Comments for The Wine Economist

Comment on Good to Great: Rethinking Chilean Sauvignon Blanc by Mike Veseth

Mike Veseth — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:17:08 +0000

Thank you for this, Aldo. The on-going relationship of Argentina and Chile with respect to wine is very encouraging and your interest in collaboration is commendable. Also congratulations on the 4-star rating that VERO received from Decanter. Well deserved.!

Comment on Good to Great: Rethinking Chilean Sauvignon Blanc by Aldo Biondolillo

Aldo Biondolillo — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:21:33 +0000

Hi Mike,
I liked your approach of showing the results of the Decanter tastings and the “unique” style in the way you wrote it (just to use a word very familiar to you in categorizing wines).
Respect to the comparison of the relative performance of Chile and Argentine, I think it is very fair to say that the match (as it was a soccer game) was dead heat. I´d like to reinforce your arguments with the results I got from a recent econometric study which shows that beyond the substitution between origins (a positive cross price elasticity of demand for argentine wine exports), there is also a strong complementarity between them in terms of the final destinations of their respective exports (a clear substitution between new and old worlds wines). There is plenty of room for collaboration between both countries, specially when we talk about promotion and logistics.
I am so convinced about this, that I am sharing our selected genetic material coming from our clonal selection of Malbec Program (which gave rise to a “unique” wine, the Tempus Alba VERO Malbec) with Chilean colleagues, on the basis of a win-win game which will only enrich the emblematic Argentine variety and will permit to express its highest oenological potential in different terroirs.
Hope this comment if of interest to you.
Cheers,

Aldo

Comment on Good to Great: Rethinking Chilean Sauvignon Blanc by Chris

Chris — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:55:51 +0000

I was once told by a Casa Silva employee that the Casa Silva Cool Coast SB is from a vineyard very near the coast in Colchagua (on the West side of the Coastal Mountain range,) outside of the usual vineyard locations where red wine production has thrived. I haven’t been there myself, but if what I was informed is accurate, it is probably more akin to Leyda than to other areas of Colchagua.

-CH

Comment on Good to Great: Rethinking Chilean Sauvignon Blanc by Mike Veseth

Mike Veseth — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:09:29 +0000

Thanks for this suggestion, Daniel. And I would agree about the France/New Zealand placement.
Yes, the first wine was from Colchagua and it was actually the wine with a bit more acidity than we wanted so perhaps it was a cellar adjustment issue.
Cheers
Mike

Comment on Good to Great: Rethinking Chilean Sauvignon Blanc by Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:00:13 +0000

Mike,
Was the first SB actually from Colchagua? That’s mostly an area for reds, so I would imagine that it lacked some acidity (natural).
You should also check out some of the wines from the newer appellation of the Leyda Valley, it’s closer to the coast than all the other growing areas and greatly affected by the ocean.
I always tell people that Chile is right between France and New Zealand both in style and (if you have a map of the world) location!

cheers
Daniel

Comment on Fat Wine: Middle Class, Middle Market, Middlebrow by 360 SW

360 SW — Sun, 20 May 2012 05:04:07 +0000

Good points. So while Gallo can hedge against longer term rising grape prices through extended grape contracts they may not be as agile to offer popular varietal wines to the 70% of millennials that are of age to buy wine. I guess that puts more emphasis on them to focus on up-front marketing, branding, and packaging.

Comment on Wine Economist Milestones by Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:36:38 +0000

congratulations Mike…
saw the interview re-posted on the Wine Business blog.

I finished Wine Wars a little while ago on a flight to Anchorage, very enjoyable. Looking forward to the sequel.

Cheers!

Comment on Tight, Fat, and Uncorked: Three Wine Scenarios by Mike Veseth

Mike Veseth — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:50:50 +0000

I agree, Ken. But remember that Germany is the tip of the European Economic Iceberg these days — it is basking in the sun, the rest of Europe is “under water.”

Comment on Tight, Fat, and Uncorked: Three Wine Scenarios by Ken Bernsohn

Ken Bernsohn — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:38:59 +0000

Usually events turn out to be messier, with unexpected side effects, than any scenarios expect.
“Wine as a global commodity” is not in the cards for Italians going wine shopping in Florence, Palermo or Rome. Nor in any state or province where government considers supporting the indigenous industry important.
Whether the margin will shift will depend on the inertia to be overcome in the market. People who now consider Cabernet Sauvignon to be “the real stuff” aren’t likely to stray too far.
You wrote, “If Europe’s recession continues and even deepens (as seems likely) and the U.S. recovery slows or even stalls (as seems possible), then the center of gravity in the wine world will necessarily a bit shift towards those areas where middle class incomes are growing, including parts of Asia, South America and even Africa.” Germany, as far as I know, doesn’t have a recession, but it is part of Europe.
And this implies that The U.S. is the centre (Canadian spelling) of the wine world. Not according to Londoners. And, as Bill Murray said in Meatballs, “It just doesn’t matter.” What matters is whether you, you friends, and I can find a good tasting bottle of wine we can afford, and that people can make enough money supplying us that they stay in the business.
Here comes the future, and as usual, we’ll all have to adjust to a world we didn’t expect.

Comment on Fat Wine: Middle Class, Middle Market, Middlebrow by bobzaguy

bobzaguy — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:26:00 +0000

Sorry, posted before tagging:
Vines by the Rhyme
Rappers boost a varietal.
By Willy Staley in New York Magazine.