An excellent explanation of the current wholesale situation

While I am in Spain, I thought you might like to read something interesting that is happening around the blogosphere.

Last week Tom Wark wrote a detailed article on his blog regarding how the U.S. wine system works and how wines get from a winery to your local retailer. His point was that Wholesalers have a death grip on the wine industry, blocking the growth of interested consumers to try new wines or find specific wines that they liked.

I would suggest reading it here.

Sustainable Wines - Frei Brothers

A little while ago I sent our a request on ProfNet, the PR Newswire journalist informational request service, for any wineries that would like to talk to me about sustainable practices. I got a few responses, but one that stuck out to me as one of the most interesting were the Frei Brothers.

In one of the documents that the Frei Brothers' PR representative sent me the first line was this:

"Frei Brothers is driven by the overriding principle to conduct business in a manner that will protect and preserve the environment."

The document went on to list how many animal shelters and homes are on the winery's land, how they not only meet, but exceed government regulations, that for every acre of land planted to vine they set aside one acre of land to protect the natural environment in which indigenous animals live.

As I said before, I think sustainable farmers and organic farmers are a breed unto themselves.

However, to get on their website (www.FreiBrothers.com) I had to actually scroll to find my birth year on the landing page. That made me feel a little old.


But the wines were fresh and youthful. I tasted their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 and the Reserve Chardonnay 2006. The Chardonnay was oaked, but balanced, and showed wonderful pears and apples on the nose and taste. The Cabernet was rustic, a little dirty, but very pleasing. Dark fruits of plum and cassis came through, enhanced by an overall earthiness. The Cabernet grapes came from the Alexander Valley and the Chardonnay grapes came from the Russian River Valley, both within Sonoma.

Both very tasty and well worth finding!

I sent Jim Collins, the Chief Viticulturist for Frei Brothers a few questions and below is his response:

RB - Could you please delineate the practices that make Frei Brothers sustainable?

JC - Sustainability forces you to make choices across a wide range of issues from decisions as simple to use or not use chemicals to more complex decisions like determining the role of fuel standards for the tractors that you buy and use. Sustainability is a big umbrella. Organic and biodynamic practices fit under the umbrella and can be easily defined. Sustainability goes even further and, in fact, is harder to commit to than being organic or biodynamic. We make choices that take into consideration our overall carbon footprint, and try to close the loop on all processes. When we buy steel for the vineyards, we buy recycled rail steel, instead of the cheaper imported steel. We try to take fewer passes in the vineyard, conserve water, reduce waste and energy usage and maintain good cover crops…carpool when we can, etc. We are very connected with the community and always keep the “big picture” in mind – we all live here and want to keep our home vibrant!

RB - What made you decide to create wines using sustainable practices?

JC - In a family-owned company, it is very important to ensure that the needs of future generations are not compromised. The Frei Brothers vineyards have been farmed since the 1890s; it is our tradition to take care of the land and honor its heritage. Not to mention, it is the right thing to do…better for the earth and the wines.

RB - How old are the vines? How long has the winery been in operation?

JC - The vines range in age from 20-years-old to newly planted, but the vineyards have been farmed for 119 years.

RB - How large is the winery's production? How many cases a year on average?

JC - We produce and sell approximately 200,000 cases a year.

RB - With all of the great areas to make wine in the world, why choose California?

JC - Why California? Because it is home to Sonoma County, which is one of the most unique places to grow grapes. There are over 41 different microclimates within Sonoma County – its diversity and its terroir is truly unique.

Off to Spain!

I know I have been spotty on the posting on my blog here. Well, there is a reason for that…

I AM GETTING READY FOR SPAIN!

That is right, I will be heading off to Spain the evening of June 28 and back on July 3. I will be in the Castilla y Leon region of Spain, home to the D.O. of Ribera del Duero. I will be meeting with the Consejo Regulador de la Denominacion de Ribera del Duero. I am very excited about the trip and I look forward to tasting as much wine as I can!

I am well on my way in my Spanish wine education. There are tons of D.O.’s and more than enough wine coming from Spain.

What is your Spanish wine experience? Are there any particular bottles that stood out in your mind that you have tasted recently?

VinTank - Somewhat of a grey White Paper

Back in May, VinTank, a digital media research agency that focuses specifically on the wine industry, published a white paper on Social Media and the influence of social networks and bloggers on the wine industry. When this white paper was first published I had promised to read through it and think about the effects such a report might have.

Events transpired to delay my objective of learning what these white paper had to offer, but after finally getting around to doing so, I have some comments.

There is no question that every public relations professional should read this paper. Every winery, government sponsored marketing group, and wine producing association should take what is said in this paper and find ways to adapt it to their marketing plans. I am kicking myself for having wasted an entire month without reading it, however I found myself smiling that there were tactics included in this paper that fit within what I considered to be obviously good actions to take.

Money is being freed by government groups and marketing associations to focus specifically on social media and the visible influencers in the online space. The power of advertising has diminished as new avenues to reach directly to enthusiastic wine consumers have opened up. Why would a wine region pay $30,000 to a magazine to run one advertisement when that money can be stretched much farther by doing an online program over several months?

There is no question that "how to use the modern communication tools and the online medium" is now plaguing wineries and their PR/marketing representatives. I think only recently (within the last year) has it really become the focus of the wine industry at large. The wineries and wine regions that had the courage to take the risk of jumping into this forum years ago have (I believe) recovered the most benefit. What I was hoping to find in this White Paper was just how much benefit has already been gained by this new medium. In that, I was disappointed.

After reading the first few pages, I could immediately tell that I would have a hard time with this report. I understand the desire to keep the writing style interesting and engaging, but where I was looking for serious factual information I found more of a friendly slap on the back writing approach. The paper moved away from that style once it moved into more analytical discussion, but it immediately made me distrust the findings in the paper, even if I agreed with them.

Specifically when the writer discusses the pressures of the current regulation system in the U.S., I found the discussion to be partisan without giving me the necessary background information to either agree or disagree with their position on direct shipping models. I do not work for a wine distributor and I actually have very little to do with the actual business of selling wine. While I am not unfamiliar on the whole to the regulations of the three tiered system, I found it hard to simply accept the writer's condemnation of the system without further discussion. I follow Tom Wark's interest in direct shipping for retailers and wineries, and I read his blog thoroughly. However to state such a partisan angle in a paper that had little to do with the shipping of wine caught me as odd.

Other portions of the paper that I found most interesting:

"Wine bloggers with an audience over 20 people has an influence that is relavent." - Such an observation certainly gives my own blog a more interesting perspective, as I can claim many times over that many readers.

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as the three most influential social media networks. Something I totally agree with.

The top 20 bloggers make up an agragated higher reach than Wine Spectator. The only trick is that Wine Spectator is one entity, whereas reaching bloggers is fragmented.

I would suggest you read the paper yourself and form your own opinions. The work that went into this paper is palpable and certainly recommends VinTank as a thorough research source.

There is nothing like a good Friday night with a bottle of Champagne

There has been plenty to celebrate lately. I started a new job (and finished the first two weeks without being shown the door!), Leah graduated from Cornell Medical School, my friends are all reasonably happy and healthy, and it is almost summer.

So Friday night, after a nice dinner of appetizers at Land, I decided it was time to pop some bubbly. I had a bottle of J. Lassalle Premier Cru Champagne NV in the cooler and decided it was well time to open it up and see what was inside.

Leah and I found ourselves very relaxed, with some music playing, bubbly in flutes in our hands, and in good company.

The wine was fantastic. For me there were really pleasant olive notes, some doughy overtones, and just a slight bitterness at the end which I found was very enjoyable. Made me want to go in for another sip, and another. Before long, we had finished the bottle, and the first sip was just as enjoyable as the last. The bubbles were very nice and small and plentiful to the last drop in the bottle.

This bottle was a gift (not a sample) and I very much thank the person who gave it to me. The intention was to expand my wine education and it certainly did that. Before this bottle I had not had many good experiences with sparkling wines. This was an eye opener, and definitely made me want to go out in search of more grower-producer labels.