With a dash of accomplishment, a gallon of surprise, and a full tank of humble pie it hit me that WineZag is now six months old. This project has surpassed my original expectations for social media immersion and continued promotion of wine as a lubricant for human connection without bias. Thanks to the thousands that visit every month and the […]
Cab Franc and Falanghina With Roots
I can only tolerate an hour, or so, of tasting through large portfolios at crowded trade events. With an air of desperation, I scurry to discover a new wine or two representing a commensurate quality and value reward for immersing in this tasting format’s inherent nest of inconvenience. My schedule had me in Boston simultaneous with the Loire Valley Wine Bureau tasting at the Taj […]
A Road Side Bomb
The Executive Wine Seminar‘s showcase of 2005 Bordeaux in New York City was arguably the most significant tasting event of last week. It combined three highlight characteristics including, Robert Parker’s customary attendance, some of the best wines from the heralded vintage, and the excellent organization and format that EWS founders Howard Kaplan and Robert Millman continue to orchestrate. Yet, with the signature effect of a roadside bomb intended for Parker’s motorcade, Tyler […]
Venerable Value Trove or Flash in the Pan?
US consumers just might develop whiplash keeping up with declarations of new regional sources for quality wine values. Rewind the last ten years and value arrows have stopped on Spain, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Languedoc, Beaujolais, Chile, Loire, and more. And, there appears to be no let-up. Trying to make sense of the shifting landscape, each new pronouncement of dominance in the global value segment falls neatly into one of these […]
Quality Wine as a Primary Path to Winery Profitability
Stuffed car trunks and airplane holds of newly discovered wine being escorted home from wine regions by pleased holiday tasters is a common scene. Souveniers are pawns serving our emotional construct and consumer culture. But when it comes to tasting room visits, it just might make more sense to settle for a few photos, t-shirts, and caps […]
Wine Economics: A Consumer and Critic Weigh In
I have been in a digital desert for the last week, dealing with computer problems compounded by a stretch of travel without a laptop. Please excuse the brief WineZag siesta and take a quick few steps back with me to follow up on a previous WineZag post on runaway Bordeaux prices getting in the way of reasonable […]
Bordeaux Sucker Punch Ruins Wine Independence for All
Catching up on some overdue reading during the long Fourth of July holiday weekend, I was struck by a disconnect between two really interesting pieces of material. Wine enthusiasts face significant challenges that threaten a pronouncement of clipped shackles found in the primarily good spirited and reflective recent Alder Yarrow “Declaration of Independence” . Enthusiasts continue to be repressed by a profound problem, overlooked in Yarrow’s celebration of expanding wine availability and information sharing, and inadvertently demonstrated in Robert […]
Wine Discounts: Navigating the Email Jungle
I paused early this morning, scanning the middle third of the countless daily emails from preferred wine retailers that stared at me in unread boldface headlines hawking discounts worthy of going-out-of-business sales. Bin Ends Wine shop, a shrewd on and off-line wine monger with a uniquely well defined quality and value formula, was offering the 2001 Mauro Vendimia Seleccionada for $40 in three-pack buys. I […]
90 Points of Costco Wine
It seems legitimate to me that Costco, operating at an incredibly low 0.2% retail margin, seeks maximum turns and sales volume for its entire inventory. As a big box, non specialty retailer chasing lowest possible SGA expense in a declining sales environment, Costco leans on merchandising advantages like brand names and informational signage as strategy elements to turbo power sales volume. So, if Costco wine […]
Gallo for a Nickel or Dime? A Cleansing Period for the Wine Industry at Any Price
The blogosphere has been glowing garnet with empirical proof that the US wine industry haphazardly exposed their flanks to foreign importers with business plans to dominate the value segments of the domestic US fine wine market (recent WineZag post). The industry continued to plant, expand, and gear up for the $50-$125 dead zone in today’s market. Not all the competitive imported value wines were sweet, […]