Tag Archive for 'wines'

The Road to Recovery

Published on February 4, 2010 in Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Wine industry insiders forecast a slow road to recovery in 2010, but focusing on value will prove to be beneficial for wineries and set them up for long term success.

The worst of the drop in U.S. consumer spending appears over, said Brian Lechner, a client director with The Nielsen Company, which tracks American spending and entertainment viewing habits.

“But we’re kind of on the slow road to recovery,” he said.

A “new normal” is emerging in dining trends, he said. Consumers are dining out less, especially at white tablecloth restaurants that offer high-end wines.

Shoppers also are looking for deals, with sales “stellar” for wines priced from $3 to $6. But some shoppers also are “trading up,” and many stores are strongly promoting wines at $20 a bottle.

“I think that’s a pretty positive trend for wine,” Lechner said. The wineries that recognize the changes in consumer spending will succeed in the near term, he said.

Read the rest of the article here

Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

The “New Normal”

Published on January 21, 2010 in Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

An insider’s peek at the wine industry’s “new normal.”  The economy has shifted consumer’s consumption patterns. 

Santa Rosa, Calif. — Say goodbye to a year of economic freefall and hello to what analysts describe as “the new normal.” Its key feature: Fragile consumers who are less interested in spending their money than in repairing their balance sheets.

For the wine industry, that translates into slow growth, lower prices and younger fans who are drinking more at home than at fancy restaurants.

Industry analysts gathered here Friday to presents results of new consumer studies conducted by the Wine Market Council and The Nielsen Company. They’ll repeat the presentations in New York on Tuesday and Dallas on Friday.

“The economy has been a bear to deal with, but the worst is over,” said Danny Brager, who leads the Nielsen’s Beverage Alcohol Client Service team. “Now we’re on the slow road to recovery.”

What’s next along the road is still anybody’s guess. Navigating these tricky times will require careful study of consumer behavior and individual market segments.

“Growth opportunities exist, but you have to have a specific strategy,” Brager told Wines & Vines after the presentation. “You have to figure out which channels are working, what’s the new pulse.”

In 2009, Americans went out less frequently, causing restaurant wine sales to fall, but developed a heightened interest in cooking—and drinking— at home.

Retail wine sales increased, as did the range of stores interested in selling liquor, and for good reason: Adding wine to the mix at shopping clubs, discount stores, drug and convenience stores adds $30 to the average shopping basket.

The increase in retail outlets may have boosted wine sales volumes, but it may also have added pressure to already falling prices. Discounters and drug stores rely on price competition to lure shoppers, and aren’t shy about starting price wars. A growing number are also introducing store brands, which cost less than namebrand labels, while also delivering higher profit margins.

“Some of the chains are moving toward stocking just the No. 1 and No. 2 national brands,” replacing all the rest with their own brands, Brager said. Trader Joe’s “Two Buck Chuck” led the way, paving the way for 7-11’s $3.99 Yosemite Road wines and Costco’s impressive Kirkland portfolio, which includes Cabernets from Rutherford in Napa Valley and Sonoma’s Alexander Valley, as well as Sonoma County Chardonnays.

Global wine surpluses, combined with scaled back consumption, have contributed to discounting at all levels, said Chris Fehrnstrom of Constellation Wines U.S.

“A lot of wine needs to move through the marketplace,” he said. Bottles that once sold for $12.99 have been discounted to $9.99, while $24.99 bottles dipped to $19.99.

Bill Cascio of Glazer’s Family of Companies has seen $60 bottles on sale for $49.99, and $100 bottles that have dipped to $80. He expects the discounting to continue.

“It won’t stop the brand building process, but it will be hard to build new brands,” he said. “When times get tough, people turn to the tried and true…”

Full Article

Marketing Quality for Value

Published on January 20, 2010 in Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I recently read through a few Wine Spectator Magazines that I had been hoarding in a pile in the corner of my room through December for my Holiday Vacation.  I found a common thread of the celebration of varietal diversity that the wine world has to offer.  As both a consumer and winery professional, I find it extremely beneficial that mainstream print media glorifies the existence of such diversity and goes to great lengths to highlight these pockets and educate its readers.

One such issue I’m referring to specifically is Wine Spectator’s most recent annual Top 100 issue.  Striking a chord for me from the get go I was intrigued by a couple of published readers’ comments, or “Letters.”  As a wine marketer I am continually throwing myself in the mix of what consumers view as popular in the marketplace.  Hence why I am always drawn to the sections in the beginnings of wine or food magazines that publish feedback from readers themselves.  These consumers who have had their letters published have closely examined and read through their previous issues of Wine Spectator, reflected, and provided their own opinions.  In other words, educated consumers are reflecting on information they have been given through print, digested the information, and written a response that in turn further educates other consumers who read the magazine.

This feedback system is something that has garnered immense popularity recently for online blogs.  While the web-based system operates in real time, it is essentially based on the same idea that magazines have been putting out for decades – a place for readers to respond and an avenue for personal opinion.  Of course there is more of a filter on print magazines since they operate as a finished and tangible condensed piece of literature than blog feedback, which is continually transforming and changing on the web.

Back to my original point, I was excited by a couple of notes in particular regarding the diversity of the world of wine…

“There’s an ocean of superb red wine out there that readily fills the Napa Cabernet void at a fraction of the price.  As people move into this domain, what will be their incentive to pay a much higher price for Napa Cabs even after the economy improves?”

Not that I personally have anything at all against Napa Cabs, that is not my point.  My point is that we are at an exciting time in the wine industry, albeit financially challenging with the economy.  The opportunity to market quality for value (something that has remained an important aspect of the Santa Barbara Winery business model since its beginnings in 1962), is very apparent.  Consumers are more apt to explore the market for the best wines that they can get while also keeping price in mind.  It is a great thing for consumers to educate themselves on what is out there and be aware of the enormous selection of wines at prices that afford everyday consumption over meals.

PS. Does anybody else find it strange that blog still shows up as a mis-spelled word in my recently updated Microsoft Word spell check?

Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

2008 Late Harvest Riesling

Published on December 27, 2009 in Santa Barbara Winery. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Wine to try at the end of your New Years Eve Dinner Party: 2008 Santa Barbara Winery Late Harvest Riesling (28.00 / 375 ml)

Dessert wines are delicious and give us just one more reason to sit around the table with family and friends for a little bit longer… Bruce McGuire is known to produce some of the best dessert wines in Santa Barbara County.

Lafond Vineyard’s Riesling vines were originally planted in 1972. Our long, cool growing season enables firm acids to develop which highlight the flavor intensity that makes this a wonderful full-bodied example of a noble grape we feel is underappreciated in the world.

Extended hang time on the vines helped to produce a wonderfully rich, yet elegant and clean dessert wine with an extraordinary balance of acids and sugars. 

Riesling is a popular late harvest dessert wine when grown in the right conditions that will allow sugars to develop, while also maintaining the necessary acidity, very low pH, to keep the resulting wine fresh. 

Alcohol is kept low to showcase the purity of fruit courtesy of the Sta. Rita Hills long growing season. In its youth, the 08 Late Harvest Riesling showcases aromas of orange blossom, honeyed pear, and burnt sugar. 

On the palate, stone fruits intermingle and rich viscosity is balanced by crisp acidity. The finish is long and mouth coating, leaving behind a clean feeling that is far from cloying. Serve slightly chilled in small glasses with a Rustic Peach or Pear Tart..

Wine Flaws: Corked?

Published on December 27, 2009 in Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Wine Spectator’s James Laube explains what a “corked” bottle of wine is in the below excerpt from its extensive website.  Learning to identify a corked bottle of wine comes with some experience, but once you are able to identify the signs and smell of cork taint you will be able to identify it when it presents itself.  

Wine Flaws: Cork Taint and TCA

James Laube, Wine Spectator staff
Posted: January 9, 2007

You’ve opened a bottle of wine that’s supposed to be outstanding. But when you put your nose to the glass, it smells like something you pulled out from a forgotten corner of a damp basement. What’s the problem? Most likely it’s TCA.

What is it? 
TCA stands for 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, a chemical so powerful that even in infinitesimal amounts it can cause musty aromas and flavors in wines. The compound forms through the interaction of plant phenols, chlorine and mold. It most frequently occurs in natural corks (TCA can even form on tree bark) and is transferred to the wine in bottle–which is why wines with these off-aromas are often called “corky.” But the taint can originate elsewhere in wineries, where damp surfaces and chlorine-based cleaning products are commonplace; barrels, wooden pallets, wood beams and cardboard cases are all sources of phenols. If TCA goes undiscovered, it can spread and eventually taint the wines.

How do I recognize it? 
Although TCA taint poses no health concerns for wine drinkers, it can ruin a wine. At higher levels, it makes a wine smell moldy or musty, like cardboard, damp cement or wet newspapers. At its worst, the wine is undrinkable. At lower levels, TCA taint merely strips a wine of its flavor, making normally rich, fruity wines taste dull or muted, without imparting a noticeable defect. This can leave drinkers disappointed in a wine without being able to pinpoint why.

Experts say people vary widely in their ability to perceive TCA in wine, depending on their genetics and experience. Some cork producers claim that levels of 6 or even 10 parts per trillion (ppt) are acceptable, as many people won’t notice TCA at this level. However, research in Europe and at the University of California, Davis, indicates that some tasters can detect TCA at 1 ppt to 2 ppt, and a rare few can perceive it at even lower levels. People with higher threshold levels may perceive an off characteristic without being able to identify it.

There is no legal standard for acceptable TCA levels in wine.

How common is it? 
As with thresholds of perception, estimates of TCA-taint frequency in vary widely. The number typically ranges from 1 percent to 15 percent of all wines, depending on whether it comes from closure manufacturers, vintners or another source. Wine Spectator’s Napa office tracks the number of “corky” bottles in tastings of California wines, and the percentage of defective corks routinely runs at 15 percent. At the magazine’s California Wine Experience in 2004, the team of sommeliers who screened the wines for the seminars reported that the occurrence of “corky” bottles was 4 percent to 12 percent. The cork industry has a different estimate of cork failure: typically 1 percent to 2 percent.

Learning how to identify a corked bottle of wine is an important step in becoming an educated consumer of wine.

Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

Happy Holidays!

Published on December 24, 2009 in Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

From all of us at Santa Barbara Winery and Lafond Winery & Vineyards we would like to wish you a very happy and safe holiday season.  We have an extensive selection of wines suitable for pairing and serving at your holiday meals.  Our tasting room staff is here to answer any questions on pairings and to give recommendations while tasting through our line up. 

Both tasting rooms are open daily from 10am-5pm.  We are open today (Christmas Eve) until 5pm for any last minute Christmas shopping or wine tasting.  We are closed Christmas Day and New Years Day.

Have a Happy Holiday!

~ From the Santa Barbara and Lafond Winery Family

Wine as Gift, “The Pleasure Principle in Wine Giving”

Published on December 22, 2009 in Gifts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

“The Pleasure Principle in Wine Giving,” an article from a recent issue of the LA Times.  

Discussing wine as gifts – both business and personal, the stigma of price, and an “obligation towards deliciousness.”

Today is the last day for shipping using our standard 2 Day Shipping Rate ($9.50 flat) to arrive by Christmas.

As you look back on the year, you’ve probably had a glass of wine that’s bonked you squarely in the pleasure center and made you say, “Sweet Lord, now I’m in trouble,” or at the very least, “Whoa, there’s more to this stuff than I thought.” We’ve become a culture that is routinely snared in wine’s prodigious, transformative powers. Not only do we delight in sampling as many bottlings as we can, we’re buying the books, attending the tastings, filling the wine bars and pestering the sommeliers. We don’t just drink wine; we’re engaged by it.

That engagement is certainly something worth sharing, which is why, more than ever, it makes sense to give wine as a holiday gift. Of course, your average wine gift is rarely an average wine. On the other hand, neither does it have to be too expensive or froufrou. Indeed, there are worthy bottles at every price point that fill the bill for any recipient, from office-mates to bedmates, from bosses to mothers-in-law. And if you take as your baseline that wine that bonked you to begin with, you’ll be in better shape than you think.

For bosses and associates

When it comes to the wine you give to a boss or business associate, so often the selection has less to do with what’s in the bottle and more with what it says on the label, how it looks, how it makes you look, what it signifies and what it costs. You may like the person, you may not, but in this case you have to pretend that you do, sometimes elaborately.

For this reason, the wine gift in business is usually fraught with baggage surrounding price. It isn’t enough to give something good; the bottle has to also be extravagant enough that you don’t appear cheap. Sadly, this ignores the fact that a wine’s price often has little to do with its potential to please someone.

Those of you who need to spend $150 on a Napa Cabernet, be my guest. But why not spend that same buck and a half on two or three well-selected bottles? …

Click Here for the full article

Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

More on Global Warming and Wine

Published on December 22, 2009 in Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Following up to my entry on reflections of and recalling Steve Heimoff’s (renowned wine writer and blogger) comments regarding Global Warming, I came across another article to begin to really drive home the fact that this occurrence will significantly effect wine grape growing in the next century and beyond.  

STANFORD, Calif., Dec. 16 (UPI) — Stanford University scientists say they’ve determined global warming could significantly negatively impact U.S. wine and corn production.

The researchers, led by Assistant Professor Noah Diffenbaugh said global warming has made the early arrival of spring commonplace across the planet.

“Our experiment is unprecedented,” he said. “It’s the first time a climate model has been applied at such spatial and temporal detail over such a long period of time.”

The researchers concluded, among other things, global warming could reduce the current U.S. wine grape region by 81 percent by the end of the century — primarily because of a projected sharp increase in the frequency of extremely hot days. They also determined that by the end of the 21st century, warmer growing seasons and milder winters could increase the population and geographic range of the corn earworm, an insect that preys on corn, tomatoes and other cash crops…

Click Here for the full article

Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

The Impact of Global Warming on Wine

Published on December 17, 2009 in Joanie Hudson. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

The topic of global warming  has some people scratching their heads, some naysayers denying its existence, and some grape growers concerned for the future.  Global warming is occurring, and the consequences could be enormous for all walks of life.  Climate is one of the most influential factors in determining a) the quality of grapes grown in the vineyard and b) what grapes to plant in certain climates.  For example, in the Sta. Rita Hills where Lafond Vineyard is planted, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay flourish in the cool climate, benefitting from coastal breezes.  Up in Napa Valley, where days get hotter, Cabernet Sauvignon is king.  So what happens when temperatures start to slowly creep up?  Everything is thrown off balance, and perhaps valleys or hillsides that were once deemed inappropriate for planting grapes will become the new hot spots.  There is no way to get around the impact of climate change for grape growers.  

Steve Heimoff, of Wine Enthusiast Magazine, has one of my favorite wine blogs on the web right now.  He has some interesting notes on this topic in today’s post (see below and visit his website for the full article).  If you are a reader of wine blogs, make sure to check his out.

The climate change deniers, bless their dumb little hearts, are getting lots of buzz lately, but I’ll side with the scientists, the majority of whom are absolutely sure that warming is occurring and that it’s getting dangerously too late to do anything about it.

The latest — as if we didn’t have enough evidence — comes from Stanford, where UPI is reporting that a team led by Noah Diffenbaugh “say they’ve determined global warming could significantly negatively impact U.S. wine and corn production.” (I’m not going to write here about corn except to say that I love it when it’s ripe in the summertime and will miss it if it goes away.) They go on to say that “global warming could reduce the current U.S. wine grape region by 81 percent by the end of the century” due to hotter and hotter days in wine country like California’s, which, in places like Napa Valley, is already pretty hot.

(Diffenbaugh presents his formal study today at an American Geophysical Union held in Moscone Center and I’m sure it will be widely reported.)

It’s not just that excessive heat could make even coastal valleys inappropriate for delicate varieties, like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. A warming climate could upset the ecosystem in much more fundamental ways. Science Daily describes how,“if spring-like weather arrives earlier than usual, and flowers bloom and wither before the pollinators [like bees] appear,”then wines might not even produce fruit. Earlier, scientists had calculated that a rise of only 2-4 degrees Celsius in grape regions could cause “losses [to be] be as high as 40 percent by mid-century.” In a previous study, Diffenbaugh determined that temperatures “from the principal wine regions of California, Oregon and Washington” already have risen in recent years by nearly 1 degree Celsius, and that was before some of the hottest years on record were yet to come.

Click Here for the rest of the article

Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards