May 3 2007
I did a podcast the other week with Tim from Winecast, Paul from Inertia Beverage Group and Mark, the Wine Writer for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News and the blog Uncorked.
It was a lively and good conversation. Tim, technophile du jour, is putting the finishing touches on the podcast which should be available shortly.
In that podcast Mark made note of something that astounded me—he said a local retailer was bringing in 13 different Rośe’s for the Spring.
Wow. Ohio is a pretty good wine drinking state, but 13 different SKU’s surprised me a little bit.
Something of a trend is a-brewing, er, fermenting.
The current issue of Wine Spectator also has a cover package on Rośe.
In excerpts from an article in Wine Spectator, writer Mitch Frank notes:
Rosé is the underdog of the wine world. But rosé is moving up fast, powered by rising quality and an inherent food-friendliness.
Rosés can show lovely cherry, melon and berry flavors, backed by a hint of depth and tannins as well as refreshing acidity … they are best enjoyed as a lively quaff at the end of a long day. “Save your Cabernet Sauvignons for a cold winter night,” says Alpana Singh, wine director of Lettuce Entertain You, the Chicago restaurant group that includes Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning Tru. “On a summer day, when it’s 90 degrees out, I’m drinking rosé.”
American wine drinkers have shown an increasing interest in rosé in the past five years. Sales of imported rosés grew 40 percent in 2004. The southern French region of Provence, the spiritual home of rosé, exported 50 percent more of the wine to the United States in 2006 than in 2005.
Last summer, rosé appreciation in the United States reached a critical mass. Restaurants began putting pages of rosé specials on their wine lists. “For some reason, rosé sales popped last year,” says Efrain Madrigal, wine director at Sam’s Wine and Spirits in Chicago. Rosé sales at Sam’s stores climbed about 25 percent in 2006, Madrigal estimates.
I’d say that Rośe’ time has come. Sales of imports growing at 40% in a year and 25% year over year at a large retail location are astounding.
One of the frustrating things about the wine industry is you can never really isolate why these sorts of hockey-stick growth curves happen. In the wine industry, catching lightening in the bottle is just that and the best you can do is catch a wave early.
Given that, you have to give some credit to Stormhoek winery for not only catching the wave, but doing as they do and waving off the other surfers to jump the wave alone. The passionate and engaging South African winery is having a little fun in the U.K. with a Rośe that has been created to drink on the rocks.
From a South African wine web site:
South African brand Stormhoek this week announced the imminent release of a concept wine in the UK named Couture – a Rosé made by Stormhoek winemaker Graham Knox, in a style intended to be consumed with ice.
Couture - a blend of Pinotage, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon - launches in June in a major UK retailer at £6.99. It is packaged in a tall, colourful, modern, and chic bottle, its developers say, and its secret recipe and different serving techniques, including draught on tap for the on-trade, they believe give the product an edge in all market sectors.
Sixty-thousand consumers at Taste London 2007 will witness the launch of Couture, where an Interactive Ice Bar filled with huge blocks of multi-coloured ice, will have a mixologist serving Couture in its four guises: wine glass, tumbler, martini glass and champagne flute.
Jason Korman, the CEO of Stormhoek Vineyards is so damned wicked smart. As he told me in another communication, “Wine isn’t a distribution game, it’s a communication game.”
Regardless of what kind of game it is, he’s playing it well—catching the Rośe wave and putting a unique twist on it. Stormhoek just seems to get “it” --that same indefinable thing that also seems to go hand-in-hand with unexplainable growth. And, they always deliver above price point, which is a nice attribute, as well.
Now, if only we could get them a little bit better penetration in the states … that would be a really nice wave, for them and us.
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