Archive for the 'Current Affairs' Category

Touring Napa – My New iPhone App!

April 26, 2010 filed in Current Affairs, Dave's Journal, Travel and Wine.
Tags: , , , .
Click for more on my new iPhone app

Note the 3 "wine bottle buttons" (top). Red = Co-ops, Green = open tasting, and Purple = appointment only. (Wineries closed to the public limited to our List View)

After many months of work with my development partners at Transitions 2, I am proud to announce the launch of my new iPhone app “NapaWineries“!

For less than one measly U.S. Dollar, visitors to our nation’s top wine country destination can now get insider insights to help plan their next visit.

And with over 500 tasting options in Napa, it’s nice to have this travel guide on your iPhone!  It’s like taking me along as your tour guide without having to buy me lunch.

Features of “NapaWineries”

MAP VIEW – colored pins indicate location plus –  ”Open for Tasting”, “Appointment Only”, and “Co-ops” (multi-winery tasting rooms).  Turn on location mapping, and your location is shown relative to the winery map!

INSIDER INSIGHTS – read my comments about favorite places, styles of wines, and great places to picnic!  Refresh your app before each visit, as our data updates occur regularly!

LIST VIEW – all Napa Valley tasting facilities including hours, pricing, and tasting information.

DIRECTIONS – Easily click-through to get driving directions

APPOINTMENTS – One-click calling for tasting appointments.

NOTES – record your thoughts and reactions.  Find a new favorite?  Had a bad experience and you’ll never go back?  Record it here!

Got an iPhone?  Download Now!

Sorry, this app is currently available only on iPhones and iPads.  Users of the iPad will note that it needs some resizing to be optimized – it’s on our development list!

Download today from the iPhone App Store (just search for napawineries), or click the button on the right to download from the iTunes store – the app will show up on your phone the next time you synch.

Cheers!
Dave
www.DaveTheWineMerchant.com

1 Comment

“American Dad” spoofs Sideways!

April 21, 2010 filed in Current Affairs and Film.
Tags: , , , .

Given my willingness to see any movie set in one of my beloved wine country, I rushed out to see Sideways soon after its 2004 release.  I thought it did such a good job of promoting wine that, as you know, I spent five years of my career operating the Sideways Wine Club for Fox Searchlight Pictures.

So when I was told about the spoof of the movie done by the wacky, animated folks of American Dad, I just had to share it with you…

Enjoy!!
Dave
www.DaveTheWineMerchant.com

0 Comments

United Airlines and Cline Cellars Battle Breast Cancer

February 9, 2010 filed in Current Affairs.
Tags: , , , .

Click for more info or to buy tickets

This morning’s email contained this invitation from an old friend, Charene Beltramo, who is the Marketing Director at Cline Cellars. And as my family seems to have a genetic predisposition to cancers of various sorts, I have a soft spot for any activity that raises funds for its research or patient support or caregiver solace or… just about anything.

I hope you’ll take a moment to consider attending this fun event.  Here are the details:

When: Saturday, March 6th, 1 – 5 P.M.
Where: Cline Cellars Barrel Room, 24737 Arnold Drive, Sonoma CA
What: Wine Tastings, Tours, Blending sessions
Fee: $35 in advance, $45 at the door (Proceeds donated to Breast Cancer Network of Strength).

CLICK HERE TO BUY

Cheers!

Dave

dave@davethewinemerchant.com

2 Comments

Wine Sales Continue Expanding!

January 25, 2010 filed in Current Affairs, Food and Drink and Wine.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Whew!  Some good news arrived over the weekend, in the form of a report stating U.S. wine consumption eked out another increase again in 2009, continuing our hitting streak into its sixteenth straight year.  If my memory serves correctly, this is the first time such sustained growth has occurred in our 233 year history as a nation.  So why was last year so painful for so many of us in the wine industry?

So before we break out the party hats and pop corks on bottles of bubbly, let’s put these findings in perspective. Here are some highlights from this weekend’s report:

— 2009 marked the 16th straight year of growth in wine sales, up 0.6% over 2008.

— Wine sales have shifted from on-premise (restaurant) to retail stores (especially grocery stores) as consumers increasingly choose to dine in, but still want wine.

— Consumers are buying less expensive wine,  which will have a long-term effect on the market.  (emphasis is mine)

— Direct sales to consumers at tasting rooms, or through wine clubs and the Internet, are gaining in popularity.  (emphasis is mine)

First, let me calm the fears of anyone who might think America is becoming a nation of drunkards.  The average American adult consumes less than one case of wine every year – that’s less than a bottle of wine per month, for those who appreciate math subtitles.  That puts our population at #18 on the chart of per-capita wine consumption, in case you’re keeping track at home.

And while I’m pleased to hear  that wine drinkers are buying more from wine clubs (like mine!) and online stores (like mine!), my bet is that most wine club purchases are occurring directly from the winery, where club membership recruitment is far more effective than in most retail stores, despite the greater access to quality of the latter distribution channel.

In addition, the less expensive wines that enjoy an inordinate share of the consumption growth (1.1% for this sector vs. 0.6% overall) are the exclusive domain of large physical stores (Grocery, big box stores, discounters, etc.) , since shipping expenses run as much as the cost of the wine.  I believe this trend will develop in two ways.  First, one portion of those drinking less expensive wines will continue to do so for the rest of their drinking days.  But another, probably far smaller group, will find the aromas and flavors of inexpensive wines to be limited and predictable and far too similar.  This is the group that will grow into upscale wine drinkers in years to come.

Now, how do I get hold of those folks, begin a conversation, and stay in business until they see the light???  hmmmm.

Cheers!
Dave the Wine Merchant
866-746-7293

Quote of the Day
“WINE, n. Fermented grape-juice.  Known to the Women’s Christian Union as “liquor,” sometimes as “rum.” Wine, madam, is God’s next best gift to man.”
~ Ambrose Bierce, American Wag, Writer, and Journalist (1842-1914)

0 Comments

Warning. 30 Days until Valentine’s Day

January 14, 2010 filed in Current Affairs and Wine.
Tags: , , , .

Wow! That wine really worked!It was five years ago this year.  At the French Laundry.  We’d just had the famed “Oysters with Pearls” paired with a beautiful Gruner Veltliner.  And, after a short period of hyperventilaing, my girlfriend leaned across the table and kissed me.  Four months later, we were married.  Must have been the wine.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Wine has helped fan the flames of passion for centuries, and I see no reason to stop the trend.  There is no better antidote for today’s troubled times.  And when it comes to wines of passion, is there anything better than Sparkling wine?

Here are a few of my favorites.  And guys, remember, even if Valentine’s Day is an over-hyped train wreck for relationships, it’s not that difficult to turn such things in your favor.  Starting with:

Today’s Featured Wines

Gruet, N.V. Brut sparkling wine.  $9 (half bottle) A half bottle is just the right size to begin the evening.  Pop a bottle while the two of you are getting ready.  Or while you’re waiting for your date before walking out the door.  Helpful seduction hint – arrive a bit early, not late.

Charles de Fere, N.V. Sparkling Wine, “Tradition”, $17.50 An affordable luxury that delivers far more than its price would lead you to believe.  From France, this wine is produced by a Champenoise  family who left the confines of Champagne’s rigorous rules and regulations in order to produce high-quality wine for far less money.  Click the link to learn more.  I don’t think you’ll regret that you did.  Seduction hint #2 – enjoy a great value in sparkling wine and you’ll have more for the rest of the evening.

Jacquesson, Cuvee 733 Champagne, $60 Jacquesson, one of the oldest Houses (and THE oldest independent House) in Champagne, has produced a non-vintage cuvee for over a century.  Each one is numbered (this cuveé is #733), making them almost semi-vintage releases, if you will, even though the juice comes from multiple vintages.  Seduction hint #3, pop the cork on this show-stopper and you may not need to plan anything else for the rest of the evening.

Happy MerchantCheers!
Dave the Wine Merchant
www.DaveTheWineMerchant.com

2 Comments

Corkage Fees Flee at S.F. Restaurants

January 4, 2010 filed in Current Affairs and Food and Drink.
Tags: , , , , , , .

Today brings a bit of good news for San Francisco diners.  We’re gradually losing our reputation as a city of restaurants with excessive corkage fees.  Today’s article in the online version of the WSJ (Bay Area Edition) reports that more and more S.F. restaurants are waiving their corkage fees.

The reason is clear.  It’s the economy, stupid.  And as a wine merchant who might benefit from such a movement, you’d think this would be good news for me as it may be for you.

But will such waivers last beyond the current downturn?  Once we put this devastating period behind us and move on to economic recovery, will corkage fees remain waived?  I doubt it.  Here’s why…

Restaurants who have waived their corkage fee (usually $10 – $20) have done so in hope that more diners will choose them over they restaurant next door.  It’s a fish-eat-fish world out there in today’s competitive dining marketplace.

But here’s the challenge – a waived fee has to bring in ENOUGH additional customers to make economic sense.  First, there’s the basic loss in revenue – wines sold from the restaurant’s wine list provide a substantial margin – often about 300% of cost.  That’s higher than anything else on the menu except perhaps coffee or bottled water.

Then there’s the out-of-pocket costs.  Any increase in traffic will also have to offset broken glassware (assuming the patron doesn’t bring their own glassware is a pretty safe bet) which can cost a high-end restaurant $500 – $1000 per month.  That’s a lot of additional dinners!

It’s been a tough few years for many of us.  But I’m glad I’m not in the fine dining establishment.  Many of my favorites have gone under in recent months, and many more are hanging on by a hangnail.  I don’t begrudge them their corkage fee – it’s still a bargain relative to buying wine off the list!

So hey, it’s Monday night.  The first work night of the new year, for most of you.  Why not celebrate our hope for better things to come by enjoying a night out, complete with wine?

Cheers,
Dave the Wine Merchant
866-746-7293


1 Comment

Wine Scents – Tickling Your Memory

December 3, 2009 filed in Current Affairs, Food and Drink and Wine.
Tags: , , , , .

pencilsAttend one of my wine classes and chances are you’ll spend the first half hour tuning up your senses.  The objective is to sharpen our perceptions, to better identify what we’re tasting and (more importantly) smelling.  And to develop scent memory.

So it was with great interest and little surprise that I read last week’s news about the impact that scent has on our memory.

A new study appearing in the Journal of Consumer Research determined that rather forgettable, generic  products such as thread, tires and pencils become more memorable IF THE PRODUCT WAS INFUSED WITH A SCENT.

In one such test, when subjects were shown a pencil and a list of ten selling features, they could remember less than one selling feature two weeks later.  But infuse that same pencil with the scent of pine, show the same list of ten features, and that average jumps almost 400% to 3.3 features remembered.

Of course, marketers are getting all giddy about the implications of how to sell you more scent-infused products.  But I’m wondering if they just might prove to be the most effective study aid in the world?  I mean, could I impart an aroma to every piece of anatomy and ace a Med School exam??   Or would the effect  be no more than marginal  if everything was infused with an artificial scent?  What about those who don’t care for artificial scents, who can’t walk past one of those horrid and intrusive  ”Lush” stores without sneezing and gagging?  But let me get down off my unscented soap box and back to wine…

What’s This Have To Do With Wine?

Lots, actually.  Ever taste a wine and think “I don’t get all those things in Dave’s tasting notes!  Pencil shavings?  Leather tobacco pouch?  Forest Floor?  All I smell are grapes!”

Well, one need only pay attention to their nose and palate while tasting their next hundred or so bottles of wine (not all at once) and a similar vocabulary would inevitably develop.  It’s all about honing the scent memory.  And no, simply opening and guzzling the wine won’t prove any more effective than mindlessly whacking 100 golf balls at the driving range.  You’ll just end up sore and crabby, with no improvement to your skills.

The key is to focus. Pay particular attention to what you’re smelling and tasting.  Take notes.  Compare them with the tasting notes of others tasting the same wine (but if they don’t agree with yours, neither ridicule their experience nor back down from your own).  In short, get a little scientific.

Oh, and one sure way to remember the scent of a specific wine?  Fall in love over it.  When you engage all the senses AND the emotions at the same time, your memory of the wine will prove remarkable.

DSCN0418Cheers!
Dave the Wine Merchant
www.SidewaysWineClub.com
866-746-7293

Quote of the Day
“Observe, record, tabulate, communicate.  Use your five senses. . . . Learn to see, learn to hear, learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you can become expert.”

~ William Osler, Canadian Physician (1849-1919)

0 Comments

Wine Auction Supports Freedom of (Wine) Choice

November 10, 2009 filed in Current Affairs and Wine.
Tags: , , , , , , .

SWRAAs you know, if you’re a reader of this blog, it’s illegal for me to ship to wine lovers living in most states outside California.  Tom Wark and the folks at the Specialty Wine Retailer’s Association (“Wine Without Borders”) is working to remedy this, and we need your help.  Don’t worry, your “help” might result in a great wine deal for you!

By bidding on any of the great items in the online auction being organized by SWRA, your proceeds will help us educate policymakers in various states.  In doing so, we’ll take a small but important step towards offsetting the millions of dollars spent each year by the liquor distributor’s lobby – those who would lose protected sales (and pricing) were the market allowed to operate freely.  Please help by taking a look at the available wines available for bid (Click Here to view).  All bidding ends at 8:04 PM (Pacific Time) on November 19th.

Tips for Winning Online Auctions

  1. Review all the auction items and select your top 5 – 10 items
  2. Check the “Current” bid and eliminate any that exceed your price range.
  3. Click on the name of any remaining items and select “Watch Item” (sorry, but you’ll need to register with Wine Commune first, a worth competitor of mine!)  This will email you any time a new bid comes in on your watched item.
  4. On Thursday, 11/19 - Set a reminder to check back within 15 minutes of closing.  You may see your bid eclipsed in the final minutes, and you if you’re present you can then decide if you want to counter.

Note, this market is far less busy and efficient than one such as eBay, and you are more likely to see a winning bid that is far below market value!

The First S - SeeCheers, and good luck!
Dave the Wine Merchant

Quote of the Day

“I still feel pangs of remorse over an insidious habit I’ve had since I was a teenager. About three times a week, I attend estate auctions and make insulting, low-ball bids for prized heirlooms until I’m asked to leave.”

Dennis Miller, American Comedian and Conservative Political Commentator

0 Comments

News Flash – Tom Colicchio Sells His Soul

November 6, 2009 filed in Current Affairs and Food and Drink.
Tags: , , , , , .

tom_colicchioAn Open Letter to Tom Colicchio

Tom, while waiting for the water fountain at my gym this morning I had a moment to glance at the used magazines tossed into the reading rack.  The early-morning population at my gym leans in favor of the females, so many of the magazines are one’s I never see, given my retarded interest in pop culture, hollywood, and octo-mom.  But right there, in a full-page ad on the back of one such mag was you, Tom, sitting comfortably at a table with some nicely prepared food and a glass of… wait a minute… DIET COKE!  It was a COKE ad for Chrisake!  I felt queasy.

Tom, you co-founded Gramercy Tavern.  You’ve been in Zagat so many times we’ve lost count.  You’ve won James Beard awards, been on food TV and otherwise promoted good food to an interested nation.  And now you throw all that away to shill for drinking diet sugar water at our dinner tables?  Surely you don’t believe diet sugar water is the best accompaniment to your cooking, do you?  And wait, before you tell me there’s no sugar in the product, before you launch into a defense of the much-maligned Aspartame, please tell me why would you want to encourage people to bring such a cloyingly sweet beverage to the table with your food?

Then I read the text of the ad – “Diet Coke and award-winning chef Tom Colicchio have come together to prove that distinctive flavors and smart choices can commingle.”  and I grew really curious – did you know they would use your image next to text that called Diet Coke a “smart choice”?

Then today, as I write this, I learn you’ve been shilling for this product for the better part of a year now.  Here’s an ad from earlier this year:

Man, I AM behind in my pop culture.

But I’m also behind in understanding why you’d do it.  Coke and fine dining don’t mix and you know it.  And if you argue with me on this, you lose your credibility in the food world, and you know that too.

So tell me Tom… what is the cost of a soul these days?  What does one holding an esteemed position in the culinary world charge to sell out?  I’m just asking.

DTWM Video Still croppedA saddened…
Dave the Wine Merchant

4 Comments

Pumping Iron – Why Fish & Red Wine don't mix.

October 24, 2009 filed in Current Affairs, Food and Drink and Wine.
Tags: , , , , , , , .

05-29 Mercado (20) In this week’s edition of the ScienceNow Daily News, (full story, here) it was reported that Japanese researchers have discovered why fish and red wine so often clash.  Turns out there are minute traces of iron in some red wines, particularly those grown in soils high in certain minerals, and that these trace elements can leave you with a very unpleasant “fishy” aftertaste.  And I don’t mean the clean fish smell of the ocean, but more like the day-after fish smell of the trash bin.

The research also seems to answer why some red wines can actually compliment seafood and fish, while others make you run for the motion sickness bag.  The researchers identified an “iron threshold” of 2 miligrams per liter.  Any red wine containing more than this amount spoils the seafood pairing.

Scallops, perhaps the most notorious offender when it comes to foul red wine pairings, were used to test this theory further.  When dried scallops were soaked in wine whose iron content was below the threshold smelled fine, but those soaked in wine with iron above the critical 2 mg/L, smelled horrible.  Note, I’ve observed the same phenomenon when fresh scallops are rinsed using iron-rich water.  Now I know why!

Red Wine With FishBut I agree with Gordon Burns, the enologist who argued that the more compelling reason to avoid red wine with fish is that most red wines are big-bodied wines that over-power the lighter, delicate flavors of most seafood.  And that violates one of my key guidelines for food and wine pairing:

  1. Match high acidity in the food with high-acid wines
  2. Match sweet foods with equal or higher sweetness in the wine
  3. Pair light dishes with lighter wines, heavier dishes with heavier wines
  4. If the wine is high in fruit and alcohol, leave it on the cocktail bar when you go to the dinner table!

Others, such as Tim Hanni, M.W., suggest that simply adding a pinch of salt and a squeeze of citrus to your fish dish will make it surprisingly compatible with your red wine.  And still others, such as David Rosengarten, in his famous book (right) simply focuses on finding lighter red wines that can compliment fish and seafood prepared with red wine-friendly recipes.  Of course, his book was written in 1989, when it was easier to FIND a lighter red wine, i.e., lower in alcohol (average then was just 12.5%) and body.

By contrast, today’s contemporary styles for wine often dictate alcohol levels in excess of 14.5% along with “gobs and gobs of ripe fruit”.  If red wine with fish is your culinary preference, I’d seek the lighter reds of Burgundy, Beaujolais, Northern Italy, the Loire and other cool-weather growing areas.

Seek out such wine, and I think you’ll be finding Nemo never tasted so good.

DSCN0419Cheers!
Dave the Wine Merchant
Dave@SidewaysWineClub.com

Quote of the Day
“Fish, to taste good, fish must swim three times.  First in water, then in butter, and then in wine!”  ~Old Proverb

4 Comments