I was recently interviewed for an article that appeared on financial management website Mint.com’s Frugal Foodie blog, titled Will Joining a Wine Club Make or Break Your Budget.

The topic (obviously) was the potential financial implications of joining a wine club, and how to find the right club without getting fleeced. This was strange one for me; although (obviously) related to wine, the only experience I have with wine clubs is (enviously) assisting other people in selecting the best ones to fit their wine goals and budgets.

That’s because I live in the Communist-wealth of Pennsylvania, whose state-run monopoly of alcohol sales and distribution essentially make joining a wine club, for me, impossible (or, at best, economically infeasible).

My basic take is that it’s probably never been easier to find good deals on a wine club.  Why?  For one, there’s a great deal of competition, despite the strange archaic state of  U.S. alcohol shipping laws – and there are even a good number of international wine clubs cropping up.  The other factor possibly fueling high competition and good deals in the wine club space is that there’s still a glut of wine inventory that has built up due to the down global economy.  My guess is that people can wheel-and-deal their way to some sweet buys with those wine clubs – at least until the market picks up.

One of the key differentiators (if not THE key) between wine clubs is customer service.  Given the level of competition, if a wine club isn’t willing to customize for you then it’s probably not worth giving them your hard-earned cash.

Many of you out there will have much more practical experience than I do with wine clubs.  Are you a wine club member?  Have you ever had to ditch a wine club?  Shout it out in the comments!

Cheers!

A strange thing happened to me recently.  Actually, it happened to 1WineDude.com, not to me.  And yes, I mean stranger than the normal level if strange on this blog.

I agreed to contribute content to a platform that I can’t really access and probably won’t use.

Specifically, I’ve let Hello Vino, the popular wine recommendation mobile phone application, have access to my wine reviews.

I’m part of a larger group whose reviews / recommendations are now appearing in Hello Vino.

It all feels a bit odd, since currently I don’t own a phone capable of running the app., and in general I don’t use quick wine recommendations (printed or otherwise) when shopping for wine at the store (I usually talk to the store employees about the available wines instead).

However, I was (quickly) convinced by the (compelling) arguments of others that having access to some of my reviews and recommendations would be valuable for the (many, many, many) folks who don’t think and act the way that I do (i.e., a nice way of saying that they are sane and normal and I’m, well, not quite normal)…

Read the rest of this stuff »

Got another survey comin’ at ya – this time, it’s not from a Masters of Wine student, but from a student in a Masters of Wine Business program in Adelaide Australia.

Said student is a guy named Jeffrey Williams, originally from NY but now doing some U.S.-based market research on the on-premise perceptions of Australian wines in the US market.  He’s put together a survey to gather data on the types and price points of Aussie wine that U.S. wine lovers purchase. 

According to Jeff, “The data will be used to support an ongoing business case of the wines currently being exported and distributed to the United States.”

Which to me means this is a chance for you to stop complaining about Yellowtail and maybe provide some data to help get better quality Aussie juice sold in more places over here.

Anyway, do a guy a favor and take the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JDQDH3Z.

Cheers!

I’m in Cahors, and it’s one of those thoroughly gorgeously sunny wine country days that at turns make me happy to be alive and secretly, maddeningly spiteful towards those who get to experience this nearly every day.

Of course, those turns tend to come after long stints of travel when I’m severely under-caffeinated, so keep that in mind before you read too much into it.  Also, Charles de Gaulle airport smells of rotting garbage, but that might just be from the massive number of over-traveled, unwashed people congregated in close proximity after their long flights.  Ok, I really need coffee right now.

Anyway, tonight (which will be last night, actually, by the time most of you out there read this) we kick off the International Malbec Days Festival here at the Pont Valentré with a pre-opening tasting event.  In preparation, I’ve gotten a bit more info. on the aims of the event and its sponsors.

Cahors is laying claim to the title of “Spiritual home” of Malbec (also known as Cot and Auxerrois in the general Sud Ouest).  Its main competition now, of course, is Argentina, who now grows more of the stuff than France.

[ Warning: Gross over-simplification in-progress ]

Cahors has three main terroirs when it comes to Malbec (and they’ve been growing it long enough that I think we can safely employ the dreaded T-Word), and they equate roughly to the elevation of the vineyard terraces above the Lot river.  The closer to river-level, so the thinking goes, the more alluvial the soils and the less complex the wines (check out ReignOfTerroir.com for a great detailed exposition of these), and typically the higher proportion of other varieties (Merlot and Tannat) blended into the final product.

These terroirs produce wines with different stylistic profiles, from simpler and fruitier (“Tender & Fruity” according to the marketing materials) wines close to the river, to “Feisty & Powerful” wines in the middle terrace, and finally “Intense & Complex” wines made from 100% Malbec.  Theoretically, the price points follow suit as expected.

[ Thus endeth the Gross over-simplification ]

The marketing strategy is to make a push for Cahors wines to gain market share of Malbecs sold internationally, which they’ll primarily need to take away from Argentina, starting with the U.S. market (the goal is a 3-5X increase in sales in the U.S. within 3 years).  The focus of this push are the “Feisty & Powerful” Malbecs, priced in the $15-$25 range, hitting the large East and West Coast U.S. markets.

Ignoring the discussion of whether or not enough Cahors wine in the tier is produced and exported to the U.S. to provide the ammunition for such a push, from my vantage point it looks like Cahors will be going head-to-head against Argentina in that tier, only with higher prices, more confusing labels, less market awareness, and (arguably) a less newbie-friendly taste profile.

I suppose the cat’s now out of the bag that I’m a little skeptical, but I’m clearing a small space of my mind from concentrating on the secret spite of the recently-traveled, and reserving that space as “open mind” to be filled by the tasting notes of Cahors wines.

Can Cahors make such a push?  The proof will be in the dark, inky, tannic pudding, I suppose…  More to come…

Cheers!