meant to be in good humor, please don't be offended by anything that follows, I realize it comes off as elitist, but hey, it's the wine business.

Insulated by layers of wine geeks, I find myself rarely coming into contact with the average wine consumers. I feel like I have a very good grasp on their habits, preferences, and the influences of the restaurants and retailers in their lives. But I rarely need to actually deal with them. Surprisingly, my home market of Toledo is a really sophisticated wine market with solid tastings on a regular basis hosted by people that love to teach. When I travel, I quickly realize how spoiled I've become. While at a consumer event this week, I couldn't believe the way these people acted around wine. Here is my open letter to wine consumers that attend tastings. If we are worth our salt as wine educators, we will teach each of these people the errors of their ways.

1) Most Important-you don't know as much about wine as I do (caveat-wine consumers only. In the trade, 1000's of you know tons more than I do). This is not a problem. I hope you don't know as much as I do, otherwise I suck. You on the other hand, should stop trying to impress me, and just listen for 3 seconds.

2) Yes, I've been to wine country, no I've never been to (fill in the blank). I'd love to hear all about your picnic drinking (blank winery), but there are 30 people behind you that just want to taste the next wine.

3) Forget you ever heard the word dry, there is no such thing as medium dry. It's a binary system, it is either dry or it isn't. Dry isn't a catch all. If you like sweet wines, just say it.

4) Have an open mind. You already paid for the tasting, quit looking for familiarity, the entire idea is to sample new wines. expand your horizons.

5) Blends are neither good nor bad. The next person that tells me they have started only buying blends is going to get smacked.

6) Don't tell me you love wine, but all you drink is Napa Cab. I already don't like you.

7) No French jokes. You can rip on Italians all you want, and any Southern Hemisphere bashing is encouraged. The French rule! You don't have to like the wines, but understand this is the most important wine country in the world, and if you stopped eating ketchup and drinking soda for 3 seconds you might like their wines.

8) No, 2-Buck Chuck isn't good, it never won any wine tasting competition, and when you think you're smarter than the average bear giving it as a gift, everyone know you're cheap, even if you buy a whole case.

9) Don't give the wine I'm pouring a score. I don't really like most of the people that do it for a living and have infinitely better palates than mine. Just pick up your case of Insignia and leave me alone.

10) You're not at a bar, quit acting like it!

Thanks for letting me air my frustrations. I'm glad I waited 2 days before posting that one, could have been offensive if I didn't have a cool down period...

Sometimes you just need to take out the kick ass wines to show 'em who's boss!

2009-10-29T20:25:00.002-04:00

A wine rep always struggles with what to sample. There are dozens of factors that go in to every choice in a bag. Yesterday, I just decided to go out with guns blazin' and knock em' dead. I picked the entire lineup of Jaffurs, an elite Rhone producer from Santa Barbara. The wines aren't cheap, but they're amazing. I took 4 wines around,and at the end of each stop, the line was, "I can't remember the last time I had such amazing wine". at that point you're not even selling, you're just agreeing with them. This is a great approach for 3 reasons a) You sell a bunch of great wine b) for whatever isn't bought that day, surely the wines will be remembered for years to come c)it helps to give you credibility for not wasting anyone's time. I especially love when the guy in front of me a s crappy $9 Malbec. Always make sure you're the one they want to see.Next time you balk about taking out the pricier models, throw caution to the wind, you be glad you did, and so will your customers.

Distributors on the Defensive

2009-10-28T09:03:00.003-04:00

My world has flipped upside down. My new role is to hold distributors accountable, while my old one was being held accountable. On the receiving end of the accounting, I had a great rapport with wineries. I was always brutally honest, built evidence to back up claims, and most importantly, knew what needed to be done to make each brand succeed and make sure we were giving it the best effort. I rarely needed to go on the defensive because as I laid out the evidence and gave my input, the wineries all knew that we were their best chance at success.

Now, I am in constant contact with many distributors. Very few act as if they are ahead of any issues that may be brewing. Disseminating information is practically non-existent. Getting valuable work-with time is tough. Want to schedule time in front of a sales meeting? You can get a reservation sooner at The French Laundry. Many distributors are doing everything they can to keep their head above water. They are all stressed about the season. I understand and appreciate all of this, and all of their competitors are going through the exact same thing right now.

While each of these complaints are frustrating, ampelography is built on the notion that all of this is going to happen. Distributors, when it comes to handling small brands on a large scale, suck without exception.This is why we have a job, to shine through their challenges, and elevate the conversation back towards artisan producers.

My knock on distributors is when they don't own up to the obvious. They aren't pumping their sales teams up about our producers, they are sending out sales sheets, they aren't stocking products to the appropriate par levels,and frankly, they aren't educated on our producers. I don't expect them to do all of these things, but when sales fall flat, it's my job to identify what needs to happen on both ends. When confronted about what is happening, the distributors end up acting like children that broke something of daddy's. I know admitting failure is tough, I expect them to fail, I just want to know how they're failing. I know I'm small potatoes in their world of $7 Malbecs and $6 Pinot Grigios, I don't help them "move boxes". But what I represent to them is a chance to exert minimal effort and have success. I am a boost for their more stagnant products. I'm not their competition, but they treat every supplier like they are. It's time for distributors to see the big picture. If they'd quit being so defensive, we'd actually both benefit.

OND has lost it, Don't Panic!

2009-10-20T15:16:00.005-04:00

Once upon a time, wine sales, as were many retail item sales, were driven by OND. OND or October, November & December, the last sales quarter of the year, historically represented 40% of annual sales. It is when companies were made or broken. Many retailers didn't go into the profit column for the year until black Friday (you know, the day after Thanksgiving). Last year, OND, or lack thereof, killed many businesses,and just about every one's business plans. The remaining inventory clogged up the 1st half of 2009 wine sales. Now, 2 weeks into OND, what is happening out there? Nothing. Seriously, nothing. Sales haven't picked up yet. In fact, they probably won't pick up that much.It's been years since the "O" in OND meant anything except everyone talking about how the season would be.
As a wine culture, we've changed forever. The economic downturn only clouds people perception of wine sales trends. Here has what has happened to kill OND:

1) Wine Gift Giving has decreased-There was a time when everyone gave bottles of liquor or wine at holidays, that has gone away quite a bit. And with corporate tightening, the big companies that used to buy dozens of cases of Jordan or Ferrari Carano to give as corporate gifts has also dried up.

2) Wine seasonality is changing!- Americans now drink wine everyday, and this is a great thing. Wine is no longer the domain of special occasion only. Americans have grown their wine consumption "JFMAMJJAS" (that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue does it?), or the other months of the year so much, that the expert predict the growth to be constant, and the fact is, people already drink wine routinely, they're not going to drink extra wine on Thanksgiving. We are reaching good velocity through the season change that the increase, while existent, is not dramatic. When the last time you went to a big party on New Years and really whooped it up?

3) Wine purchasers have lost their bearings, and as a result, their "balls"-As a result of buyers failing to recognize point #2, they have over purchased, over projected,and in general been their own worst enemy. Buyers do 2 things when times are weird, they either try to buy themselves into higher sales, often jumping on closeouts,which in turn knocks down their avg sale and profitability. Or they flat-out stop buying. Keeping their inventory in check, but now are relegated to stock monkeys. If a buyer doesn't buy, what is their job? Advice to all wine buyers, please plan accordingly in the future, budget less seasonality into your annual plan, and prepare your bosses for the inevitable disappointment come November, regardless of the economic conditions.Your sales will continue to grow,just be cool. Nationally, we are still growing wine consumption around 5%, it's not the 10% it was a few years ago, but it is still growth.

In this business, people's memory's are very short. I have vivid memories of 2001 OND when everyone said things would never be the same, and they weren't, we grew this industry faster between 2002 and 2008 than any other 6 year span in the last 50 years. In the late 90's all of the money spent was on obnoxious high end cabs, now it has been converted to dozens of different categories. Americans have never been more sophisticated,and are only getting more interested in wine. everything will be fine, just don't panic!

Lange Estate

2009-10-15T08:36:00.006-04:00

I've been waiting to post about Lange for some time. It's really all their fault. They sent me a book called The Grail, which is all about a year in the life of Lange Estate. Great read, but I haven't finished it yet.This is the crazy season after all.
Tim Brislin, who we've known since his Anne Amie days a few years ago and now National Sales for Lange reached out for me over the Summer. He was looking for a little help in our neck of the woods. Having been to Pinot Camp,and knowing they were a participant, I rushed home to check my notes. Sure enough, they were a host the year I attended. Oddly enough, I had no notes about them anywhere. I had comments good or bad about pretty much every wine I tasted sniffed or saw, but they were noticeably absent. To this day, I can't figure out how I missed them.
Hidden in plain sight is how I describe Lange. I somehow missed them my entire career. When Tim contacted me over the Summer I was intrigued, and agreed to first taste the wines. I was absolutely blown away. The wines were stunning. Each of the reds displayed a house style of balanced acid/ tannin structure. These were Dundee Pinots for sure, but even more so, showy and from the challenging 2007 vintage. Perhaps most impressive was their Chardonnay. All you cynics can just shut up, I still love great Chardonnay,and so do you. Lange makes good on the promise that Oregon produces the best Chardonnays outside of burgundy. Clearly I had missed something along the way. Proud of my new "discovery" I immediately signed them up. As I began talking with my colleagues that had also been to Pinot Camp, they all went bonkers for Lange. Somehow, I was late to the party, but very lucky to have them on board.
Don & Wendy Lange started the winery conceptually while in California. Their first vintage was 1987,and their lineup hasn't changed much since then, except the addition of Jesse, their son, to the team. The Langes have built a reputation for consistency and a blend of Estate and contracted fruit. Along with our other great Oregon producers, Lange represents another facet of what needs to be considered the true Oregon style (which probably consists of at least 6 different Pinot Noir styles).

Finally catching back up...

2009-10-02T09:24:00.006-04:00

Great news, we've been busier than we ever imagined! That means that we've been showing hundreds of consumers and trade our wines. The drawback is that we've been away from the daily routine and our homes so much that the blog has been neglected, although, it has been on our minds and we've seriously missed blogging.
Sincere apologies to all producers we haven't yet blogged about. You've been on our minds, but we've devoted more time to showing and placing your wares than talking about them in Wine Web 2.0 (Tim-you're up next I promise).

So what's been happening in the world of ampelography? First, we hosted our launch parties in Cleveland and Toledo. Thanks to everyone that came out to support us! Our invite is pictured above, that would be "Tangle" by the amazing artist Amy Casey who generously gave us permission to use her image. We have a business concept that can sometimes be difficult to describe in one line, so your support and appreciation is amazing. We had over 200 attendees at our events, we showed over 120 wines at each event. Collectively, we've been in Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee and all over Ohio. Nashville has a found a place in Walt's heart, and he's been there twice as opportunity has presented itself. This will be a great market for us moving forward, and is a great example of how a market that wasn't originally part of our master plan presented itself, and is now a vibrant segment. Adapting as opportunity arises is a major component of success. We've been fortunate enough to participate in some great trade events along the way, with a few more coming. The 55 degrees shows were great. Cleveland and Cincinnati really embraced the wines. We've made new friends at Wine Trends, and Domaine and Estates in Ohio, 3 Tears and Vinture in Indiana, Best Brands in Nashville, and re-upped with the good folks at Cutting Edge and 55 degrees in Ohio.

Here is what we've learned:
1) David Shiverick is the man, seriously, check out the confidence to which he brings thrift store fare:

2) Chinon rocks-duh, right? There's so much great wine out there that sometimes you forget how much you love a tiny corner of say the Loire. Domaine du Roncee, nicely done.

3) There is something special about Europeans with class. Michele Scamacca- you are a true gentleman. amazing Italian wines, proud to have you in the fold!

4) I heart the Queen City! My brother lives here (Cincinnati), so it's always held a place in my head, but aside from the seriously f-ud up layout and duplicity of streets on the west Side, this is one of my favorite places to visit. The people are great. sophisticated without having an ego. The perfect mix of wine geeks. Go Bengals!

5) Showing people Chave is one of the great joys in life.

6) Wild Hog has aromatics in Pinot Noir that I've never seen that are nothing less than enthralling.

7) We have a seriously kick ass portfolio

8) the World wants and needs more French Wine-The long national nightmare may finally be over, time to break out my neckerchief

9) Randall Graham is back in a big way!

Cant's wait to see you out on the streets!

Beyond word of mouth

2009-08-26T08:47:00.003-04:00

During these economic times (I can't wait until I don't have to hear that phrase anymore), marketing dollars need to stretch further than ever before. The institution of marketing has turned squarely towards Word of Mouth. The concept that the most effective and sincere way to get depth of sales is through people telling other people about their positive experiences with the brand or product. The challenges with such an approach are numerous. The least of which may be that it's nearly impossible to track. The other is the seeming insincerity of exploiting such behavior.Even with all of the problems, word of mouth can be a very powerful tool. In regards to wine, perhaps even more powerful.
The landscape for the wine consumer is very confusing and complex. People don't like to ask for help unless they absolutely need it.If they find a wine they like, they are likely to champion it among their social circles because finding that wine they like in the first place can be a journey. It also can give the consumer the air of credibility within their group.It would seem that the wine marketers and producers should be as eager as any to utilize this inexpensive and effective marketing approach. The obstacles of tracking effectiveness and credibility can be solved in one fell swoop. Open the wine! If you have a great product, the best way to turn people on to your product is to let them taste what's behind the label. If they love it, you get instant feedback. If they buy it, you see the effectiveness.If you tell a good story while tasting the consumer, then they have knowledge to take back to their social circle. If you are promoting your wine and aren't there to actually pour it or talk about it, be damn sure the person that is knows everything inside and out there is to know about your wine.
People are just looking for affirmation of what they like, or a reason to like it. The want to be the one to discover it. Getting a handful of consumers to seriously taste may be much more effective than a huge crowd in a grocery store. It's more important to incubate the word of mouth cycle than to sell as many $2 tastes that you can pack into a grocery store on a Saturday afternoon.

McCrea Cellars

2009-08-24T16:35:00.004-04:00

One day, 10 years ago, while employed as a buyer for a restaurant in Santa Barbara, a sales rep came in and showed me a Syrah from Washington State. I had tasted a few, but nothing that had impressed me up until that point. In fact, I was having a difficult time finding a good Rhone Varietal outside of France or Santa Barbara. I vividly remember my reaction as I tasted this new WA Syrah. My head was spinning. This was like a biologist discovering a new species. It was Syrah, without a doubt. It was silky and had beautifully balanced sweet fruit tannins. The wine lasted and lasted. It was the 1997 McCrea Cuvee Orleans Syrah (375ml no less!). I immediately added it to my list,and happily hand sold it as long as I could keep it in stock.
Somehow this quirky little winery with a funky purple label and I would cross paths a few more time before all was said and done. A few years later, after moving back to Ohio and while traveling for a supplier, I bumped into Susan Neel (né McCrea) in Missouri. We hit it off instantly. I spoke of my love for her wines and told her that I wanted to represent them in Ohio. It took her 2 years to be convinced to sell Walt and I wine (he had also known the wines as he was a Hospice du Rhone Groupie for several years). Eventually Susan started traveling to see us and support our efforts selling the wine,and we became very close. My son even received a birthday present from Susan that was an autographed bottle of Grenache from his birth year saying "Happy Birthday Eli, do not open until 2022!
Doug McCrea, winemaker and partner, hails from New Orleans. He and Susan were really the first significant winery producing Rhone varietals in Washington. They started in the late 80's. I'm told they really hit their stride by the mid-90's, and to this day, craft some of the most incredible, elegant version of many of the Rhone grapes. Sleek, elegant and balanced, they have really tapped into and defined the terroir for an entire generation of up and coming wineries. We are very proud to announce the addition of McCrea Cellars to the ampelography portfolio.

Mentors-Teaching how to learn

2009-08-05T18:17:00.002-04:00

One of the thousands of perks of my job is to attend ridiculously cool food and wine events. That was the case this past Sunday when I scored a ticket to a big SOS dinner at Lola. This was no ordinary dinner, guest chefs included Bobby Flay, Jonathon Waxman, Paul Kahan, Jonathon Sawyer and Nate Appleman. The theme was mentors and their students. It's strange to think about Michael Symon or Bobby Flay before they were Iron Chefs when they didn't know anything. Today, they are all experts at what they do. Having mentors is undoubtedly an important part of their success. This event made me think about my mentors over the years in the wine business. I am fortunate to have had many, and the thing I learned more than anything was how to to learn.

In the wine business, there is a tendency to puff your chest out and pretend like you know more than everyone else. This is a sure sign of knowing enough to be dangerous and that's it. I'm sort of arrogant by nature (thank my father), but that shouldn't be confused with acting like I know it all. I was told many years ago that the second you realize how much you don't know about wine is when you begin to really learn about wine. I've always liked this and It has guided me well. I didn't know everything,and will never know everything. But I do know a lot, much of it arcane, but more importantly, I know how much I don't know. It's this attitude of always learning and never feeling like the master that I picked up from many people I thought of as mentors. I'm never afraid to ask questions, and I feel like the cocky wine geeks have forgotten how to ask the question.

I know that Symon et al, are amazing chefs, but they would never call themselves experts, even though they truly are. It's this humility that breeds excellence. It's the patience of a teacher that helps instill the thirst for knowledge. Thank you chefs for reminding me an important lesson, oh, and for the bacon ice cream too!

Jaffurs Wine Cellars

2009-07-29T16:21:00.003-04:00

This has been a story I've been waiting to tell. Somehow, someway Craig Jaffurs and Dave Yates have been a part of my wine career almost since the beginning. As a young wine buyer, Craig explained the concept of Brix to me. I can't even tell you how many wine dinners I've been to with Craig. I do know that for each dinner, Craig's wines have brought out the best on some of my favorite Chefs, and closest friends. When I became a sales rep, one of the wines in my portfolio was Jaffurs. I know I sold a lot of their wine because I still always hear about the good ole days from these guys. When I decided to move to Ohio, Craig and Dave put me with Walt for a lunch at La Super Rica in Santa Barbara (You have no idea how great...). Walt eventually hired me, and again I was selling Jaffurs. As I was putting together the concept for ampelography, Dave and Craig were 2 of my first phone calls.
This is one of those phenomenon in this business that makes it so special. We are all members of our own mutual admiration society. And it is these types of relationships that can last a lifetime.
Oh, by the way, the wines are ridiculously good. I remember back in the day when we would speculate as to why the press hadn't wised up to these wines. Now, they are famous for the huge scores. The thing is, the style of these wines has remained the same all these years. The guys make Rhone wines in Santa Barbara. They make the best examples of nearly every single vineyard bottling they produce. I have had countless winemakers tell me that Jaffurs Roussanne is the absolute best White Rhone Wine from the U.S.! Their Syrahs all have a sense of place. Each single vineyard bottling has it's own personality, but all have that commonality of of balanced structure and minerality. These wines age as well as their Rhone counterparts. I'd rather drink Jaffurs Viognier than almost any Condrieu. I could go on, but I'll just say that we are thrilled to add Jaffurs Wines Cellars to the ampelography portfolio!

What I learned on the Central Coast last week...

2009-07-13T17:39:00.002-04:00

I had a tremendous vist to Wine Country-South last week. I've always loved the people and wines of Santa Barbara. My opinions were further solidified. Everyone was so hospitable, and i learned a ton about each winery and personality. I also learned a few things about how to handle multiple appointments and etiquette.

1) Foxen's new winery is going to be the "Toy" that Bill always deserved. Bill Wathan has always been a great winemaker, now he will have plenty of room to maneuver in Foxen's new "green" winery that is nearing completion. Solar Panels, Low profile, native plants, Foxen has done a great job of keeping this project as environmentally friendly as spossible. Along with their Tinnaquaic and now Tinnaquaic 2 vineyards, they are expanding their organic grape growing program.

2) Dave Corey of Core is a mad scientist! Dave somehow juggles seemingly dozens of different cuvees and know intimately where everything comes from. Why so many different bottlings? Because he does them all well.Exciting things to come from Core, especially the 2007 Reds!

3) Buttonwood's indelible style comes from their micro climate and own rootstock Bordeaux varieties. We talk a lot about "House Style", it amazes me how Buttonwood has developed just that, their own house style.

4) Niner has an amazing operation coming on line in the next year. The 2 vineyards, Bootjack Ranch and Heart Hill Vineyard are going to be some of the best known vineyards in Paso within a few years. The placement of these vineyards helps to keep the breezes flow through the vineyards. No raisin flavors! It was great to spend the day with my old friend Ken Bryant.

5) Silver has a few tricks up their sleeve. Despite a few setbacks, keep an eye on Benjamin Silver, his next vintage will turn some heads. His farming and winemaking philosophies are unique, and his attention to detail and steady hand have always served him well.

6) Rebecca and Peter Work of Ampelos are some of the smartest and most resourceful winemakers I've ever met. Trading in their management consultant jobs for the familial closeness of Ampelos Vineyard and winery, they brought the most important element to the table:knowing who to ask questions of and never assuming anything.

7) The wine business has a way of keeping everyone close, and relationships separated by years and thousands of miles can continue to last a lifetime.

8) Some wineries don't want to share the stage/ It is possible to overbook your day, and it's a good way to insult some people.

9) You can't make all the people happy all of the time

Syncline Wine Cellars

2009-06-25T13:53:00.004-04:00

I hate to name drop, so I won't. Let me say this, one night, about 3 years ago, a pretty famous and cultish Oregon and Washington winemaker was out to dinner with the management team of my former employer. We asked him who was he most excited about in Washington right now. He said 1 name that we already knew and coveted (and ended up getting) and 2 more producers we'd never heard of. One of those was Syncline (otherwise this is a stupid story). So we reached out for James and Poppie Mantone to try the wines. We were all immediately smitten. Syncline crafts Rhone varietals in Columbia Valley. This is turning into one of my favorite regions for these types of wines.
Columbia Valley Syrahs have this Old-World acidity with bright fresh fruit. The wines have a feminine quality to them that is especially noticeable in the texture. Syncline is at the very top of my list of producers that exhibit this style of winemaking. Syncline is specializing in making wines that have character and finesse. I know that Poppie has a background in biodynamics, and now with an estate vineyard bearing fruit, we shoudl see even better wines from them with a great pedigree. I'm very proud to announce the addition of Syncline Wine Cellars into the ampelography portfolio.