Wine Notes : Boosters Are Bubbling Up All Over the Place
The Wine Institute said it has allocated $1 million to promote wine in a three-level campaign and to expand its public relations staff.
At its annual executive committee and board of directors meetings in Palm Springs last week, the San Francisco-based trade organization also proposed a bylaws change that would give a stronger voice to smaller wineries. The group represents more than 530 California wineries.
Meanwhile, a new organization is forming with a goal of promoting wine education through research.
Called the American Wine Alliance for Research and Education (AWARE), the group said it has as a goal “the better understanding of the place of wine within the fabric of American society.” Among founding members of the group are Allen Shoup, president of Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Washington state; James Trezise, representing the New York wine industry; Becky Murphy from the American Winegrowers Assn., and Bob Hartzell, representing the California Assn. of Winegrape Growers.
Organizers said support has been received from other regional marketing organizations from areas such as Monterey and Sonoma counties.
Latest Allocation
John de Luca, president of the Wine Institute, said his organization’s latest allocation included $700,000 of new funds and would be spent in three areas:
--”To mount a major public education and promotion campaign with involvement of allied industry segments” (including importers and retail stores) to promote, generically, wine consumption.
--”To speed the reorganization of our public relations department” by addition of two public relations specialists.
--”To search for a qualified agency to promote a marketing campaign” that would be California-specific.
The institute said the three-pronged campaign would attempt to “position wine as a desirable beverage for modern adults in both formal and informal social occasions; promote wine as a food; and develop a consumer information program to combat abuse and to respond to the critics and encourage its proper use.”
The proposed bylaws change came in response to a petition last April by 55 smaller wineries who said their views haven’t been heard. The change would add four members to the board of directors, who would also be added to the executive committee. These members would be from wineries that produce less than 100,000 cases of wine per year.
De Luca also announced that Heublein Wines rejoined the Institute after 13 years. The move makes Heublein, with its Beaulieu, Inglenook and Almaden subsidiaries, the Institute’s second largest-member in case production (behind Gallo, the world’s largest winery).
‘Significant Donations’
AWARE announced it had received “significant donations” and that among its potential supporters are wineries, growers, wholesalers and importers, retailers and consumers, which it termed “the most important group of all.”
Secretary of the organizing committee of AWARE, San Francisco attorney John Hinman of Hinman and Associates, applauded the Institute’s move to target $1 million for promotion, and added, “With our membership of growers, retailers, consumers and wholesalers, we will be able to furnish to the Wine Institute a broader industry base of support for their efforts.”
AWARE said it would “explore the frontiers of wine-related health issues by retaining respected institutions of higher learning to perform basic research and serve as advocates of their findings. . . .”
At least two other wine promotion organizations have recently sprung up--the Association of American Vintners, based in Ohio, and the Washington-based National Vintners Assn..
The question arises every year: How are the latest Bordeaux?
The red wines of Bordeaux, the world’s most prized wine collectibles, are so sought-after that sale of them begins 18 months before they are released. Through the offering of “futures,” the buyer makes a down payment for wine at a price lower than what the same wine will sell for when it is released.
And this year, as the 1987 vintage is being assessed by various experts, the Union des Grands Crus is making it clear that this is going to be the bargain vintage of the last few. Depending, of course, on your definition of the word bargain.
The Union, a confederation of 120 Bordeaux producers that promote the wines of their region, annually does a U. S. tour to show off the admittedly unfinished wines (they are all still in the barrel, as yet unblended) to give the trade a glimpse of what’s in store.
This year’s wines, the 1987s, are lighter and less concentrated than any vintage since the modest 1984s. Since Bordeaux has had an extraordinary and unprecedented string of excellent vintages, 1981, ‘82, ‘83, ’85 and ‘86, finding that 1987 is less than exciting is no shock.
Modest Nature
Because of the modest nature of the wines, the Bordelais say prices will be down for these wines. They say that in most cases, prices will be down 30% to 50%.
Still, prices have risen dramatically virtually every year since the 1981s were released, due in part to the collapse of the American dollar versus the French franc and the increasing worldwide demand for top-quality Bordeaux.
So even at the lowered prices, some of these wines are still marginal values.
The best wines at the San Francisco tasting I attended last week were from Chateau Pichon-Lalande (a slight truffle aroma with good fruit and a rich, dense finish); Chateau Giscours (pale color, quite delicate, but with fresh, lively fruit and a rich, long finish), and Chateau Clos Fortet (more classic depth, not as fruity, but with potential to develop).
May-Elaine de Lencquesaing, owner of Pichon-Lalande, said her chateau had to do “a drastic selection in 1987 . . . we could bottle only 40% of the crop” because of rains that hit the vines before harvest, diluting the flavors in the grapes.
Prices for these wines won’t gouge, but they are still not cheap. Pichon-Lalande is expected to be $25, Clos Fourtet about $20, and Giscours about $18. However, a savvy importer and longtime observer of the Bordeaux business here said he expected resistence to the ‘87s during futures trading will keep prices for all but the best very reasonable.
“I’ll bet you’ll see some top-name wines selling for 12 bucks,” he said.
Interestingly, the best wine in the room was a white wine, evidence that the white wines of Bordeaux didn’t suffer from the rains at all.
I was most impressed by Chateau La Louviere, a white wine of Graves. And this ’87 defines the term White Bordeaux: lively fruit with tremendous richness and elegance, a wine that will improve measurably by aging.
When it hits these shores in a few months, the price ($20) won’t be excessive for the quality. I was also impressed with the Chateau Carbonnieux, another stunning white wine from the ’87 harvest.
Indeed, all ’87 white Graves are expected to be exceptional, say the Bordelais.
The late Beringer Vineyards wine maker Myron Nightingale, who died Thanksgiving night, and his wife, Alice, made a special dessert wine that Beringer called Nightingale in their honor.
It was such a personal project for Myron and Alice that it wasn’t certain the winery would continue making the wine after Myron’s death.
However, at the funeral service for Nightingale last week in St. Helena, Mike Moone, president of Beringer, announced:
“As long as there’s a Beringer, there will be a Nightingale.”
Moone also announced that Beringer had set up the Myron Nightingale Scholarship Fund at UC Davis, Department of Viticulture and Enology for students of wine making or grape growing.
A radio show devoted to wine and featuring wine educator Ed Masciana has begun to air Fridays on KFOX, 93.5 on the FM dial.
The show, which runs from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., features wine personalities and accepts calls from listeners who want to chat about wine or wine-related topics.
The National Direct Marketing Conference and Farm Conference ’89 Regional Food and Wine Tasting has been scheduled for Feb. 3, 1989, at the Oakland Hyatt Convention Center. A public tasting of wine, gourmet-prepared foods and produce is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is $10 per person.
Restaurant Hospitality Magazine announced recently its best wine list awards for 1988 in four categories, with Chez Melange of Redondo Beach and Joe Greensleeves in Redlands getting honorable mention awards in the American restaurant category.
The magazine said the best wine list at an American restaurant was at Routh Street Cafe in Dallas. The only other restaurant honored in the category was Madrona Manor in Healdsburg, Calif.
In the International category, the winner was Salishan Lodge of Gleneden Beach, Ore. Honorable mention awards went to Sparks Steak House, New York City; Charlie’s 517, Houston; the Carnelian Room, San Francisco, and Fox and Hounds, Hubertus, Wis.
Best Italian restaurant wine list was judged to be at Donatello in San Francisco. Runners-up were Italian Village, Chicago, and Primavera at the Fairmont Hotel, Chicago.
In the best short list (under 100 wines) category, the winner was Matisse, Santa Rosa, Calif. Runners up were Mandana, Philadelphia; Timberline, Timberline Lodge, Ore., and Spats, Hyatt Regency, Maui, Hawaii.
The awards were announced at the World of Wine festival at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Laguna Niguel.
The phrase “Contains Sulfites” began appearing on wine labels about a year ago, mandated by the federal government as an informational statement. Almost immediately, people began to get the feeling that wineries were now adding sulfites to wine that previously they didn’t add.
Sulfur dioxide has been used in wine making for hundreds of years, and the irony is that less SO2 is used today than ever before. Moreover, even if sulfur dioxide weren’t used by wineries, “fermenting yeasts will produce SO2 from the naturally occurring inorganic sulfates in all grape juices . . . . It is impossible for any wine to be completely free of sulfur dioxide.”
The quote is from Roger Boulton of the University of California, Davis, Department of Viticulture and Enology, and it appears in a new pamphlet explaining sulfites in wine.
Written by Anita LaRaia, of L’Ecole du Vin in Atlanta, the pamphlet was produced with the aid of Boulton; Dr. Ronald Simon, a clinical immunologist at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, and Paul Hobbs, assistant wine maker at Simi Winery in Sonoma County.
The pamphlet notes that “people who are not asthmatic are very rarely sulfite-sensitive” and that “if you have been drinking wine up to now with no ill effects, then you should be able to continue to do so without worrying about SO2.”
For a copy of the pamphlet, send 25 cents and a legal-size, self-addressed, stamped envelope to Wine Sips Inc., Box 52723, Atlanta, Ga. 30355.
Wine--the beverage that brings us together. This saying is available as a sticker by writing, Wine Sticker, Box 7244, San Francisco, Calif. 94120.