We’re all busy blogging away about wine, tweeting and recommending our wines of the week, but are consumers taking any notice?
The answer appears to be no, according to new research published by Wine Intelligence
Its research has revealed that consumers find most of their information from the supermarket shelf. It is a sad day when Tesco shelf barker has more influence on what we drink than the likes of Oz Clarke. But, probably true.
While social networking is most popular among younger wine drinkers (those between 18 and 35), Wine Intelligence has found that their interaction on Facebook, and twitter et. al. is unlikely to be about anything to do with wine. In fact, just 1 in 10 UK regular wine drinkers use social networking sites for their wine guidance two times a week or more, and only 3 in 10 UK regular wine drinkers state that they have ever used social networking sites for this purpose.
This is a disappointing figure considering the popularity of social networking, and the vast number of wine blogs.
Social media is being touted as the new way to communicate with UK wine consumers but the evidence suggests there is still some way to go. Does the UK need a Gary Vaynerchuk to set the world alight? Perhaps.
The New Zealand government has finally approved funding for a New Zealand high-end initiative in the US, almost two months after I first broke the plans on decanter.com- that’s politics for you.
There was a lot of back slapping on twitter yesterday, with all the Kiwis congratulating each other on the initiative, particularly the 21 wineries involved. Indeed, government-funding of NZ$1.2 million is a welcome boost to the industry and not to be sniffed at. However, this thing isn’t even up and running and everyone’s already heralding it as the best thing since sliced bread.
The government’s target is to add NZ$50 million of additional sales in the US by 2015. Last year, New Zealand wine exports amounted to $214m, so it’s about a 20% increase in five years. That seems achievable.
However, I don’t think it’s time to get carried away. A fellow wine journalist in the US acknowledged that it was a good campaign, but every other country had a similar project – and France alone has a plethora of initiatives. Why is New Zealand’s going to be any different from the rest?
Steve Smith MW, chair of the initiative explained there was a rigorous process for getting into this ‘ultra-premium’ wine selection, of which half are Pinot Noir – not Sauvignon Blanc. “We are going to lead with Pinot Noir,” he said. “It’s a wine style that’s fashionable in the US and can compete with the best from Oregon and California.” In fact, there will only be a “few high-end Sauvignon Blancs” with the remainder coming from the aromatics, Bordeaux blends and Syrah.
The 21 wineries include Nautilus, Craggy Range, Seresin and Mt Difficulty. However, there are a number of wineries that didn’t wish to be part of the initiative, citing prohibitive costs – the wineries involved must raise $400,000 between them. Smith responded, “I would argue that for every dollar put in you get three dollars from the Government. It works out less than $5000 a wine a year so I would not say that was a valid argument.”
I hope this initiative works and it’s effective but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Congratulations to the lovely David Williams. Not to be confused with David Walliams of Little Britain (I’m a la-dy), this young gentleman is the new wine writer at The Observer.
The former editor of the now-defunct Wine & Spirit, deputy editor of World of Fine Wine magazine, and general all-round nice guy, has been handed the column following Tim Atkin MW’s move to The Times.
You’ll remember the Save the Wine Column campaign we set up to get Tim’s full column reinstated in The Observer, after having it slashed to a shopping list. Sadly, David’s column is only a list of tasting notes, which seems a shame as he’s such an eloquent writer. Nevertheless, you wouldn’t turn down a national column, would you? (I wouldn’t!)
Perhaps, the Observer editor will finally realise that David – like Tim – is worthy of a full, entertaining and informative wine column. Until then, David, well done on your first national column. Click here to read David’s first column. Some nice wines in there: I particularly like the M&S Manzanilla and the Wine Soc’s Moscato d’Asti. Quinta de Azevedo’s Vinho Verde is also a cheeky wine.
Finally, happy 59th birthday to my dad, John, and happy Norwegian national day!
Matt Dicey, winemaker at Mt Difficulty, introduces this episode of Unfiltered. He wriggles out of telling us his birth year and loves the Matrix…Keanu, you still have your fans!
I picked up a copy of Simon Difford’s Class magazine this week. It’s very swish: all bells and whistles but my favourite part of the bartender’s magazine was its Hall of Shame page. Oh, how I laughed: find a crap product and tell people what you think.
Why hasn’t the wine world done that? There’s plenty of rubbish out there that people should be warned off and it’d be a lot more interesting than simply reading about what’s nice. I find it quite refreshing to read honest columns and a ‘What’s Not Hot’ would spice things up a bit.
I’ve also been re-reading Eats Shoots and Leaves this week, a book about the demise of spelling and grammar. Yes I admit it, I’m a stickler. I’ve not had the misfortune to taste any terrible wine this week, so I’m putting the Sussex Wine Company in my Hall of Shame for grammatical reasons. I stumbled across this wine description on their website and it got my goat:
“The Chateau, Lamothe Bergeron, was promoted Cru Middle-class Superior at the time of the revision of the classification of 1932, occurred in June 2003.” Er, I think you might mean Cru Bourgeois and the last bit doesn’t make sense.
“The usual blend is perdominately Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot.” Try spellcheck next time.
I think I might make the Hall of Shame a more regular thing. If you find anything wine-related that is a prime candidate, let me know!