Is the wine industry telling us the truth?

‘When we read wine recommendations and reviews, there’s an implicit trust that the points awarded, the glowing terms used, and the research that’s been done is all for us, the consumer, so we can make an informed choice.’ Michael McKenzie, ABC Radio National

‘I don’t think the consumer or the reader understands the co-dependent relationship that now exists between wine producer and wine media.’ Angie Bradbury, Wine Communicators of Australia

Looks like we had the right idea: this is what we said when we launched Best Wines Under $20: ‘We don’t go to the fancy lunches, dinners and launch events the wine industry puts on. It’s much easier to shoot straight when you’re not partying on the gravy train with the people who wine and dine you.’

A friend alerted me to a discussion led by Michael McKenzie on ABC Radio National, on the subject of Ethics in Wine Journalism, under the title Lifting The Veil On Wine Journalism. The panel included Max Allen and Mike Bennie, the publisher of James Halliday’s Wine Companion Simon McKeown, media ethicist and journalist Dr Denis Muller, and the chair of Wine Communicators of Australia, Angie Bradbury.

‘Wineries can’t buy their way in’

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Exciting time or waste of time? 

These are the days of miracle and wonder … (Paul Simon)

Exciting new grape varieties have been making waves across our lakes of surplus wine, led by the Italians: Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Fiano, Arneis and Vermentino. Then we’re seeing more Tempranillo from Spain, Lagrein & Gruner Veltliner from Austria, Tannat from South Western France and Saparavi from Georgia.

The question I can hear some of you are asking is this: are these just new fad varieties for sommeliers to amuse themselves with and confound their clientele, or do they actually have some merit? Before we answer that question, a little history will help shed some perspective on this subject.

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The best and worst ways to buy wine

We did a lot of thinking before we set up this site, about what it should be and what it shouldn’t be. We had already figured out the best way to buy wine: online, when the right wine comes up at the right price. The worst way to buy wine is to grab a bottle on the way home at the LaLaLand store attached to a Coles supermarket, or at a bottle shop on the way to a BYO restaurant.

The next worst way to buy wine is to wander through a Dan Murphy’s store, as we’ve observed people doing, see an interesting wine and get on your mobile to check the reviews. Sure, the Wine Companion and now the Winefront have smartphone apps to make this process easier, but it’s still the second worst way to buy wine. Why? Because most of the time you‘ll find mixed reviews, then you look for a different wine and repeat the process, and eventually you end up making a rushed decision because you’ve run out of time.

Our lists of Best Wines Under $10, $15, $20 and $25 are a better bet, because we’ve sorted through oceans of wine to select the best in each price group. You can go into a bottle shop and look for wines on these lists, but it’s easier to do it from the comfort of your PC at home or at work. The lists include direct links to the retailer with the best price, so you can order online and have the wine delivered.

Chance favours the prepared mind

Smart shoppers don’t buy stuff when they need it. They buy stuff they know they’ll need or want in the near future, when the price is right. I buy my favourite olive oil or coffee or chocolate when they’re on special, not when I’ve run out. I buy wine the same way: when the right wine comes up at the right price. Some recent examples:

• Late last year, McGuires in Brisbane had Yealands Land Made Sauvignon Blanc 2012 on sale for $9 a bottle. Don’t ask why. We already knew and loved the wine so we jumped on 2 dozen. Normal best price is about $15.
• A few months ago, Dan M’s decided to clear their stocks of Leconfield Cabernet Merlot 2012 at $79 a six-pack delivered. A trophy-winning $22 Coonawarra red from a top maker for $13 delivered to your front door.
• We bought a case of Heirloom Riesling for $14 a bottle (usually $20+) when Winedirect had a 30% off sale. We also grabbed Tim Adams Cabernet Malbec 2007 for the same silly money.
• A few weeks ago, I bought cases of my favourite German beer – König Pilsener at 1^st Choice when they were selling it for $25 (24 bottles)

There are many more examples I could give. Chance favours the prepared mind, they say. Most of you will have some wine in the house, in a cellar or under the stairs or under a bed. Make sure you have enough to last a few weeks, and then you can jump on the good deals when they come along.

That’s where the BWU$20 weekly mailer and the billboard are a real help: you’ll know about the best deals going, and you can choose the ones that suit you. And remember, you have more time to check wines out at work or at home, and it’s quicker on a real PC.

The smart way to buy online

You don’t have to buy dozens any more to get the best price either. With the big guys – Dan Murphys, VC and 1^st Choice – it’s six-packs these days, and some of the smaller guys are following suit: Bayfields in Sydney, McGuires in Brisbane, and Different Drop (online). MyCellars in Adelaide has an even better offer for BWU$20 subscribers: they’ll ship any quantity – even a couple of bottles – for nothing at the maximum discount if you use promo code BWU20 at the checkout.

Different Drop ships orders over $150 for free. Winesellersdirect and Winestar ship dozens for free to almost anywhere in Australia. You’ll find details for the rest in our post Buying Wine Online – the smart way to shop. And we’ve listed the online merchants we trust in this post Online Wine merchants – the Good, Bad & Ugly.

Kim

I received an email from a new subscriber this week asking that question, and it’s not the first time subscribers and people in the industry have asked it, so maybe it’s time for an answer.

I just came across your website on Google. I like it, but it’s a very slick site and you have no ads or subscription charges, so how is it funded?

• Click-throughs to vendors?
• Selling your subscriber list?
• Freebies from wine makers?

Then came the big question: What’s the catch?

I guess it’s a sign of the times that we’ve come to expect a catch. We all know the saying: If something is too good to be true, it usually is, and there are lots of websites and businesses out there that make big promises which turn out to have endless strings attached, or pages of fine print that turn the promise into a very limited offer with a dozen dependencies.

An example of this is Dan Murphy’s promise to match any competitor’s prices, which has a lot of limitations in very fine print – see our post Nobody Beats Dan Murphy’s?. On the other side of the fence, we have independent wine merchants like John Cox of Bond’s Corner Fine Wines putting a sign outside his shop saying he’ll match any price at Dan Murphy’s. There’s no fineprint and no catch here except that John doesn’t sell any of the wines Dan Murphy’s sells.

Our Business Model?

We’ve had affiliate offers – commissions on sales made by subscribers clicking through to wine merchants’ sites, and offers for advertising. We’ve rejected both to safeguard our independence, which is one of BWU$20’s distinguishing features. Another subscriber commented on the fact that we sometimes put the advice AVOID in our reviews, saying he’d never seen that before.

We want to retain our ability to say: AVOID this wine, it’s poison. We do accept samples from wineries and retailers, but we choose most of the samples, and we still buy many samples of wines we want to review because we want to have some control over the wines we review. Otherwise we’re just like other reviewers who review all the samples that land on their doorsteps.

Yes, there is a catch but not for now

Those of you in marketing will be familiar with the saying: the money is in the list. We’re building a strong list of subscribers, that is true, but we have no intention of selling it to anyone. We love what we’re doing here, and the terrific feedback we get from so many of you. Instead, our plan is to ask you for a small contribution down the track – around $20 – $25 a year – to continue receiving the weekly mailer, and to have access to our BEST lists and Billboard.

This site is a lot of work, and we have big plans which need solid funding long term. In the meantime, please continue to enjoy everything we offer for free.

Kim

By guest contributor and industry veteran Brian Miller

‘It’s a turn-around jump shot, 

It’s everybody jump start, 

It’s every generation throws 

A hero up the pop chart … ‘

Paul Simon, The Boy In The Bubble

A leading sommelier wrote: ‘[This] might be seen as self-indulgent – and probably quite rightly – however, I’m trying to convey that these producers are not trendy in my eyes – simply, they are my friends and they are making fantastic wines that I’m proud to stock and serve.’

The wine world has not changed all that much – only some of the names, labels, closures and beards. It’s not only big wine companies that sommeliers spurn, it’s any established, familiar brands, styles or companies, however venerable.

A generation or so ago, renowned restaurants wanted the then new radicals on their wine lists – Cloudy Bay, Cullen, Petaluma, Rockford. A Penfolds restaurant rep at that time complained that she couldn’t get any wines from her premium portfolio on to restaurant wine lists except for Grange.

To circumvent this trend, big companies bought out small ones – Coldstream, St Hallett, Yarra Burn – or invented their own discrete “boutique” labels – Annie’s Lane, Robertson’s Well, Pepperjack.

In another generation today’s funky, feral breed of wines will be gone, forgotten, bought out or successful, mainstream and old news. Future wine bars will disdain them for the latest new thing – ultra-clinical Rkatsiteli from Ningxia self-served from dispensing machines and paid for via a surgically implanted silicon chip.

Meanwhile it may prove worthwhile for traditional wine companies to allow their winemakers to experiment with some ‘natural’ styles. Small quantities, unconventional labels, sold young at cellar-door, with sommelier-friendly potential. Fermentation eggs and amphorae are already appearing at some most conservative companies.

The hyphenated CEO of a large-ish family wine company recently wryly commented, ‘Natural wine will die a natural death.’ He may be right, and I share his apprehension about quality challenges emerging in that segment, but in the meantime a generation is a long time to wait for exoneration.

I suggested to a winemaker in transition that he not rip out his newly acquired chardonnay wines just yet but consider making something different from them, perhaps with skin-contact, not orange (please) but at least “textured”.

He replied, ‘I’m already working on it.’

More on this subject in our post The Retail and Restaurant Disconnect

It’s a strange business, the wine business. On one hand, we have Treasury Wine Estates, a giant teetering under the enormous weight of his plundered treasure. On the other, we have small wineries started by people with little more than faith and vision making great wines and flourishing.

The point was driven home once again when we attended a trade tasting at NSW-based fine wine distributor Young and Rashleigh. In our piece on The Retail and Restaurant Disconnect, we made the point that fine wine distributors tend to source wines that you won’t find at Woolworths or Coles. That’s what made this tasting interesting.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Australia is the lucky country because we can buy virtually hand-made wines from dry-grown fruit off single vineyards for around $20 a bottle. In Europe, wines like these are at the top of the hierarchy and generally unaffordable.

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That first impression grew as I worked my way around the tables of Chardonnays at Sixty Darling Street last Saturday. The overall quality of the wines I tasted – mostly under $25 – was as even as a perfect equation, and high.

Radovan and Rosa have moved the bulk of their stock to a warehouse and now have 2 rooms at the back of the store for tastings. The space isn’t huge but it wasn’t as squeezy as I expected. They stock many labels you won’t see many other places, and good on them for that. On the downside, there’s no functioning website so you’ll have to shop the old way:

Sixty Darling Street Fine Wines – 02 9818 3077 – sales@wineroom.com.au

In my notes I’ve focused on the best wines I found here in our price rang, and listed them in ascending price order.

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Winestate Magazine’s Big Event is a real Challenge for Consumers

Why? Because the winners are hard to find out there. Their prices are pretty steep already, and there’s no discount relief in retail land because you won’t find these wines there. Please stay with me and I’ll explain. Winestate collects over 500 wines from all over the world every year and chooses the best overall, plus the best in various price groups. Let’s go down the list:

1^st place overall: Bird in Hand Nest Egg Shiraz 2010 – $108 at Cellarit . After a long hunt, I found some of the wine at this unfamiliar site. Parker’s rating for the wine is 91 points so it may not be worth over $100. The 2012 is on the winery’s website for $99

2^nd place overall: Guigal Ex voto Ermitage 2010. Cannot find an Australian source for this wine, and there’s no sign of anyone importing it. Overseas listing suggest a price around US$200.

3^rd place overall – Wolf Blass Medlands Vineyard Platinum Label Shiraz 2010 – $199 / case at the winery. No, it’s not a misprint but it’s a one-bottle case. It’s only fitting that Wolfie’s best comes in its own box and wears a bow tie.

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That’s the heading of a post Huon Hooke has written, partly as a follow-up to his piece in the SMH on Sommeliers trying to outdo each other with ever more obscure wines. Huon says ‘it seems as though retailers and restaurants inhabit two separate worlds. The problem for the drinker is that when you discover a wine you like in a restaurant, and later try to buy a bottle from the retail trade, you can find it impossible.’

Huon quotes one sommelier who told him that ‘retail was poison to any wine,’ and that many sommeliers would not consider stocking wines that were also sold through regular retail outlets. Huon says he received emails from readers who ‘felt ripped off in restaurants where they bought an obscure, often imported, wine only to later find out the wine’s retail price was a fraction of the restaurant’s price.’ More here.

There’s nowhere to hide

I had a similar experience when I approached several fine wine distributors for samples. One was frank enough to tell me that most of their sales went into restaurants, and therefore it wasn’t in his interest to have his customers find out that they could buy the wines he sold them from a retailer at the same price point or lower.

I saw some distributors’ price lists, and half the wines on them I could buy for the same price or lower at retail. Therein lies the problem: In this online world, there’s nowhere to hide so distributors supply restaurants with wines that you won’t see at Dan Murphy’s. It’s the same survival strategy our remaining independent wine merchants use: they don’t sell the wines you see at Dan Murphy’s either.

The Parallel Universe

Some merchants make a virtue out of that with signs that promise to match any price at Dan M’s. When you point out that they don’t sell the same wines, big grins come over their faces. It follows that their wines will be more obscure. It also follows that their wines will be more interesting, since they have to find their gems in different fields. Just walk into Annandale Cellars in Sydney or Prince wine store in Melbourne or East End Cellars in Adelaide and you’ll see what we mean.

There’s no formal distribution system in the wine business in Australia. Anyone can sell to anyone and does. There’s also a surplus of wine, and great deals are on offer every day. Somehow, distributors have to survive in an environment where we can buy wines cheaper at retail than they can buy them wholesale. That’s why there’s a disconnect.

Huon uses the Wynns Black label Cabernet as an example, a wine with an RRP of $45. He says you can buy it for $30, we know we can buy it for $25. Huon says a high-end restaurant would probably charge about $90 for it (double the RRP), and that would look like a rip-off. That’s why distributors don’t list Wynns wines, and Sommeliers won’t touch them.

Kim

‘There are so many stories about Wolf Blass that it’s hard to know when fact shades into fiction.’

So says Tim Atkin in his Guardian review of Wolf Blass – Behind the Bow Tie by Liz Johnstone. ‘Did he really page himself at airports so that other people would hear his name? Did he once drive his Rolls-Royce into an electricity pylon, pitching a city suburb into darkness before disappearing into the bush clutching his personalised number plates? And what about those trademark bow ties? Practicality or affectation?’

Photo credit: Jeni Port

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