Niche Wine Blog

WINE.COM RELEASES SECOND ANNUAL WINE.COM 100 LIST

 

Top 1% of Wines as Judged by Wine.com Customers

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Wine drinkers voted with their wallets; trends say highly-rated, low-price wines win; many hail from regions abroad

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – December 3, 2008 – Wine.com, the nation's #1 online wine retailer, today announced its second annual Wine.com 100 list based entirely on customer preferences. The only list of its kind is generated by ranking the top 1 percent of bottle sales of the over 10,000 wines sold nationally on Wine.com during the first 11 months of 2008. For a complete list, go to http://www.wine.com/100.

"Our annual ranking is unique in that it reflects the opinions of our customers," said Rich Bergsund, Wine.com CEO. "The trend we’ve seen is that wine enthusiasts are looking for the greatest value – highly rated wines at lower price points – and are increasingly choosing wines from South America and Australia."

The Wine.com 100 list shows customers are choosing both quality and price, with 94 of the wines rated 90 points or higher from leading wine critics, including Wine Spectator, and over 70 wines priced under $20. The Wine.com 100 list also demonstrates consumer demand for notable brands such as Silver Oak, Caymus, Dom Pérignon, Cakebread, Duckhorn, and Jordan.

The most popular wine of 2008 hails from Chile's Veramonte Winery. Veramonte’s 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva sells for $9.99 and received a 92-point rating from The Wine News. Veramonte's Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and two vintages of the winery’s premium red blend, Primus, also made the list.

"Veramonte wines have been a favorite of ours for a decade," said Michael Osborn, founder and VP of Merchandising for Wine.com. "Having five of our Top 100 from this estate shows that customers recognize their artisanal quality wine and the great value they offer."

In contrast with most U.S. wine retailers, where on average 25% of wine sold is imported, the Wine.com 100 contains 63 imported wines. While California dominates domestically with 31 wines on the Wine.com 100 list, eight other countries are represented led by Australia (27), Chile (11), Argentina (8), Spain (6), France (5), Italy (4), and New Zealand (2). Wines from Australia and South America demonstrated the biggest trend, moving to 27% and 19% this year from 18% and 13% last year, respectively.

Red wine represents 74% of the top 100, led by Cabernet Sauvignon (18), Syrah (16), and Malbec (6). Of the 20 white wines on the list, Chardonnay (10) and Sauvignon Blanc (6) topped the list.

Wine.com recently introduced evening, Saturday, date-specific and by appointment delivery and is the only wine retailer in the U.S. to offer these convenient shipping options. The company also introduced the Wine.com Steward-Ship™ Program offering frequent buyers one year of free delivery on every order, regardless of size, for just $49.

About Wine.com
Wine.com is the nation's #1 online wine retailer, according to Internet Retailer magazine’s annual ranking of websites by revenue, offering thousands of wines, wine gifts, gift baskets and monthly wine clubs. Wine.com’s mission is to be the ultimate resource for wine enthusiasts, whether shopping for themselves or sending a gift, by offering a great selection, low prices, convenient delivery and helpful information. Wine.com is the world’s most visited wine web site, according to research conducted by comScore Media Metrix. For more information, visit http://www.wine.com.

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MemWine™ Personal Wine Database by Mobile or Internet

Wine lovers have immediate access to their personal wine ratings and tasting notes wherever they are with the free MemWine™ service. They can add new wines and update impressions while still fresh by mobile phone. Mobile features, tried and tested for over 3 years, allow full functionality yet are streamlined for simple operation.

 

Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) Sept 17, 2008 -- MemWine™ (http://memwine.com) has totally revitalized its Mobile and Internet service offering wine lovers an immediate and convenient way to track the wines they enjoy or wish to try. These changes are a result of user input and their desire for immediacy in adding wines and updating personal details.

“We have listened to our users and now allow them the freedom to spontaneously enter their own wines while we still maintain a central wine database with more information. The operation is more flexible, yet it remains easy for the average mobile user,” says Dick Roemer its creator. “All the user needs is a cellphone with a data connection or a web-enabled Handheld such as iPaq™, Palm, Blackberry or iPhone. Our servers in North America can be accessed by mobile users from all over the world – a potential market of over a billon people. So, global access, simple operation and free service – these features set us apart.”

MemWine™ offers a handy way to refresh wine memories or update impressions on the spot wherever you may be. At the core, it offers an extensive database of wines which with user-added vintages expands to well over 60,000 combinations. From this the user creates his own personal infobase with details most important to him. With this new launch, the user can immediately add wines of his choice and extended tasting notes while still fresh in memory.

As information overload swamps our senses, it's becoming more difficult to preserve special memories. How do people keep track of their favorite wines and related experiences - a diary, notes on scraps of paper, wine lists?

MemWine™ helps keep wine impressions fresh by Mobile in a dynamic personal database: wines we savor and recommend, useful details like personal ratings, price, inventory and tasting notes, referrals by friends and experts, ambience details. (For more info see http://memwine.com/mobile.htm).

“Thanks for finally letting me add my own wines and comments. I guess a central database has its merits but I want the freedom to add wines myself whenever I want. Your Mobile access works great. I keep in touch with my wines by mobile while traveling in Europe and Asia, virtually no delays,” says Ralph O. a MemWine™ user.

Rick McNees an avid wine collector from suburban Chicago says after trying  MemWine™ on his iPaq handheld, “…Folks with these mobile devices will be hungry for useable apps that provide real value ... Yours is such an app since people will be in a wine merchant and want to check on their inventory, or check on ratings or rankings before they shell out $$$ for a bottle of wine… That is the true value of mobile computing…meaningful information when and where you need it, it’s great!”

Warren Payne of WineBites.com remarks, "And for those of you with Web-enabled phones (e.g. Treos, Blackberries) you can access your MemWine log via an interface designed specifically for small phone screens. Very cool."

Also offered free, our sister service MemVideo®  (http://memvideo.com/) has been revitalized as well with more user options and immediacy. Movie lovers can refresh memories of favorite movies, check their home inventory, ratings and notes all by Mobile, Handheld or PC.

 

MemWine™ for the first time is actively seeking sponsors from the wine industry.

Email: marketing@memwine.com

 

Users can access these services by simply logging on to:

Internet:  MemWine™ at http://memwine.com/    

Mobile:   MemWine™ at http://memwine.com/wap/   

             

Contact: MemWine™,  press@memwine.com

Restaurant Wine Pricing

                                     

Below is a link to an eye opening article that attempts to decode the restaurant wine pricing paradox.

Cracking the Code of Restaurant Wine Pricing

Ruling Turns a Village of Winemakers on Itself

Sorry, I've been slacking.  Work, planning for going back to school and getting ready to move into our newly built home in a month have kept me a tad busy.  I thought I'd share this article for those who don't get a chance to read the NY Times.  I think it's a fine example of how politics can muddle the wine industry.

                              

July 24, 2008

St.-Émilion Journal

Ruling Turns a Village of Winemakers on Itself

By STEVEN ERLANGER

ST.-ÉMILION, France — For François Despagne, it was the challenge of his lifetime.

His family owned the same vineyard in this southwestern part of France for seven generations. But in 1996, in the reclassification of St.-Émilion wines that occurs roughly every 10 years, Château Grand Corbin-Despagne was downgraded from grand cru classé, one of the highest ratings.

The family disagreed but did not challenge the ruling in court.

“When you’re declassified, you’re the ugly little duckling,” Mr. Despagne said. “People lose faith in you.” The blow is also financial.

One Bordeaux broker called him then and said: “You’re in trouble, you’re declassified. I’ll buy your stock for half price,” Mr. Despagne recalled, still disgusted. “It was hard, morally.”

Mr. Despagne, trained as a biologist and oenologist, went to work. He persuaded his family and the banks to invest some $2 million to modernize the business. More important, he dug 150 holes to analyze the soil on his 66 acres and identified 53 parcels. Where the soil was richest, he grew grass between the rows of vines to force the roots to dig deeper. He put in 27 new vats to make smaller batches, and reduced yield by 25 percent to get a more concentrated wine.

In September 2006, his labor and his family’s faith were rewarded. Although the new classification downgraded 11 other chateaus, it restored Grand Corbin-Despagne to grand cru classé, and Mr. Despagne printed new labels, brochures, corks, capsules and wooden cases. The family celebrated; the workers had a huge party.

But then the bomb went off this year. On July 1, an administrative court, hearing an extended appeal from seven of the newly declassified chateaus, threw out the entire 2006 classification — and threw Mr. Despagne and others who had been promoted into fury and confusion.

The ruling has set families against one another in this beautiful medieval village of 2,500 souls who know one another, marry one another and go to Mass together. Declared a protected site by Unesco in 1999, St.-Émilion, where the Romans cultivated wine grapes, is dominated by a church and a prison tower built in the 13th century.

Now this little area, which contains 770 winegrowers on 13,800 acres classified as St.-Émilion and St.-Émilion grand cru, produces some 32.1 million bottles a year of some of Bordeaux’s finest and most expensive wines. It represents an enormous collective business, with built-in rivalries, that combines science, farming, public relations, fantasy, taste and tough tactics.

And now, judicial and commercial confusion.

The court agreed with the plaintiffs that, because the already classified wines were tasted at a different time than the candidate wines, and because some domains were visited and some not, the classification was “arbitrary” — even though the same procedure had been followed in 1996.

Faced with no classification for the 2006 vintage, which was just being bottled, the French Legislature restored the 1996 classification for three years, or until all court appeals are finished or a new classification is made. That is fine for most, and especially for those just demoted — but it means agony for Mr. Despagne and the others promoted in 2006 who had their reward ripped away.

Mr. Despagne spits out the words, like a bad vintage: “It’s not good for the image of St.-Émilion, it’s not good for justice and it’s not good for the community of St.-Émilion.”

The ruling also punished two other chateaus, Pavie Macquin and Troplong Mondot. They were elevated in 2006 to the rarefied air of premier grand cru classé B, which brings even more rarefied prices.

Xavier Pariente, who owns Troplong Mondot with his spouse, is beside himself.

“We are the laughingstock of everyone; everyone feels this injustice that we are living,” Mr. Pariente said. “If we wanted to damage St.-Émilion, there would be no better way.” Jean-Pierre Taleyson, the cellar master, said, “When I heard about the judgment, I nearly started to cry.”

For Nicolas Thienpont, director of Pavie Macquin, the court ruling is like “a donkey on the roof.” It is absurd, he said, “to promote the troublemakers while the good students get demoted.” He has already bottled and labeled his 2006 vintage under the new, higher classification, expecting a final ruling to confirm the promotions. “It’s a risk, but I feel morally premier grand cru classé,” he said. “We worked 10 years for this!”

Even the patriarch of St.-Émilion, Thierry Manoncourt, 90, who owns the magnificent Château Figeac, has his grievances. His wine was not affected by the 2006 classification, but his application to be promoted from premier grand cru classé B to A — to join the two most elevated names in the region, Ausone and Cheval Blanc — was denied again.

Not because of the quality of the wine, the reviews, the elegance of the chateau or any other obvious reason, he fumed. “But because they said my prices were not as high! It’s a circle — you can’t sell at the same price because you’re not premier grand cru classé A!”

Mr. Manoncourt has the standing to reject some of the slavish following of the preferences of wine raters like Robert M. Parker Jr., whose influence over the American market remains extraordinary. Mr. Parker likes deeply colored Bordeaux, so many here alter the temperature of their first maceration to extract the most color, even if it slightly affects the taste. Mr. Manoncourt, offering a glass of a 2001 Château Figeac that Mr. Parker did not like at a first tasting, recalled saying, “Cher Bob, I don’t manufacture ink.”

As to the current uproar, Mr. Manoncourt said gently, “It’s always unpleasant when there’s a controversy — especially when it’s not very transparent.” And when, he implied, there is so much money and pride at stake.

Pierre Lurton, who runs Château Cheval Blanc for the multinational LVMH, said he approved of the regular reclassification of St.-Émilion wines, which he called “courageous” because it kept winemakers on their toes.

But the court ruling, Mr. Lurton said, “puts everything into disequilibrium. It’s confusing, and it gives the sense there’s something wrong in the system.” For Mr. Despagne, he said, “it’s totally unjust — it’s like he regained heaven, and now he’s thrown back into purgatory.”

Basil Katz contributed reporting.

Basil Katz contributed reporting.

Miatech, Inc. - Winery Humidification

 

New Humidification and Bacteria Control Equipment for Wineries

Miatech, Inc., a long time manufacturer of perishable control equipment is giving new attention to wineries.  Miatech has traditionally made equipment for grocery stores, like produce misting systems, service case humidifiers for fresh meat, seafood and so on. Now they are targeting wineries.

The new Miatech technology designed for both Bacteria Control and Humidification of fresh fruit and vegetables during storage is now available for wineries.  New products have been created specifically focused on winery applications.

Miatech claims their latest equipment offers a superior design. This results in greater performance, and it’s more affordable to own and operate for wineries than choices they have had in the past.

Bacteria control equipment improves the quality of wine by eliminating airborne bacteria that can taint wine.  It further helps to prevent possible mold growth in wineries. Properly humidifying wine barrel storage areas can reduce wine evaporation by as much as 85%. The new Miatech products make these benefits more affordable for wineries than ever before.

Miatech has just launched a campaign to notify wineries about the new products being offered. An important part of this campaign is Miatech’s website with a new winery section. The new section contains specialized information for both humidification and bacteria control for wine storage.  The goal of the new campaign is to increase awareness of proper storage conditions for wine and the benefits associated with these higher standards.

Learn more at www.miatech-advantage.com or call +1 800 339 5234 at extension 133.

provided for by Miatech, Inc.

Pierce's Disease Genetic Code Cracked!

Fighting vine threat

NEW DISCOVERIES: Researchers crack genetic code of bacterium that causes Pierce's disease

By KEVIN McCALLUM
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 2:27 p.m.

KENT PORTER / The Press Democrat

Grape grower Richard Rued, checking vines Wednesday, says Pierce's disease is a persistent problem in his Dry Creek vineyards. The tell-tale sign of the infection is stunted vine growth when compared with others, at left, which are growing normally.

Researchers trying to save the California wine industry from the dreaded Pierce's disease have made a series of promising discoveries they hope will lead to a cure for the vineyard scourge.

They've cracked the genetic code of the bacterium that causes Pierce's disease and have used the information to engineer grapevines impervious to the disease.

"Those plants are quite resistant . . . in our initial studies, so it seems to work as we had hoped," said Steven Lindow, a professor of plant biology at UC Berkeley.

Lindow's discovery is one of the most promising of several breakthroughs made by researchers trying to protect California's $19 billion wine industry from the most deadly threat since the phylloxera epidemic.

Pierce's disease has been around since the 1800s, but in the late 1990s a little bug called the glassy winged sharpshooter proved more effective than any prior insect at moving the disease-causing bacterium around vineyards. It spread Pierce's Disease to hundreds of acres of vineyards in Kern County in 2001, killing them all. The industry has been on red alert ever since, warning that its spread northward was likely.

"It's a real threat," said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission. "If it got established in Sonoma County and was indeed effective at moving (the bacterium) around vineyards, it could put people out of the grape business."

The disease is already in Sonoma County, but is spread by the blue-green sharpshooter, which is less of a threat because it doesn't fly as far or eat as much as its glassy winged cousin.

To better understand and combat the disease, the state in 2001 established the Pierce's disease/Glassy Winged Sharpshooter Board, an industry group that advises the state secretary of agriculture how to spend the millions of dollars raised every year by an assessment on grape growers.

The board earlier this month lowered the assessment on growers from $1.50 per $1,000 of crop to $1. The reduction was meant to reflect economic difficulties for some growers hurt by spring frosts, and for all facing higher costs, especially gasoline.

The main reason the assessments declined is because the board decided the time has come to focus the research on turning scientific breakthroughs into solutions the industry can use, said Steve McIntyre. His business, Monterey Pacific, is one of the largest grape growers in the state.

McIntyre said Lindow's research is some of the most promising and could change the state's fight against the disease.

Lindow appears to have figured out how to disrupt the bacteria's "cell-to-cell communication," slowing the spread through the grapevines, McIntyre said.

It's exciting research because bacteria plague all kinds of crops, and this research could provide key insights that could help other industries, as well.

Lindow said he has figured out how to isolate a molecule that disease-causing bacteria use to signal one another. In essence, when it gets too crowded in a vine, the bacteria communicate with one another, slowing down their growth rate. This gives them time to spread to other areas of the vine with more food.

Lindow realized that if a bacterium could be tricked into thinking the vine is already filled with other bacteria, then it would automatically shut down.

"We're trying to confuse it into thinking it's crowded when it isn't," he said.

Now the trick is to partner with a company that can effectively help turn these scientific discoveries into a marketable cure for Pierce's disease, McIntyre said.

This could take the form of another bacterium that transfers the signal molecule into an existing vine, a spray that the vines absorb, or the creation of vines genetically modified to resist the bacterium, Lindow said.

The breakthrough is an example of how decoding genomes is living up to the hype.

"We're pretty pleased," Lindow said. "Molecular biology is pretty fantastic these days."

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.

Changing the World of Wine Journalism...One Blog at a Time

June 10, 2008 06:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

Changing World of Wine Journalism Focus of 2008 Wine Bloggers Conference

Wine Bloggers From Across America to Converge in Wine Country October 24-26

SONOMA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--America’s new wine media will gather in Sonoma County, California on October 24-26 for the first annual Wine Bloggers Conference. As the number and influence of wine bloggers grows, the Sonoma gathering will bring together hundreds of online wine scribes to discuss their impact, how to better impart information to wine lovers across the globe, and how to stake their claim as the next generation of wine media.

Organized by the OpenWine Consortium and Zephyr Wine Adventures, the three-day conference will take place at the Flamingo Resort and Spa in Santa Rosa, California. Wine Bloggers and other attendees will be treated to a series of seminars, vineyard walks, wine dinners, tasting competitions, and an exposition of mass wine blogging.

WINE BLOGGING CHANGING WINE JOURNALISM

“Wine blogging in America has exploded in terms of the number of people maintaining wine blogs as well as their impact on how wine lovers and the industry get their news,” said Joel Vincent, an organizer of the conference. “The wine blogging community has always been close knit but never had an event of its own or opportunity to all come together to discuss the state of their efforts.”

In addition to wine bloggers, the conference is open to wine industry participants and media professionals that want to learn more about the wine blogging community and how it is changing the way wine information and news is communicated.

Among the speakers at the 2008 Wine Bloggers Conference will be Alice Feiring, an award-winning writer and author who also maintains her own wine blog, and Gary Vaynerchuk, author, wine retailer and proprietor of the wildly popular Wine Library TV videoblog.

WINE BLOGGERS WIELDING INCREASED CLOUT

The sponsors of this year’s conference indicate the importance and growing influence of wine bloggers. Among those sponsoring the conference are Sebastiani Vineyards, the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau, Inertia Beverage Group, the Sonoma County Vintners Association, and the Sonoma Winegrape Commission.

“For decades wine writing and popular wine education has been dominated by a few visible critics and wine publications, yet the emergence of hundreds of wine blogs and their millions of readers is changing that old model,” explained Vincent. “Technology is changing the wine industry is covered and explored that has a broader and more democratic character. The bloggers attending this year’s conference are responsible for implementing these changes.”

More information on the 2008 Wine Bloggers Conference can be found at: http://www.winebloggersconference.com.

OpenWine Consortium is a global, non-profit wine industry association featuring the newest generation of emerging companies, wineries, publishers, services and a motivated community dedicated to changing the world of wine. Zephyr Wine Adventures is the leading provider of active hiking, biking, and multisport wine vacations in locations throughout the world.

W & S Magazine Wins 2008 James Beard Award

Provided by Wine & Spirits Magazine

David Darlington, special correspondent for Wine & Spirits Magazine, Wins 2008 James Beard Journalism Award

Magazine’s fifth James Beard Award for excellence in wine writing

(New York, NY, June 09, 2008): David Darlington, special correspondent for Wine & Spirits Magazine (W&S) has received the top honor in the 2008 “Magazine Writing on Spirits, Wine, or Beer” James Beard Journalism category for the article "Postmodern Deliciousness: The World According to Clark Smith" (W&S April 2007). The awards ceremony took place in New York City’s Hudson Theater on Friday, June 6, and marks the 21^st anniversary of the James Beard Foundation Awards.

Darlington, a nonfiction writer based in Berkeley, California, is the author of four books —In Condor Country: A Portrait of a Landscape, its Denizens and its Defenders; Zin: The History and Mystery of Zinfandel (originally titled ”Angels’ Visits”); The Mojave: A Portrait of the Definitive American Desert; and Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles. He has also written for The New York Times Magazine, Life, Outside, Audubon, Sierra, National Geographic Adventure, Bicycling, Islands, Men's Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Los Angeles Times.

Previous W&S James Beard Journalism winners include: Fiona Morrison for “Chambolle-Musigny” in 2006, David Lynch for “Total Tequila” in 2001; Rod Smith for “Purple Gold Rush” in 2000; and Michael Bonadies for “Cote de Beaune” in 1996.

Since 1996, when the James Beard Foundation initiated an award for wine writing, W&S has received 12 nominations from the influential industry body—more than any other wine magazine. Publisher and editor Joshua Greene says, “We’re pleased that David’s great work has been acknowledged by the James Beard Foundation, which continues to recognize important stories on wine.” David Darlington points out that the award “helps to shed more light on the behind-the-scenes practices that are increasingly eroding our traditional notions of wine.”

Founded in 1982, Wine & Spirits Magazine is published seven times a year and read by over 200,000 members of America’s wine community. Consumers and wine professionals read the magazine for information on wine and spirits, including articles on established and up-and-coming regions and producers, the art and science of viticulture, restaurant and industry happenings, and food and wine pairing. W&S evaluates more than 9,000 bottlings every year. Visit wineandspiritsmagazine.com for more information.

Rising Wine Prices

The weak U.S. dollar, increased oil prices, rising labor costs, little consumer brand loyalty, endless selection of wine producers to choose from, the hunt for price and value, high demand and low supply of certain wines all lead to one conclusion - the price of wine is expected to rise, especially for European wines, in the near future. 

An article in the NY times, written by Eric Asimov, explores this fearful topic further.  Check it out.

To Cork, or Not to Cork...

                               

There's an interesting article, written by John Intardonato of Wine Business, regarding the never ending cork-screw cap debate.  This past weekend, COPIA kicked off its month-long Napa Valley harvest celebration.  Along with the festivities went a friendly wine closure debate; panelists included a small group of wine industry leaders. Read More at Wine Business.