Archive for the ‘Public Relations & Wine’ Category

Apr 5, 2006

Fighting Terror with Terroir

"Lodi was famous for wines," lamented John Beckman, a city councilman. "Suddenly we became famous for terrorists." It’s not hard to understand the frustration that Councilman Beckman feels. His little town out outskirts of the Bay Area is becoming more and more connected with terrorism as the trial of two Lodi men on terrorism charges has gained national attention. This is an interesting PR situation for Lodi wineries and wineries that put "Lodi" on their label to indicate this is…

Apr 4, 2006

The Future of Wine

No doubt if you’ve been looking at the wine stories that have been running across the wires in the last couple of days you will have seen the release of sales figures for California wine. The news is good. Sales are up for California wine. What’s interesting about the story is the way a prominent wine industry analyst describes the condition of the market for California wine: “Wine is enjoying this wonderful moment of very favorable attitudes,” said industry consultant…

Mar 28, 2006

Screw Caps Banned!

The cork manufacturers of the world are pretty smart, visionary folk. Early on, when the first alternative closures for wine hit the market in  response to too many wines gone bad due to tainted corks, cork manufacturers when on a promotional crusade to keep corks relevant. I learned today of what must be their greatest coup yet in their battled to maintain their closure market dominance: They’ve simply found a way to keep the market all to themselves. A press…

Mar 27, 2006

The Aesthetic Value of Vineyard Restrictions

Where ever there are hills and vines I think we can expect a movement to restrict exactly how vineyards are planted. We are seeing this scenario play out once again, this time in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco and one of the most impressive growing regions in the state. Napa Valley and Sonoma County has already dealt with the issue of where and how vines can be planted on hillsides. The movement to preserve the hillsides as…

Mar 27, 2006

What, Me Worry About the Wine Spectator?

Saturday was an interesting and educational day for me. I was reminded that most people think that a wine publicist’s job is to track the every day movements of the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker. Saturday I lectured at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa at their "Business of Wine" course. The class is headed up by Judd Wallenbrock of Humanitas Winery who has probably worked in every facet of the wine business. My task was to explain just…