Inventor of box wine, wineonomics, “sham” — sipped and spit
SIPPED: longevity
Tom Angove died at the age of 92 last week. Never heard of him? Well, in the 1960s he had the idea of putting wine in plastic bag, placing that in a cardboard box, and tapping it like a keg. His son, then 15 years old, told him he was nuts. Undeterred, Tom Angove commercialized the bag-in-box and forever changed how wine is consumed in Australia, Sweden and college dorm rooms. More recently box wine has crept upscale. Angove joins Robert Mondavi, Peter Mondavi, and Ernest Gallo as having lived well into his nineties. Maybe there’s something to resveratrol after all?
SIPPED: number crunching
Since we all have broken out our green visors and fired up TurboTax this time of year, we can now turn our attention to the economics of wine under $20 again. Jason Haas, general manager at Tablas Creek in Paso Robles, opens his books for us and walks us through his decision-making on whether a vineyard is worth developing to make a wine under $20. He considers the cost of land, labor, planting (dry farmed vs irrigated) to make his conclusion. If you like to wonk out about the business side, this post is a must! [Tablas Creek]
SPIT: Tart (and tact)
A surprising write up of the Mommessin Clos de Tart appeared recently: “The biggest disappointment was the 2006 Clos de Tart. Like so many red Burgundies from 2006 seem to be, it was underripe, excessively acidified, and almost textureless. It’s a sham, and it’s amazing how few people are willing to stand up and admit such stuff exists.” [Hedonist’s Gazette]
On April 7th, 2010 at 3:58 pm ,Here’s to Wine In a Box « The Winedown wrote:
[…] 7, 2010 As reported by Dr. Vino (http://www.drvino.com/2010/04/06/box-wine-inventor-clos-tart/), we need to say goodbye to an innovator in the wine industry. Tom Angove, 92, passed away last […]
On April 8th, 2010 at 9:40 am ,Cybercellar wrote:
Well wouldn’t you know… in South Africa Box wine is hugely popular! Maybe not to SA’s wine guru’s but certainly to the general public! Salute Angove 🙂
Hope you do a feature on South African wine one of these days 🙂
Regards
Jenny
http://www.cybercellar.com
On April 8th, 2010 at 8:47 pm ,Wine chick wrote:
That last one doesn’t seem to make sense. Not only is acidification illegal in Burgundy, but how can something be acidified AND underripe? The idea that Burgundy is a minefield is such a tired cliche.
On April 8th, 2010 at 10:24 pm ,Daniel Posner wrote:
Wine Chick,
That is the $64000 question that you will have to ask the man with the million dollar nose.
On April 14th, 2010 at 1:29 pm ,winebroad wrote:
Angove truly was a visionary: For the last five years, the premium boxed wine category has been the nation’s fastest-growing wine segment. And it’s not just because the economy sucks (some say the wines are selling *despite* the crappy economy).