Marketing and Me

Jeff over at Good Grape: A Wine Manifesto wrote a very interesting article on the influence of marketing groups on the trends of consumer wine buying. He uses Chile's marketing push with the group Wines of Chile as an example. I find it interesting, not only because of the subject matter, but also because he decided to interview me for it and included a small quote from yours truly.

The spotlights of fame are already highlighting my way. If you actually went and read the article, you'll notice that I don't say much. Maybe fame is not in my future after all.

But the idea that the next wine trend is in the hands of the marketers is still very interesting. It really means that whomever has enough money and is posed at the right moment in history can turn an unknown region into a superstar. And I cannot highlight the right moment in time enough. I would argue that right now is Chile's time. The US wine consumer is looking for wine under $20, and Chile delivers. So does Argentina, who is up an insane amount, as does New Zealand, who rounds out the only three countries that have shown an increase in volume coming into the US in 2009 through August.

Is that about marketing? I know that there is a LOT of French marketing going on right now. Australia has not let up. So obviously there has to be more than marketing behind a wine region. You need buy-in from the real influences of the wine industry, retail sales people and servers (note, not sommeliers, but servers, AKA waiters/waitresses. There are a lot more restaurants that have servers than there are restaurants that have sommeliers). And then you need buy-in from the people drinking the wine.

There are so many factors that it boggles the mind. But if you do it right, and keep at it for several years, eventually the money pays off. Like right now, with Chile.

Note: Within the last year I worked for the marketing organization Wines of Chile.

Viu Manent - A Vibrant Winery with a Winemaker to Match

When I was working with Wines of Chile, there were many wineries that I really enjoyed working with. One in particular was Viu Manent. The winery is in the Colchagua region of Chile and was at one time horse grazing land of the Marchique, the native Chileans.

I was reminded of how much I liked the winery when I was a fly on the wall during the second Online Blogger Tasting hosted by Wines of Chile. If you would like to watch the entire tasting with the winemakers and moderated by Michael Green you can see it here (although I can say from experience that a tasting is a lot more fun when you have the wine in front of you). The theme of the tasting was Carmenere and I thought that listening to these winemakers talk about their wines and Chilean Carmenere in general was a great experience for anyone that enjoys the interaction of wine blogging.

The winemaker from Viu Manent is Grant Phelps, a kiwi who found a place in the wine country of Chile. I was in Chile in August 2008 (during their winter) and met Grant with a group of wine buyers and sommeliers. There is something so refreshing about his sarcasm that makes it a pleasure to laugh with him. Not only that, he makes some good wine.

During the blogger tasting, Grant was talking about his Carmenere. However, I think Viu Manent's real strength lies in their Malbec, which some might be surprised at since all too often Malbec is associated with Argentina, the other major winemaking power in South America. Grant has found his stride with Malbec, making an amazing high end wine, the Viu 1 as well as a Single Vineyards, Reserva and Secreto Malbec.

I recently got the chance to taste the 2005 Reserva Malbec and the 2005 La Capilla Estate Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Both were delicious and amazing values. The Reserva Malbec smelled ripe, with dark berry fruits with a taste of fleshy blackberry. It was also nicely balanced in its acidity, giving me enough of a dryness to make me want to take another sip.

The 2005 La Capilla Estate Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon had a healthy nose of toast among cassis and black currant. The taste came with powerful blackberry and black cherry ripeness.


Full Disclosure: In the past year I worked with Wines of Chile and currently work with one of the wineries that presented at the Blogger Tasting, Vina Carmen.

Value Sauvignon Blanc

In May, I wrote about the Wines of Chile Online Blogger Tasting. Los Vascos was one of the wineries that participated in this tasting, allowing dozens of bloggers to taste the Los Vascos Reserve 2006. Now I have acquired a bottle from the importer of the Los Vascos Sauvignon Blanc 2008 from the Central Valley of Chile.



Here is what I said about the winery in May:

“In the power hitter spot is the Los Vascos Reserve 2006, presented by winemaker Marcelo Gallardo. I had the good fortune of visiting this winery last time I was in Chile and took a tour of the winery and vineyards. The land there is absolutely stunning. There is a small hill that we climbed up, which allowed the group of us to look at the entire valley at sunset. I also was able to meet Marcelo, and I am not sure the man ever stopped laughing while we were there. It was a great visit. Los Vascos is definitely one of the largest wineries in Chile and makes a VAST amount of wine, although they only make six wines. What most impresses me about the winery is that they consistently produce wine at a great value. It is also worth noting that Los Vascos is owned by Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite).” (Wines of Chile Online Blogger Tasting, May 20, 2009)

A change that has happened between then and now is a recreation of their website. While Los Vascos used to have its own website, it has since been moved to become part of the Domaine Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) website. But I think that might only be interesting to me.

Another thing that is interesting to me is that this wine has been declassified. In Chile there is no classification system that has anything to do with the actual making of the wine. The terms reserva, gran reserva, winemaker’s reserve, super reserve, oh-man-this-is-so-reserve do not mean anything. Instead it is all about where the wine is from. This Sauvignon Blanc used to be classified as from the Casablanca Valley. The 2008 is labeled “Central Valley,” which means that this wine could come from anywhere in the winemaking regions of Chile. The grapes in this wine do come from Casablanca, with additional grapes sourced from the Leyda Valley, a valley south of Casablanca and within another coastal region named San Antonio. While these recognized wine growing regions are close to each other, coastal, and known cool climate grape producers, the moment that there were more than 15% of grapes from a region other than Casablanca in the wine meant that the label could not say anything but Central Valley.

In-country the laws are a little looser, but since most of the wine in Chile is exported, the stricter laws are followed.

What makes this wine so good is that it has all of the qualities you would want in a Sauvignon Blanc for a bargain price. I found grapefruit, lemon zest, and pineapple in this wine and I wanted a full plate of oysters and another of asparagus to eat. All for the price of $12.

Find this wine here.


Disclaimer: I once worked for Wines of Chile

Others that have written about this wine: http://www.anotherwineblog.com/archives/5276

Others that have written about previous vintages: http://2daysperbottle.blogspot.com/2008/08/los-vascos-sauvignon-blanc-2006.html

A quick dip into a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc

Now that I have left Wines of Chile, I have noticed that I do not seek out Chilean wines very often. It has nothing to do with the quality of the wines, it's just that after tasting them at trade shows, tasting them during comprehensive reviews of the wines, tasting them at retail store events, tasting them on trips, and tasting them in the office... I want to branch out a little.

However, when I do go out and buy a Chilean wine, I know exactly which ones I want to buy.

Recently I had a bottle of Vina Garces Silva "Amayna" Sauvignon Blanc 2008. The winery actually only makes one line of wines, all of which are called Amayna, so if you ask for Garces Silva a retail clerk might not know what you are talking about. Vina Garces Silva is located in the San Antonio region of Chile, up against the coastal mountain range. In fact, you can see the Pacific Ocean quite clearly from the winery balcony.

The winery is very modern, with an attractive architectural design. Because it is built into the foothills of the coastal range, the transfer of juices during the winemaking production is all done by gravity. The grapes are brought to the top level of the winery via an access road, then crushed almost directly into stainless steel tanks. From there the fermented juice is send down the tubes to be put either into oak barrels or directly into the bottling line, depending on the type of wine being made.

The winery only makes five different wines: Sauvignon Blanc, Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah. These are among my favorite wines coming out of Chile and I fully recommend picking up any of them. There is no question to me that this is a winery dedicated to quality.

That being said, I certainly prefer some of their wines over others. For instance, I find it a shame to mess with such delicious Sauvignon Blanc by putting some of it in oak. And the Syrah is slightly young, as it was just planted about four or five years ago. And that Pinot Noir is delicious.

The recent edition of Sauvignon Blanc is good, but I thought the 2007 was better. The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc is a little more herbal, with notes of lemon grass and slightly on the asparagus side. The taste is so light and smooth with a breezy lemon citrus flavor. Leah had bought some hand rolled ravioli, filled with ricotta and asparagus and it was a good pairing.

Also, Wines of Chile has a new website, which is MUCH more useful than its old one. I say this as a blogger, a consumer, and as someone who spent a lot of time navagating the old website. Check it out at: http://www.winesofchile.org/

Disclosure:

I worked with Wines of Chile from 2006 until 2009.

UPDATED: I just retasted this wine from the same bottle four days later and it is still crisp and bright. The herbal notes have gone and all that is lelft is bright and refreshing lemon citrus. Love it!

Eight Chilean winemakers walk into a bar...

Last night was the first Wines of Chile Online Blogger Tasting, and it was far from a joke. Michael Green, Wine & Spirits Consultant for Gourmet magazine held a discussion with eight of Chile's winemakers live via video conference.

And bloggers from all over the US got a chance to watch and taste the winemakers' creations.

If you would like to check out descriptions about the wines and the winemakers, you can read about them here.

I thought the tasting was everything a wine blogger could have wanted it to be. The winemakers were loose and dressed casually, Michael was informal and funny, and the wines were very good. Even a three minute break in the action, due to a technical problem, was easy to move past.

It was interesting to see how the bloggers were responding during the tasting. Many latched onto twitter to push out comments and notes as the tasting was happening. You can read the comments here. Already there are many blog posts about the tasting.

In today's online, instant information world, it is hard to say how influential wine bloggers are and how influential they are going to be. Besides my mother, a few friends, and a slew of other bloggers, I am not sure how influential my own blog is. Sure, I have numbers of how many people visit each time I put up a post, I have numbers of how many eyeballs read my words each month, and I know where in the country (or world... yes, my blog is read all over the place... although I think it might be just one person who flies around a lot) the people that read my blog are located. These numbers are tiny when compared to the reach of the wine trade publications. But that is not why I write, so what does it matter anyway?

The great power of blogs are when large groups all talk about the same subject at once. That is where I think marketing is going in the wine world and why events such as this tasting make sense to me.

I thought all of the winemakers did a great job explaining not only their wines but the philosophy of Chile as a major wine player in the world. I tasted the wines with several friends of mine and I do not think there was a wine that the group did not like. My personal favorite was the Errazuriz Single Vineyard Carmenere 2007. For me it was smooth and vibrant, like having rich and ripe blueberries in a glass.

I am going to now start reading the other bloggers' posts to see what they thought was the best. It is very interesting to see how tastes differed.

CORRECTION:

I really should listen to that persistent voice in the back of my head, the one that sounds like my mother. Yesterday I wrote that the Online Blogger Tasting was my idea. It was firmly pointed out to me that I might have been mistaken, as Michael Green made the suggestion to the CEO at RFBinder back in August, whereas I put forth the idea in October. I have absolutely no wish to take credit that is not mine and beg the pardon of Michael Green.

Disclaimer:

I was previously employed by RFBinder Partners and a member of the team in charge of the Wines of Chile account.

Wines of Chile Online Blogger Tasting

In just a few minutes the first Wines of Chile Online Blogger Tasting will take place. If I do say so myself, I was a key person on the Wines of Chile Team in putting this together, and that is hardly tooting my own horn. From the creation of the idea, to most of its implementation, up until I left the company, this was my baby.

And now I can just hear my mother in the back of my head telling me that it is better to be humble than to list all the work I did.

In fact, I left with plenty of work to do and I know the Wines of Chile Team has done spectacularly. You never really know how much work something is going to be until you do it for the first time, and putting this event together has been no picnic, especially in the last week.

After having a lot of good feedback about whether or not I should write about Chilean wines I have decided it makes the most sense for me to write as much as I possibly can. Chile is making some amazing wines and it would be unfair of me to keep the knowledge to myself.

For instance, the wineries that we have lined up for this online blogger tasting are all very impressive:

The first wine in the line-up tonight will be the Emiliana Natura Sauvignon Blanc 2008. Chile has been making fabulous Sauvignon Blanc in the last couple years, especially in the cooler climate regions. In fact, it was a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc that turned me back on to white wine. This was 3 years ago when I was a year out of college and most of the white wine I had tasted came out of a box or a jug. The revelation was one I will never forget. The winemaker presenting from Emiliana will be Antonio Bravo. Emiliana is also one of the few completely organic wineries in Chile. Other wines I have enjoyed from Emiliana are Coyam 2005, GE (so far every vintage I have tasted), and Natura Carmenere 2005.

Second up to the plate will be the Cono Sur Vision Pinot Noir 2008, presented by winemaker Matais Rios. If there is anyone in Chile who is doing a great job creating quality Pinot Noir at a great price, it is Cono Sur. While not known for Pinot, Chile has been branching out and seeing what other grapes will do well in the climates in Chile. Pinot Noir has been growing steadily in Chile in the last few years and looks to continue its growth as more producers try their hand at growing the grape. I visited this winery last time I was in Chile and had the pleasure of meeting many of the winery managers. We also took a bicycle ride through the vineyards, which would have been fabulous, if only I knew how to ride a bike...

In the power hitter spot is the Los Vascos Reserve 2006, presented by winemaker Marcelo Gallardo. I had the good fortune of visiting this winery last time I was in Chile and took a tour of the winery and vineyards. The land there is absolutely stunning. There is a small hill that we climbed up, which allowed the group of us to look at the entire valley at sunset. I also was able to meet Marcelo, and I am not sure the man ever stopped laughing while we were there. It was a great visit. Los Vascos is definitely one of the largest wineries in Chile and makes a VAST amount of wine, although they only make six wines. What most impresses me about the winery is that they consistently produce wine at a great value. It is also worth noting that Los Vascos is owned by Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite).

Next is the Santa Carolina Reserva de Familia Carmenere 2007, new to the market and ready to be bought. The winemaker leading the discussion on this wine is Andres Caballero. While I am familiar with their wines, I must admit I know little about the Carolina Wine Brands. They are also responsible for the Vina Casablanca (which are all very tasty) and Ochegavia lines. In my tastings I have found that overall Santa Carolina produces solid wines. And value is definitely the theme through all of them. Seems to be the theme through this write-up as well, but it is hard to talk about Chilean wine without talking value.

The second Carmenere is the Errazuriz Single Vineyard Carmenere 2007, presented by winemaker Francisco Baettig. Carmenere, of course, is Chile's unique variety. No where else in the world is Carmenere being made, or at least being made in commercial quantities. I just did a tasting of Camenere not too long ago and it was my opinion that this wine is one of the best Carmenere's coming out of Chile today. I will not give you my notes now, but I am excited to see what the other bloggers say about this wine. Errazuriz is based in Aconcagua and makes great wine. Others from this winery that are noteworthy are the Eduardo Chadwick (easily the most expensive wine in Chile), Kai, and Don Maximiano. Errazuriz is also responsible for the Arboleda and Sena brands. Not sure what the exact connection is, it may be that Errazuriz is the parent company, but they are connected in some way.

Next up is the Undurraga T.H. Syrah 2007, being represented by winemaker Rafael Urrejola. Again, while I have tasted this wineries wines extensively, I could not say that I have a good grasp on the history. I know that T.H. stands for Terroir Hunter, however I am sure the winemaker will go into what that means for them. This wine is also interesting because it is from Limari. Most of the other wines we will be tasting are from Colchagua or Maipo.

Second to last is the Haras Character Cabernet/Carmenere 2006, presented by winemaker Cecilia Guzman. I do not know how there ended up being only one woman winemaker on this panel, but I know for certain there are MANY more in Chile. Haras is a winery that is all about the horses. What I mean is that on the property are tons of thoroughbred horses. The winery is in the shape of a horseshoe. In fact, the vineyards themselves are planted in the shape of a horseshoe. Some of the wines I have been a fan of from this winery are the Albis, Elegance, and Sauvignon Blanc.

Last, but certainly not least is the Veramonte Primus 2006, presented by winemaker Cristian Aliaga. Veramonte is another winery that has consistency and value down to a science. I believe they consider this wine, the Primus, to be their Icon wine. While most Icon wines from Chile range in the $50 - $60 range (with bottles heavy enough to break your back when carrying a case of them), this one settles quite nicely into the $20 range.

That is all for now. Tomorrow I will hopefully have my tasting notes written up and posted. I really am looking forward to this tasting, as I think it will become a new way to reach not only bloggers, but the populace at large.