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April 17 2006

Let your wife know there’s now a wine shop next to Coldwater Creek!

I’m Winston Wolfe. I solve problems.

-Winston Wolfe, Pulp Fiction, 1994

Tom at Fermentation has a blog entry today on WineStyles a franchise wine retail concept. His post was observational and open and he’s got his finger on the pulse of the world of wine with a pop culture infused filter. I’ve commented on WineStyles before when I ran across a post about this franchise penetrating the Midwest--specifically the Ohio market; and, on the whole, I have been critical--for a couple of reasons--some petty, some valid on a larger scale. As a singular post, I’ll bullet-point my assertions, mostly because I feel passionately that:

wine + franchise = bad idea

1) How hypocritical is it that a wine store feature value, unique, niche, regional wine finds that are not mass-market, yet be a franchise concept--something that is not unique or niche.

1.A) If Wine Styles grew out of a local market where it delighted customers and desired to go national, I might hedge a bit, but, nah, that’s not the case--they started out as a franchise and strive to propagate franchise stores.

2) There is nothing unique about the concept--there is NO intellectual property that creates a barrier to entry; my guess is their real estate strategy is to go next to the Panera Bread store.

2.A) As I mentioned in my earlier blog post on this, if any reader has a burning desire to start a wine store, please contact me. I will write your business plan for you with water tight research and not charge you anywhere near the $25K they want as a franchise fee.

3) I get nervous when the founder uses head shots from her former modeling career. No, seriously, I used to work for a start-up in the Internet era and the founder was a first-rate narcissist--ultimately his hubris cost a lot of people a lot of money. This is the petty comment ...

4) The wine retailer purchases from their local distribution--so they are buying the same wine that everybody else stocks in town. So, why spend the $25K for the franchise fee or the ongoing royalties--there’s no economies of scale--i.e. all of my fries, patties, shake mix, etc comes from Wendy’s.

5) An analogy used liberally in the tech space in the 1997 - 2001 timeframe was the gold rush mentality--the "first mover mentality." The guy that got in first wins the prize. That was quickly de-bunked and we’re now going through a very interesting v2.0 time period of the Internet--blogging being just a small portion of that new capability. My point here is, with wine predicted to have exponential growth over the next 10 years (at least), the concept that can scale locally, regionally and then nationally hasn’t surfaced, yet. In this game, I’d be willing to bet that 2nd, and maybe 3rd mover status will be the one that can grow to national mindshare. Or, alternatively, I’d bet on Best Cellars for growing out of the East Coast.

In truth, I have a completed business plan for a concept that I think is far superior, but would certainly not be franchised for a good period of time. Perhaps, I’ll post it one day in whole or in pieces like free Internet software and see what kind of feedback I get back.

On the whole, with WineStyles and one or two others, I’m just not seeing much in the store design, merchandising system, or overall concept that is that interesting--particularly if your target is the over 40 moneyed-set. Why start with a faux-upscale store for an uber-discerning crowd?

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April 17 2006

Wine Sediments

I have another post on the Wine Sediments portion of the Wellfed network. The Wine Sediments portion of the site can be found here.

In my post, I basically take two angles:
1) Wine ratings should post ALL scores of all wines reviewed--in the interest of full disclosure
2) The entire wine ratings game might be ready to overtaken by the people

In this post, I also throw-in a Lake Wobegon reference as contextual support for the fact that all of the wine ratings we see are above average.

As an additional tid bit, I scanned an issue of Wine Spectator AFTER having written my current post (Jan. 31 - Feb 28 issue). In the article called "The World of Wine in 2005," it lists the division of scores for ALL wines reviewed in 2005 and fully 46% of the 12,000 + wines reviewed scored an 85 - 89--or Very Good (A Wine with Special Qualities).

And, only 8% scored 75 - 79 (A drinkable wine that may have minor flaws).

A couple of years ago there was a little bit of a flap with grade inflation at Harvard University (NPR blurb here).

Does anybody think we have the same thing happening in wine, or at the least an opportunity for disinter-mediation from consumers?

Thanks to Mark Fisher, the editor of the Wine Sediments site also maintains Uncorked a blog companion to his wine pieces for the Dayton Daily News and an adjunct to his beat as a reporter for the same paper, he has graciously invited me to write for Wine Sediments as a guest columnist--a proposition I will take him up on with some regularity.

When a glass of wine has a rough edge to it, it can be referred to as having some "angularity." Mark’s writing only drives home positive "angularity" --as in he always has an interesting take. His last post on wine ratings is in this vein and can be found here.

Pop over to the site and take a read.

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April 14 2006

Good Grape! From Stem to Stern

Thereare female-oriented magazines on the newsstand every month with screamingheadlines of, “Better Skin in 30 days,” “Get that Glow Back” and the like. Usually this headline is nestled next to, orunderneath the one that screams “Make your man wild” and “Tighten your bunswhile seated at Work.”

It’sbrainless stuff, at least to the male species, and every issue has someavocado/cucumber/almond paste elixir that is designed to take away the wrinklesand perk-up flagging skin, or so I’ve glanced in the twilight hour at the endof the day between brushing teeth and lights out as my wife vacillates betweendoing Soduko or reading Simple Living magazine.

So,I was mildy interested, for research reasons only, and as a public service for female readers, when I saw a notice in WineEnthusiast magazine about Ishi Luxury Gourmet Skinfood. It is coming stateside.

Ishiis purporting to do spa treatments with grapes and grape by-products, under theproduct line banner of: VinoTherapy.

Fromthe Ishi web site:

Throughoutthe centuries, several books have been written on the medicinal qualities ofgrapes and wine, and in the book Liber de Vinis it states that ‘rosemarywine has wonderful qualities, for instance it can regulate appetite, exhilaratethe soul, straighten tendons, make the face beautiful and hair grow.’

LouisXIV introduced wine in his court due to ‘its healing properties and as itexalts beauty and improves facial features and complexion’ . It wascommonly discussed during the 19th Century how Grape Must was used to preparemasks and compresses for the face and neck.

Ishiwill have two treatment offerings available in the States very soon.

TheVisa di Vino is a four “course” facial treatment that luxuriates the body andincludes:

· An infusion of red grapevine leaves or small glassof red wine

· A refreshing and soothing tonic lotion made fromchardonnay grapes from the shores of Lake Garda followed by a cleansing milemade with sun ripened grapes from Tuscany to thoroughly cleanse the skin.

Othercourses include grape must and a night cream made from Chianti grapes.

The second offering is a body toning and slimming treatment that utilizes a "gentle massage with a cocktail of Sangiovese grapes."

Uh-huh.

Ina far cooler application of grape by-products, artist Christina LoCascio, alsothe Tasting Room Manager at Artiste Winery (yes, no kidding, an artist asManager at Artiste) is painting some very beautiful pictures using mostly wine in lieu of watercolors.

From her artists statement:

During this time I have studiedwine and winemaking realizing early on that it is an art form of its own. Thisunderstanding allowed me to explore wine in the physical sense as paint. Painting with wine is fusion and visual expression of my twin passions, art and wine.

WineSpectator had an article on her in their December ’05 issue:

While LoCascio uses a small amount of watercolor paint fordetailing, she relies mainly on red wine to produce colors ranging fromcopper to violet. To achieve this range, LoCascio has tinkered withdifferent varietals and methods of extracting color from the juice. Athick, inky paint comes from boiling two bottles of wine down to lessthan one glass, while white wine is used to lighten dark areas andclean brushes, much like water with pastel paints.

LoCascio’s boyfriend, Michael Larner of Larner Vineyard, alsohelps with the process. A graduate student at UC, Davis’ School ofViticulture and Enology, Larner uses a rotary evaporator to separatealcohol and water from the wine’s pigment, creating a viscous paintwith deep red hues. He’s also experimented with the pH levels inwine—adding tartaric acid for more acidity and sodium hydroxide for amore basic paint. The acidic tinctures become a vibrant purple, whilethe basic fluids appear brown to black.

There you have it. A good weekend: a massage in the morning with some grape by-products, a gallery in the afternoon with a provocative painting using wine as a medium, the night is free to indulge you as you see fit and then a little vino with the ham on Sunday. What a grape life we can all enjoy!

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April 14 2006

Wine & Our Religious Holidays

Oneof the benefits of being involved in an inter-faith marriage is, around the majorholidays, its one non-stop party after another—the complementary benefits ofJudaism and Catholicism not having exactly conjoining holidays.

So,Passover and the Seder is always celebrated in advance of Easter Sunday.

TheSeder is the gathering of family and friends the first two nights of the sevenday Passover holiday.

And,for wine, the Seder ceremony calls for the consumption of four glasses of wine.

Now,this is something I can get behind.

FromWikipedia:

Four Cups

There is a Rabbinicobligation to drink four cups of wine (or pure grape juice) during the Seder.This applies to both men and women. The Mishnah says (Pes. 10:1) that even thepoorest man in Israel has an obligation to drink. Each cup is connected to adifferent part of the Seder: The First Cup is for Kiddush, the Second Cup isconnected with the recounting of the Exodus,the drinking of the Third Cup concludes BirkatHamazon and the Fourth Cup is associated with Hallel.

ThePassover Seder calls for kosher wine. Even non-kosher Jews, at least the ones I am around, drink kosher winefor Seder—or, at the least, have it available. At my in-laws Seder, we also enjoyed an Oliver Blackberry wine, which,as fruit wines go, is pretty tasty.

I’mno expert on this, but there’s a good article on kosher wine here.

Thewine available at the Seder is of the Manischewitz or Mogan David variety—usuallysweet; very sweet and made from Concord Grapes.

Accordingto Kosher law a kosher wine

1) Equipment used to make thewine must be used exclusively for the production of kosher products.

2)The grapes and wine must be handled, from grape crushing to consumption, onlyby Sabbath-observing Jews, unless the wine is mevushal (pasteurized).

3)Only certified kosher products (yeast, filtering agents, etc.) can be used.

TheKosher laws are a bit of a detriment to serving fine wine when you consider thepasteurization that has to take place—pasteurization occurs at 190 degrees ormore.

Thisis a cruel bit of irony for our friend, Louis Pastuer, the pioneer of themethod and a notable oenophile, as well. He said:

"Winecan be considered with good reason as the most healthful and the most hygienicof all beverages."

Despite the high temperaturesand stringent requirements to make wine kosher, some folks are making finewine.

Anothersecondary and related interest to the Mogan David’s and Manischewitz’s of theworld is Indiana’s aforementioned Oliver Winery.

Oliveris definitely Indiana’s pride and joy in the world of wine and garnered somenotice in Wine Business Monthly in ’04.

#4 on Wine BusinessMonthly’s Hot Brands list in 2004

Olivermakes a concord grape wine called Soft Red that is the #1 selling wine inIndiana—no kidding. It sells by thepallet at Sam’s Club.

FromWBM:

OliverWinery’s shotgun approach to making wine includes making easy-to-drink, classicdry red wines such as Zinfandel, Shiraz and barrel-fermented Chardonnays.Oliver Winery has 40 acres of vineyards, a mix of vinifera and hybrids. Itrelies on growers in Washington, Oregon, California and Michigan, oftenshipping grapes in refrigerated containers packed with dry ice. Oliver Wineryalso makes sweet wines from Concord grapes. The hot seller and cash cow, infact, is Oliver Winery’s Soft Red Wine made from Concord grapes. The winerymade 65,000 cases of Soft Red Wine last year, and it retailed for about $8 perbottle.

"There’s an overlooked market segment in sweet wines the big boys aren’tmaking," said Oliver Winery owner and winemaker Bill Oliver,pointing out that some other wineries, such as St. JamesStoneHill of Missouri and St. Julian of Michigan, have found similarsuccess with some of their sweeter offerings. and

So,aside from Passover wines, there is a market for sweet and semi-sweet wines—particularlyin the Midwest where the declining sales in White Zinfandel memo hasn’t reachedall of our fair “Red” state brethren.

But,sweet wine or not, anytime food, family, friends and wine can come together isa reason to celebrate to me—Passover, Easter or any other reason.

Now,I’ll just have to pick out another semi-sweet wine, probably a Gewurt, for theham on Easter.

Salud!

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April 12 2006

Technology: Can it take some lessons from the world of wine?

One of my very favorite wineries in Sonoma is Dry Creek. Their Chenin Blanc is nice, and they were (and are) doing a Chenin Blanc when virtually nobody else is, and their Zinfandel is really nice after about an hour of air.

David Stare, the founder, has announced his retirement from the operations. In the article on Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s web site he says something really fun that belies his obvious business savvy, but underscores how down to earth he is--this on naming his Sav. Blanc:

Today,the winery is perhaps best known for various bottlings of Sauvignon Blanc,which Stare early on decided to call Fumé Blanc, a name that had been invented byRobert Mondavi. Asked why he decided to label his wines Fumé Blanc, Stare says,“I was having lunch with Barney Fetzer [founder of Fetzer Vineyards], and hesaid, ‘Dave, Fume sells better than Sauvignon.’”

As a counterpoint in bluster, this quote on employee morale and Blogs from Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, as quoted in Businessweek.

I have lots of sourcesof information about what’s going on at the company. I think I have apretty good pulse on where we are and what people are thinking. I’m notsure blogs are necessarily the best place to get a pulse on anything.People want to blog for a variety of reasons, and that may or may notbe representative.

It’s important in my job that I understand broadly the pulseof the company. Over a third of my time, I’m spending with our peopleinteracting with their work.

Aside from the humble-ness that smacks you in the face from Mr. Stare, you can draw your own deduction on the level of respect afforded to people who blog--Ballmer, in my estimation, basically demonstrates that Microsofties that blog are not people whose opinion he values.

Now, granted, this isn’t an apples to apples comparison, but is it any wonder that people would want to pursue their passion instead of the corporate drone life? I mean, what, with all the respect that is granted to those in the cube life.

Who would you want to work for? Compensation being equal, is it really a choice?

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