Good Grape Wine Company

February 6 2007

Wine IS the Great Equalizer

Ran across a triple-threat of interesting articles from last week, all found online, covering a wide spectrum of items in the wine industry and all having something of an element of equalization.

Over at The Pour by Eric Asimov, the New York Times writer comments on some regional wines as an entrée into AppellationAmerica.com (AA), a web site dedicated to, as they say, the “appellation-ization of North American wine culture.” 

You have to give credit to Asimov.  In addition to wading through spin about the “appellation-ization” of anything, he’s acting as something of a wine equalizer.  Many in his position would use the bully pulpit to espouse the wines of California, or France or something more mainstream; wine that resonates with a literate, well-heeled reader.  But, he frequently goes off the beaten path to discuss wines from less-known regions far a field from Napa or the rolling hills of Burgundy.

Asimov is slowly but surely building a body of work that celebrates non-California wines and wine regions, and he does so with evenhandedness that might be wrought maudlin by other less gifted writers.

In the article, found here, he also quotes Alan Goldfarb and Roger Dial from Appellationamerica.com.  Goldfarb had this tidbit on AA:

“documenting terroir from the ground up and doing radical surgery on appellations to give them ecological authenticity.”

Or, this gem from Roger Dial:

“We’re here to establish an alternative place-force, an alternative understanding of producing wine.”

Did I say that Asimov comments with an evenhandedness that might be wrought maudlin by others?  Ahem.  I meant to say “hyperbolic.”

Good stuff, though, from the NYTimes and Asimov for allowing this sort of thing to be “All the news that’s fit to print.”  Appellation America is doing good work and many newspapers would eschew their business and position to market in favor of something more mainstream.

On the other side of the island that is Manhattan, the New York Sun has a really terrific feel-good write-up (found here) on a guy named Jonathan Grossweiler, D.W.S.  Grossweiler, one of only 98 Americans to hold the D.W.S designation, received his “Diploma in Wine & Spirits” from the British-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

The fact that Grossweiler is a Marine and a prison guard somewhere in New Jersey is the human interest angle to the story.  The writer refers to Grossweiler as an ex-Marine, but really, once a Marine, always a Marine, I think.  The fact that he is a prison guard at prison that houses sex offenders is unique enough to warrant a story. 

Grossweiler started out in 1993 with a bottle of Carlo Rossi accompanied with Macaroni and cheese before moving to Chateau St. Jean chardonnay at Thanksgiving a couple of years later and finally moving to Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Wine School in ’02.

He has a really simple, but brilliant quote in the article as well.  While he admits in the article that wine was once intimidating, he notes now:

“I think that wine is one of the great equalizers of the world.  Everyone has a nose, a palate, and so you meet all kinds of people and you drink wine together and talk about what you’re tasting.”

Grossweiler continues when asked a lame ass question about giving wine advice to the inmates,

“Not the inmates.  But, I’m the resident wine geek for the other corrections officers.  They’ll be lots of questions now that Valentine’s Day is coming and I’m glad to answer them.  Why would you get knowledge and not help people out?”

Welcome to the wine world, Jonathan.  We can use a few more good men like you.

Over at Wines & Vines they have an interesting business-oriented article on consumer direct wine sales—the great sales equalizer for many small wineries. 

With recent statistics suggesting that the number of wineries in the country has doubled since 2000 to over 5,000 US wineries you would think that smaller winery owners would heed the call of consumer direct sales.  Most small business people would LOVE to manage and interact with all of their customers, as ecommerce or consumer direct sales online allows you to do.

But, interestingly, surprisingly and shockingly this poll indicated that fully 34% of respondents agreed with the following statement:

“I should improve my company’s direct sales, but don’t know what changes to make.”

I think I know a couple of people in the business of wine technology that can help out here.

It takes a load of money to start a winery—winery owners are getting this dough from someplace.  Here’s my question, for this great equalizing opportunity for small wineries:  Why is marketing and technology in the wine space such a difficult concept to grasp?  Why are the winery owners that have made money, obviously, in other industries so completely aloof in the ways and means of actually selling their juice to an actual customer, in a DIRECT way via ecommerce, for example?

Joe Consumer i.e. ME wants to buy the stuff.  I think the answer may have to do with Amazon.com starting in 1996 and the Internet mania really occurring during the latter half of ’98 to about March of ’01. 

Ahead of the curve …

But, please comment if you have other ideas or comments about the lag time between wine industry economic indicators and execution.

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