He also stated that the new wine buyers, ages 21 to 38, don’t perceive Napa (and I’d include Sonoma) as value brands. They’re buying wines from Southern France and Italy as well as imported spirits. In case you haven’t noticed, the younger generation is really getting into hard liquor and a lot of flavored types and what we once called exotic drinks. (Should I admit I’m a gin and tonic fan—with a twist, of course?)
Is it possible that the high-end wine industry ($40+ bottles) needs to rethink its whole marketing scheme? Can the cult wineries continue to play on the egos of those well-to-do clients, who may not have as much luxury money as before? And maybe I should add that they might have found some really good wines at half the price. I don’t think there’s any doubt that new marketing programs have to be centered around direct sales—tasting rooms, the Internet and such, where full retail is charged.
Small wineries are totally lost in the portfolios of big distributors and wholesalers and, with the current level of the big eating the little, the future for small ones is very bleak. Where on earth have we ever learned that bigger is always better? The wine industry is living proof worldwide that big, bottom-line companies ruin the premium wine industry. If the bottom line is the only important thing, then quality takes a back seat. It seems that Foster’s and Constellation are in a contest to see who can screw up the industry worse. Examples abound about the idiotic upper-management decisions that have been detrimental to many of their gobbled-up small- and medium-sized wineries.
Of the two big, family-owned (?) Gallo and Kendall-Jackson, things aren’t quite as clear. Gallo was recently crowned for the fifth consecutive year as the “Most powerful wine brand in the world.” Robert Mondavi, Beringer, Sutter Home, Blossom Hill and Kendall-Jackson all made The Power 100 (www.harpers.co.uk/news), a list of the most powerful wine and spirits brands, as compiled by a panel of leading industry experts who researched nearly 10,000 brands. Five of the top 10 are Australian, despite their own set of problems. The price of their wine has a major impact, I’m sure.
It’s interesting to see Kendall-Jackson on the list, but no one really knows what’s going on there. Latest sales figures indicate it was down 28 percent from the previous year. Maybe that explains why there have been several layoffs from the vineyards up to higher management. Does it explain why the racehorses have feed and the jet has fuel but it has to charge the Santa Rosa High School agriculture department for material inputs into the school vineyard that Kendall-Jackson has been extremely supportive of through the efforts of a recent casualty of the layoffs? Were the two incidents related? Perhaps we’ll never know. Could things really be so bad that $1,000 or so can affect a multi-million dollar budget? I guess things are tough all over.
As different as things seem to be around the world, it also seems nothing ever changes. At a conference at the London International Wine Fair held in mid-May, a Barcelona-based wine marketing executive made some very astute observations. First, common new media tools—like online video streaming, blogs, Facebook and Twitter—are a vital way of capturing extra business. My comment is that I think it applies to many of our local winemakers who don’t even know how to use a computer. I could name several of my personal friends who fit into that category.
Second, those who don’t use these tools will be left lagging behind. Third, “The big problem wine producers have is that, in reality, most people don’t know who they are.” Amen! Fourth, “They’re too vain and think they’re too important.” And you thought it was only in this area. Fifth, “They talk about themselves as if everybody’s life should revolve around their brand.” And sixth, “What they should be doing is putting on the bottle, ‘This is my wine, and if you have any questions then send me an email;’ wine producers should be talking to the consumer, not the critic—that’s the thrust of the problem.” Sounds like a man after my heart! By the way, the title of the talk was “Majority of winemakers living in the past.”
From yet another conference overseas comes this tidbit: “New Zealand is kicking Napa’s butt in Sauvignon Blanc. The price points are fantastic, from $8.99 to $12.99, and they’re fantastic wines.” How true on all accounts. A look at our local past also confirms this. We’ve created consumer confusion with Sauvignon Blanc right in our own backyard. We have three distinct styles on the North Coast: grassy, fruity and just not good. If a person likes the grassy style, like I do, he or she gets very frustrated with Sauvignon Blanc that’s all tropical fruit and no grass. The trouble is, I have no way of telling what’s in the bottle without trying it—I get confused and say, “The hell with it,” and head back to Pinot Gris, which wineries haven’t figured out how to screw up—yet. (I’m waiting for the oak and malolactic, since all winemakers think all white wine must taste like a buttered oak toothpick.)
Next month, I’ll continue on the consumer confusion issue, which nearly killed Zinfandel, did kill Riesling, and is now doing a great job on Syrah/Shiraz. It’s surprising that the best red wine in the world (Penfold’s Grange) can be made from this variety and we can even begin to come close. Does living in the past have anything to do with it?
OK, homework time—go to it with New Zeland Sauvignon Blanc and the Grange.
