One of the most valuable aspects of being a wine lover is the lessons wine imparts, mostly with subtlety, sometimes with blunt force, always valuable – a Zen master or Buddhist monk-like giver of insight into the world around us.

Being a lifelong learner, something my mother imparted upon me, I don’t ever consider myself a finished product – what’s next is always going to be even better than what just passed.  Are we ever done?  Perhaps, we’re done only if you’re running a sprint through life and not a marathon, a draining choice that presents short-term gratification, but long-term agony.  Related to wine, the answer is a definitive “no.”  There is always something new to learn, a region yet to discover, a varietal still to try, an interaction that leads to inspiration …

Here are just a couple of things that wine has taught me.

Beginning is Easy, Continuing is Hard

Saying you’re a wine fan or enthusiast is easy, real easy.  A couple of bottles in a countertop bottle rack, correctly pronouncing Viognier and you’re pretty much down the path, never having to explore much deeper than the supermarket wine aisle, which a good many people don’t.  That’s okay, certainly, but it doesn’t come close to opening up the lifetime of enjoyment that wine can bring – the most notable, as mentioned, is the contribution to lifelong learning because wine is such an inexhaustible subject.  My grandmother will be 101 years old in November with her good health and mental acuity intact – should I live 64 more years I know I will never conquer wine, and I like that.

The other key aspect is the appreciation of the flavor components in a wine – identifying “mushroom” versus “forest floor” may be tiresome for some wine fans, hard work, a commitment to understanding something that is of relatively little consequence in the grand scheme of things, but it’s really at the core of appreciation, and it takes continuing effort. 

Likewise, in my opinion, passive wine fandom, while giving of enjoyment, doesn’t give the passive participant enough context to appreciate the alchemy that can only occur when good food, good friends and a perfect bottle co-mingle to capture that picture perfect mental snapshot of time and place.

Without an understanding of the wine in the glass at sunset, at that beach, with those laughs, and the food marks a mental vivid snapshot, surely,  but it will never quite transcend to a moment in time that you spend the rest of your life trying to recapture.

Wine Wisdom: Wine has taught me persistence, to ask the additional question, to be adventurous in spirit, to keep an open mind and to continue on … to learn perpetually.  The gift it gives for those who pursue its delights are returned to the recipient 100-fold.

Everything is Funny, as Long as it happens to Somebody Else

Wine is wrought with unspoken protocol that, let’s be frank, isn’t native to a lot of people.

I’ve seen firsthand a friend who bought a $150 worth of wine as a gift, didn’t realize its perishable nature, and let it simmer in a hot car on a 95 degree summer afternoon.  The corks pushed.  An analogized lesson from the wine retailer on whether or not you would keep a gallon of milk in a closed, non-air conditioned car for five hours and $300 worth of total wine purchased, it’s a good laugh ipso facto.

I’ve also been witness to a tasting room crowd where a very loud guy went on and on about how good the “Mer-Lot” was, pronouncing it with a hard “t.”

And, I’ve been at a holiday party where the hostess prepared a glass of red wine for a guest, in an appropriate glass, on the rocks with ice.

Wine Wisdom: Wine has taught me that for all of its seriousness, enjoying the light and absurd moments can be fun, and bring welcome perspective to laughing at ourselves, not always an easy task – a task made easier and given as perspective especially if we’re enjoying a harmless and discrete chuckle at the expense of someone else.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

We’re truly living in a golden age of wine.  Aside from a wine that may be a bit “hot” or have externally caused issues from a bad cork, etc. how often is a bottle of wine truly, technically undrinkable?  In the highest probability circumstance, maybe 1 bottle in a 100?  I like those odds.

And, in addition, I may never have a DRC, a Chateau d’Yquem, or a 1st Growth ’82 Bordeaux with regularity, but in the grand scheme of things, I will have tried dozens, perhaps, 100s of bottles that were sublime at the moment, and especially in my mind’s eye.

Wine Wisdom:  Wine has taught me to appreciate what I have, my experiences earned, and to not regret the things I do not have.

Overall, there are hundreds of lessons that wine teaches you, but in this day and age, with the crush of information, the news that is one button push away from invading our thoughts and anxieties, realizing that wine helps you be a lifelong learner, to be lighthearted while appreciating and savoring the small blessings in our life seems like a powerful antidote to our times.

Postscript

This blog was inspired in part by a recent post at Under the Grape Tree where writer Kevin muses on wine as a “life condiment” a turn of phrase I really like.

In addition, wine writer Elliott Essman is completing a wine book called, Using Wine to Make Sense of the World.  It will be published in the fall.  You can join his Facebook fan page to keep up to date on the books progress.

What I Wrote About a Year Ago

Vin de Napkin - Naughty Nurse

If you’re not in the habit of reading Decanter.com news, you’re missing some of the best comedy in the world of wine, laugh track not included.

Literally, on a daily basis, it’s a treasure trove of folly. 

Based on a sometimes arched eyebrow approach I take to a lot of wine issues, I looked up the definition of “curmudgeon” just to make sure that at my still spritely age of 36, I wasn’t turning into too much of a “crusty, ill-tempered man, usually old.”  I feel safe in now saying that, no, I’m not a curmudgeon just a head-scratching observer of foolishness.

Take this Decanter report for example.  The CEO of Vinexpo, Robert Beynat, in response to an inquiry about new media replacing trade shows, an industry that is being hammered in the global recession, said:

The Internet is not the right medium for the sale of wines and spirits, it is not a real alternative to traditional sales circuits and will never reach more than around 8% of the market.

Besides the absurdity of the 8% reference, a number seemingly pulled from thin air, it’s a very narrow view of the world and the future of technology.  Though, being a Luddite and French isn’t a mutually exclusive proposition.

I’m reminded of Thomas J. Watson, the formative President of IBM during the first half of the 20th century, who is often credited for famously saying, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”

Internet sales of wine may be an infinitesimally small percentage of overall wine sales now, but all bets are off for what happens in the future.  Methinks blanket statements of fact based on misguided perspective are funny.

Put another way, with the completely life-changing effects of the Internet and mobile that has occurred since 1995, should anybody really be making such foolish, “head in the ground” declarations?  Hell, is anybody really certain what’s going to happen three years from now, let alone 10 or 20?

In more humorous Decanter.com reporting, pundits at Vinexpo called France and Bordeaux “dysfunctional.”  This, of course, is no revelation and seems as obvious to me as saying “rain is wet.”

Welcome to the Party

Elsewhere in “news of the weird,” the National Consumers League (NCL) is getting on a bandwagon with a lot of other people who are singing the same tune about preservation of place in wine labeling, while banning misleading identifiers. 

Now, mind you, I’m not dismissing the need for “truth in labeling.”  In fact, I advocate for it, but what I am poking a little bit is the notion of outsiders getting in on the action without understanding the issues.  It reminds me of Jesse Jackson or the Rev. Al Sharpton both of whom are notorious for getting in front of any cause as long as there is a camera crew present.

The NCL’s letter to the Department of the Treasury and Timothy Geithner in December originally took the tact of advocating for labeling information on alcoholic beverages related to nutrition and caloric information.  Now, their press release from June 29th indicates a different focus on labeling information based on origin of source.

It’s just not politicians that move with the wind, it’s advocacy groups, too. 

The National Consumers League even cites Champagne as an example – a word that has largely become extinct for makers of U.S. sparkling wine.  I’m surprised they didn’t reference Port, too – another product descriptor that has largely been banished to its rightful home in Portugal.

The National Consumer League notes in a press release:

NCL’s comments reflect growing consumer support for more accurate wine labels. A recent national survey of U.S. wine consumers found that 79 percent agree consumers deserve protection from deceptive claims on food and beverage labels, and 63 percent support a law prohibiting such misleading wine labels.

You can almost imagine the survey question that led to this survey result, “Do you agree that you should know where your food and drink comes from and you should be protected from acts of deception?”

Um, is there more than one answer to that?

Good for the National Consumer League for advocating the important work of indicating that detassling corn for teenagers can be dangerous work, but they need to sharpen their pencil and stick to a position if they’re to lobby Washington effectively around wine issues and if they are really hardy souls they should wade into the minutia of AVA’s as the real source of contention.  I doubt they have the fortitude for that level of self-interested public interest work.

Or, alternatively, they can just advocate for the use of an electronic nose, as reported from London, a device that:

Researchers analyzed the compounds in vaporised samples of wine to produce detailed chemical signatures that can be matched against a database of characteristics to identify a wine’s source. They did so by using a kind of electronic nose, known as a mass spectrometer, reports The Telegraph.

From the Office of the Obvious

I tend to revisit several topics with regularity – traditional wine media for missing most of the audience for wine enthusiasts, lemming-like groupthink amongst wine lovers and academia for lumpy bits of research that are in the moment of the cultural zeitgeist, but hardly newsworthy or groundbreaking.

Take, for example, an article yesterday from Wine Business Monthly.

A professor at Sonoma State University indicates from a survey sample size of just forty Millennial’s, who were likely not randomly selected:

In conclusion, based on this short SSU survey of Millennial wine marketing preferences and the statistics highlighting how Millennials have embraced technology, there appear to be new opportunities for wineries to expand their online marketing, as well as to continue to reach out to Millennials in face to face settings at events and other tasting venues. Of key importance, is maintaining an authentic and honest brand message which highlights how your winery and wine is different from others.

Now, take the three major components of this summary:

1) Millenials embrace technology
2) There are new marketing opportunities for wineries
3) Brands must be authentic and honest

Anything new here unless you’re Rip VanWinkle awaking from a five year slumber?

And, in other breathtaking wine consumer research, it’s reported that woman prefer wine to beer … which is actually funny for its like obviousness, but that was put on the wire in a press release, as well.

Unfortunately, It seems almost cliché to make a reference to said movie for fear of being labeled as “That Guy”— the one that drops cultural references to movies that stopped being cultural touchstones four years ago. Doing so would be an indignity in the same realm of egregious faux pas as wearing all white sneakers and pulling out a travel map on the corner of 54th and Broadway when the world is right in front of you, with neatly marked street signs to boot, as multi-cultural, trend-forward, non white shoe-wearing “natives” jostle you out of the middle of the sidewalk.

That said, Sanford Winery is featured in a certain movie, it’s located equidistant between Lompoc and Buellton on a lonely, dusty stretch of pavement called Santa Rosa Road, and visiting Sanford is a nice companion to a dinner stop at a certain restaurant (that serves a tasty Santa Maria tri-tip) that figured as a minor player in this major movie.

Sanford is also a good introduction to what equity partners can do when they endeavor to raise the stakes—Sanford Pinot, in the past, has always being a nice, well-made wine, but it never quite transcended to the top of the vista in between the twin peaks of delicious and reliable.  The Terlato Family have added much to quality in the bottle.

Vague introductions and sideways (ahem!) acknowledgements aside, the thing you should know is simple: Sanford Winery makes some killer Pinot and Chardonnay.

So good, in fact, they have now been inducted into my brand ambassador hall of fame alongside other favorites like A. Rafanelli and Dry Creek Vineyards.

To my palate, both the Pinot and the Chardonnay typify what is great about California wine —wines that are wrought with a deft touch and speak to a fruit-driven California sensibility that is unmistakable, while also being food-friendly. 

The 2007 vintage is currently available; I would urge you to try both the Pinot and the Chard—K&L Wine Merchants has the Pinot and the Chard is in good distribution nationally found by searching Wine-Searcher.com

I don’t mean to pick on university professors or researchers, but I can’t help but notice that the preponderance of research that comes out, specifically wine-related research from universities, is usually pretty lame. 

Yeah, I get the “publish or perish” notion, but is our academia sector now reduced to studying whether its more important for a winery to build a brand or to focus on high-quality? I suppose these two things can be mutually exclusive of each other, but on the branding front, didn’t Proctor & Gamble figure out this brand marketing thing 60 years ago?

The world is littered with “better” products that weren’t marketed well ...  you have to be a savvy marketer to survive these days ... in wine or any consumer product category.

Excerpt from a Lubbock Online regarding a Texas Tech wine marketing study:

High brand awareness is more likely to lead to brand survival than high perception of wine quality, according to the study. It tracked the fates of 25 Texas wineries since 1991, when more than 900 Texas wine enthusiasts rated the quality and name recognition of the wineries’ products.

“A lot of wineries put so much effort into improving the quality, but not as much attention is being paid to marketing. This study shows it needs to be done,” said its lead author, Natalia Kolyesnikova

Every year it seems more and more words take on a subjugated role in our daily lexicon and in the process they get used with mixed meaning to the point where the word loses all relevance as an individual contributor in the English language.

That said, the word “value” in wine is on the cusp of becoming utterly meaningless.

While true, I do feel like I’m doing a Jerry Seinfeld stand-up routine, all rhetorical questions:  What does “value” even mean?

And, whose “value” is it?

Is it intrinsic value?

Is it real value?

Is it perceived value?

And, by what criteria is this “value” conveyed?

What is the “value equation?”

No comedy routine, trying to make sense of this value equation is The Wine Blue Book.

In doing so, they use the notion of Quality-to-Price Ratio – a value indicator that is seldom seen outside the wine world – the notion of a baselined, good bottle of wine at a lower price than its peers.

Using Quality-to-Price Ratio (QPR) based on an aggregation of wine points ratings, The Wine Blue Book is essentially a peer review process based on price and based on major critic scores.

Thus, if a Napa Cab scores 95 points and costs $30, it would have an off the charts positive QPR as measured against other Napa Cabs that may score less and likely cost more—thus representing good value.

I wrote about The Wine Blue Book a little over two years ago when they had a name changeover in a branding exercise—you can read my previous post here.

With the current mania (née focus) on “value” this and “value” that in the wine world, I caught up with Neil to see how business is going.

In that conversation (excerpted), Neil raises several interesting points:

Good Grape: Do you have any thoughts on this “value” push in wine?  Do you think that the term “value” is bastardized with no true meaning?  What’s your definition of wine value?

Neil / The Wine Blue Book: Value isn’t just an inexpensive wine.  Value is when the wine is the same or better quality and costs much less than average.  The 2008 Chateau Pontet-Canet Bordeaux from Pauillac region costs $80 but it received an average score of 95 points.  Well the average price for a 95 rated Bordeaux is $245, so $80 is 33% of that cost… a “value” in my book.  You can buy a bottle of 2006 Chateau Margaux for $537 but it only received 94 points.  I would rather pass on the 06 Margaux and buy a six pack of Pontet-Canet for $480.

For the numbers aspect of defining value, if the price of the wine is 25% below the average cost of a similar scoring wine then we call it a “value”.  At 50% or below it is a “Great Value” and 75% or below it is an “Outstanding Value”.  In the June 2009 issue we had five “Outstanding Value” wines, 91 “Great Values” and 230 “Value” wines out of the 1,197 wines that were included in the issue.

Good Grape: Have you seen an uptick in your business over the last few months with people wanting to be savvier with their wine spending dollars?

Neil / The Wine Blue Book: Yes, we have seen an uptick in new subscribers; I think the excessive spending mentality is frowned upon because of the economy.  Spending money wisely is now “in fashion.”

Good Grape: Since you and I last talked, have you seen an increase in the use of points as a scoring mechanism?

Neil / The Wine Blue Book: Yes.  Some folks continue to dismiss the 100 point system but they choose a 10 point system and then score wines 8.9 or 9.6 which just translates to an 89 and 96.  The 20 point system is the same but just 20% of the 100 points.

The folks who dismiss the system advocate “trust your retailer” but since a retailer’s income is dependent on the wine the consumer purchases, I would rather trust the scores the critics provide since their income isn’t dependent on the consumers purchase.

Good Grape:  Do you have any growth plans for the business that you can share?

Neil / The Wine Blue Book: Based on our subscriber survey and non-renewal survey we conducted earlier this year, we confirmed some of our current policies:

- 86% want us to continue with our policy of only listing wines that have been scored by two or more sources.
- 71% indicate the price we show is “accurate”.

We are working on adding another varietal within the next two months to bring the total to 19 varietals tracked. 

We now include Outstanding and Great Value wines, by varietal, from the past 12 months, in each issue.  This allows subscribers to walk into a wine shop with a list of great values by varietal.

Good Grape:  Thanks, Neil

No doubt, the notion of value and all of its subjective meaning creates a flashpoint in the wine world, particularly when combined with the equally contentious use of wine scores.

However, points aren’t going away, critics aren’t leaving the wine scene and a truly valuable aggregator of these scores provides a meaningful service to those that want to spend their wine money in a way that is more reliable and less crap shoot. 

For $25 bucks a year and a QPR rating on thousands of wines, it seems to me that Neil and The Wine Blue Book are providing consumers a tremendous service and, yes, value.

Photo credit:  B2B Knowledge Sharing

At this point, years in, our relationship should have transcended mere “like” to a deeper, more in tune level of trust.

Then one recent day, I finally “got it.”  I got the difference between me and Wine Spectator.

My lodestone pointing north, I finally understood why Wine Spectator has long been a magazine I have read, yet I’ve never quite felt the reciprocal warm embrace from that of a kindred spirit.  True to relationships in our heart of hearts – it was them and not me, even if I took responsibility for the relationship.  The half-heartedness it gave back to me feeling insincere and dishonest like the kiss you share at the end of a first date when there won’t be a second date: part mercy, part memento.

It wasn’t for lack of effort, though.

I mean, I have the credentials; I am a wine enthusiast for Goodness sake.  They have credentials as the premiere magazine for wine enthusiasts.  We should be getting along, no?

Why haven’t these “dates” with Wine Spectator been going the way they should?

Everything from the content to the advertisers have felt “off,” like I was a Brit visiting the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History; interesting surely, but not resonating with me, not a part of my fabric.

I have been a stranger in a not so strange land.

And then, I realized what it was with Wine Spectator and me:  We’re kids from two different sides of the tracks, Romeo and Juliet, however, our love will be forever unrequited.

Reading the “Wine Spectator Magazine Readership at Glance” overview found at the M. Shanken Communications web site and then reviewing their demographic overview, it became painfully clear that the dissonance I’ve felt with Wine Spectator is because it’s a magazine that is not intended for me.

Nope, I’m not the audience.  More painfully, I don’t know anybody in their audience.  I’m more middle management than jet flying C-Suite, doing the work instead of making the decisions.

Yes, I’ve simply been feeling the pain of another intersection that won’t ever be true compatibility.

From Wine Spectators Advertising materials:

* Our readers include epicureans, connoisseurs and collectors and business leaders

* Wine Spectator is the No. 1 luxury consumer publication in the 2008 Luxury Brand Status Index Survey

* The Luxury Brand Status Index Survey sampled 1,681 wealthy American consumers with an average income of $293,000 and an average net worth of $2.9 million

* Wine Spectator magazine readers have a median household income of $163,983

* The median age for a Spectator reader is 49

* The median liquid assets for a Wine Spectator reader is $3,018,000

* 25% of readers have a Chief Officer title

* 34% own 2+ homes

* The Wine Spectator reader takes an average of seven vacations a year

* 30% fly first or business class

* 56% are a member of a private club

Reading through the Wine Spectator advertising demographic information reminded me of the infamous George W. Bush quote when speaking to a group of wealthy Republicans, “This is an impressive crowd: the Have’s and Have-more’s. Some people call you the elites. I call you my base.”

Is it any wonder I have felt the lack of connection with Wine Spectator?  I am not a part of their “base.”  In fact, I might be the cousin twice removed compared to their “base.”

Compared to the demographics, I’m very “outhouse” compared to the penthouse.

At least now I can stop scratching my head about the persistent travel recommendations for the Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons.

Of all the statistics that that I have cited, the one that jumped out to me, besides the one in four readers that are a “Chief” of something, is the $3 million in liquidity that the median reader possesses.

Wow.

Given the economy, I’m more than a couple of zeros away from that.

So, now that I understand this delta in between Wine Spectator and me, I feel emboldened to build a relationship on common ground, not dating, but perhaps visitation like that rich friend who you share time with occasionally, if only sporadically, perhaps to be reminded of the contentedness you enjoy in your life without the encumbrance of more things to take care of, as much as the quality of the shared time.

Yeah, this thing between Wine Spectator and me will be just fine, but it will be on my terms now, no self-flagellation for a relationship that doesn’t quite fit. 

These same people might also suggest that a winery sponsoring a team in a NASCAR race is a sign that not only is the apocalypse upon us, but the locusts have blanketed the hills.

Announcements related to wine and the bowling center and wine and NASCAR happened in the last few days.

Of course, Adobe Road winery sponsoring a car for Sunday’s NASCAR race at Infineon in Sonoma is small potatoes compared to sponsoring the entire lead-in race on Saturday as Bennett Lane Winery did with the eponymous 200 mile precursor to the Sunday NASCAR main event.

Doubtless, none of these wine companies will be the last to use sponsorship to create mindshare as the flattening out of the wine demographic curve combines with the continued penetration of the value play in wine.

Indeed, I think we’re in for a lot more sponsorship from the wine industry.

Amongst the influence play options in advertising – display ads, direct response, endorsement and sponsorship, it appears likely that as display advertising shrinks based on the decline of readership; those dollars will be re-allocated to direct response and sponsorships, even more so than today.

Anything to create an associational connection in the mind of consumers and spur them into action.

Everything old is new again – it was sponsorship that was predominant on 1950’s television before commercials took rise.  It was direct response advertorials that were effective before brand-oriented image-based print ads.

Advertorials, a form of direct response marketing, is the secondary aspect of advertising, outside of display ads, that acts as a book-end of effective with sponsorship, a sort of “high-low” approach.

The other night I stopped by a barbecue joint on the way home, picked up a slab of pork goodness, poured a glass of the ’08 Carmen Rosé, a revelation with the BBQ by the way, and turned on the Food Network which was holding a BBQ marathon.

What Rosé is going to sponsor the Kansas City Barbecue Society, I wondered?  And, when are they going to create a Facebook fan page and ask me to join?

This sponsorship movement will become predominant as individual wineries and even varietal groups, like ZAP or Rhone Rangers, look to target large groups of constituents in a way that that feels more quantifiable and more true to a customer base than a full page ad in a glossy wine mag. next to an ad for Cartier watches.

And, it makes good marketing sense, too.  With a magazine, you get a broad brush of people, crossing all types of demographics and psychographics.

I subscribe to Wine Spectator, mostly, because of the columns – Matt Kramer primarily and James Laube to a lesser degree. 

However, if you look at Wine Spectators readership overview that’s where the disconnect occurs because even if I fall into a portion of the demographic profile, I definitely do not hit any of the psychographics – I’m not rolling in an Lexus, not wearing a watch that costs more than a casual dinner for two, not vacationing at Ritz Carlton’s, nor am I likely to purchase any of the above.

To a Wine Spectator advertiser, I am the wasted portion of the advertising budget.

Yet, sponsorships allow you to target “your” audience with a much greater degree of specificity.  An advertorial or a direct response allows you to call them into action.

With the growing wine community online that allows for self-selection – i.e. Twitter friends around distinct interest areas, Facebook fan pages around specific interests, etc. wineries have the capability to target a wine enthusiasts that are dog lovers with a “green” sensibility, amongst a zillion other affinity areas.

Look for winery marketing to continue to fork off into this duality of sponsorship coupled with advertorial call to action as marketers look to create an association, build mindshare and then incent to activity.

The folks that take the brunt of this collateral damage are, unfortunately, the paper-based portion of our popular wine media, reliant on display advertising.

Make no mistake, the fact that the wine industry isn’t an advertising-reliant business makes this shift incremental and not monumental and if nothing else, the 100-point system will keep our wine magazines around for years into the future, but, undoubtedly, the market is changing around them.

And, where do wine bloggers come into this wine magazine, display advertising, sponsorship, direct response equation, particularly if display advertising, on or offline, isn’t effective?

In a word:  endorsements.  And, that’s where things get really interesting.

I love to look at similar things for the irony in their juxtaposition ...  in the 70’s Italian-car maker Fiat entered the U.S. market and withered with poor quality.  In the ‘00’s Chrysler withered with notorious and exceptionally poor quality (amongst other things).  So what does Fiat do?  They buy Chrysler assets of course ...

Might be a match made in heaven ...

Yet, at the same time, we get news reports that Italians aren’t trading down the quality in their wine ...

Funny people those Italians ...

Elsewhere, even though its perilous times for wine writers, it can’t be that hard ... I can’t count the number of mentally mailed in columns I’ve seen recently with the same topic—value wines. At the least, nobody seems to be working too hard at writing compelling stuff for clips for their portfolio ...

I feel qualified to make that statement given I’ve purchased just about every wine title that has been published over the last 10 years.

And, no, it’s not an indictment on the authors; it’s more of an indictment on the publishers that publish the same “Introduction to Wine” book 15 times a year with an unfortunately smaller ratio of the “Billionaire’s Vinegar” and “Making Sense of Wine” titles.

Easy for me to say, right?  I should try to write a book …

I was approached a couple of months ago by a very cool book agent who read my blog, liked my “voice” and thought I had a book in me, an interesting book, not a “Wine 101” type.

It’s very flattering.  Prior to starting this blog the notion of writing a book never crossed my mind as a goal, though, now, I have to say it is, some people want to do triathlons, I’d like to write a book, both equal exercises in masochism.

The problem is the timing is horrible.

The economy is in the crapper and I don’t want to take focus away from my job, I’d like to start a family in the very near term and, well, writing a book would mean I would have to stop writing the blog because I wouldn’t have time to do both, at least not well.

In regards to this blog, it seems silly to forsake the very thing that got me the opportunity for the opportunity, even if writing a book comes with a check that cashes.

Pardon the clichés, but I’ve been penny wise and pound foolish before, and wisdom is a patient teacher …

I would like to write a book someday, but who knows when or if that opportunity will come again and what the parameters will be for the type of book somebody is interested in publishing.

In the meantime, a guy can fantasize, and I’ve been thinking about wine books that I would like to read.  So, without further ado, here are the first three of six books that I want to read, and I will definitely not be writing.

Advertisements for Myself by Matt Kramer

Matt Kramer is, in my estimation, the best contemporary wine writer alive today, and he has a body of work, writing for Wine Spectator since 1985. His many books are excellent, his column in The Oregonian is equally good and I humbly pay my subscription to Spectator just to read his columns – always insightful, always on point and always rendered in a way that, it seems, will weather the years while acting as a time capsule for that moment, upon hindsight.

I would like to see him take a page out of Norman Mailer’s book, no pun intended, and put together something akin to Mailer’s “Advertisements for Myself”—a collection of his own writings, interviews and essays, that he subsequently annotates, and footnotes, adding in what the editor’s red pen took out while filling-in the context to what was happening at that time at a macro-level in the wine world, and his personal world.

Kramer, surely has deeply anecdotal and interesting stories to share alongside a curated collection of his writings, it’s that insight into a body of work, a 360 view of a collection of columns, that I would like to read.

Provenance:  The Story of the Bern Steakhouse Wine List by David Laxer

Really, it could be any restaurant wine list that is formidable; Bern happens to have what is generally acknowledged as the largest wine list in the world.

What I would really like to read is a book by founder Bern Laxer’s son, David, highlighting some of the special bottles in their cellar that is rumored to be 600,000 bottles strong.

For years into the 1980’s, Bern’s published a wine list with label reproductions and wine region information, mostly it seems to prevent the nicking that occurred when people made off with their actual phone book sized wine list as a souvenir, but what would be really interesting now is to recount not only the back-story’s on acquisition of some of the finest bottles of wine in the world, but also the stories of the people that drank some of the finest bottles of wine in the world while dining at Bern’s.

With a collection that includes all the first growths including a Rothschild vertical that dates back 46 years and Madeira’s dating back to 1792, there is much ground to cover.

This melding of historical perspective, with situation-based context, and personal narrative would make for compelling reading.

A Cartoon History of Wine

An illustrator named Larry Gonick has built a small cottage industry by creating what are effectively long-form comics that tell accurate history with humor and verve.

Having read “A Cartoon History of the United States,” I can attest to the fun and life that illustrations bring to subject matter that doesn’t always seem relevant.

Having these titles in print since the early 1990’s is also a testament to their staying power.

There are plenty of historical wine books on the market, many of them good – A Short History of Wine by Rod Phillips and American Vintage by Paul Lukacs both come to mind.

But, putting these books into a form that is skimmable, flippable and imminently readable will likely ensure that some of the history of wine isn’t lost on a new generation, as well.

These are the first three of six books that I would like to see published.  I’ll write about the other three sometime soon.

Any other ideas, or am I crazy to even suggest new wine book titles in the age of digital? 

“I hate Notre Dame Football and the arrogant pomposity of their fans …”

“I love Notre Dame Football, the richest tradition in major college sports …”

You get the point: the hosts of the show usually take opposing viewpoints on the issues du jour and create dramatic interest and opinion forming thought-leadership in one direction or another.

The wine world doesn’t have as colorful of a patina or the personalities to match other areas like sports and politics, but there are the tried and true issues that, if absent, would make wine a pretty darn boring and pedestrian experience, all small talk and no real conversation.

Yesterday I presented both sides of issues one through five, the issues in the wine world that drive the conversation. Today, Part II and issues six through 10:

100 Point Rating System

The 100 point rating system is a good gauge of quality for consumers.  Wine is an unparalleled consumer category with far too much choice for any reasonable human being to make a purchase decision at the point of sale.  100 point scale ratings act as an arbitration of quality and a valuable consumer service.

And, let’s not forget that a very, very small segment of wine consumers study wine as enthusiasts, the rest of the population needs a quality indicator.

Further proof is the simple fact that other subjective areas of review like music and books are adopting the 100 point scale because of its usefulness in helping consumers wade through too many choices with too few differentiators.

Or

The 100 point rating system is the scourge of the wine world.  By placing a number on a wine, dictated by a singular palate, it prevents consumers from doing what is the simple joy of wine – exploration.  Instead, they make purchase decisions based on number, somebody else’s interpretation of “good.”

There is a difference between an artist and somebody who paints by the numbers, they are two completely different realms, and this painting by the numbers approach objectifies wine and its enjoyment in situ.

And, need I say anymore than the fact that it’s not even a 100 point scale, it’s really a 50 point scale and most wines, perfectly good wines, are persona non grata if they don’t score over an 85.

It’s ruining the wine world. 

Direct Shipping

Giving wineries and retailers the ability to sell directly to the consumer is THE American way.  Can you imagine if other consumer product categories had to go through a limited amount of distributors who would determine what could and could not be sold in a given state or market?

It’s lunacy and it’s anti-competitive for small producers who make up 95% of the wine world.

Factor in the political corruption of politicians who are hijacked by lobbyists under the guise of protecting our youth, and it all smells very rotten.

Give people the freedom to buy what they want from where they want.

Or

The 21st Amendment was put in place for very good reason – to give states the power to protect their interests related to matters of alcohol.

It’s an efficient system that serves everybody very well – wine producers, retailers and consumers and in doing so gives them much greater choice then what would be available in a completely unregulated wild, wild west atmosphere, while keeping alcohol out of the hands of our youth.

The fact is that if checks and balances aren’t in place to protect youth, what is preventing them from buying wine online?  Our politicians are merely doing the work of the people, who have indicated that protecting our future, our kids, is paramount.

New World vs. Old World

New World wines, as proven at the Judgment of Paris, and repeatedly thereafter, show that history isn’t an indicator of quality.

No New World wine drinkers are blinded by the canard of tradition that isn’t backed by quality. 

Domestic wines have ruled the Old World for years and, in fact, other emerging wine countries are now giving the U.S. a run for IT’S money.

Technology, innovation, fresh thinking and competition all create a better product that is attuned to today’s palate, annoying traditionalists and their thin wines not included.

Or

The New World needs to show some respect for Old World producers.  Quality isn’t measured in months or years, it’s measured in centuries.  Where would New World producers be were it not for the Old World?

Even the supposed New World champion, Robert Mondavi, used French quality as his baseline.

In 1855 the French were creating quality classifications for wineries that are still the best in the world to this day. Back then, the U.S. was trying to figure out if wine would even grow there, using French cuttings, I might add.

The U.S. culture is the same as their wine, all “now-now brashness” with no refinement and no sophistication.

Gen. Y and Wine

Generation Y is a saving grace for New World wine producers.  With the aging of Baby-Boomers, the wine industry needed fresh blood.  Even better is the fact, that they have bypassed the traditional adoption curve starting with White Zin—they’re adventurous with a taste for premium wines, domestic and imports.  Not to mention, Gen. Y is also dragging wineries into social media kicking and screaming.

Thank goodness they’re here!

Or

Generation Y.  taking to wine just might be the final swirl in the wine toilet bowl.

If we’re reduced to pandering to a demographic that treats wines with as much reverence as their constant and perpetual practice of being in the moment tethered to text messaging and Facebook, we should immediately start writing the obituary for wine as a beverage of distinction.

Ethics

Having a wine writer, with a body of work, credibility built over years and not months, writing objectively about a winery and their wine, without the influence of “monetization,” is a path that needs to be continued in the wine world.

Parker built his reputation based on a Ralph Nader-style of consumer advocacy WITHOUT the muddying influence of advertising or junkets.

If wine consumers are to continue to believe in the credibility of wine reviews, critical review and commerce shouldn’t co-mingle.

Or

My grandpa told my Dad that the Studebaker was the only car he would ever drive.  My Dad came back from Vietnam refusing to buy any car that wasn’t American.  Um, good call …!?

Times change, perspectives change and the traditional role of the critic coming down from up on high is a model that is breathing its last breath.

Read the trends, or open up your browser, in a connected world its power to the people.

And, really, in a world of transparency, I really have no reason to believe that just because a critic tells me he is objective, it actually means he is.  After all, everybody not named Parker makes their living off of advertising in some form.

I prefer the blogger model with disclosure.  I’ll sniff it out if somebody isn’t being forthright based on advertising dollars and I’ll direct my attention accordingly.

There it is – the top 10 wine issues in wine.  Without these conversational conduits, our wine lives would be reduced to breathlessly talking about tasting notes.  Drama sells, and this is our drama.

Leave a comment with your perspective on any of these issues and/or mention a topic I may have missed – the conversation points that make the wine world interesting!