Friday, May 28, 2010

Tasting California Riesling with Other Wine Professionals

This morning I had a chance to taste a couple of wines with the winemaker who worked on the wines, as well as other wine professionals, and compare and contrast our own observations about the wines.
The wines in Question - both from Sterling Vineyards, both Rieslings. We tasted the 2008 Monterey County and the 2009 Mendocino County. Giving us the back ground was one of the winemakers from Sterling, Alison Crary. She studied and made wine in Germany, so is one of the more familiar winemakers with Riesling in California these days. Joining the group was Tom Meadowcroft, owner and winemaker of Magito Wines; Damon Dudley, Operations Manager and Winemaker with Winesecrets; Domingo Rodriguez, VP and GM with Winesecrets; Petar Kirilov, winemaker with Magito, as well as consultant with other brands; and myself.
While you think the "land of vintages every year" as California might be seen, there was a striking difference between the two, and not just from a vintage standpoint. The 2008 Monterey was fuller, softer, much more like a Pinot Blanc, while the 2009 Mendo had big up front aromatics, crisper acids, and was, well for lack of a better term, playful on the tongue.
Another interesting note was that, while both wines came across very well, and would definitely be great food wines (the 08 I would say would with white flesh fish, and the 09 with shell fish, or even slightly spicy Asian cuisine, which would pair nicely with the fruity notes), both wines were at 14.2 alcohol - and did not come across as such! This shows that each of these wines was well balanced, and would be a welcome addition to the cellar this summer. It was also nice to take some time out of the usual routine and talk with other wine people and sit and focus on just a couple of wines and talk about the vineyards the grapes came from, the processes, and how each of us described them (in case you're wondering, both wines received high praises around the table, but it was a pretty even split when one had to be picked, so both wines were really winners).
Also was told that Sterling is having a special on the 08 this weekend (Memorial Day weekend), so if you needed an excuse to go to Sterling, here ya go!!
Hope you find some great wines this weekend,
Best
David

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Sometimes passing along the information does more good....

So, sometimes I find items that just strike me as "yeah - that's something that needs to have more people reading it", so today I pass along a couple of links that I found relevant to the current state of wine.
One is one How, even after 75 plus years, Prohibition still has sway over this country-
http://www.anotherwineblog.com/archives/4062

and another is on cork, and how closures seem to still be contentious in the world of wine-
http://wine-ophelia.blogspot.com/2010/05/put-cork-in-it.html
(just copy and paste into your browser). Hope you find them enlightening and entertaining.
Best
David

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

The future of Wine Selling and Marketing

I had a chance last night to speak to the E-Commerce class in the Wine Business program at Sonoma State University last night, on Direct Shipping of wine, and its associated regulations. As I talked to them about some of the items to remember when shipping wine direct to consumer (as, when it comes to wine, we are NOT the United States, one nation under whatever, but a patchwork of differing and sometimes conflicting regulations), I had a remarkable thought - these are going to be some of the people marketing wine over the next 25 years or so.
And, as we talked, how is most of this wine going to be marketed? - by electronic media - email, facebook, blogs, twitter and the like. This group of soon to be college grads turned wine professionals will be the most linked via electronic means than ever before. Since we can order wine, find out about wine, write about wine 24/7, what else might change about this?
My thought is that more web conferencing will happen over the next few years. For instance, it might be possible to attend a trade show by Skype (or some sort of web attendance), which would cut travel time and costs, while still being able to gather needed information. It might be possible to attend wine tastings (this is a little more of a logistical tightrope, but achievable). Many wineries already have virtual tours of their facilities, so I'm sure web tasting rooms are not far off.
Also in question is how this will all affect the experience of the winery visit. Will it replace the in person visitation of wineries? Well, not likely. There is still something ever so enjoyable and romantic about the whole winery experience, so even as this new generation of wine marketers comes into the industry, one thing the electronic medium can't replace is the human element. It can enhance it, but not replace it. Wine, as a very subjective element, will always have a human element associated with it.
Until next time, raise a glass to your direct interaction with the fruit of the vine,
Best,
David