May 28, 2008

London Calling

posted by Robert in Snooth, Wine, Guest Bloggers

Trade fairs, no matter the trade, are a Darwinian exercise in survival of the fittest; specifically survival of the flashiest. I am often reminded of Bourbon Street in New Orleans with its lineup of colorful hawkers trying to separate the unwary tourist from their vacation budget. Trade fairs for the wine industry are really no different but the intrepid traveler can find bits of wisdom strewn among the flash, after all you can find a good cocktail for a reasonable price on Bourbon Street, it just shouldn’t be your first choice of locales if that is your goal.

The London International Wine Fair should be different, it isn’t, but it should be. The English drinks trade prides itself on being sophisticated, erudite and staid and how this translates into two women in lingerie cradling a bottle of pink vodka and a whip I am not sure. However, having just returned from this annual festival of lights I thought I might share with you some of the more interesting items that I managed to pick up amongst the bright lights and shiny baubles.

The world drinks industry is somehow only now realizing that women purchase wine & spirits (how you get to be a multibillion dollar industry without noticing this is a discussion for another day) and have turned their mighty marketing energy to tap this significant portion of the population that currently purchases almost 60% of all wine and half of all spirits. Yeah, I know, I am confused too, seems they are already doing a good job of marketing to women and that it is men they need to be focused on. This discrepancy won’t be a problem much longer if the trend in marketing to women that I saw in London is any indication. Beside the aforementioned lingerie models and pink vodka there was a host of other standard wine & spirits bottles that were either curvy, painted pink or as the vodka dyed pink directly all culminating in my favorite example - a pink-bottled (ala Pepto-Bismol) liqueur called Girl. Women of the world unite. Note to the drinks industry, unless you are willingly courting the 6-8 year-old girl crowd I would re-think your strategy.

There was one interesting wine product that I am not sure how I feel about yet. It could be a great way to introduce people to wine and understanding wine or a great opportunity to combine kitsch and embarrassment. I-wine is a bottle of blind wine with the actual grape variety hidden under the bottles main label and revealed by pulling this label off. To further aid you along in this journey you are provided with two scratch-n-sniff aroma strips. Yes, I said scratch-n-sniff. Take that Bordeaux classification of 1855 with your “no scratch-n-stiff” AOC regulations.

Overall the fair this year had few highlights; however, I did manage to speak to various different producers from Italy to get their opinion on the ongoing situation in Montalcino. The general consensus is that any commercial blowback will be limited to this section of the boot. Wishful thinking? Maybe but the producers made a good point that the Italian wine customer is very broad based and ticking off Brunello customers shouldn’t affect other high end Italian wines and certainly not the bread and butter value wines that Italy is famous for. It may take years for Brunello to recover but the state of Italian wine is still fairly healthy. I hope they are right as I would hate to see this one hiccup disturb the great work that has been done in Italy over these last few years. Now I have to go and review this new vodka designed for men, it is dyed blue, called “Macho Beast” and the bottle is shaped like a…no, that can’t be.

Robert Scibelli is a lecturer and administrator at New York’s premier wine school, International Wine Center.

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May 14, 2008

Hello, Mr. Kettle, it’s The Pot calling…

posted by Robert in Wine, Guest Bloggers

You may remember recent press attention given to the scandal in Brunello di Montalcino. Well the TTB (formerly the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, home of the best governmental holiday party going) has threatened to ban the import of all Brunello unless the wine is accompanied by a lab test, a certificate of authenticity from the Franklin mint and 20 plus My Space or Facebook friends attesting to its inherent coolness. A well known wag in the Italian wine trade gave a quote that was essentially a rolling of the eyes at the TTB’s naiveté, essentially saying that it would be necessary to apply this standard to all wines imported into the country (and probably a few domestics). His point being that the problem in Montalcino is known but not isolated. The issue also re-raised the two decade old Austrian wine scandal which involved anti-freeze doctoring of some of their wines (for the best video commentary on anti-freeze doctoring please see this Simpson’s episode from 1990).

I will tell you that I think the US government is responding more to the perceived slight from the Brunello Consorzio who (allegedly) ignored the TTB’s requests for paperwork then they are responding to overwhelming consumer outrage – of which there has been none.

Now, I am no knee-jerk anti government guy but this seems to be a bit of overstepping on the ideal role of government on the production side of wine. The deal between the US and the EU is straightforward – the label on the product is a guarantee from the source country which if violated should cause harm to the wine’s reputation in specific and then the region and/or the country of origin in general. It took years for the Austrians to recover from their scandal and to be fair the Austrian case was a danger to consumers’ health whereas unless there are cases of individuals going into shock on consuming wines of less than 100% Sangiovese, this scandal is not a health crisis.

I am also on record as stating that if the allegations in Brunello prove true then it is an out and out shame especially considering the producers have the option to blend Sangiovese with other grapes and sell the result as Sant’Antimo D.O.C. which commands a fairly high price as well.

This should not be the US Government’s fight because the scandal is known to the market, the Italian government is involved, and unknowingly drinking blended Sangiovese is not a threat to public safety – unless you consider deflated egos a public health hazard. The Italian bureaucracy, for their part, tastes and tests all DOC and DOCG wines and somehow actually uncovered the irregularities on their own. The US Government on the other hand, sets vague regulation and walks away thereafter to let the market take its course. Over time we have had our share of varietally labeled wine that falls below the already low minimums (how many wine drinkers do you know are aware that a varietally labeled wine may contain as little as 75% of the stated variety?) and/or the method of acting of some grapes playing Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay without so much as a J’ accuse from the TTB. Ship a bottle of wine across State borders, however, and you could find yourself the subject of a government probe. I think the TTB needs to stop rattling their sabers and maybe take a look at their own house.

Robert Scibelli is a lecturer and administrator at New York’s premier wine school, International Wine Center.

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