Vinfolio Blog

I was delighted to learn today that The World of Fine Wine journal has launched a blog.  You can find it here.

It’s about time. At last I can send links to favourite writers and encourage friends and customers to read the real thing, which is always a welcome reminder of why I got into this business in the first place. To be reminded of the complexity and charm of wine every quarter is worth the price of admission.

Andrew Jeffords kicks off, with a characteristically humane riff on money and wine and 2009 Bordeaux. With first growths going for $20,000 a case, en primeur(!), I can only shake my head in wonder and in worry. But wine has proven itself a solid investment over decades, and the entry of new investors from China and elsewhere only reinforces that. Take a deep breath, read lots, and keep buying wines that you love.

Issue 190 hit the Wine Advocate web site yesterday afternoon and wine enthusiasts finally saw results from hitting "Refresh" all day long. This issue was anticipated for its major reports on California's Rhone Rangers and Washington, among other smaller regional and retrospective reports.

Big winners in the points game were Sine Qua Non, Saxum, Tensley and Alban in California, and Quilceda Creek (the only 100-pointer from Washington), Cayuse, Charles Smith, and K Vintners from Washington.

The Vinfolio Marketplace is the perfect place to buy and sell these newly-rated stars. Several wines have Buy Now options; if they don't, place a bid to alert a potential seller that you're interested. If you're selling, set a reasonable Buy Now price for quicker results. Ride the wave of excitement over new scores and reviews by buying or selling with Vinfolio in the Marketplace, your ultimate source for fine wine.

As our first “real” job out of college, working for Vinfolio has opened our eyes to an industry we had little knowledge of. We were very familiar with drinking wine in college but not with the business aspect of wine sales and storage. Who knew what a Nebuchadnezzar was or that prior to 1978 Bordeaux jeroboams were typically 4.5 liters? These were basic wine facts we quickly learned along with other names, sizes, varieties, and qualities. Over a month has passed since we have started working at Vinfolio and our wine knowledge has increased tremendously. We are nowhere near the level we want to be at but we are working hard to retain as much information and to take in all this industry has to offer.

One project that has exposed us to the vast wine world is uploading auction results to our website. In the past five months, there have been 37 wine auctions, with as many as 1900 lots each. Each auction, for us, is a great building block because we get to witness pricing trends, view differences between regions, and come across obscure details that we would not otherwise see. The satisfaction of finishing an auction is incredible, knowing that our hard work directly affected our customers by providing a valuable resource. In the long run, our primary goal is to learn as much as possible from our skilled co-workers, who are enthusiastic and passionate about their careers. They encourage us to explore this industry with an open mind and inexperienced palette so one day we can taste the difference between Charles Shaw Chardonnay and Corton Charlemagne.

It’s a fact in the wine world that every few months someone feels compelled to launch a tirade against the 100-point scoring scale. Normally the article or blog post contains a few well-placed jabs at Mr. Parker and Mr. Laube and the ensuing commentary churns into a final exclamation that “like it or not, we are stuck with it!”

Many times the 100-point scale debate also leads to a discussion about the importance (or lack thereof) of wine bloggers, many of whom use their own system to rate wines, whether that be the use of stars, lower point scales or grades.

For a retailer, points do make it easier to sell wine—that is, when the points are high. When the scores are low and the wine is actually good—something we see when we taste it here at Vinfolio—well, that can be a challenge. But then, this is why Vinfolio hires certified wine experts to help customers navigate the vast sea of wine that is available to them. This includes those wines that perform far above their critical score. When customers buy wine directly online, we hope they read the tasting notes to glean the true character of a low scoring wine, but we all know that this doesn’t always happen. So how do we solve this problem?

Recently, I was intrigued by a concept that seems to be taking hold among many bloggers: the wine badge. Essentially these badges are way to describe a wine quickly using a series of graphic badges that include catchy two-to-three word phrases consumers can relate to quickly. For example, who hasn’t heard a wine described as a “crowd pleaser?” Most of us instantly understand that the wine is not extremely complex, but because of its inherent easy going character, it is a safe bet to serve at a party because a majority of those who drink it will enjoy it.  What would you think if you saw a wine rated with a badge that read “Supermarket Surprise?”

While I’m not sure if this new system of badges will replace the 100-point scale, I do think it is a useful way to educate consumers about wine and to take the fear out of asking questions or trying something different. And, since the badge concept has taken off in social media circles, a la Foursquare, I can see this new way of reviewing wine taking hold with the next generation of wine drinkers.

And let’s not forget about the potential influence of the wine blogging community. Could it be that this quiet revolution toward the use of badges will increase the influence and perceived legitimacy of bloggers? This could happen, especially if they adopt a uniform standard, but I guess only time will tell. What do you think about the wine badge? Quiet revolution or inconsequential fad?
Check out what bloggers are saying about the wine badge:

Notes from the Cellar

Drinknectar

As much as I love a Barolo that tastes like it’s from the fog-laden hills of Piedmont or a Bordeaux that came from the gravelly banks of the Medoc, I love a fruit laden wine that tastes like it’s from nowhere except its barrels. Sometimes though, I’m a little bit of a fraidy cat to admit that I like a fruity or jammy wine. This irrational feeling usually occurs around industry people, for fear of being ridiculed or having whatever credibility I have as a wine professional questioned.

This past weekend my experience with the 2008 Orin Swift Prisoner really helped allay some of the insecurities I have as well as had me appreciating good winemaking. The Prisoner was savory, juicy, lush and surprisingly light on its feet, despite its 15.1% alcohol levels and it didn’t feel sticky or sappy on the palate. The flavors, acids, tannins, oak and alcohol were integrated so well. It was a seamless wine on the palate from beginning to end. The sensory experience I had with this wine was akin to the experience of savoring one of those 12 hour braised short rib dishes. There was oodles of flavor and goodness that had me coming back to the glass for more.

So what about the fruit bomb moniker? If the wine in question is put together as well as the Prisoner, who cares?  Well, I still might care a little, but I’m working on it.

A few people I know will go to Bordeaux every April to join thousands of wine experts, negociants and wine merchants to taste the latest vintage of some of the most prestigious wines in the world, the Bordeaux En Primeur.

Despite the highest prices on record, the 2009 en primeur were still expected to see dramatically increased sales in the Asian market. Everyone thought that China would have the most impact; but surprisingly the campaign was disappointing and less successful than planned, according to an article in ‘Decanter’ on August 12, 2010.  It was reported that high pricing, small allocations and the reluctance to buy wine as futures in China were to blame.

I have spoken with friends and customers about the 2009 futures and most were not too keen on making purchases. These were people in the trade, either wine investors or suppliers trading with China. Most of them thought the early futures prices were too high to merit typing up capital for two years in an uncertain market. Whether it is worth investing now, and whether these wines will increase in value when they are finally released in 2 years, is questionable. Most would rather invest in current releases, where they are more certain to make instant profits.

Perhaps if en primeur prices for the 2010 vintage are a bit lower, chateaux will fare better and successfully attract the new new Asian investors they counted on for the 2009 campaign.

I had the pleasure of tasting this wine at home over the weekend, and as so often happens, the wine completely surprised me. 1982 was a remarkable vintage, one which I thought was overall long ready to drink, being so famously ripe and rich and almost 30 years old.  Uh-uh. Not this wine. The color was true dark red, with only a hint of fading at the rim. The scent was chocolaty and smoky, with a hint of graphite and earth overlaying concentrated red fruit. The palate was fine-grained and long, firm and still fresh, so resolutely balanced between fruit and tannin, silky texture and dry finish, that I cannot honestly say when it will begin to change into anything approaching old age. No rush on this wine – it remained largely unchanged over several hours. A real claret in the British sense of the word, good company at the dinner table, and a very classy unclassed growth that reminded me sternly but kindly that assumptions are always dangerous with wine.

We went looking for more information on Sociando Mallet, and found an excellent article in The World of Fine Wine Issue 28. We were not seeking an echo, but were delighted to read their notes on the 1982 and find their experience matched ours.

"This was the vintage that really launched Sociando-Mallet, and it is still going strong today. Deep ruby color. Impressive dpeth of fruit (even with yields at 71hl/ha!). Smoky, mineral, black-currant, and blackberry aromas. The palate is ripe and round but concentrated and intense. Powerful tannic frame. Accessible but still with great aging potential. Drink to 2018? 18"

We’re all familiar with Yellow Tail’s success in America and that many individuals attribute this not to what is in the bottle, but to the label on the outside. The “critter craze” on wine labels seems to be petering out a bit, but it does beg the question: Do people REALLY buy wine solely based on the label design? Anecdotally, I’ve heard a resounding “yes” from many of my not-so-wine savvy friends. One in particular said to me, “If the label is pretty, I assume what’s inside must be good because the winery took the time to design a nice label.” Specious logic, yes, but from a consumer perspective it’s nothing new. Packaging is what attracts us to a product on the store shelf. If this weren’t the case, companies wouldn’t spend so much R&D on package design and testing.

Artistic labels aren’t anything new to the wine industry either. Mouton-Rothschild has been commissioning artists to design a piece of art for their labels since 1945. Yet, in that instance the art was a compliment to the wine inside the bottle. It wasn’t a marketing gimmick meant to influence the perception of the quality of the product in the bottle or awaken one’s inner “child-like” love for animals in the hopes that it translates into a sale.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t discount good label design, but good design should be a way of conveying good information. Many wine labels lack the type of information that would truly help educate consumers about their purchases. If more labels contained this, then customers would receive some “wine education” every time they encountered a new bottle of wine. Why not design a catchy label that embeds wine information (and maybe even food pairing information) in a creative and engaging manner? I think if this happened, wine consumers with limited wine knowledge would start buying wine based on what’s inside the bottle and not because the label is “pretty.” And with more knowledge, one would expect an increase in both wine appreciation and educated wine purchases.

Well, for now, here’s a link to some very interesting and artistic wine label designs. Would any of these designs make you take a second look? Probably. Do these labels influence your perception of the quality of the wine they represent? Would you buy them because of the artistic label?

As we sat around the tasting table in the office last Friday, an interesting question was posed. Pick the grape you hate the most and a producer who you feel makes the best version of it.
This was a very difficult question for me to answer.  It was a simple, but very thought-provoking question that gave me pause, especially since I enjoy just about anything.  Before you think of me as simple and lacking a palate, let me qualify that statement first.  My general feeling is that as long as a wine is well-made and “interesting” I can say that I enjoyed that wine, regardless of the grape or producer.

In fact, I think that anything produced is worth trying, and although there have been many wines I’ve tasted along the way that made me gag, I’ve always reaped a certain joy and satisfaction for at least knowing and tasting what a bad version of the grape was.  A big reason I got into the retail sector of the wine business is because I enjoy abundantly the exploration of wine.  
I remember celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain once said something along the lines of “…needing to eat and taste everything, especially the junk food, to truly appreciate fine dining caliber food.”  I imagine that in the culinary field, the more flavors you’re exposed to, whether appealing ones or repulsive ones, the better a chef you ultimately become.  The wine world is no different.  Over the years, I’ve become a better professional and have honed my palate by applying this same concept.

By the way, if you were wondering what my answer to the question was, here it is.  I’m not a big fan of sauvignon blanc, but I think Adam Tolmach of Ojai Vineyards makes a very intriguing version.  It has great intensity, weight, stony qualities and fruit flavors that skew more towards citrus rind rather than citrus juice.  The spiny acid and backbone gives you the option to put this down in the cellar for a few years as well.  Good stuff.  

Now it’s time to ask you, our loyal fans and customers, the same question – What producer makes a great wine out of the one grape you are least fond of?  We look forward to hearing your thoughts and responses!

Last week I meant to write a post about an article I read on reuters.com titled, “Vine Talk: Battle of Brunello exposes row over purity vs blends,” but it was a busy week and unfortunately I didn’t get to it. Well, this past Friday night I opened a bottle of 2001 Valdicava (98 WS, 93 WA) at a going away gathering for a friend who is moving out of the country. Tasting this wine again inspired me to take a shot at this blog post after all. It’s the fourth time I’ve had this wine over the last four years and it was just as impressive as ever. We didn’t finish the entire bottle, as this was the fifth wine of the evening, and so I had the opportunity to taste it on Saturday and again on Sunday. The wine was amazing on the first day, but evolved into something spectacular on the second and third days after opening.

Those of you who have had Valdicava’s Brunello di Montalcino know that this is a robust, muscular wine, inky black in color with excellent structure. It is most definitely a Brunello made in the modern style, in an area where, as indicated in the article, tradition and modernity are coming to a head. As the article states, acclaimed winemaker Ezio Rivella (of Castello Banfi fame) is now the president of the consorizio that oversees the production of Brunello. Yet, Mr. Rivella is considered by many of Montalcino’s traditional winemakers to be too much of a maverick. He espouses the use of modern techniques and has himself produced a Syrah and experimented with other varietal blends that are foreign to Montalcino’s winemaking traditions.  One has to ask, “is this such a bad thing?” Look at what the Super Tuscan has done for the reputation of Italian wine. And wasn’t Angelo Gaja, one of the Italian wine industry’s most respected producers, once considered a maverick and upstart?

A modern approach that also respects the best of the traditional winemaking practices of Montalcino will probably be a good thing for the region. Although nothing ever came of the recent 2004 Brunello scandal, it has impacted prices for these wines and there are still many who remain skeptical about the purity of previous vintages. So, as the article suggests, isn’t it time for two Brunello designations? One for 100% Sangiovese Grosso and one for Brunelli that is blended with other varieties? Sounds like a great idea to me, and from a marketer’s perspective it presents the opportunity to reach out to the wine buying community with an exciting new product that blends the familiar with the new.