GrapeSmart.net

Several weeks ago, I had the exquisite pleasure of attending the 2007  Union des Grand Cru des Bordeaux tasting in Los Angeles. For those who don’t speak French, “Union des Grand Cru des Bordeaux” translates, roughly, as “The Incredibly Fancy Wines From the French Region of Bordeaux. You Can’t Afford Them. Don’t Even Bother.” Look it up.

There were over one hundred wineries pouring at the event. Representatives stood behind low tables covered in white tablecloths, ice buckets, bottles and business cards. In the center of one portion of the cavernous conference room were lovely banquets of fresh fruit, colorful cheeses and a variety of crackers to absorb a bit of the booze. Separate tables supported shiny silver spittoons. Guests in subdued attire slowly wandered from table to table, shmoozing, sipping, smiling, spitting.

The room was divided according to the regions of Bordeaux:

Graves (Pessac-Leognan, Sauternes and Barsac); Medoc (Saint Emilion, Pomerol, Listrac-Medoc, Moulis-en-Medoc,

Bordeaux AOC

Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac, Saint-Estephe). For the purposes of this piece, I will not go into the history and importance of Bordeaux, because I cannot do the proper justice which many an expert has already done on the region, and I could not begin to match the authority of these historians.

I’ll simply provide some broad stokes.

Red Bordeaux (called Claret, in the UK), is the most widely produced wine type in this region (outnumbering white wine by about 10 to 1), and is generally made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. To round out the “Fab Five” of Bordeaux, Petit Verdot and Malbec are also permitted, although these are blended in less

frequently. While Carmenere is also authorized, this varietal is now difficult – if not impossible – to find in the area, since replanting never quite took hold after the Phylloxera epidemic of 1867.

As a very broad generalization, Cabernet Sauvignon (Bordeaux’s second-most planted grape variety) dominates the blend in red wines produced in the Médoc and the rest of the left bank of the Gironde estuary. Typical top-quality Chateaux blends are 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc and 15% Merlot. This is typically referred to as the “Bordeaux Blend.” Merlot (Bordeaux’s most-planted grape variety) and to a lesser extent Cabernet Franc (third most planted variety) tend to predominate in Saint Emilion, Pomerol and the other right bank appellations. These Right Bank blends from top-quality Chateaux are typically 70% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc & 15% Cabernet Sauvignon (Oz Clarke Encyclopedia of Grapes p. 129 Harcourt Books 2001 ISBN 0151007144)

Second in production is white Bordeaux, which is grown only in Graves and is mostly (exclusively, in the case of the sweet Sauternes), made from Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, with neither varietal making up more than ninety percent of the blend. Typical blends are usually 80% Sémillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc. Muscadelle is sometimes included, as well, to round out the flavor of the wine, although rarely – if ever – playing a predominant role. On occasion, one can find small amounts of Colombard and Ugni Blanc mixed in, as well.

For me, the greatest thing about the Union des Grand Cru des Bordeaux tasting was the discovery of amazing Bordeaux whites – specifically from the Pessac-Leognan region. Each region in Bordeaux has its own terrior and as a result, the flavor profile of each wine differs noticeably from one parish to another. While I found most of the Bordeaux Blanc to be pretty special, it was the Pessac-Leognan whites that really took my breath away: Pure peachy-grapefruit refreshment. Silky smooth. Perfectly balanced (I mean perfectly). I cannot overstate how enamored I am of these velvety wines.

But while far, far below the sky-high prices of their darker brethren, bottles of white Bordeaux do not come cheap. What’s a value-minded vino-holic to do?

Luckily, there are several options:

1. Don’t buy Grand Cru: Right after the Bordeaux tasting, I dove into research and trips to local wine shops, trying to recreate the magic of what I had sampled in that large conference room – minus the hefty price tag.
   

   Chateau Loudenne Blanc

   What I eventually found was a 2006 Chateau Loudenne. While not from one of the premier Chateaux, this wine is so incredibly delicious that the sommelier at a recent celebratory dinner stopped to comment on our choice to bring it to the restaurant. He did this several times. And then helped himself to a small pour. With a nose of sweet almonds and a soft, velvety mouthfeel rich with grapefruit and lanolin, who needs to spend Grand Cru prices to experience a similar level of deliciousness? Especially when this beautiful bottle cost me only $20. Maybe $21. Let me say that one more time: Even the sommelier at a restaurant with 2 Michelin Stars stopped to praise this “value” wine. It really was remarkable, especially when you consider that bottles from up the road in this region run $80+. I can’t recommend the Chateau Loudenne more highly, but there are plenty of incredible Bordeaux wines out there that are selling for a comparative song, simply because they lack that coveted First, Second or Third Growth status. But if “Cru” matters to you, remember that there is a significant price difference between First and Second Growth (Premiers or 1er and Seconds or Deuxiemes Cru Classe), Second and Third Growth (Troisiemes), Third and Fourth Growth (Quatriemes), and Fourth and Fifth Growth (Cinquiemes). The cost plummets even more precipitously when you go from Fifth Growth down to Cru Bourgeois – which is the class from which the Loudenne comes – although the Cru Bourgeois designation was officially done away with in 2007. Any value vinophile worth his or her salt should simply find the wines classified Cru Bourgeois before ‘07 and hunt these bad boys down*. You know you’ll be getting an absolutely incredible value for the money. But one shouldn’t place too much emphasis on growth classification; just because a wine is Second, Third, Fourth, Bourgeois, etc., does not mean it’s far inferior to Premier – especially as the quality of some of the First and Second Growths waxes and wanes over the years.

2. Don’t buy chateau-bottled Bordeaux: While there is very concentrated hoopla over several important Chateaux in the region, wine making in Bordeaux is not confined merely to grand properties where they grow and ferment their own. Like almost everywhere else in the world, Bordeaux also produces wines blended from several different properties – sometimes even the fancy ones – although you’d be hard-pressed to find this information on the label. This practice is actually borne of the age-old négociant (”merchant”) system – identical to the system that produces Cameron Hughes and Layer Cake Wines in the US. Winemakers source what they feel is some of the best fruit in the area and mix it to create their own special blend.
3. Don’t buy “Bordeaux”: Instead, opt for the lesser-known appellations in the region, which are producing solid stuff at a fraction of what the classic parishes pull in. Look for appellations like Premières Côtes de Blaye, Premières Côtes de Bordeaux, Côtes de Francs, Côtes de Castillon, Cadillac, Côtes de Bourg, Fronsac and Montagne-St-Emilion. These are some of the “new” appellations, but they are all within the Bordeaux AOC. For potentially even bigger bargains, look for “Bordeaux blends” in regions entirely outside of Bordeaux – Like Loire, for example. Wines produced in other AOCs will not taste the same as the identical blend from Bordeaux, but there will be a similar and recognizable flavor profile you might really enjoy.
4. Meet Meritage: The blends that produce Meritage are the classic Bordeaux mixtures, in varying proportions – made in America.
   

   The Meritage Association

From the website:

Meritage wines are provocative red or white wines crafted solely from specific “noble” Bordeaux grape varieties and are considered to be the very best wines of the vintage.

Meritage, pronounced like heritage, first appeared in the late 1980s after a group of American vintners joined forces to create a name for New World wines blended in the tradition of Bordeaux. The word was selected from more than 6,000 entries in an international contest. Meritage combines “merit,” reflecting the quality of the grapes, with “heritage,” which recognizes the centuries-old tradition of blending, long considered to be the highest form of the winemaker’s art.

While many bottles may contain the Bordeaux blend, only those that belong to the Meritage Alliance can use the name on the label. The Good: It’s generally really good wine at non-Bordeaux prices (although this doesn’t mean they’re necessarily value priced). The Bad: It isn’t true Bordeaux.

One final note: Good wine – whether it’s from Bordeaux or anywhere else in the world – is the wine that tastes good to you. I’ve spoken to several industry veterans who have had the good fortune of experiencing several of the most renowned and celebrated wines on the planet. In each case, these experts remembered some of the wines as being perfect and lovely and delicious and incredible…and some of them tasting like…well…crap. Undrinkable. They poured their – otherwise perfect – glasses down the sink.  I spoke to one man who said he went to a special winery dinner where, unbeknown to the head sommelier, they switched the bottle of the 3- or 4-figure wine of the evening with a bottle of Charles Shaw.  The sommelier’s reaction was tepid: He thought it was a pretty decent bottle of Two-Buck Chuck and that the “exceptional” wine was quite a disappointment.

My point is this: Bordeaux is known for producing some truly special wines – for people who like to drink Bordeaux. There are no points given for paying top dollar for something you don’t want to drink. A region or a designation only makes the wine better in the way that a designer label improves a pair of jeans: Perhaps it’s an indication of quality or a certain cut or style, but there are a lot of other factors that determine the right fit.

Have fun, try a bunch of stuff, and buy what suits you. Maybe that’s Chateau Lafite-Rothchild, or maybe it’s something with a pretty label and a small price tag you buy from Trader Joe’s. In the end, you are your own expert, and only you can determine what you like to drink and how much you’re willing to pay for it.

* Crus Bourgeois Exceptionnels:

Exceptional AND value-priced, too

Château Chasse-Spleen (Moulis-en-Médoc, Moulis-en-Médoc)

Château Haut-Marbuzet (Saint-Estèphe, Saint-Estèphe)
Château Labegorce Zédé (Soussans, Margaux)
Château Ormes-de-Pez (Les) (Saint-Estèphe, Saint-Estèphe)
Château Pez (de) (Saint-Estèphe, Saint-Estèphe)
Château Phélan Ségur (Saint-Estèphe, Saint-Estèphe)
Château Potensac (Ordonnac, Médoc)
Château Poujeaux (Moulis-en-Médoc, Moulis-en-Médoc)
Château Siran (Labarde, Margaux)

On February 16th, The New York Times published an interesting article titled “Try the Red: Napa Learns to Sell” that caught my attention thanks to Twitter. The main focus of the article relies on this assumption,

“…in 2009, sales of wines priced at $25 and above dropped 30 percent nationwide, according to Nielsen. While global wine sales increased, California wine shipments fell for the first time in 16 years. Searching for a way out of the crisis, many Napa wineries are increasingly pinning their hopes on direct-to-consumer sales.”

As someone working in the front-lines of direct-to-consumer sales of wine and 5 years of ecommerce experience at some of the Internet’s largest properties, I groaned a little. I didn’t really start groaning and moaning until the article started talking about Facebook and Twitter as a great shining beacon of hope for direct-to-consumer sales.

In particular, Rick Bakas, a man who makes his living via promoting Social Media services to wineries (and does a good job at it), was quoted as saying,

“Where wineries need to focus most is on signing up new wine club members through social media,” he said, “rather than rely on cementing relationships with tourists who drive up to the tasting room.”

I happen to know more than a little about this particular challenge as this is how I make a living, too. At the end of this post there’s a quick rundown on how I’ve acquired the expertise I have, and it ought to inform the comments I’m going to make about why Social Media is not the solution.

Here’s the short answer about how it’s all a numbers game that doesn’t add up and then I’ll go into detail:

1. It’s really hard (and takes a long time) for a brand to grow a huge, meaningful, Twitter or Facebook following.
2. There are too many brands competing for consumers’ limited attention online to gain real online market share.
3. Consumers are still skeptical of buying things online that they can’t experience first. Especially so with wine.
4. There are MANY fewer people buying wine over $25 per bottle than under.

And the full(er) explanation for those of you who are interested, strap yourself in for a long ride:

1. Meaningful Twitter & Facebook Followings
   There’s a difference between building a following that includes people who are genuinely interested in most of what you have to say or are selling and creating an enormous flock of people who are willing to commit to sometimes seeing your messages amongst the thousands of other messages they get every day or week. This is the part where social media falls down most aggressively, all on its own. The reality of all those social media connections is that when you send messages out to your Twitter and Facebook flocks, only a portion of those people will ever see your message, and a really teeny tiny portion of those who do, will act. That really teeny tiny portion might generously be 1% of those of who see your message. That means that to get 100 new sales, you’d need 10,000 people to see your message. Let’s be generous and say that 25% of people who are in your flock actually saw your message… that means that you’d need 40,000 people in your flock to generate 100 new sales. I wonder how long it took Rick to build up 40,000+ followers on twitter, but I bet it wasn’t fast enough to turn a winery around in a single fiscal year.
2. Capturing Market Share
   The NYTimes article mentions this:

   “Distributors, they say, pay attention only to their biggest accounts, while small independent wineries, which predominate in Napa Valley, have to figure out ways to promote themselves.”

   If you think more than a handful of consumers are going to be more receptive to promotional information from small independent wineries than Distributors you’re mistaken. Distributors benefit from knowing about all of the wineries, even if they don’t carry/promote them. Their opportunities are in making fantastic deals with huge beverage companies and in finding “The Next Big Thing” which probably includes independent wineries poised for commercial success. So the Distributors have a vested interest in finding the best small independent wineries—consumers, on the other hand, do not.

   Small independent wineries are competing for consumers’ attention amongst all of the other brands in all of the other goods & services industries out there, on top of the consumers’ other personal interests which include oh, I don’t know, the rest of their lives, making ends meet, keeping up with friends and family, etc. Bottom line is: As a consumer, a no-name winery I’ve never heard of is not going to get my attention without a referral from someone I know and trust (a very small group of people and companies to be sure).

3. Purchasing Wine Online
   The percentage of current online wine sales is somewhere in the 5-10% of all wine sold in the US. [This is not fact, but anecdotal data based on conversations with many other people in different areas of the Trade.]

   There are reasons this number is so small and it has much more to do with how people buy wine today than it does with people’s online shopping behavior. I spend a lot of time talking to consumers about wine (every chance I get pretty much) because they’re not in the wine industry and they don’t think the world practically revolves around wine like I do. Most people I’ve talked to buy a bottle or two of wine at the grocery store, buy six bottles at a time at places like BevMo! and World Market, or are given wine as a gift when guests come over for dinner. Most of them talk about how their friend or family member told them about some great wine that they loved and they can’t wait to tell me about it, too. Most of them can’t conceive of buying a case of wine, much less buying a case of wine online. A case of wine is a financial commitment… and people don’t like to commit to things they don’t know.

   Most online wine-buying behavior is people who are reordering something they already know they love or gift-giving. A reasonable percentage of people who are buying wine online are wine enthusiasts who don’t have access to a good wine store or are too busy to physically hunt down the latest treasure they’ve read about somewhere. A small percentage of people buying wine online are buying winery-direct because that’s the only way to get those wines—and I mean small.

   The wine industry seems to be hoping that the Gen-Y whippersnappers who are so comfortable with the Internet and computers will just switch their buying habits to online because it’s not as awkward to them. As one of the Gen-Y elders with a healthy household income, a 12-year online shopping habit, and 5+ years working in ecommerce, I’m no more likely to start buying my wine online than you are… because I want to taste it first. I want to know what I’m buying before I shell out money for 3 or more bottles (which is how retailers want me to buy it online because it makes it cheaper and easier for them to ship it to me).

   If returning wine online were easy, say as easy as returning 3-6 pairs of shoes that don’t fit properly, I might consider it. Unfortunately though, once I open a bottle, I can’t return it. And let’s say I order three, open one and don’t like it… it’s still not easy to return the other two. THIS is why consumer behavior around buying wine online is unlikely to change anytime soon.

4. The Wine Price Pyramid
   

   Who's Buying Wine at What Price Points

   While a great deal of wine by volume and by revenue is sold at the over-$25 per bottle price point in the United States, I perceive that growth market to be limited. The people who are already spending $25 and up for a bottle of wine LOVE wine. They drink it every day, they order bottles in restaurants, they have subscriptions to Wine Spectator and The Wine Advocate, they have personal wine cellars, and wine is a passion for them. In a recession, there aren’t going to be a lot of people “moving up” to this level of wine-consumption. This recession in particular is teaching us all a lesson about not living beyond our means (I hope) and that luxuries are for people who live luxurious lifestyles… the rest of us need to focus on value and quality and getting our money’s worth because there’s less money to go around.

   Before the recession most Americans couldn’t conceive of buying a bottle of wine at the grocery store that costs more than $25. Today, the chatter is all about wines under $15 or even under $10. That’s where the growth market is. You can sell 10x more wine to “the average consumer” because there are so many more of them. Would you rather get 10 new customers who spend $500 per year ($5,000) or 100 new customers who spend $100 per year ($10,000)? The math should be easy, even with the lower profit margins in the cheaper wines.

5. Wine Clubs
   You know when I join wine clubs? When I’m standing in a tasting room, buzzed and happy and really wanting to take this fantastic wine-tasting trip home with me in a bottle to be relived whenever I feel like popping a cork. The trouble is, I have to love most of what I’ve tasted to join your wine club. Not just one bottle that was great… but several. Every wine Fiddlehead Cellars makes is outstanding, so we joined their wine club. We were blown away by the 10 wines we tasted at Stolpman Vineyards so we joined their wine club. My favorite Rose is a Grenache Rose made by Beckmen Vineyards and I’ll drive 2 hours to Santa Barbara wine country to buy 3 bottles, but I won’t join their wine club because I was unimpressed by the rest of what I tried.

   Sometimes, when I’m feeling generous, I might be someone a 3-month subscription to a wine club from Wine.com or the Wine of the Month Club. Maybe life’s getting too busy and I just want the wine delivered to my house at a good price, then I’ll look at the Wall Street Journal Wine Club or Zagat’s new Wine Club. This is consumer behavior,  folks. Only your fanatical fans will join your wine club for a meaningful length of time. The rest who join last, on average, 4-6 months or 2-3 shipments whichever comes first. And the rest of us won’t join at all.

   I’ll reiterate here because it’s important: I make a living selling wine club subscriptions… and I don’t think increasing wine club sales is the way to grow your winery’s business. And incidentally, I don’t think Social Media is a way to meaningfully increase wine club sales either.

Okay… so I’ve blown holes in ecommerce and social media as a growth opportunity for wineries. Do I have any solutions or am I just a critic blathering on? Yes, I have solutions!

• Wineries should take a hint from the fashion industry (the similarities are practically limitless) and go “High-Low.” Do you produce wines at $30 and up? Come up with a line of wines, made by the same winemaker so they carry the same reputation, and sell them at the under $15 price-point in mass-market settings. Introduce new consumers to your brand and create a following who, when they can afford it, will upgrade to your more expensive wines. Many wineries already do this: Ravenswood, Mondavi, Stag’s Leap, etc. come to mind.
• Still taking a hint from the fashion industry, go “Private Label.” This has been a BIG hit for many winemakers and vineyards with brands like Cameron Hughes, 90+ Cellars, Oriel, and even Bob Lindquist who’s making wine under the label VINTJS at Trader Joe’s. Reaching a broader audience where they’re already shopping is a great way to expand your revenue channels.
• Incentivize your wine clubs better. The wine geeks want access to special events because they’re saving their pennies for trips to Napa and Bordeaux, but the rest of us want a reason to join your wine clubs, too. We’re already getting discounts on your wines, but maybe I’d join your club if you offered me discounts to other wineries in a “collective.” So by joining the St Supery wine club (which I’d like to do some day) I could also get discounts and new-release information for Rombauer and PlumpJack, too. You’ll get increased brand-exposure (from Rombauer and PlumpJack’s fans) and you’ll get more subscriptions because there’s more in it for the consumer.
• Invest in focus groups and user testing. Build your brand’s reputation around consumers who have blind-tasted your wine, liked it, and are willing to say so on your website, in non-industry publications, and disclose that they’re not being paid as spokesmen so other consumers can trust them. Let’s face it, most people talking about wine are paid to do so and are immediately lest trustworthy because of it.
• Host wine-tasting events in major geographical locations and bring the wine-tasting experience to consumers where it’s convenient for them. Parties are cheap and drunk people buy a lot of wine. It’s a low-risk and fun way to find about your wines.

Then publicize all of that via Social Media… which is what it’s for. Getting the word out (as opposed to driving direct sales).

My Background & Qualifications for this Rant

While working in Product Management, User Experience, and Search at Shopzilla.com, the largest and most successful comparison shopping engine, I learned an inordinate amount about people’s online shopping behaviors, some about their offline shopping behaviors, and the web-marketing channel known as Cost-per-Click advertising (or CPC). I also learned how to test consumer behavior using actual shopping data as they were/are among the very best at it.

Later, I ran Product Management at Social Shopping hopeful ThisNext.com. Here I delved deeply into determining the power of user recommendations for generating demand that generates sales for, typically, high-end products. I learned a great deal more about online business models like Cost-per-Impression Advertising (or CPM) and Performance Marketing (Cost-per-Acquisition, or CPA). Unlike CPC and CPM models, when you’re working in the CPA business model, you get conversion data. For those of you whom I haven’t bored right off the site, CONVERSION DATA = ACTUAL SALES.

Currently I run a property called WineClubReviews.net. As you might imagine, we review wine clubs and rate them. Because wine taste preferences are so subjective, we don’t rate the taste of the wine and whether or not you’ll like the wine, we rate whether or not the wine club is delivering good value for your monthly subscription. Among all of the wine clubs we’ve reviewed to date, only one is from a single wine producer, and it’s not a winery, it’s Oriel wines who has engaged an innovative business model to capture wine consumers’ attention.

Blind tasting with Byron at BottleRock

I’m going to let you in on a deep, dark secret – one that has been burning inside the most hidden recesses of my soul: I can’t identify different red wines, based on taste alone.

Yeah, I know. And sometimes I leave the dirty dishes in the sink overnight, too. Sue me.

But this secret bothers me and I have vowed to do better, so the other night I made a move to change my life. I drove over to BottleRock – Culver City, and told my-favorite-waiter-who-never-gives-me-discounts-even-when-I-flirt-like-a-crazy-girl, Byron, to line up some reds and let me puzzle through their mysteries. I also ordered a grilled cheese sandwich.

Cute little British Byron said he’d help me out and help me out he did! After disappearing for a few minutes, he returned to my table with four glasses containing two-ounce pours, and lined them up on a diagonal. Byron gave me instructions on the order in which to try each taste, and then bounced merrily away like some benevolent spirits pixie, tending to the thirsty masses.

Out came my notebook and down the hatch went the first wine.

The strong blast of alcohol heat clued me in that what I was drinking was young. The nose contained lots of delicious

Taste test

plum and raspberry and cherry. It tasted of rich, ripe red fruit but felt a little oily. It had a medium body and a short finish. I thought it was a Cabernet.

My next taste smelled like a combination of dill, fennel and cherry – but was very pleasant, despite the somewhat odd-sounding mix. On the palate this wine was floral and herbaceous and really lovely, with definite strawberry notes and high – but not overwhelming – acid. It was a little thin, but ended up being my second-favorite pour. I noted that this wine was probably a Shiraz.

Wine number three was big and jammy. It smelled and tasted like cough syrup, but not in a super sweet way. Again, I picked up some dill on the nose, but on the palate it was mostly cherry. This pour was huge and hot, but contained smooth tannins. “I’m picking up tannins,” thought I, “so this is probably a Cab!” I decided I had been wrong about the first wine and crossed the varietal off my notes. I told you I have no idea what I’m doing.

The final pour had a nose of plum, a little hay and a bit of petrol, so when I tasted it, I was incredibly surprised at how smooth and delicious it was. This wine was massive, with a silky mouthfeel and flavors of delicious plum. It was a little hot, but all of these wines seemed to need age or decanting. This was another favorite. I decided it was a Pinot Noir, because I like making stuff up.

Wine consumed, sandwich finished, Bryan sprang back to my table and took a look at my notes. To his credit, he didn’t laugh at me at all – not even once – which is why I love him, even though I always have to pay full price.

MacMurray Pinot Noir

The first wine, the one jotted in my notes as Cab Sav (?) turned out to be Pinot Noir – a 2007 MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir (about $17 per bottle) from the Central Coast of California, in fact. Duh. (Super delicious)

My second tasting was not a Shiraz, as I had thought, but a Zinfandel – a 2006 Puccioni Zin from the Dry Creek Valley, in Sonoma County, California ($28). I love Zinfandel; it’s one of my favorite varietals. And apparently I can’t tell a Zinfandel from a hole in the ground. Or from a Shiraz. Man, I’ve got some catching up to do.

Wine three – the one I so wisely guessed was a Cabernet based on the tannins – was a 2005 Robert Keenan Winery Merlot (about $35 per bottle). A big Merlot, mind you, but still not Cab.

Keenan Merlot

Finally, wine four was a 2006 Josh Cellars Amber Knolls Cabernet Sauvignon, from Napa Valley (about $15 a bottle). If you know anything about wine, you know that Cabernet Sauvignon is not really the same as Pinot Noir. Oops.

So how did I get all of these wrong? More important, what should I remember for next time?

Let’s start with Pinot Noir:

Pinots tend to be lighter in body, but are often complex and aromatic. New World Pinot Noir is more fruit-driven than Old World Pinot Noir, but I find that this is – in general – a given for all New World vs Old World wines. Pinot also possesses a more earthy character, often containing notes of mushroom/truffle, smoke, spice, tea or floral perfume. I only picked up on the heavy fruit in my Pinot pour, which pinned this as a New World wine. In my defense, I did register its lighter body, too, but I didn’t sense a trace of earthiness. But maybe that’s my bad.

Zinfandel grapes

Zinfandel:

Because of the huge variation in alcohol from one Zin to another (anywhere from 13% to over 18%), this wine presents a very diverse flavor profile. The term “jammy” is pretty popular as a description, since Zinfandel tends to possess big, concentrated blackberry, boysenberry, raspberry and/or black cherry fruits. But often woven within the chewy flavors are hints of black pepper, clove, anise and herbs. The more alcohol, the bigger and more concentrated the Zin. These are the “monster Zinfandels” you may have heard about. However, these 16%+ alcohol heavy hitters lack balance and acidity, and therefore don’t pair well with food. In the taste that I tried at BottleRock, I detected some of the herbs in the wine. Also, this must have been a lower alcohol Zin because I didn’t get drunk found the pour to be thin and high in acid.

By contrast…

Shiraz/Syrah:

Syrah/Shiraz grapes

Are big, bold, bad (in a good way) motor scooters. Despite having two different names, these are actually the same grape. It’s also known as Hermitage, but that name is a protected French designation (like Champagne). Australian and South African producers call the wine Shiraz. If it comes from France, the United States, Argentina or Chile, it’s labeled Syrah.

These wines display firm, smooth tannins, and are medium-to full-bodied. Huge black cherry, blackberry and plum fruits are common, but so are more exotic notes of bell pepper, black pepper, spices, licorice, lavender, chocolate, vanilla bean, smoked meats and musk. If you remember, I found the wine I described as Shiraz to be herbaceous (not spicy) and thin. See where I went wrong?

Merlot grapes

Merlot:

Merlot can be soft and mellow or big and bold. Obviously, the tasting notes will be different, depending on the heft of the wine.

In general, Merlot presents with fruit-forward black fruits like blackberry and plum and blueberry. It can also contain cherry and currant. It is also common to pick up floral flavors and stronger notes like cocoa, black pepper, clove, caramel, bay leaf, green peppercorn, green olive or bell pepper. With a bigger Merlot, you might find yourself chewing through smoke, tar, coffee, leather, cedar or cigar box. Milder Merlot will be more floral, with toasty tastes of vanilla and coconut and sweet wood. It is also worth mentioning that, although usually on the softer side, Merlot can be tannic – especially bigger Merlot. This might be why I got my pour confused with Cab Sav.

Cabernet Sauvignon:

Cabernet Sauvignon grapes

“The noblest of all grapes,” “the king of red wine grapes,” the darling of collectors and connoisseurs, Cabernet Sauvignon contains the most tannins of any other wine – love it or hate it – which makes this the best wine around for aging. Cabs can present a similar set of flavors as Merlot, although Cab Sav is not as sweet and soft as Sideways-maligned Merlot. Cabernet Sauvignon ranges from medium-to full-bodied and the tannins support all that plummy, berry fruit.  Depending on the way it’s aged, Cabernet Sauvignon can also be rich, warm and spicy on the palate, with notes of vanilla or tobacco, warm spice and sometimes leather, toast or tar. Some fancy folks talk of pyrazine, which is a green pepper or sometimes asparagus-like flavor imparted from under-ripe grapes. This is not a wine fault, and is often attributed to growing influences.

The fact that I thought this pour was a Pinot is proof that I need to drink more.

Maybe I’ll do this with another blind tasting at BottleRock and a full glass of the MacMurray Pinot Noir to start.

Gourmet Monthly Wine Club, Premier Series, December Shipment

WineClubReviews is not a name we chose by accident. It is our mission to personally sample and review each club, in order to bring you real reviews. This way we can provide you with the best information for making a personal, informed decision about the best wine club to meet your imbibing interests!

Wine Club Shipment Review

Gourmet Monthly Wine Club

We received a Gourmet Monthly Wine Club Premier Series shipment, at a cost of around $29.95 (plus shipping and handling). Inside were both a white and a red; for the price, Jessyca and I both felt they were both worth every penny. You can also catch our Gourmet Monthly Wine Club Review (Premier Series) at WineClubReviews.net.

I wrote about the white wine in my recent post, Orvieto, Vinho Verde and Pinot Blanc – Oh Dear… The wine in the Gourmet Monthly Wine Club shipment was the Orvieto part of that piece. Specifically, 2008 Palazzone Umbria Dubini Bianco , which is an Orvieto from Orvieto DOC, located near Umbria and Lazio, in Italy.

Palazzone Dubini Bianco - definitely delicious

When Jess first poured our glasses, the wine was right out of the refrigerator. Yes, refrigerator. At least for now, we’re still regular, everyday folk, and don’t have special cellars kept at specific wine-friendly temperatures. But the reason for special cellars kept at specific wine-friendly temperatures is that wine really does work better when it’s served the way it wants to be. Refrigerators are too cold. As a result, our first impression of the Palazzone Umbria Dubini Bianco was that it was rather bland; the taste had been chilled right out of it.

As the wine warmed a little, it really opened up. The bouquet unfolded with ripe peach and pineapple and a touch of hay. Flavors of apple and stone fruit and honey revealed themselves as if waking up from hibernation. Another interesting thing that happened was the sweetness that hit me over the head on my first sip was soon rounded out with more acid and a satisfying structure that took all but the tiniest hint of sweet away.

The red part of this program was a 2007 Emilio Moro Finca Resalso Ribera del Duero.  From Australia. Ha!

Tinto Fino, fine for the price

OK, obviously from Spain (That was just a little bit of wine humor. OK, sorry. I’ll just get back to my review now…).

In fact, the family-run winery of Bodegas Emilio Moro is located in the Rioja region of Spain, and – typical to the area – their Tinto Fino is a special clone of Tempranillo grapes (for more Tempranillo goodness, you might want to also check out my review of Campo Viejo Crianza).

Tempranillo is sometimes described as juicy raspberry, perfume-y, dry earthy…and…leather. This Tempranillo I found to have a nose of oak and mineral, a bit of heavy-handed alcohol and a lovely smell and taste of black cherry. It bowled me over with tannins at first, but the more it breathed, unsurprisingly, the better it got. I also thought that this wine would be well served by decanting. It will certainly stand up to cellaring for 3 – 5 years.

As reviewed by Wine & Spirits Magazine on 10/09: Rating: 88/100 – Made from young tempranillo vines (from five to 15 years old), this wine offers simple, refreshing red flavors on a large scale. Serve it with chorizo.

I didn’t love this wine, but I did love the Palazzone Umbria Dubini Bianco. And there is something I should add about the price: For awhile Jess and I thought this shipment was priced at $45.95, and at that cost we were both deeply unsatisfied. However, once we learned that the shipment was closer to $30, everything changed. In fact, these wines seemed perfectly priced at around $15 each. Despite not being a huge fan of the Emilio Moro Finca Resalso Ribera del Duero, I feel I still got my money’s worth.

Even better about the Gourmet Monthly Wine Club: Each shipment can be mixed and matched to include wine or beer, cheese, chocolate, premium cigars or fresh cut flowers. That, alone, is worth the price of admission.

Here at GrapeSmart we’re BIG fans of the email newsletter Tasting Table. Always up to date and interesting, we get the latest food & wine news both for Los Angeles and at a national level. They have lots of other cities/metro areas, too.

We frequently ask you to sign up because we KNOW you’ll love it, too. Now they’re incentivizing you further! Sign up for their FREE newsletter and you’ll be entered to win $2010 worth of OXO products! (By the way, we’re also huge fans of OXO products.)

Don’t know what OXO is? They’re ergnomically designed kitchen tools like spatulas, garlic presses, measuring cups, etc. You name it, they make it, and they almost always make it better than everyone else.

Now, how much more incentive could you possibly need? GO! SIGN UP NOW!