Vinotrip

Creative Commons licensed image from Flickr user bubble dumpster

Even more baffling than the wine industries’ supposed struggle with using social media is their apparent struggle with marketing to the Millennial generation. All sorts of studies and blogs are dedicated to this goal: helping wineries market to people in their twenties. I must be missing something (a marketing degree?) because I fail to see the challenge.

You sell alcohol. How hard can it be to sell alcohol to college graduates in their mid-twenties?

June 30th, 2009 Category: I thought that was obvious | Leave a comment

I’m way behind on this one, but news came from across the Atlantic some weeks ago that the British wine trade was impressed by Virginia wines, specifically White Hall Vineyards’ Cuvee des Champs, during the 2009 London International Wine Fair. Dezel from Myvinespot.com has some details and a video reaction from the fair. The Washington Post wrote a nice piece on the lavish praise being pumped toward Virginia.

“That is really impressive,” said Cristina Proietti, who works in sales for British wine seller Majestic, as she swirled a red, the Cuvee des Champs of White Hall Vineyards, in her glass. After several rounds of sipping, spitting and considering the wine from the Blue Ridge, she declared it “more approachable than a Bordeaux.”

Nice to hear the Virginia wines are geting some recognition on an International stage. A lot of the chatter centered around the Virginia’s Viognier’s, a topic I brushed past recently. The versatile white grape is really doing well in Virginia and appears ready to be paired against top Viogniers domestically and perhaps even internationally.

Creative Commons licensed image from Flickr user law_keven

Virginia turned out 7,000 tons of grapes in 2008, a 25% bump over 2007’s number. Acreage, though, only went up three percent. More gapes from the same amount of land? Better harvest? Fewer deer munching on Merlot hanging on the vine? No word on how this affected pricing. My guess is: not at all… especially since demand is up and now that Virginia is an international star, it’s off to the moon!

Link to terse blurb on Biz Journals.

June 22nd, 2009 Category: Virginia | Leave a comment

First impression: heavy bottle. Second impression: wear those chain mail gloves that people use when they’re filleting fish, because I gored my thumb with the corkscrew just trying to get the wax seal off of this thing. With bloody thumb and a sour attitude, I poured myself a glass out of the decanter.

Translucent dark ruby red color. Big nose of smokey oak and currant. Dominating flavors but sort-of a middleweight feel compared to a Napa Cabernet. As the wine opened up, some nutty and coffee flavors came out. My style of wine is a little kinder and gentler, but if you’re into big Cabs with a touch of finesse that hail from outside of Napa Valley, this would be a good one to try.

Link to VinCellar page

June 19th, 2009 Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Murphy-Goode, a winery located in Sonoma’s Alexander Valley, was faced with a problem that lots of small businesses grapple with: how to get on the social media train that so many people are yammering about. They did the smart thing and set out to hire someone who is plugged into this sort of thing.

So to get going, we’re looking for someone (maybe you) who really knows how to use Web 2.0 and Facebook and blogs and social media and YouTube and all sorts of good stuff like that — to tell the world about our wines and the place where we live: the Sonoma County Wine Country.

Did they hire a college freshman to intern for them? Did they pick up an outsourced freelancer to blog for them from around the globe? No, that would be boring (plus, I wouldn’t be writing about it)

we’re offering you a “Really Goode Job” — a six-month job paying $10,000 a month plus accommodations!

Murphy-Goode is offering a six-month paid job to work their blogs, twitter, and Internet marketing campaign. Let’s stop right here and give credit to Murphy-Goode and the employee that came up with this. NICE MOVE. Seriously. Love the innovation, love the thinking on it. They’re getting tons of buzz, everyone is applying, and they have a great chance at landing a prominent wine blogger to come on and run their social media marketing. The blogger has an instant network of friends with him, and they have a jump start bringing in Facebook fans and Twitter followers.

So who is in the running? 269 people, as of this writing. The applicants submit video applications and us, the unwashed masses, get to vote on who we want to work for them. Pretty cool.

I humbly endorse two candidates:

Hardy from Dirty South Wine. Hardy writes one of the few wine blogs that I actually read. He knows his way around the Internets but doesn’t get too excited about all the madness. After hearing about the job offer, he up and flew from ATL to SFO to meet with Murphy-Goode at their event. Murphy-Goode would have a hard time finding a better man to handle their electronic empire.

Here is Hardy’s video.

Rick Bakas of Open Wine Consortium and RickBakas.com. Rick knows his way around all things Tweet, has been influential is getting Wine Bloggers together, and spearheaded the inaugural season of the Open Wine Consortium Fantasy Football league (which I won, nooch).

View Rick’s video here.

Don’t take my word for it, flip through the applications and vote with your heart.

June 8th, 2009 Category: Wineries | Comments (1)

I popped the 2007 Elk Run Viognier with some burgers off the grill. We were lucky enough to be grilling on one of the few nights lately that it didn’t rain. The wine was nice. Good citrus fruit, medium bodied. Lots of acidity that was sort of all over the place. A great wine to drink chilled when you’re up on your roof in the heat.

In general, Viognier has been on quite a roll lately. I don’t know enough about wine making to figure if that’s because it’s an easy grape or it really thrives here in the States, specifically on the East Coast. Most of the winery flights I’ve run though had their Viognier shine though.

May 28th, 2009 Category: Uncategorized | Comments (2)

The summer cookout/bbq/shower/extravaganza season is getting going (if it ever stops raining here in MD) and with it come the ubiquitous gigantic bottles Woodbrige and Sutter Home. It’s easy to grab these things because the price is right ($5.99) and the volume is right (huge). The wine drinkers at your party, no doubt a minority, will have plenty to drink- ensuring the event’s success. You will have spent very little money on wine for your party, leaving far more budgeted for beer. Everyone wins.

But, if you’re looking to step up your game as an event host, consider stepping up one notch on the wine scale. Here’s a quick-and-dirty about what to look for and what to get.

1) Find a local wine shop. Liquor stores often carry lots of beer and a limited selection of cheap wine. Wine shops carry lots of wine and lots of beer. You can get all your alcohol buying done in one stop at a wine shop. Virginians, you have it easier than us Marylanders, since you can walk into a Grocery store and walk out with enough beer and wine to start a riot. If you’re having trouble finding a wine shop, or don’t even know where to start looking, call a wine snob friend and ask for help (or leave me a comment on this post).

2) Go to France. You say “Alsayse” and I say “Alsaaahss” but either way it’s good wine for cheap. Wine bottling in Alsace is still governed by some draconian French law that demands that they use tall skinny bottles. Winemakers hate this because the bottles are the same as what Riesling is usually bottled in. Consumers see the bottle, think they are sweet wines, and move on (unless they’re into that sort of thing). While sweet wine can be found in Alsace, it is home to some of the freshest, cleanest, crispest, refreshing whites in the world. Look for Pinot Gris or Pinot Blanc in the $10 range.

3) Stopover in Italy. Italy makes about one-fifth of the world’s wine, and some of it is likely to be in a big-bottle format at your local wine joint for $10-$20. Buy some. Chianti is a solid play here.

4) Red-eye to New Zealand. Good Sauvignon Blancs can be found here for under $10 a bottle. They range from grassy to full to crisp to whatever. You’ll have a hard time finding a bad bottle.

5) Set out cheap glasses, an ice bucket, a bucket with ice-water to keep the bottles cold, and get the grill going. Bask in the glow of compliments from your wine snob friends about the gooseberry in the Sauvignon Blanc.

In no way to I mean to imply that good wine cannot be found elsewhere. These are where I go for when I want something good and cheap without having to worry about producer, vintage, or otherwise. Enjoy!

May 21st, 2009 Category: Uncategorized | Comments (2)

Finally got a chance to check out Taverna Corvino, the Italian restaurant on Light Street in Federal Hill. Taverna Corvino replaced Junior’s in the location that works like a Tilt-A-Whirl for upscale restaurants in South Baltimore. If you aren’t slinging Miller Lite in Sobo, you’re going to have a rough time getting going.

Winesdays, five wines featured on each Wednesday, are still around but the price has gone from $10 to $15 for five tastes. Our bartender remarked that the wines are of better quality, though, so that may offset the price increase. The tastes are always generous anyway, so you’re getting your money’s worth. This is coming from a guy who usually thinks he paid too much for tastings, remember.

Food is good, nice fresh Italian selections. I had a panini, and The Wife had spaghetti in Bolognese sauce. Everything was seriously fresh: the cheese, the pasta, the bread. Great, authentic flavors.

But let’s get down to business:

The wines aren’t prices at standard restaurant markup. They are priced at retail.

I couldn’t believe it. Glancing at the wine list, I saw prices in the teens and I started internally grumbling about by-the-glass prices in the double digits. I scanned and scanned and decided I would just have a beer.

But, the prices were bottle prices, not prices by-the-glass.

The glass prices are all $7 or $8, but you can get a whole bottle of real wine for $12 with your dinner. Guys, no longer do you have to shop around for fixed-rate financing on your wine with dinner. You can dine with dignity, have a bottle of Chianti, and pay with cash. I recommend the $16 Kermit Lynch imported Cotes du Rhone.

This was enough to push Taverna Corvino onto my “happy” list of local restaurants. Good food, friendly and helpful staff, a TV in the bar area to watch the Orioles get crushed, and cheap wine prices. I hope this place sticks.

Taverna Corvino
1117 South Charles St
Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 727-1212
http://www.tavernacorvino.com/

May 18th, 2009 Category: Maryland, Restaurants, Reviews | Leave a comment

An appeal comes from Karla Horton asking for help at this weekend’s Wine in the Woods festival in Columbia, Maryland.

Would anyone be able to spare a few hours this weekend to sign up new members for the organization at Wine in the Woods in Columbia? We really need help on Sunday with shifts open for 12-2, 2-4, and 4-6. Saturday is filling up but still some slots open there as well. Come on out, drink some wine, and help us grow MBBWL!

Contact Karla at karlaemd@yahoo.com if you’re interested.

From a purely selfish standpoint, volunteering at a festival is the way to go. You get great access to the company/product you’re helping promote, and you get to meet tons of people over the course of the day, and when the shift is over you’re in the festival for free. Beyond that, the Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws have done a lot to help move the needle on Maryland Direct Wine Shipping. If you feel that’s a worthy cause (if you’re reading this, that’s a likely assumption) then go give them a few hours and help out.

Check out my notes on the Wine in the Woods event from 2008. Can’t make it this year, I’ll be at the beach.

May 13th, 2009 Category: Events, Maryland | Leave a comment

Ate at Woodberry Kitchen in Clipper Mill the other night. I wasn’t so impressed with Woodberry Kitchen the first time I went there, but on this night it was fantastic. They really knocked it out of the park on every level. Pretzel-sausage-cheese-thing: awesome. Wood fired chicken: superb. Braised short ribs: heavenly. Service: outstanding. Sixty dollar bottles of Maryland wine: …What?

This is something I’ve been gnashing my teeth about for some time and seeing a $60 wine from Maryland in print on a wine list was the tipping point for me. This is out of control.

Maryland wines are too expensive, and they aren’t good enough to justify the prices.

I’m not blaming my beloved Woodberry Kitchen for this. They could do no wrong. They served me luscious Torrontes by the glass and polished it off with heavenly Malbec, just a touch of vanilla oak on the nose rolling into stiff, solid red wine backbone. Yum.

If the winery is offering the bottles at $35 retail, the restaurants standard double markup would put the wine between $60 and $70. Woodberry Kitchen is right in the ballpark. Hats off to them for making a real effort to offer real local wines. This doesn’t make it not absurd.

So, we turn to Maryland wineries. Take the last three wineries I visited. Each had at least one wine listed over $30, some had more. One wine was over $40. Forty dollars, FORTY dollars…. for a first-ever release with no scores or glowing reviews from media, stuffy wine critics, or silly bloggers. Further, the wine isn’t very good. I’ll forgive some weaker local juice if it costs around $15. Get over twenty dollars, and we better be getting good. Push forty, and we better be talking about some good wine. Regarding Virginia wineries and their wine pricing, I’ve been jousting at that windmill for some time.

Here’s the problem: The wineries are selling out of the wines. They would be stupid to set the prices any lower.

So the blame lies with you, Maryland wine consumer. I understand you want to buy local. I understand you want to drink local juice. I feel it too. But, c’mon, this is too much. Good wine doesn’t have to be that expensive. Bad wine doesn’t have to be that expensive, either. Go grab something off the shelf for $15. Boordy and Fiore are good plays locally, and there are a million other good wines out there in that range. Spread your wings and wait for the quality to catch up.

May 12th, 2009 Category: I thought that was obvious, Maryland, Restaurants | Comments (8)