March 15 2007
How appropriate that the Indianapolis launch of Twisted Oak happened the week of March Madness.
There’s a little bit of lunacy with Twisted Oak and some genius behind the madness I might add; genius because all of their wines top to bottom are very, very good. There’s a little bit of brilliance behind consistent excellence. The whole line-up builds up to their Spaniard; it’s a stunning wine and a Gold medal winner at the San Francisco Chronicle tasting, if I’m not mistaken.
My Indianapolis blogging friend Renee, from Feed Me/Drink Me, got a sneak preview on the Twisted Oak wines at an Indy restaurant tasting on Wednesday held at L’Explorateur. She gave all of the wines a big thumbs up and joined me tonight at a tasting for Twisted Oak hosted by Cork & Cracker and a local distributor.
Thanks to Renee for spreading the word for this event. It takes an influential person to get food journalists to actually pay for something, and I think she excelled at getting some media type folks to separate wallet from purse or pocket in order to try some *%#&!’ing good wines at the Upper Room.
We had a great turnout and plenty of wine to go around for the 50 – 60 people that made it out. There might have been more people their, but I, frankly, was too busy eating and drinking to pay much attention outside of the sphere of my wine blinders.
Thanks to all for a great event and if you’re in Indy be sure to pop into Cork & Cracker to stock the cellar with Twisted Oak.
And, last call for the Twisted Oak Write This %@#$! Label writing contest. Entries can be emailed to: tastingroom@twistedoak.com. Deadline is tomorrow—3/16. Pour a pint of Guinness, contemplate St. Paddy’s Day and write a wine label, what could be better?
I hesitate to pass judgment on my own entry, but, perhaps, I might need to drink more to really let the juices flow. It’s copied below:
We call this blend of Marsanne and Rousanne %@#$!
Why? Why the *%#&@! not?
%@#$! is one of our favorite words. Not quite as fun or naughty as *%#&@! which is more appropriate for our Calaveras County red, but %@#$! is doing well for an expressive Rhone-style white wine—more appropriate for the fare you’ll likely be drinking this with, too.
%@#$! is also one of George Carlin’s seven dirty words. If you’re under 30, you probably don’t know who George Carlin is, but you’ll knowingly reference this wine with aromas of peaches and butter simply with the more colloquial, it’s THE %@#$!
Really, it’s a language we all understand. Go ahead. Pop the cork. That %@#$! is good! We think so, too. *%#&@! Yeah!
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Posted in, Good Grape Daily: Pomace & Lees. Permalink | Comments (4) | Print | Email This
March 15 2007
As a wine marketer, I’m always on the lookout for new and innovative strategies to sell more wine. As the first wine podcaster, I feel a certain responsibility to keep current on the genre by subscribing to every new wine podcast (for a while anyway). When these two things meet, I take notice.
So it was with great interest that I discovered today that Trinchero Family Estates has started to podcast. This is the conglomerate that white Zinfandel has built with the best known brand being Sutter Home. Their podcasts are focused not on consumers like first entrant Goosecross Cellars (disclosure: I work with Goosecross) but on the trade. Kudos to whomever at Trinchero came up with this idea as I’ve always thought that business-to-business podcasting is as compelling as business-to-consumer. It’s somewhat perplexing why this is not the first thing large wineries would think about in this medium as distributors, retailers and restaurants are naturals for regular communication in forms that can be consumed on the go. But that’s where this effort falls a bit short in my opinion. Instead of providing RSS feeds for listeners to subscribe to, they make the user download each podcast individually. This can be easily fixed and I’ll bet someone will take care of this shortly. My impressions of the first few shows I listened to are, well, sort of dry and basic but it’s a start.
I’m hoping other large wineries (and I’m talking to you, Gallo!) will follow Trinchero’s lead here and address their podcasts to the trade and maybe even the consumer, too. It’s inexpensive and very effective.
Until next time,
--
Tim Elliott
Winecast
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Posted in, Winecast: A Year in Collaboration. Permalink | Comments (0) | Print | Email This
March 14 2007
Suffice to say, without any hyperbole, this is an incredibly interesting period of time for the wine industry. I don’t have the benefit of perspective, but I think you would be hard pressed to find any other period of time since prohibition that combined so many dynamic factors in the world of wine—increasing consumption across all demographic segments, relaxation of laws, growth on the Internet, growth in bricks and mortar, and globalization, to name just a few.
And, globalization may be the most interesting aspect of this wine tsunami.
Many domestic wine brands are emerging that use a global sourcing model—Sebastiani & Sons, Cameron Hughes, and Betts & Scholl (recently featured on Wine Library TV) all come to mind. There are many others.
I am not the only one that has been paying attention to the market research that has emerged that confirms what many have thought--it’s not critter labels that are enamoring wine consumers in their twenties, it’s more sophisticated international brands.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Young adults in the United States, coming of age at a time of galloping globalization, are more apt to buy imports than California and other U.S. wines, market research shows, an ominous development for domestic producers in an already hypercompetitive industry.
The trend has been visible for four or five years. But recent data produced for the Wine Market Council, a St. Helena trade group, show that U.S. wine consumers ages 21 to 30, called the millennial generation, are more loyal to imports, while older wine-drinkers prefer domestic labels.
“Young people are all about exploration, new discovery,’’ said Patrick Merrill, the San Mateo market researcher who produced the data for the council. “They’re learning about the quality of wine from New Zealand and Chile, South Africa and Argentina, for example—wines that we as Baby Boomers were not aware of.’’
I had a couple of interesting conversations with a global producer of micro brands who is keenly aware of this trend and says, “It’s not a distribution game, it’s a communication game.”
He went on to comment, “The market is niches. It’s all about what segment you are going to service.”
What he’s saying, essentially, is that the product will find the market when the market finds the product. And, between the lines he’s also saying that at some point quality has a point of diminishing return. Soon, wine will be like cotton t-shirts from Old Navy, the Gap, Banana Republic or American Apparel.
Quality will be high everywhere, but, ultimately, what brand do you want to be associated with? “Terroir” and the winery back story will cease to be as important as the brand targeted at a micro niche.
If you pause to look at it, not whether you agree or disagree, but at the inherent truth, you will see that there’s a gaping opportunity big enough to drive a truck through. Here’s what I’d like to see:
In 1966 the documentary “The Endless Summer” came out that followed two fun loving California surfers as they pursued the dream; an endless summer of surf from the West Coast of Africa to South Africa, to Australia. It was a seminal movie that kicked off an explosion of adventure travel and is influential to this day as the embodiment of youthful wanderlust.
With the explosion of video on the Internet, I want to see “The Endless Harvest.” I want to see an upstart global wine company with micro-brands (that also has the ability to sell direct to consumers and the trade with a large national consumer foot print in the states) begin to develop video content online centered around intrepid travel with a couple of young, likeable folks doing harvests’ at the various locations in which the grapes and/or juice is sourced.
The first global micro brand that can leverage the Internet to deliver Web 2.0 reports on harvest from Argentina, Spain, Italy, NZ, S. Africa, the U.S. and France as a part of their global micro-niche brand development wins.
If the content was good, can you imagine the insane following that this would create amongst passionate consumers of content that view global, melting pot culture as a part of their lifestyle AND are passionate wine consumers?
Who is up for this challenge? Or, maybe a better question is, “who wants to sell some wine?”
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Posted in, Wine: A Business Doing Pleasure. Permalink | Comments (1) | Print | Email This
March 13 2007
In a very short time I’ve become a convert to Wine Library TV. I say convert instead of fan because in this day and age of hyper-content while living in the age of irony and I think it’s fair to say that most of us come at things with a healthy dose of skepticism. Thus, I was initially skeptical and now I’m a convert, capably side-stepping the unprotected warm and fuzzies of being an initial “fan.”
I don’t get disappointed as often. Trust me, its easier this way.
Seinfeld, the master of irony, is doing a comedy bit on his current tour about how things either are “Great” or they “Suck.” No middle ground.
“Hey, I heard that movie is great.”
“Nah, it sucked.”
“Okay” is for fans. Well, I think Wine Library TV is great.
I look forward to long solitary dog walks or drive time so I can listen through several episodes.
I like the infectiousness coupled with the indefatigable authority with which the host, Gary Vaynerchuk, operates.
One of the other things that I truly enjoy about the show is Vay-Ner-Chuk seems to have an incredible knack for marketing—a sense for community and a sense for doing things that will help him build the business. And, make no mistake, what Gary is selling to legions of Vayniacs is himself. That’s his business.
His schtick, for lack of a better word, all seems so familiar and comfortable, like your favorite pair of jeans.
One of the great hallmarks of great marketing is that marketers don’t think they have to invent the stuff. Use what works for other people. Gary does this brilliantly.
But, it wasn’t until this past Saturday when I was listening to a couple of episodes on a drive up to visit family, and it hit me like a ton of bricks—especially when Gary announced that he was doing fan meet and greets in Chicago and San Francisco over the course of next couple of months.
This die hard J-E-T-S —Jets, Jets, Jets --- fan is doing a tour stop. A tour stop like … like … Jim Rome.
Ding. Ding.
I get it now. If you listen to sports talk radio, like I do, you’ll quickly realize that Gary Vaynerchuk is modeling himself after nationally syndicated sports talk radio host Jim Rome.
It all makes perfect sense. And, really, it’s a small stroke of genius on his part.
If you’re not familiar with Jim Rome, then check out his 14 page Wikipedia entry to get yourself caught up to speed. If you are familiar with him then you’ll immediately have the revelation that I had.
Herewith, 10 stylistic similarities in between Gary Vaynerchuk and Jim Rome:
1) Create a persona around unyielding confidence in the subject matter, filtered through pop culture with a righteous social conscious. Jim Rome has “takes” that stand as mini-editorials on a matter of interest in the sports world. Vaynerchuk does tastings that act as mini-editorials on a wine of interest in the wine world.
2) Refer to yourself uniquely. Jim Rome refers to himself as “Van Smack” or “Pimp in the Box.” Gary refers to himself with the phonetic, “Gary Vay-ner-chuk.”
3) Name your fans: The Jim Rome Show fans are called “Clones.” Wine Library TV fans are called “Vayniacs”
4) Support your roots: The Jim Rome Show is undeniably “SoCal.” Wine Library TV is undeniably “Jersey.”
5) Create a nomenclature around subject matter that can be identified to its source: Jim Rome’s show is “The Jungle” a caller on the show gets a “vine” and has a “take,” etc. There are dozens of examples for Rome.
Gary Vaynerchuk gives a “Paszzz” to a wine, talks of a wine “Bringing the Thunder,” talks of wines that are a “double-bubble,” uses the familiar refrain of, “let’s move on,” speaks of his love for wines that are somewhat vegetal and frequently references “pickle juice” in wine. Others …
6) Omnipresent, but largely anonymous support staff. Rome has Jason Stewart and Travis Rodgers, always mentioned, and rarely heard from. Gary Vaynerchuk has his camera person “Eric?” and several others that are always mentioned, but always off camera
7) Have national meetings with fans. Jim Rome has “tour stops” in affiliate cities. Gary Vaynerchuk is planning Vayniac meet and greets in Chicago and San Francisco.
8) Encourage email interactivity with fans. Jim Rome frequently reads fan emails on air. Gary Vaynerchuk frequently references responding to emails, solicits show ideas from fans and responds to fans via email.
9) Create a “combacker” The classic comedians’ art of using a re-occurring theme for continuity and a humorous frame of reference. Jim Rome has many of these, including almost daily and repeated bashing of O.J. Simpson. Gary Vaynerchuk has the white board with frequent pithy or obscure items written on it.
10) Create an inclusive or exclusive signature for the show. Rome has the, “More of me, less of you (Clones) is better for the show.” Gary Vaynerchuk has the more charitable, “YOU. With a little bit of me … we’re changing the wine world.”
Somebody once told me that, ‘If somebody has what you want, do what they do, get what they got.” It’s a little tongue twister designed to remind you to model yourself after successful people. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Vaynerchuk and Wine Library TV could be doing a lot worse than modeling after the Jim Rome Show. I don’t know if a nationally syndicated talk radio show is in the cards for Gary, but I have to believe that if Dave Lieberman can be on the Food Network then surely there is a bigger spotlight for Vaynerchuk. And that wouldn’t suck. In fact, it might be great.
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Posted in, Around the Wine Blogosphere. Permalink | Comments (3) | Print | Email This
March 12 2007
The final installment of a short story from my dear friend, “Easy” Ed Vodrazka while he was in NZ some years ago with no itinerary, a backpack, a guitar and some traveler’s charm.
... Fishing patiently and staying well hidden, I managed to land nine beautiful rainbows throughout the morning. All of them were in the two-pound range. Although I felt a deep gratitude in keeping three from the Rangatiki, I honestly felt more joy in watching the other six swim out of my hand and back to the freedom of the wild river. Retracing my steps downstream the mile or so to the car, I was thoroughly contented. I remember wishing that my dad could have been there to enjoy it with us. The morning was still cool along the shaded side of the wild river, but the sun was higher in the sky now, and the afterglow from a full morning of fishing helped to take the chill and stiffness from my hands. You know it’s been a good day when you find yourself walking along the banks of a wild river with a fishing rod over your shoulder, and your hands smell like fish.
Greg was waiting by the car. He was sitting on the trunk with his feet resting on the bumper, holding a cup of coffee fresh from the thermos at his side. He raised his hand in a wave when he saw me, and I stopped and raised my three fish in reply. By the time I made it down the last little hill, he had a cup of coffee already poured for me. I joined him on the trunk and he patiently listened to an over-excited kid ramble on about the full morning fishing session. I took a sip of the hot coffee and felt it warm me inside. I wondered out loud why coffee always tastes better in a place like that, and Greg smiled and nodded in agreement.
Greg made me swell with pride when he complimented me on my fish, and eventually I looked around for his stringer. I was confused when he sadly reported that he didn’t catch any. I searched his face to see if he was joking, and then prodded him to tell me the truth. But he stood by his story, adding that he hadn’t even gotten so much as a bite.
“I’ve had many a good day along this river” he said regaining his smile, “but today is obviously your day.”
We sat for awhile longer, and I accepted his praise and basked in the general contentment of it all. Although something didn’t sit right with me in Greg’s story, I couldn’t find a flaw in it. I had no real reason to suspect that he would lie, other than to make my own experience seem even more special. To be honest, the Rangatiki was so loaded with fish that it would have been hard for someone to throw a line out and not catch at least a few. Then I got an idea. I started slowly rubbing my forehead without saying a word. When Greg asked what I was doing, I quietly told him that I had accidentally hit myself with the butt end of my rod while reeling in my last fish. I said that I was just checking to see if there was a bump forming. Greg took the bait. He leaned over to see for himself and started pushing lightly with his fingertips on the same spot I had been rubbing, just over my eyebrow.
Sure enough ... his hand carried the unmistakable smell ... of rainbow trout.
*Adapted from Cooks.com
TROUT BAKED IN WHITE WINE
4 trout (1 per person)
4 oz. (1/2 c.) butter
2 tbsp. chopped parsley
1/4 to 1/2 bottle New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc
1/2 lemon
Salt & pepper
Mix the chopped parsley into half the butter and then divide into 4 pats. Put 1 pat into each cleaned fish, then place them in an oven- proof dish and rub salt and white pepper into them. Pour the wine around, cover and cook in a moderate to hot oven (350 to 400 degrees electric; gas regulo 4-5) for 20 minutes. Add the rest of the butter cut into small pieces and the juice of the lemon. Cover again and cook for another 10 minutes.
It can be served hot or cold; if the latter, chill and it will be a soft jelly. If served hot, cauliflower springs are excellent with this dish.
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Posted in, Influences. Permalink | Comments (0) | Print | Email This
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