High Scores & Gold Medals, Do They Sell Wine? –YES!

I have been in the wine business off and on since the late 1970’s and have tasted thousands of wines and visited well over 1000 tasting rooms. Some people call this work, but I know better, it’s a great fun and great practice to discern what wines I prefer to drink and what wineries I like to visit.

Wine has been an enigma to many people– a misunderstood beverage with lots of mystery. Yet, for years we are told that everybody has different tastes in wine and some wines will appeal to different people, and we should enjoy what we like! So individual opinions from “experts” really shouldn’t sway us on what wine we should like. But they do!

I was speaking with a couple of local winemakers the other night about gold medals and 90+ point scores for their wines. They both indicated that they submit their wines to a number of competitions and will regularly provide wines to influential wine writers. High scores and gold medals clearly help sell their wines. (A top score can liquidate a vintners inventory within a few days.)

Other winery owners I have spoken to feel that the days of gold medals making a substantial impact of wine sales has passed. Are there too many wine competitions and therefore too many medals? Is it overload to keep up with the latest scores? Or are we now more attuned and confident in our own ability to discover wines we like and to heck with what Mr. snooty, cork dork thinks?

Let’s go out to the wine country this week and do some research.

Cheers!

2010 Harvest

Looks like an odd year with good and not so good fruit coming in. Most is good and some is looking…..great.  The sun, or lack of it this summer, has contributed to more than a few grey hairs on growers heads.  Too cool so pull some leaves and drop some fruit.  Oh no, heat spike! Its 110 and no shade for the grape clusters. Sunburn with no sunblock.

Was that 1/2 inch of rain along the Central Coast last week. Rain in October?  Yes and those tight clusters might be showing a bit of bunch rot.  Now we are back to something more normal this week. Cool nights (low 50′s) and warm days (90-100). Most vineyards are picked now with a few late ripening varieties still hanging on.  Could be  a year of some very interesting….great?….wines. Time will tell.

Wine-ing in Walla Walla – 300 Strong

 

 

10 Am Tasting

Walla Walla Wine

Dan Fredman with Taster

Bloggers Goodie Bag

Three hundred strong. We descend on this unsuspecting village of quaint shops, wine bars, coffee counters and statues. Bloggers, wine makers, grape growers (maybe a couple), marketing gurus, importers, exporters, drinkers, writers, posers — all passionate about wine.The 3rd Annual Bloggers Conference pulled the corks early this morning with a tasting (at 10am sharp) of Washington wines along with a few interlopers from abroad. Glasses were raised, emptied, raised again and occasionally dumped. The local cabernet covered cherries paired with everything, including the rieslings, the Semillons, the gruner veltliner, sauvignon blancs, cabs, merlots, malbecs, cab francs, and the un-restrained and often subtle red blends.

The generous and sizable goodie bag brought even grown men to agony as they hefted the load between tasting tables, finally giving in to parking their Washington provided treasures. Wine books, magazines, postcards, pens, a CD from Lake Chelan Wine Valley, Hogue Cellars DVD, flash drives from Canoe Ridge, Jordan and the Secret Cherry Society, brochures, snacks and assorted swag.

And the bottles! King Estate Oregon pinot gris (a state nearby Washington with privileges), a wines.com cab from….Chile and two water bottles– one domestic (Walla Walla Wine Alliance) one from Spain.

An international collection in southeastern Washington. 300 strong

Tasting Room Managers

2010 Tasting Room Profitability Conference – April 7-8, 2010
Tasting Room Profitability provides the with the skills you need for a successful and profitable tasting room. Take part in two full days of compelling sessions by experts in and out of the wine industry presenting provocative, practical and instructive information that you can use immediately and in the future. Topics include blogging, social networking, new technologies, the latest in shipping compliance, and more. Show information.

60 or more vendors will be on site who specialize in tasting room products and services. Suppliers and manufacturers will be there, ready to introduce you to new products and take your orders – often at special show prices. You are also encouraged to bring a bottle of your winery’s finest wine to show off and share the afternoon wine reception. Network with your peers and taste wines from many parts of North America while you talk over your new ideas and concepts.

“Connection” will be the theme at the next Wine Club Summit and Tasting Room Profitability Conference and Trade Show events. Through technologies and more traditional methods, making the sale is all about how we connect in today’s marketplace. Learn innovative ideas and rediscover tried-and-true techniques to increase traffic and drive sales.

The Fall colors are no giving way to the bare wood of the vines throughout most of wine country. Some vineyards have already finished their pruning though many will wait till later in the season.

The 2009 harvest in California will be considered one tough mama. Rain, wind, frost and smoke! Fortunately the fruit that did make it in was of good quality and many vineyards were not affected buy the quadruple challenges.

So stay tuned to those barrel samples. I tried a taste of some 09 central coast Cab from the vat (no barrel yet) and……it tasted as expected–young and grapey with no off odors. Not quite ready for prime time, or prime rib, but better than the mash of fruit juice it was a few months ago.

Cheers.

New Wine Magazine with Horse Sense

EqWine Magazine will be coming out in February 2010 focusing on wine and horses in the Santa Barbara area. Publisher Teri Lee Langdon is exciting about the prospect of a large format glossy magazine that highlights the wine country and horse country lifestyle.

EqWine will be published quarterly and available for free at quality shops, hotels, restaurants, wineries and horse stables. Look for it soon. If your interested in learning more about the magazine, drop a note to the Winery Advisor at info@wineryadvisor.com

Kenneth Volk does it again.

Ken Volk Vineyards

After great success of creating and building- and then selling- the Wild Horse brand, Ken Volk has done it again with a great little winery in the Santa Maria Valley- aptly called, Kenneth Volk Vineyards.

Ken bought the old Byron Estate in the northern end of Santa Barbara County overlooking the Santa Maria Valley. The cool climate region is home to some great Pinot and Chardonnay. But Ken has “never met a grape he did not like” and is making upwards of a dozen or more wines from vineyards from San Benito, Paso Robles and his own estate Chardonnay vineyard.

The winery focuses on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but  produces Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon,  Mourvedre, Malvasia Bianca, Pinot Blanc, Tempranillo, Negrette and probably a few more that are only available in the tasting room.

5230 Tepusquet Road
Santa Maria, CA 93454
(805) 938-7896
<!– http://www.volkwines.com/
http://www.volkwines.com/wine_club/
–>info@volkwines.com

Open Friday to Sunday 10:30 to 4:30pm
Complimentary Tasting
5% discount on 6 to 12 bottles, 10% on 12 to 23 bottles and 20% on 2 cases.

Paso Robles Wine Festival

The Paso Robles Wine Festival was a hit this year with a great crowd, and some of the best wine offerings in memory. There was plenty of shade, plenty of wine and a fair amount of skin on display at this annual event.

The Friday afternoon reserve event was a treat in that you were able to actually taste some older vintages–some of it spectacular hooch. Wines three, four and even seven years old were being poured by winemakers and principle’s not just the friendly tasting room folks.

On Saturday was the grand tasting and that is when things warmed up. But the good folks and our hosts, at the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance were prepared with plenty of water stations and excellent organization. The venue is really suburb and the crowd wine loving and fun loving.

Hospice du Rhone – Wine Tasting in Paso Robles

Its time for Hospice du Rhone at the Paso Robles Event Center. Starting on Thursday night April 30 and continuing through Saturday May 2 the wine will be flowing at this international Rhone wine event.

Each year, HdR produces an exceptional three-day event that is globally regarded as the single most essential and enjoyable gathering of international Rhône wine producers and enthusiasts. Attendees expand their knowledge of the 22 Rhône varieties, while rubbing elbows with the winemakers whose passion spurs the inspiration and energy that sets the tone for every seminar, meal, and tasting. See Hospice du Rhone for more information and tickets.

Wine Tasting at Hospice du Rhone

Vintners Festival

The annual Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Festival attracts wine lovers from near and far for an opportunity to meet member vintners, taste their wines, and enjoy great food and music in a festive outdoor environment. The 2009 Vintners’ Festival will be celebrated from 1 to 4pm on Saturday April 18th at River Park in Lompoc.

The festival features the wines of our 100+ members of the Association, live and lively music, a silent auction and wine country cuisine by the area’s finest chefs.

And we’ll make a weekend out of it, celebrating the arrival of Spring with the Vintners’ Visa – a four-day pass to twelve participating wineries, each of whom will waive tasting fees and offer something special just for Visa holders.

Telephone: (805) 688-0881
information@sbcountywines.com