Source: http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/napablog/may-is-bocce-month-in-wine-country/
Guadet Guadet Saint Julien Haut Bages Liberal Haut Bailly Haut Batailley
Source: http://blogs.fairplex.com/blog/wine/?p=36
Branaire Ducru Brane Cantenac Brown Calon Segur Cambon la Pelouse
Brown Calon Segur Cambon la Pelouse Canon Canon la Gaffeliere
Honest Cooking: A Digital Food & Wine Magazine originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/89ZRARMmnnE/
Langoa Barton Larcis Ducasse Larmande Larrivet Haut Brion Lascombes
Wine Word of the Week: Macroclimate was originally posted on Wine Peeps. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WinePeeps/~3/6GEW8mrCL4c/
Why Do Wine Blogs Need To Make Money? originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/xWZKaQpUOKk/
Le Pin Le Tertre Roteboeuf l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Eglise Clinet l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Enclos Leoville Barton
Giscours Giscours Rare Signed Marie Jeanne Gloria Gomerie Grand Puy Ducasse
Source: http://www.wine4freaks.com/36/2007-st-emilion-grand-cru-classe/
l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Interdit de Valandraud Lucia Lynch Bages Lynch Moussas Magdelaine
Glen Ellen, Petite Sirah 2007 originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/bmDbiM7S5nI/
De Chevalier De Fieuzal De l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Eglise De Pez De Sales
So, there’s this thing called the Wine Blog Awards which is sort of a hybrid of the Oscars and the People’s Choice Awards.
The awards combine a juried review along with popular voting and recognize English language wine blogs in a number of categories like, “Best Writing,” “Best Business Blog,” “Best Wine Reviews,” “Best Overall,” and so on. There are eight categories overall and not all blogs are a fit for every category as there are a few specialty areas like, “Best Single Subject,” “Best Winery Blog,” etc.
Like all awards, because we take our cues from popular culture, most people are “humbled” and diffident when named a finalist and/or a winner, and secretly (or not so secretly) peeved if they’re not acknowledged. If nothing else, this is a measure of the influence of the awards in the online wine writing community.
I’ve been a finalist or a winner since the inception of the awards in 2007, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I like winning.
However, up until last year, I was winning awards because of my blog design – which, frankly, I conceived, but I paid for with the help of an ace designer. So, these were hollow victories because it had nothing to do with writing, where I put in actual effort.
Then, last year, I had a breakthrough of sorts and I was a winner in the, “Best Business Blog” category – recognition for writing capably about wine marketing and the wine industry. Yes! This was good because the purpose of this site is to write column-style and make the wine business (behind the lifestyle façade) interesting and accessible.
Flash forward a year and I’ve been named a finalist in three categories and they’re not the design category (thank goodness).
Please vote for whomever you deem worthy in the Wine Blog Awards. You’ll see that I’m a finalist in the following categories: “Best Overall,” “Best Business Blog,” “Best Writing.”
As always, thanks for reading Good Grape and helping me, a schooled journalist, but non-professional writer, pursue my interest in wine while scratching my creative itch and hopefully, as George Bernard Shaw, perhaps the most oft-quoted guy that nobody knows what he’s known for, said, “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”
Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/vote_in_the_wine_blog_awards/
Bellevue Mondotte Berliquet Beychevelle Branaire Ducru Brane Cantenac
Odds and ends from a life lived through the prism of the wine glass …
Crossover Hybrids
When wine coolers were introduced in the 80s they broadened the appeal of the good grape at the same time that wine was undergoing a revolution of interest amongst Yuppie Baby Boomers, creating a more egalitarian perception for the nascent west coast wine business that was burdened at the time with inherited, stuffy, legacy east coast Euro-centric leanings.
Flash forward 25 years and wine in California has self-actualized and we’re living in a global wine village, fully in the throes of another sustained interest and growth cycle. Yet, this time, instead of wine coolers, we’re seeing new and different attempts at broadening the appeal of wine.
I call these new wine beverages, “Hybrid crossovers” – like the half car, half SUV, half gas, half electric cars that are rapidly gaining popularity in the U.S.
For the purists that can barely stand the thought of the new wine brands hitting the market with residual sugar, I’m firing a friendly observationally-based warning shot across the bow – when ChocoVine (a sort of cream liqueur meets wine sipper), is projected to sell 1M cases this year, now is a good time to buckle up for the changes that are coming.
Besides ChocoVine and its emerging competitors, we’re seeing Pomula Wine Spritz (available exclusively at the trend forward Cost Plus World Market chain of stores), Courvoisier with wine, Ritzling, a carbonated Riesling from New Zealand served with a lime (Like a Corona) and other permutations.
My guess for the next wine hybrid crossover to get packaged and find a wine audience? The Kalimotxo—the Spanish name for a half cola, half red wine concoction that is consumed around the world with different monikers.
If the thought of Baker’s Dozen Chardonnay gets your dander up, if the name, “Wine Cooler” is a pejorative in your vocabulary, hang on because you haven’t seen anything yet.
The Longtail: Not so Long?
A recent press release from Wine.com offered an innocuous statement from CEO Rich Bergsund who was quoted as saying, “We look forward to growing further by offering an increasingly compelling blend of selection, service, value and information that’s impossible to get in a store.”
The “selection” part didn’t get my attention – that’s throwaway wording. More interesting was the, “… Service, value and information that’s impossible to get in a store.”
Three of Bergsund’s four stated criteria have little to do with sourcing small wines and everything to do with using ecommerce to improve upon the in-store wine shopping experience. This is key because over the last five years the wine business has largely viewed online wine sales through the lens of the “Longtail,” a pop-economic philosophy that says that the Internet can be a boon for niche products like wine because it enables small quantities of niche products (read: boutique wines that aren’t in distribution) to be sold in a manner that could never be duplicated by inventory at physical retail.
The Longtail is/was to be a growth haven for small producers.
However, what I’m gleaning from Wine.com, the #1 online wine retailer for seven years running, and what their annual top selling wines list bears out, is not an attempt (nor the results) of selling small boutique wines àla the Longtail to a thirsty audience who can’t find these small wines at their local shop, it’s selling readily available wines to an audience who may very well be intimidated by the wine aisle at retail or unsatisfied with notoriously poor wine retail merchandising.
This notion is reinforced when viewing Wine.com’s top-selling wines. Their #1 selling wine of 2010 was the d’Arenberg Stump Jump Shiraz from Australia. Chateau St. Michelle Chardonnay was at #5. A Louis Martini Cabernet at #6. These are all big brands in national distribution and readily available.
And, while I’m not intending to besmirch anybody, I’ve long held the belief that Conundrum and Silver Oak are luxury brands for people that are heavy in the pocketbook, but light on wine knowledge, the exact same consumer who could or would be intimidated in the wine aisle despite their purchasing power. Sure enough, Conundrum is #16 and Silver Oak is #35 on the Wine.com top 100 sellers list.
And, if you look at Wine.com’s channel-based positioning and top-sellers contrasted against recently released VinQuest direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine sales research (all direct channels, not just online), it’s interesting to note that VinQuest indicates that the second fastest growing category in DTC sales, neck and neck with online wine sales, is event sales – at 37%. These are in-person sales, consumer direct.
Hmm.
The data suggests that when direct-to-consumer wine sales are spread out across all wineries, DTC is still a micro-channel of business for most, if not all U.S. wineries, no panacea for the small vintner and nearly equaled in ‘10 growth by offline direct sales.
Looking at a separate piece of data, Silicon Valley Bank research indicates that less than 4% of the domestic wine business is using a customer relationship management (CRM) software tool.
The problem now facing small wineries is betting on the right trend using anecdotal information: Is online consumer wine sales growth going to come from an online ecommerce provider that facilitates an easy shopping experience, at the expense of conventional wisdom that says that online wine sales are small, hard-to-find brands? Or, does the proverbial rising tide raise all ships?
Life sure isn’t easy for the small winery, but if I were making decisions for a 10,000 case brand I would double-down on a CRM software tool, and start building my one-to-one marketing capabilities, from both a digital and an event perspective because it sure looks like consumers are sowing the seeds of a trend that is independence-oriented, self-service online wine shopping while seeking a personal winery touch at events.
In the next “Field Notes” edition – FedEx makes it easy for consumers to pick-up their wine, the “Wine Wars” and more …
Wine & Cola photo credit: Jorge Negreros
Longtail photo credit: Chris Anderson
Exception de Quinault Ferriere Feytit Clinet Figeac Fleur de Gay
Generally speaking, I do very little public housekeeping here, but it’s time for some remodeling and I want your feedback.
Despite winning some awards and receiving significant positive feedback about the design of this site, I haven’t materially changed the look or the function of Good Grape since November 2006. Times have changed a lot in the intervening (nearly) five years. At the time, Wordpress was a very secondary blogging platform choice behind MovableType (I chose door #3). Facebook had recently announced general availability to the public from its former days of being collegiately oriented; Twitter launched, but was barely a blip on the radar, YouTube was hot (but not ubiquitous) and smartphones were still very niche in general adoption. Tablets like the iPad? Nope, at that point people were stoked about rumors of an iPhone that was set to be released sometime the next year.
A lot has changed in five years and this site has barely kept pace, making due with duct tape and spittle.
A number of regular readers have let me know that pieces and parts of the site don’t always work, or the site is slow for them, or it’s hard to comment, or archive pages are junky looking, or links take you away from the site, etc. And, forget about reading this site on your mobile phone – Good Grape equal’s bad mobile mojo. The list goes on and on and I have my own list of wishes and want-to’s 35 items deep.
So, here’s the question and the crossroads I’m facing:
Do I keep the same general design (with some slight modifications like making the main text area wider and re-doing the navigation) and simply leave a classic design alone, focusing on enhancing functional and technical aspects of the site?
Or,
Do I take this opportunity to blow it out and set the bar for what a quality, beautiful, professional wine blog should look like, plus all of the social and mobile bells and whistles?
Readers, friends, colleagues, and peers: Your feedback is very welcome. Should I mess with a good thing for a potentially greater thing, or do stay true to the visual identity in place and simply remodel focusing on functionality, familiarity and usability?
Please leave a comment.
Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/help_steer_the_direction_of_an_award_winner/
Croizet Bages d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Agassac d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Aiguilhe Dame de Montrose d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Angludet
Source: http://blogs.fairplex.com/blog/wine/?p=74
d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Aiguilhe Dame de Montrose d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Angludet d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Armailhac De Chevalier
Source: http://blogs.fairplex.com/blog/wine/?p=51
La Clemence La Conseillante La Couspaude La Croix de Beaucaillou La Croix du Casse
Source: http://thegrapesaroundtexas.com/2011/07/17/winefest-crossroads-frisco-texas/
Beaumont Beausejour Becot Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse Bel Air Lalande de Pomerol Belair
Patache d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Aux Pavie Pavie Decesse Pavie Macquin Pavillon Rouge du Margaux
Announcing WBW 71: Rhones Not From The Rh�ne originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/jrDA0wzAgrw/
Wine Tasting Yellow Tail Cabernet Wine and Roses Napa Valley
Within the span of 24-hours this past weekend, I had a conversation with an Australian wine marketing representative who described her role as, “The toughest job in the wine business,” and word spread about a wee wine accident Down Under.
In a story that was picked up by Time, CNN, MSNBC, Huffington Post and most major news outlets, it seems 461 cases of a 462 case parcel of the 2010 Mollydooker “Velvet Glove” Shiraz destined for the U.S. was dropped by a forklift while loading a container, creating broken bottles and, at the least, damage to the bespoke bottles with a velvet label and a $185 per bottle price tag.
Initial news reports were quick to point out that the wine was insured.
I was in the company of wine writer’s this past weekend and they pondered whether this massive wine spill was actually a bad thing—the Mollydooker wines having a certain reputation for their over-the-top blowsy style favored by Parker and Wine Spectator who reviewed the 2009 vintage with scores of 97 and 96, respectively.
On Monday, July 25th the winery issued its own press release answering some “whys and wherefores” in how the accident happened after news reports were largely based on the scant original reporting from the Associated Press.
Yet, interestingly, Decanter.com subsequently reported that the winery press release with the headline, “Years of Tears and Sweat and More Than $1 Million Worth of Fine Wine Go Down the Drain” was rescinded and replaced with another press release titled, “Years of Love and Care, and More Than $1 Million Worth of Fine Wine, Go Down the Drain.”
If you’re ever curious about what happens when a press release is pulled online go ahead and search for the first headline I mentioned and you’ll see pages and pages of empty pages from syndicated press releases that serve as content for news sites.
Aside from the curiosity of all of this – broken bottles and the vagaries of press release headlines—the reality remains that this is probably the best thing that could possibly happen for Mollydooker and their “Velvet Glove” brand. With an insurance policy, millions and millions of dollars of free press and the not inconsequential fact that despite its incredible critical scores, the 2009 wine (called a “Cult” wine by some) is largely available in the U.S. with plummeting pricing, winery owners Sarah and Sparky Marquis should be just fine despite the quote from Sparky where he noted, “This wine is our pride and joy, so to see it accidentally destroyed, and not consumed, has left us all a bit numb.”
Wine-Searcher tells a more interesting story. The below graph illustrates the drop in price at U.S. retail over the last 12 months, which is decidedly, non-“cult-ish.”
To respond to the rhetorical statement from my new Australian wine marketing friend who described her job as, “The toughest job in the wine business,” I would say: The toughest job in the wine business is convincing a retailer to buy the 2010 Velvet Glove when the 2009 with insanely good ratings is still widely available below suggested retail price.
While the Marquis’ may be “numb” and crying over spilled wine, U.S. wine retailers are crying over dead inventory and there’s no insurance for that.
Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/mollydooker_a_left-handed_punch_in_the_gut_or_not/
