Trading down, WSWA, tractors – Unified – sipped and spit
Last week I attended the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, the annual wine industry trade show in Sacramento. The tractors and sorting tables in the exhibition hall give the event an agricultural vibe but there are also a series of panels and sessions around the main hall. Here are some tasting sized pours.
SIPPED: wine
Industry observer Jon Fredrikson reported while wine consumption grew (by volume) in 2008, the growth slowed to the slowest in a decade. Restaurants have been “pummeled” as more wine consumption is happening at home. He also spoke of a “shrinkage of the supplier pipeline.”
SPIT: global wine surplus
Bill Turrentine, a bulk and bottled wine broker, showed that there’s not a lot of excess wine on the global market with only Australia showing a notable excess. He said that that in previous cycles, sinking demand was confounded by oversupply, a situation that is not happening right now.
SIPPED: trading down
“The $10 bottle is the new $20 bottle, and the $20 bottle is the new $100 bottle.” – John Gillespie of Wine Colleagues in St. Helena.
SPIT: Current quality of wine under $10
“We’ve already succeeded getting American wine on the table at the Four Seasons. That was 30 years ago. Our goal today is to get wine on the table of the bus boy at the Four Seasons.” – Paul Lukacs, wine writer
SIPPED: self
“Wholesalers do a great job getting wine to the local market place.” -Craig Wolf, President and CEO of the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America. Perhaps. But what about expanding wine retailer shipping between states and turning the American market for wines into a national market?
SIPPED: big tires?
“You’ve got to check out this tractor babe–she’s hot! Come on!” -unidentified man upon seeing his friend.
(image, with permission)
On February 1st, 2009 at 11:50 pm ,Wine Club Insider wrote:
I found the quote by Paul Lukas in regards to setting a goal to get wine onto the table of the busboys at the Four Seasons to be interesting. I’ve personally never quite understood why it is that a lot of people still seem to consider wine to be something only upscale or uber-cultured folks drink while beer is considered to be the drink of the “everyman”.
I suppose it could be that I grew up in a family where having a glass of wine with your meal was a treat anyone could enjoy, meaning I grew up knowledgeable about wine and comfortable around it. Quite a few of my acquaintances weren’t exposed to it in the same way, I suppose. It wasn’t just something we had when we went out to fancy restaurants or cooked big dinners for the holidays. Even way back when I punched a cash register for a living I still enjoyed a nice glass of wine with my meal.
I’ve always considered it to be part of my personal mission to introduce more different kinds of people to wine by helping them get more comfortable with it and helping them see that it doesn’t always have to be expensive to be good. There are more ways to get educated about and comfortable with wine than people realize, and a big part of that I think is just… drinking it more often and making it a part of your life. Tastings, wineclub gifts, and festivals are all great ways to do that.
On February 2nd, 2009 at 8:06 am ,Dirty wrote:
Excellent snapshots-
The one part I was confused on was the bit on there not being a wine surplus. I think if you asked many retailers, or distributors, they may say differently. Stores are selling/buying less, and restaurants are scaling back on inventory and sales are down… That wine is piling up.
On February 2nd, 2009 at 3:07 pm ,Dylan wrote:
That photo is superb. There’s something so eerily beautiful about those impending moments before or after a big storm. The sunlight mixes with dense, dark clouds to produces this calm feeling.
On February 2nd, 2009 at 3:45 pm ,Katie wrote:
This is a good summary of unified… I would like to say that your contribution was well appreciated in the seminar on new tools of reaching the market. It’s often an overwhelming topic, but you broke it down well. Thanks!
On February 2nd, 2009 at 5:53 pm ,david wrote:
Good add to Mr Wolfes observations ..he is after all the spokesperson for prohibition or is it protectionism or perhaps even monopolism ..the grapes are not free yet
On February 2nd, 2009 at 8:00 pm ,bcc from the chi. wrote:
I am with Wine Club Insider…
Your SPIT reaction to $10 and under wine on a laborers table is simply elitism. Plain and simple. And quite frankly, as a fellow oenophile and U. of C. alum, I am disappointed. Wine is about what is in the bottle and shared at the table…not about the judgements that occur away from it. Why should a man (or woman) who puts in an honest day of work be denied the opportunity to pop a quaffable bottle at their dinner table with his or her family or guests.
The only reason your SPIT commentary doesn’t outrage me is because I already know it’s a goal that’s been reached…(and its happening right under your nose…’07 Rhone or ’07 M d’Abruzzo at TJ’s.)
For shame Dr. Vino.
On February 2nd, 2009 at 8:09 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Glad those of you who were there enjoyed the roundup!
@ BCC: Just to clarify, Paul Lukacs expressed his disappointment with the quality of much of the low-priced wine available in the US today. His point was that we have made wines on par with great Bordeaux, for example, but today’s recessionary challenge to the US wine industry (and this was at a wine industry conference in California with 12,000 attendees) was to broaden the appeal of wine by upgrading the quality of the value offerings. I wholeheartedly agree. Thus it is the current state of most of the value offerings in the American market that was “spit,” not his perspective.
On February 3rd, 2009 at 9:58 am ,JD in Napa wrote:
While the Tractor Babe was a hottie, she seemed out of place at Unified. Car show, sure, but tractors aren’t cars.
On February 3rd, 2009 at 3:52 pm ,mydailywine wrote:
Thanks for the lowdown.
Wholesalers are doing the best they can but they simply cannot sell all the wines they represent nor can they represent all the wineries out there.
Direct to consumer is becoming the little engine that could.
On February 6th, 2009 at 7:12 pm ,AC wrote:
OK, so demonize the wholesalers and their spokepersons, if that makes you feel good. Cast dispersions as to their effectiveness. Throw in the feel good word, perhaps, for the schadenfreude set. I love listening to the chirp of the crickets when they debate the good vs. evil question about wine distribution. That really helps the farmer looking for a home, really offers a workable solution.
Tear down the castle and open up Pandora’s box, young grasshoppers.