Sep 8, 2009
The power of the Internet has not, to-date, been utilized efficiently to address the failings of the wine distribution system. The bottle neck that is called the "Three Tier System" whereby nearly all wines are funneled through a state mandated sale to a middle man is the source of most problems that exist where access to wine is concerned, be it access to wine by restaurants, retailers or consumers. A system that was devised over 70 years ago in an…
Sep 7, 2009
The theories of marketing I like best are the ones I understand. I don't much like those theories whose substance allude me. The one theory of marketing that I've always understood and that I've seen work consistently well when applied well in the wine business is the theory of the Big Fish In The Little Pond. I think the reason the BFLP theory of wine marketing works so well is because its so elegantly simple. It works like this: Find…
Sep 2, 2009
Reason Magazine, a bastion of….reason….has released a video interview with Jerome Tuccille, the author of "Gallo Be Thy Name: The Inside Story of How One Family Rose to Dominate the U.S. Wine Market". It's pretty interesting. I've not read the book, but it sounds as though what we have here is a social history of the rise of American wine and the evolution of American culture told from the perspective of the rise of the Gallo via the Ernest and…
Aug 31, 2009
I feel about wine-related art the same way I feel about the "Whale Art" one is subjected to in galleries along the California coast and particularly prevalent in the various art outlets in Carmel and Monterey, California: I am generally untouched and unmoved. Art and wine have been forever linked ever since marketers discovered that while in "Wine Country" visitors were in a mood to take something less consumable home with them that reminded them of the uniqueness of the…
Aug 28, 2009
The phrase "Good'ol Kermit" comes to mind when listening to the new collection of songs by wine retailer/importer/producer/writer Kermit Lynch. The new CD, entitled "Man's Temptation", has a more folksy/country quality to it than his last and initial effort, "Quicksand Blues", which was pronouncedly more bluesy. Kermit Lynch has always struck me as having something of a rebel/bohemian quality. But his foray into music making over the past few years just confirms this. The songs off the new CD show…