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June 4 2006
I have a post today on the Wine Sediments portion of the Well Fed Network. You can find it here.
This week’s column is a touch on the long side, but stay with it because I think the matter of taste and reviews is a fascinating subject and I try to relate it everyday examination of the art, or the subjective items in our daily lives.
The genesis for the post was a panel review of wines in a local foodie magazine that reviewed the same wine with three widely divergent tasting notes—from strawberries to cherries to blackberries. I found it very interesting and more than a little peculiar that three people in the same room drinking at the same time would pick up different FRUIT in the wine. While this is easily understandable, the backbone of the article is whether this makes any sense when alleged experts can’t agree on the difference between a strawberry note and blackberries.
This research also led to my rant earlier this week about the joker at the Las Vegas Review Journal that wakes up with his knickers in a twist to pontificate on tasting nuances that are preposterous.
Thanks and good living and drinking ...
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June 2 2006
I received my Stormhoek wine on Wednesday—8 bottles no less. Some Shiraz, some Pinot Grigio and another varietal. These guys are generous. It’s good marketing, though, really, because I do have some contacts at Indiana distributors, and I’d be happy to be a reference and the whole thing ends up being a fabulous case study. Plus, say the wine is $15 at retail, I guarantee I can drum up $120 in word of mouth just with a get-together alone.
I’ll be putting on the soiree very, very shortly.
In the meantime, you can get an update with what’s happening here.
The Stormhoek blog has some pictures from the South Beach party. Sadly, my party will not be attended by as many model quality folks.
The net-net is they are making their way through all of the U.S. marketing events and this is turning into a very cool social experiment.
The challenge for Hugh at Gapingvoid, the marketing whiz du jour, is keeping track and helping build the momentum by moving people in the right direction.
And, as I said before, if the wine delivers, this will be a "Yellowtail" quality product introduction.
I can’t wait to drink the wine.
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May 31 2006
Mike Damone, misguided cool guy loser in the seminal 80s classic movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, had his Five Point Plan to Score with Girls (while alienating friends)
1) Never Let on How much you like a girl
2) You always call the shots
3) Act like wherever you are, that’s the place to be
4) When ordering food, find out what she wants and then order for the both of you—it’s a classy move.
5) Whenever you’re making out, play side 1 of Led Zepplin IV
Fred Franzia, wine impresario, and the separated at birth twin look alike to Lou Perlman, the impresario of boy bands N’Sync and Backstreet Boys, has a lot in common with Mr. Damone. He’s a veritable quote machine with, assumingly, a Five Point Plan to Score with Wine Consumers (while alienating the rest of the industry).
Among recent gems, Franzia is quoted as saying,
Who gives you the best advice about your business?
Mymirror.
Onhis release of a $4 wine from Napa Valley :
"We challenge anyone to have a blind tastingand see where our wines come out. We think we can run with the top dogs at$100-plus. There’s no wine worth more than 10 bucks a bottle." - FredFranzia, Bronco Wine Co.
Referring toretailers who charge too much for wine:
"greedy bastards,"
Alder at Vinography has a nice summary and a couple of recent article links. You can find Alder’s post here.
And, just in case the future of wine, or at least Fred Franzia’s wine empire, had you concerned about your ability to find a value wine in the future, rest assured that he and the other two Franzia’s involved in the business have 13 kids—nine of whom are involved in the business, as well.
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May 30 2006
... Beep ... Beep ... Beep ... Beep ... my radar is officially going off.
I generally believe that the prevailing wisdom amongst the popular wine critics of the day is to make wine less intimidating. Most every writer of any renown eschews the pomp (or at least tries to) and plays to an audience that might not be as in tune with the language of wine as they are. Maybe sometimes its professorial, but there’s still an attempt to connect to a wide audience.
And, of course, sure there’s the occasional blowhard—a guy or gal so inebriated on their own faux gloriousness that they have lost touch with reality and their palate ... and I think I’ve run across him ... an idiot whose tasting notes are so egregious that he deserves to be called out.
While doing research on a post on Wine Sediments, I came across the reviewer for the Las Vegas Review Journal. I read his review. I read it again. I read a couple of other reviews ... and ... well, I thought, "This guy is so completely full of crap, I can’t believe he gets away with it."
My friends and I, when watching live music, refer to overly indulgentguitar solos and musical jams as sort of a self-satisfaction kind ofexercise because usually these types of things lose their lustre withthe audience long before the musician has tired of the masturbation.
This wine reviewer does that as well—going into vain glorious detail that would make Parker swoon.
I won’t name him because we’re kind of gentlemanly here at the GoodGrape, but I sure will provide you a link to look at the folly and Isure will excerpt some of the b.s. below.
…raspberry sorbet and herbs de Provence.
Inthe mouth, the wine overwhelms the palate with rich forward crushed blackberries, including cassis, boysenberries, loganberries and a streak of the morerustic form of blueberries called huckleberries. The wine lingers on theafter-mouth for a full minute with yet creamier cassis and hints of licorice.
Raspberry sorbet? Being able to taste the difference between a boysenberry and aloganberry while delineating a wild blueberry?
…raspberry coulis, some licorice and intense notes of crushed black currant,with phenolic references and cedar box underlying.
Inthe mouth, there is serious upfront black fruit with cherry, brambleberry,sweet cranberry crush, raspberry jam and a multitude of flavors held togetherby great concentration and superb structure.
Raspberrycoulis? Crushed Black currant? Which is different from black currants intaste, how exactly? Sweet cranberrycrush?
And, here, as well:
…melted licorice molasses.
Other’s may disagree and say this guy has a super-phenomenal palate and really is able to identify the difference between a boysenberry and a loganberry as a note in a wine made FROM GRAPES. But, to me, the coup de grace here is, for the Gnarly Head Zinfandel, he picked up notes of "reductive fruit stew and beef jerky."
I’m calling b.s.
This clown is not only full of himself, he very well may be dangerous to the wine drinking public at-large. How many, untold, countless people in the friendly community of Vegas have had their vigor for wine put off, delayed or stopped because of this guy’s alleged ability to pick up parts per 1000 notes of lemon verbena?
In most parts of the business world there’s the generally understood notion that as long as you say something with conviction others will believe it to be true. Ahem. I’m not buying this.
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