Wine Entrepreneurship Conference
Hola amigos,
So I had the most awesome of opportunities to attend the Wine Entrepreneur Conference in DC last week and I figured that the least I could do is share with you the insights I learned from it. Sit back, relax, and enjoy two days worth of seminars condensed down into this bite-size blog post. I realize that this post would have to be of an extraordinary length to actually fully cover all the material covered, so here are the big picture lessons.
1. Buying a vineyard = Worst Business Model Ever!!! Don’t buy a vineyard and produce wine with the intentions of making millions. I must reiterate the most classic wine business joke, “How do you make a million dollars in the wine industry…Start with 10 million!”. I will take my chances in the airline industry.
2.If you want to make wine, source the grapes, rent part of an already existing warehouse and start producing juice immediately. Not overly capital-intensive and if you can make some good enough wine and market it properly, you can grow organically and one day you can have a winery of your own. Baby Steppin’!
3. Importing is a beast horse! Lots of laws, lots of time trying to sell your product in your market, very little time traveling around the world sourcing products aka writing off awesome vacations. It’s one of those ‘if it was easy, everybody would be doing it’ kinda things.
4. Wine Journalism=Super Fun…but hard to monetize (though becoming easier).
5. Can’t underestimate the power of social media in the wine industry. Just ask Hardy Wallace.
6. How do you combine the aesthetic and rigidity of a glass bottle with the sustainability of an aluminum can? That’s right- The Aluminum Bottle…aka the way of the near future.
Can’t wait until next year!
Ribera…I miss you!
Part Tres: Ribera del Duero
Yeah Boy!!! Flavor Flav loves the Ribera del Duero and I bet you can’t guess why.
It’s the FLAVOR!!! This is hedonism at its best for an Old World junkie like myself (the old-school European juice).
The details: Spain is technically an old world wine producing country since it is part of Europe and has centuries-old growing culture. However, Spain tends to be a little bit warmer than the majority of its counterparts and also has a preference for American oak for the aging process, so the wines are more reminiscent of new world examples than most of its old world counterparts. This is not true across the board because nothing is true across the board in the wine world- it would make it too simple. The wine world feeds off complication- you could say it is its life force. Moving on. Ribera del Duero is comprised predominantly of Tempranillo and represents a more full-bodied, fruit-forward style of wine but still manages to show secondary (non-fruit) flavors and aromas while maintaining its sense of balance and structure.
Huh? Let’s just say new world wine is visiting the old world and happens to be tearin’ up the discotheque. New world wine happens to meet old world wine and is enamoured by her European ways and of course, the accent. Old world wine is taken by the brazen, spunky style of new world wine and they hang out all evening. One things leads to another and after a little too much to drink, out pops Ribera del Duero nine months later. The beautiful little baby lived with old world wine but was largely influenced by new world wine and what blossomed was a cross of the two. It’s a beautiful story I will tell my kids every night as they fall asleep, assuming they aren’t living with old world wine. Then I will tell them every other weekend.
I think I’m digressing. The point of this post is big, soul-warming reds and Ribera del Duero is one of the gratifying winter delights. The prices for these wines range from very reasonable to mind-boggling pricey. Here’s a list of my recommendations but these are just the ones that have proven themselves to me over the course of time. Salut!
Vina Sastre
Atalayas
Pesquera
Vega Sicilia- the godfather of Ribera
These producers offer a range of wines from reasonable to over-the-top expensive. Enjoy!
Ballstein
To Bordeaux or Bor-don’t
Part Deux: Bordeaux
I’ve spent nearly 3 months over the past 2 years of my life in Bordeaux, attending the ’07 en primeur tastings in one of my stints. Though I had never gravitated towards Bordeaux, it provided an opportunity for me to really sink my teeth into the region. So enjoy my personal take on one of the most highly revered wine producing regions of the world.
Here’s the skinny- cheap Bordeaux sucks (this post is specific to reds- I think white Bordeaux is highly underrated). This region produces more wine than any other region of France, mainly accomplished by growing grapes on inappropriate plots of land and high yields (lower the yield, more concentrated the nutrients). What entails is shit tons of insipid plonk (1 shit ton = 1 metric ton).
…HOWEVER, when Bordeaux is great, it is sublime and will probably necessitate a 2nd mortgage. That’s not exactly true but expect to drop a couple bills and I’m not talking about the Hamiltons (Lazy Sunday reference). Why so much you ask? Well, here’s the problem: Bordeaux experiences vast vintage variations and the wines are priced accordingly. For example, Lafite Rothschild’s average price for the ‘05 is $790, while the ’06 is $419 and the ’07 is $212 according to wine-searcher.com. The reality is that the pricing is based on the perceived overall quality of the wine and these indicators tend to be fairly accurate except when the vintage is exalted as the greatest ever. How can one region have already experienced two vintages of the century in the first 6 years of the 21st? Hmmm…I think not! From my experience, it is worth spending the money on the better vintages because I don’t care what the name is, a horrible vintage will at best produce a mediocre wine. However, don’t necessarily buy into the hype either. Moral of the story- learn all the good to great vintages and stick to them (see below) but don’t overpay just because the press tells you to.
I will admit that I have come across a few estates that produce solid examples in the better vintages that are reasonably priced- around $20-$25 retail, but these are the exceptions. Two wines that I particularly keep an eye out for are Château Greysac and Croix-Mouton. However, as soon as any estate starts receiving recognition in the press, the price seems to immediately double. Cos d’Estournel at the turn of the century is a prime example.
I hope this post doesn’t scare any winos away from Bordeaux but if you are a curious consumer like me, you have experienced a painful amount of shwaggy juice from Bordeaux. If you do your homework though, you could stumble upon a glorious bottling that satiates all of your desires. In reality, this is the adventurous connoisseur’s raison d’ être after all.
Ballstein
2000: ‘Vintage of the Century’ #1
2001: Good vintage that is overshadowed by the 2000’s
2002: Another solid vintage that lives in the shadows- excellent values
2003: Very hot season produced extracted, opulent wines. Good if you prefer that style.
2004: Uneven vintage- buyer beware
2005: ‘Vintage of the Century’ #2
2006: Solid vintage that is outshined by the ’05’s; Approachable in style
2007: Avoid
2008: Better than ’07 but uneven- be skeptical
Brunello=Dr. Pepper?
The holidays are over and for us at Social, that means it is time keep working.… and keep drinking and serving the juice. There are no breaks in the F & B biz and that’s how we like it. Eye on the Prize. Eye on the Prize.
In Charleston, we live in a lovely moderate climate where we experience cold weather for about 4 weeks a year (for those readers who are based in the North, you would laugh at our version of cold btw). Well, it hasn’t broken 50 degrees in a few days and is supposed to continue through the end of the week (told you that you would laugh!), so it’s time for BIG, BOLD REDS- the soul-warming kind that heats your body from the inside out. Or maybe it’s just the naturally higher alcohol content of these wines numbing your senses. Doesn’t matter- you don’t notice your frostbitten toes either way.
So onto the juice…there are way too many varietals and wines to discuss in just one entry, so we are going to break this topic up into digestible blocks by writing about whatever varietal I feel like writing about (we apply a highly structured and scientific method to how we go about this obviously).
Part 1
Today’s inspiration is Brunello di Montalcino!!!
I tasted a Brunello over the weekend and was reminded by how much I love these wines. This might be my favorite brawny wine in the world- more so than great Bordeaux or certain super-Tuscans. Define brawny you say…well how about medium + to full-bodied wines with obvious tannins that show a darker fruit profile. Examples include Cab Sauv, Merlot, Syrah/Shiraz, Malbec, Tempranillo, etc…
Back to the Brunello…These wines are based on one of the hundred mutations of Sangiovese, local to Montalcino and must be aged for at least 4 years before release. The most notable occurrence from the region is the controversy regarding the ‘03s where certain producers were caught blending in Cab Sauv and Merlot to their Brunellos (by law, it must be 100% Brunello). Like all good scandals, the big boys were busted and punished and the little guys were heralded for staying true to the traditions of the land. You know, like Braveheart but the hero isn’t tortured to death and the little guys retain their freedom. Alright, it’s nothing like Braveheart but that movie kicked ass.
So why do I love Brunello? Simple, for the same reason why I love the wines I do: complexity, transcendental aromatics, proper balance and structure, long, soulful finish, age worthiness and most importantly, uniqueness. Great examples of Brunello incorporate every single one of these aspects. These full-bodied wines with aggressive tannins, particularly when young, have a flavor profile that remind me of yes, Dr. Pepper. One could say that DP’s 23 flavors are a testament to the complexity of Brunello. Regardless, every time I drink Brunello, I am transported back to my childhood, sipping on my favorite soda (this could account for my partial fascination with it) because being a kid again, even for a hot minute, rocks. I could wane on with a painful descriptive tasting note but you are going to have to trust me and a majority of the world’s wine aficionados that there exists nothing else like awesome Brunello, so drop the $50-$100 (retail) and prepare to be overwhelmed by its awe-inspiring aromatic and flavor profile, while slowly slipping back into your budding, adolescent state. Time for a game of tag.
Ballstein
One Note: Brunellos need to be decanted.
