February 7 2007
A couple of days ago, I wrote a post intended to be delivered in two parts. The overall gist of the post, as something of a wine outsider myself, was the fact that I’ve been intrigued to meet numerous people over the course of the last several months that are outsiders to the industry who have arrived at entrepreneurial ventures that are trying to drive change in the wine industry.
The first post highlighted a distributor in Illinois who I believe has a tremendous business model—essentially taking a linear model like the three-tier system and turning it inside out with a maniacal focus on building a high-end wine book while at the same time conducting events to drive consumer demand to retail—bottle shops and restaurants—where their wines are placed. It’s just beautiful in its correctness and the fact that virtually nobody else does it this way, at least in practical terms.
Usually, in hindsight, when success has been assured, others guys would call them “lucky.” There’s not a lot of luck involved and surely a lot of hard work—or as a mentor used to tell me, “Luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation.”
But, the way wineries are proliferating and shipping laws are changing, I’m not surprised that a distributor is seizing on a different business model and value proposition and, perhaps, it takes a fresh set of eyes on the situation to drive real change.
Perhaps the greatest opportunity for future peril in the wine industry is the diametrically opposed trends of distributor consolidation, while at the same time small boutique wineries growth is running amuck. Shrinking distributor’s options decrease the viability of small wines finding a home. So, it’s with some relief to see potential for an outlet for these wineries with boutique distributors. But, there are other options, as well.
We’re in the midst of tidal wave of change in the wine industry, the least aggressive change may actually be the area that traditionally drives the most change—technology and the Internet. Certainly, online consumer direct sales is an area that is growing significantly and has almost limitless possibility for growth.
The Wine 2.0 space, occupied by emerging Internet companies hoping to seize new direct customers sales, are in many ways, on more solid footing then their distribution brethren. This emerging Wine 2.0 channel, built on the backs of pioneers like wine.com who haven’t adapted to changing times, includes a lot of players with overlapping qualities—some are community based, others do commerce, others aggregate customers in order to deliver a sale to winery partners. All of them are trying to establish a beachhead in what is fast becoming the Wild West similar to the dot-com era in the late 1990’s
I was at Wine 2.0 in November when I first made the acquaintance of Justin Smith, a young entrepreneur starting up a site called Boutique Wine Cellar.
Then, as now, Justin and his business partner, Kevin Finn, struck me as the kind of guys with enough youthful moxie and wine industry “outsider-ness” to maybe do something interesting—particularly around technology and wine.
Justin explained that, while he is now in his early to mid twenties, he first became interested in wine in the early 90s at a Grgich Hills blessing of the grapes ceremony. Given that Mike Grgich, then of Chateau Montelena, was the winemaker for one of the Chardonnay’s at the 1976 Paris wine tasting event, it’s hard not to like a guy (Justin) that knows wines historical roots or has good taste, one of the two, and perhaps both.
Well, Boutique Wine Cellar launched their site today. And, by appearances, it has legs, not of the vinous ‘in a glass’ variety either—legs in terms of being a smart launch with good elements of success—design meeting function.
If you take a site and combine elements of social networking like myspace.com, user based recommendations like Amazon.com, recommendations like on Cellartracker and online commerce via direct purchasing and wrap that around a subject and product that engenders passion like wine, then you might be onto something.
And, as their name indicates, they are focusing on boutique wine which is equally smart given the demand for small wines from small producers by most wine enthusiasts online.
The challenge in all of this is securing customers, because this Wine 2.0 space is fragmented—it’s the double-edged sword of opportunity meeting “outsider-ness.” Simply, no clear cut winner has emerged to grab consumer’s full attention. WineQ launched in December, with a “NetFlix for Wine” model and there are likely a half-dozen other wine projects taking shape at the time of this writing, as well.
But, I have faith that these guys are smart and are doing the right things to do the simultaneous grab of wineries and alliances to drive traffic. Sooner or later, opportunity meets preparation and Justin and Kevin may well be the “lucky guys.”
(Full disclosure: my employ, Inertia Beverage Group, is working with Boutique Wine Cellar though I have had zero—actually less then zero—contact through my job responsibilities). My opinions are my own.
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January 20 2007
As an Indiana native and a resident of Indianapolis for going on 12 years I’m something of a Colts fan, albeit a secondary fan to my first passion, Notre Dame Football. Nonetheless, a hearty ‘Go Blue’ frequently passes my lips and I certainly appreciate the richness an NFL team adds to our city tapestry.
I was pleasantly surprised today when I browsed a local wine shop and found something of a Colts branded wine from Oregon.
Joining Jason Goelz from Sapid Wines and David Cronin from Beuhler Vineyards as Indiana wine expatriates, is apparently, the founder of Cherry Hill Winery in Oregon, Michael Sweeney.
I found this out when making a jaunt into a local wine shop today where they were doing a tasting for a 2005 Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley called, “Kickin’ Ass Colt Cuvée” replete with a blue colt on the simple but attractive label.
I initially thought the wine might be marketing schtick where a winery was doing local geography private label wines for NFL teams—not a bad idea, actually. As I slurped the sample of the Pinot, which is a little green and underripe, I learned that the owner of the winery is an Indianapolis native. Cool. I picked up a bottle; at $15.99 it’s not a wine that’s gonna knock your socks off, but I figured the novelty factor was worth it on the eve of one of the biggest games of the modern era for the Colts coupled with the fact that I like supporting a winery that has roots in Indy with enough marketing moxie to do a “Kickin’ Ass Colts Cuvée.”
Cherry Hill Winery, a relatively young winery, purchased their parcel of land from William Hill, a Napa legend who had purchased in the Willamette Valley in the 90s (Excerpt from their Web site):
Hill’s special facility with hillside sites is famous: he developed Atlas Peak, Diamond Mountain Ranch, Mount Veeder and other distinctive appellations in the Napa region.
That same ‘nose for slopes’ led him to the Eola Hills. The undeveloped rural district had all the right ingredients for world-class pinot noir: the right cool climate, southwestern slopes, elevations between 250-500 feet, and the essential rich, well-drained Jory soils. He divided the property into three separate parcels, all of which are now planted to pinot noir and one of which was purchased in 1998 by our own Mike Sweeney.
One of the things I like about a lot of Pinot Noir from Oregon is there is a purity of spirit with the winemakers, most of whom strive for a burgundian style and a terroir-based expression of fruit. While the Colt Cuvee is second-label/bulk quality there is still a lot to be said for the vino coming from an Indianapolis fella and a place with some passion and some soul.
The wine isn’t available online, probably something of a Central Indiana exclusive, but you can order the rest of their wine lineup online at their site www.cherryhillwinery.com Cheers to an Indianapolis native son, and “Go Blue.”
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January 12 2007
One of the wonderful benefits of a third, online dimension to our lives is the sheer mobilization of people that can occur quickly.
This was demonstrated to me as I sat at my computer screen, mouth agape, looking at the total raised in last months Menu for Hope III campaign which raised over $60,000 in a very short period of time. Good Grape was a proud participant and I always endorse local community engagement, as well.
While the monies for Menu for Hope III went to a UN Food Program to aid worldwide hunger issues, all areas of need are important to those that are passionate about that particular subject.
So, today’s post, while perhaps not as weighty as worldwide hunger relief, is important as well.
Jason Goelz, a very good guy, something of an Indiana native son, and a winemaker with his own label and developing winery called Sapid is sounding the clarion bell for wine sales … sales in the name of Dakota.
I’m a dog lover and can empathize with doing whatever it takes to maintain your dog’s health. And, so it is with enthusiasm that I urge you to consider buying some vino to help the cause.
Dakota is his dog and Dakota, it seems, got into an accident and tore his ACL. Normally the domain of football and basketball players, the ACL is a ligament in the knee that always requires surgical repair—on both man and man’s best friend.
In order to offset medical costs and drive some sales of his tasty and reasonably priced wines, Jason is offering 25% off of a three bottle purchase at his web site by February 1st. www.sapidwines.com. Just make sure you use the promotional code “Dakota” to receive your discount.
Do it because you just like to buy wine online. Do it to help out a furry friend, do it because Jason’s wines are very good price performers, but just do it. You can find out more about Sapid and their wines at this link.
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January 2 2007
A post-holiday hangover? Nah. But, January is here. 2 ½ looooong months til spring. And, for now, It’s time to slough off the palate from a season of conviviality and good fortune and get ready for the everyday drinkers i.e. back to the budget wines.
Alas, I wish every bottle I drunk was a winner. Unfortunately, for me and most of the free world, you get the occasional clunker. Sometimes a wine is just not worth a darn, or, through no fault of no one, our palates will turn parts finicky and mercurial.
But, the holidays offer up the equivalent of baseball spring training for wine lovers—hope springs eternal. Choices are more carefully cultivated and the corks pulled have a higher propensity of excellence—if only because our spending creeps up a bit.
I drank numerous clear winners over the holidays. And, the good news is, and good news, increasingly for ’07 and beyond, is the fact that I can buy these wines online—instead of the restaurant with mark-up or the tasting room, as I did with the two wines mentioned below.
My wife and I enjoyed an excellent dinner at our favoriate local restaurant, Oakley’s Bistro, on New Year’s Eve. I wished there was a formal wine pairing, but the small wine list, carefully chosen, had the Babcock Pinot Noir—a relative restaurant bargain with a 1x mark-up on its retail price of around $18 a bottle. With my wife eating beef while I enjoyed pork tenderloin, the Pinot seemed like a happy go-between.
The ’05 Babcock Pinot Noir Tri-Counties Cuvée, in its fifth vintage, is so called because it’s a blend of Santa Barbara County Pinot from the Babcock vineyards, fruit from Monterey County and some fruit from Rabbit Ridge in San Luis Obispo.
Typical of Central Coast Pinot’s this ’05 is rich, silky and sumptuous. Fruit forward with strawberries, blueberries and blackberries, a touch of spice and very moderate tannins, this wine, at retail, would be a superb Pinot bargain.
The winemaker, Bryan Babcock, said this of the exteme value, “The wine is awesome, and as you taste it you will be wondering, ‘How can Babcock afford to put this stuff into the Tri-Counties Cuvée?’ Well, all I can say is that when you have a really good Bi-counties Cuvée put together and you need some juice from another county to make the name work, you what you gotta do.”
Indeed. He did the right thing, though. The wine is sold out on his web site, but still available in the channel. Pick some up if you can find it.
Later on New Year’s Eve, it was a perfect opportunity to pop the cork on the L. Mawby Consort Sparkling wine. I picked up the Consort back in October on a wine tasting trip in the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan.
L Mawby is, perhaps, Michigan’s most celebrated winery at a time when Michigan wine is beginning its ascent to national respectability. I was kicking myself, though; I should have bought the L Mawby Talismon. The Talismon is L Mawby’s flagship sparkler and the wine that has built their reputation—it’s made in the methode champenoise style, which is both time consuming and expensive (Read more here). Sometimes my inherent cheapness forces me to miss out on things. I bought the Consort for $18 instead of the Talismon for $27. I rationalized that $9 bucks is $9 bucks, especially when I don’t drink sparkling wine that often. I wish I had the Talismon to try, especially since I’ve seen it on one or two year end Top 100 lists.
L Mawby and its namesake, Larry Mawby is also featured in the recent book, The Great Wines of America (The Top 40 Vintners, Vineyards and Vintages) by Paul Lukacs.
According to the book, Mawby made his first sparkling wines in 1984, had a breakthrough in quality in 1990 and has made nothing else but sparkling wine since 2000. And, while his second label includes fruit from elsewhere, his flagship L Mawby wines are crafted exclusively from grapes grown on the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan.
The Consort is a nice sparkling wine; it’s extremely lively and fresh, and would easily be discernible head-to-head from a deadening inexpensive mass market competitor. Bottle # 37 out of 348 was mixed with a dash of liqueur and made for a nice digestif before giving way as a celebratory quaff later on that night.
In the aforementioned book, Larry Mawby is quoted as saying, “Passion even more than money is what we need here. Those of us who started in Michigan thirty years ago were nuts, but we had passion. We need more of that now.”
Cheers to Larry Mawby and his passion. He makes some tasty sparkling wine and I’m always a supporter of people that wear their emotion on their sleeve and follow their hearts. My resolution for ’07 is to drink more passionate peoples’ wines, less of the clunkers and to support the small winery that sells online. If the hours leading up to and occurring shortly after midnight on January 1, 2007 are any indication, I’m off to a good start.
Keywords: L Mawby Sparkling Wine, Babcock Pinot Noir, Michigan Wine, Central Coast Pinot Noir
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December 1 2006
Caparone Winery is going to do it. They are going to overtake them …
Next to Crushpad wine, one of the objects of my frequent affection is Caparone winery in Paso Robles. And with this post, I think Caparone takes the lead in the “Good Grape Wine Fetish Society,” a special place reserved for items of merit and distinction based on my own whims and flights of fancy.
Caparone makes traditional Italian table wines … or, I should say, they price their wines as if they are Italian table wines, but the quality far exceeds the bottle price—just $14 a bottle. If you buy in the tasting room or are a part of the wine club it’s just $12 a bottle.
Beautiful stuff, this is wine is.
The Caparone Cabernet, in particular, is excellent, perhaps one of the finest California Cab values you’ll find from a winery without much distribution—or, I least challenge anybody to find a California Cab with fruit sourced from the very well-known for its quality Bien Nacido Vineyard that is as good as this stuff is for under $30 bucks a bottle.
Dave Caparone, the founder of Caparone Winery, and his son Marc do just 6000 cases and are actually scaling back a couple of thousand cases.
So, it was with interest that I read the email newsletter from Crush Wine & Spirits based in NYC. Crush, of all the wine retail newsletters I receive, is the best at writing compelling “remove your wallet from your pocket and buy some wine” sales copy in emails.
And, on Thursday of this week they featured the 2002 Caparone Cabernet.
Crush had this to say:
The style of the Caparone 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon “Bien Nacido Vineyard” is that of the great California Cabs of the 1970s and 80s, emulating Mayacamas more than Caymus. In fact, finding a wine under $20 with cellaring potential is exceedingly rare, if not unheard of. Without a doubt, it’s the most terroir-driven California Cab we’ve had all year.
More than just fruit, this wine shows a complex spectrum of dark leathery earthen notes and a beautifully taut structure. Caparone’s wines, like Mayacamas, Dunn Vineyards or Chateau Montelena, are also famous for their aging potential.
They do not, however, show the same austerity in youth that these legendary Napa Cabs do. The 2002 Caparone comes out of the bottle with a potent sense of energy, like a fist clenched tight around fruit and earth. Within a half hour, the crackling acidity and firm tannins mellow, the fruit and earth come alive, and the wine shows an astounding harmony.
This is stunning wine that has remained largely under the radar, which is fine with us, because it means the price has remained as “old school” as the wine itself.
At $16.99, this bottle is priced as if it were still the 1980s. Trying to figure out a quality-to-price ratio would be inane, it’s so obviously one of the best values in Cabernet from the West, period.
And, in my estimation, they are absolutely spot-on correct in their assessment. But, if you want a real laugh check out this link on the Caparone site that talks about their pricing policy--invoking the name of the 80s tv show Falcon Crest.
But, what’s the real Good Grape Consumer Tip of the Day as alluded to in the headline? I’m going to give you two bottles and ½ bottles of this great Central Coast Cabernet for free.
Either way, you’re going to have to pay for shipping for this wine, so you might as well just go to the Caparone web site and buy it for $14 a bottle and not $16.99 from Crush Wine & Spirits. When you buy a case from the winery you will be paying $168 bucks + shipping (a bargain for sure) versus the Crush price of $203. The delta? $35 bucks or the equivalent of 2.5 bottles.
Trust me, you’ll want to buy a case. And, if in so doing you feel equally magnanimous and want to send one of your free bottles to me as a thank you, shoot me an email and I’ll give you my mailing address … of course I’m kidding … kind of.
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