Archive for the ‘Wine Business’ Category

Nov 28, 2005

“Screw You and Your New World Wine Style”

One generally gets the impression that the trend/controversy of high alcohol wines is mainly found among New World wines (Aussie, California, etc). This year, the controversy went rather public in Bordeaux where tradition, new winemaking trends and stylistic "refinements" are battling it out. For reasons of climate and tradition, Bordeaux wines have usually been more structured, only moderately alcoholic and recognized as good aging wines. In the mid 1990’s with the rise of the flying winemaking consultants and the emergence…

Nov 23, 2005

Support My Supporters

PLEASE WELCOME FERMENTATION’S NEWEST ADVERTISER. K & L WINE MERCHANTS Located in two San Francisco Bay Area locations, K&L maintains one of the finest collection of well-selected wines in America. Their Internet site is terrific too. Don’t forget to check out their feature that allows you to plug in keywords that allow you to receive an e-mail when one of your keyworded wines hit their shelves. Keep something in mind. K&L advertises here because they know the audience is filled…

Nov 21, 2005

Light & Sweet Wine…Now It Needs its Own Club?

One question bandied about when conversation turns toward the BIG and BOLD style of wine that seems to have overtaken much of the New World winemaking is "When will there be a backlash? When will will we see the pendulum swing back to a more balanced, lighter style of winemaking? The answer is "Who Knows!". However, one company appears to be willing to give just this style of wine to those consumers who are ready to embrace such a black…

Nov 17, 2005

Random Numbered Thoughts

HOW HIGH CAN IT GO?1. Pinot Noir sales by volume are up over 80% for the 4 weeks ending July 2 vs. the same 4 weeks last year. Amazing. Yet, Pinot Noir as a category of wine sales accounts for barely 2% of total wine sales. Question: How big can it grow when there is that much space between you and the ceiling? 2. GRIS V. GRIGIO V. U.S. V. ItalySales of importer (mainly Italian) Pinot Grigio out pace sales…

Nov 16, 2005

Finding The Winery’s Story…Sometimes It’s Simple

When a wine publicist looks over a prospective new client two questions immediately come to mind and need answering: 1) Can I help this winery sell more wine and 2) Does this winery have a compelling story to tell? Today I’ll be meeting with the owner of a winery that possesses a vineyard that was founded in 1885. That’s right 120 year ago. So, my second question is answered straight away. Both I and the vintner will be looking into…