A lasting impression - direct to consumer wine sales.

Still shaking off the jet-lag and detoxing from my fabulous 2 weeks in France, I am in the midst of a few more posts about the trip, so stay tuned for those shortly.   

This week however, my new boss at Wine Country Connect, David Studdert - was profiled by Jordan Mackay (one of my  favorite wine & spirits writers) in the NY Times. Since 2006, David has been quietly leading a BEHEMOTH direct sales channel for wineries to reach a national market - with very mindful effort. 

I admit, I wasn't familiar with Amazon's Wine.Woot! until an industry consultant helping Pellegrini Family Vineyards turned me onto Woot! last fall.  Notice the word "help", you all know by now that I'm in the business of wine and my passion for "helping" family owned wineries is what gets me out of bed in the morning.  After running my first campaign with Wine.Woot! and Pellegrini - I was hooked.  Smart marketing and even smarter direct sales.

In all my years of agonizing over National FOB's, begging for more allocations, fighting over margins, creating incentives for reps that work (then seeing them fail), waiting for PO's, calling for payment on the PO's,  picking up winemakers from the airport at dawn, planning every minute of a market visit, driving 5 hours to stand in a store for a demo to then stay awake for a midnight staff training at a restaurant, receiving calls from key sales reps @3pm on Friday asking if I had any samples at my home that their best on-premise account was short and needs more - (oh and can you meet me 1.5 hours away with them too), printing a forest of marketing materials - sales sheets, shelf talkers, reviews, prices, paying for lunch, paying for breakfast tacos, paying for a steak dinner and kickoff meeting for 30, paying $4 a gallon in gas to drive 2-3,000 a month around Texas to finally & hopefully sell a few boxes of wine.  Whew.  It's takes an expensive army and an ambitious leader to move millions of dollars of wine through the traditional supply chain - exhausting and a money pit.     

Room for both.  

Yes, savvy wineries have been getting this for years now.  Utilizing sites such as Wine.Woot! and Rue La La for direct sales is a smart, fast and efficient way to brand the winery to a new customer base and ultimately move some boxes.  I've heard of a few "whiny-baby" distributors attempt to bully wineries when featured on these sites, what they don't get is that these 2 channels are actually helping build the brands in their local region too.  Often on the Wine.Woot! community forums page, members ask where the wines are being poured in restaurants and what local wine shops carry the wine.  On Rue La La - well over 3.5 million members are now eyeballing the wine collections - worth more than any BTG placement at the hottest restaurant in any American town. For a winemaker it may not sound as "cool" as having your wine placed on Gary Danko's list, but you can't deposit your ego in the bank either. Also, most likely a member of Rue La La who bought a large format of your wine will jump at the chance of ordering your brand off a sexy wine list too.  Wineries have been selling direct to consumers for years through their tasting rooms, wine clubs and mailing lists - this avenue is no different except it's in the world's view - for all to see, learn from and most likely spend their money on!

White Noise. 

Wine.Woot! began in 2006, since then similar "flash sites" have popped up but nothing to shake a stick at in regards to building a lasting and loyal impression on wine consumers.  Wine.Woot! is one-of-a kind and after a few months now of getting to know the members, it feels like family.  They love a good discount (who doesn't?), love hearing from the winemakers, offer honest opinions (love it or hate it), create wine gatherings all over the nation to share their Wine.Woot! bottles with each other and spread the love for the brands they have discovered like no other group of wine lovers I've ever encountered.  Oh, and they are buying a few pallets of wine - a day! 

Game-Changer.

Big plans are in full swing for Wine.Woot! and Rue La La.  Luxury wineries are utilizing high-end features on Rue La La to drive visitors to their winery (literally) and many are using Wine.Woot! as a new release and launching pad to kick off new wines for the season.  Yes, you'll still see a good value in price but don't expect to always see 2 vintages-past featured each day.  If you are a winery and haven't incorporated these two channels into your annual sales strategy - get on it, what are you waiting for?  If you are a wine consumer - CHEERS to you with each and every click!   - Ali

PS. I'm working on mid-summer features for Wine.Woot! & Rue La La now, reach me direct alison@winecountryconnect.com

Day 12 in France

One for the record books, an EPIC day visiting 12 Chateaus in Bordeaux with K&L Wine Merchants. More soon, a few pics to click. Cheers - Ali  

Photo of the Day atop Chateau de Montfaucon

A view of the Rhone on the rooftop of an 11th century castle.   Amazing family and fantastic wines that I've been a fan of for many years. http://chateaumontfaucon.com/en/wines.html
Detailed post tomorrow about my visit, incredible!!  Cheers - Ali

A Saturday in the Rhone - à la provençale!

Cecile & Mauricio hosted  us for lunch today at their home in Sablet.  After a foggy walk through the vineyards from our apartment (Cecile owns this – fantastic! http://www.gite-vaucluse.com/), the sun appeared, wines flowed and a delicious French-Italian lunch went on for hours.  The house was owned by her 93 year old grandmother for years and now Cecile has converted it to this lovely modern and colorful cozy home.

Cecile makes and imports wines to the US and Mauricio, her Italian love is in real-estate in the French Riviera. They served fresh pasta with simple tomato and basil, grilled lamb, an assortment of cheese (Mauricio pulled out a special Italian gorgonzola too!) finished with the most delicious strawberry tart I've ever tasted.  We spoke for hours about our love of all things Rhone, Provence & good Italian wines! Ahh, then the walk back through the vineyards induced my first 2 hour nap in ages!  A beautiful day with new friends.  Cheers - Ali

TexaCali Ali is NOT Foolin' in France!

Day 4 in France. Soo much to share with you all, I'm having a hard time narrowing down what to write. It's been a week of visual & tasty inspiration. I'm mellow today, trying to decide what has been the biggest impression on me so far, it's all lovely and soo incredibly beautiful here. But the PEOPLE... I've been so fortunate to meet and spend time with are who and what has made this week in France so very special for me.

Tons of photos, books, websites, marketing materials all list and show off the terroir of the region and a gazillion important wine facts, but none of these things can capture of the true spirit of the Rhone Valley- the people here. I've had some of the best French winemakers on my home-turf back in Texas over the years, I so prefer to be here with them,on their dirt and see their soul.

On Wednesday, I had the great privilege of spending the afternoon with Daniel Brunier - http://www.vignoblesbrunier.fr/ ‘Wine is my life”, sure we had plenty to talk about regarding his wineries, projects and the juice, but Daniel’s story, past and present was most impressive. He’s now in the midst of planning and running his 5th winery – both in France and Lebanon. Daniel spoke fondly of his 2 teenage children, his wife who runs an advertising agency and how he loves to spend quality time with them up in the mountains of the Ardeche. He smiled a lot during our tasting but his biggest smiles of the day came when speaking of his family. The lineup of wines were fascinating, Les Pallieres, Domaine La Roquete, Le Vieux Telegraph and Massaya. Each producer poured separately and vertically 2008 – 2010 (most were barrel samples).

Highlight for me: 2010 Domaine La Roquete, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, ( “Echantillon – means sample bottle”). 1/3 Grenache Blanc 1/3 Clairette 1/3 Roussillon. It was everything I like to taste from a CdP Blanc!

Thursday brought the hustle!! I was warned that the day would be at least 12 hours long of tastings. Yes it was and let me tell you, I loved every second of it. At exactly 8:27am as I was brushing my teeth hear a knock at the door and it’s Laurent Terrisson the owner of http://www.terrisson-wines.com/ arriving to take us around for the day.

I seriously met my French Match – he runs a company much like how I ran TexaCali Wine Co.  from 2005-2010, here from the South of France. He met us with the day complete -  a printed list of wines to be tasted during the day in hand, set appointments for the day and great tunes on the car radio as we climbed into his “gentlemen farmer’s truck” and began the day.

Laurent was full of life yesterday, telling us jokes, flirting a bit but buttoned up to the very smallest detail of the day. I loved it. It was such a breath of fresh air to be “on the other side” for the day and see someone else’s mindful planning play out. Laurent made a point to close each tasting with a reminder to my travel partner of what she needed, already ordered, pricing if she ordered more and etc. Always on point, always leading the dialog and questions into the sale. The thrill of the game for sure, I soaked up every minute of it.

This day was hardest for me - I am without my Blackberry during this entire trip and seeing him on it and conducting multiple business tasks all day was KILLING me. ARGH. I can't even recall the last time I've been without it!! I know - this makes many of you roll-your-eyes. 

Moving on...Laurent too spoke of his family, his life outside of work and his future travel and business ambitions.  So very much in common, I can't wait to tell a joke he shared with me to the appropriate crowd "Alison you must perfect the punchline!" and find the "Allison" song from England that he belted out all day.

Next, Laurent took us to meet the two brothers of http://www.domainejaume.com/ , we tasted their Domaine Courtois – and I seriously liked them all   - - beautiful wines for the price.  Upon leaving the winery, we were shown a few vineyards located in one of the most Northern parts of the Southern Rhone (or most Southern parts of the Northern Rhone!). Freaks me out a bit how similar the soils are to Texas – our West Texas soils to be exact.

They day went onto a DELICIOUS tasting with Jean-Francois Gras & Jean Louis Colombier. It’s so fun to hear about who they love doing business with both in Texas and California, we are very like-minded this way! We all spent lunch together in Gigondas, talking about the biz, hearing about their recent travels to Germany (Redbull & vodka are evil) and hearing about life around the Rhone.

My first sighting of a goofy French bull dog in a dining room happened as well, oh Henley would have loved France. Toward the end of lunch, my heart sank a bit as I hear about the afternoon for them ahead, attending a funeral of a small child who fell into a well. We left lunch together wishing rainbows appearing in the sky…

Off to Châteauneuf-du-Pape to meet one of Decanter Magazine’s “Winemaker of the Year” - Alexandre Favier http://www.chantecigale.com/. Alex is only 29 and a total hardworking STUD!

Due to his father having 2 heart-attacks when Alex was 17 – he stepped up to the plate at a very young age. He does everything, and means it. We tasted 4 reds and a white, the white was totally mind-blowing by the way. Think French Pressed Apricots!! His red CdP’s were amazing, a real treat, I’d like to track down the 2008 vintage when back in the US. The 2009 is singing too…the Vielles Vignes is made from 70-80 yr. old vines and made my head spin.

Right as we left the winery I asked Alex if he enjoyed working in the cellar more or out in the vineyards, quickly he replied “the vineyards, the wine is about the vines and the terrior” with a big sparkling smile of course. I told Laurent he needs to send him to the US to make a few sales calls, he quite reminds me of dear Luis Reginato, a famous young winemaker and vineyard expert I admire in Argentina.

So our day with our "Cheerful-Handler" closed with a big Northern Rhone tasting in a wine lab in Rasteau with Laurent. Seriously, he worked every minute of the day to the fullest, Oh Snap! You Rock Laurent.  Very sweet to know how well you treat your profession of representing winemakers. Bravo.

Laurent left us in the good hands of Valerie Aigron @ Cave de Rasteau who took us to a wonderful dinner at a “Natural” wine bar in Vaison La Romaine. Valerie travels the world for her COOP in Rasteau and when we asked her how she was doing…”my life is perfect, I love my job”. Over dinner she shared with us how she was in Japan then China a few days ago, then off to Canada next week. I’ve got nothing on her miles…

This post is getting rather long and I have a full afternoon ahead to tell you all about ------my special tasting and experience with young Thomas Jullien on Friday @ http://www.fermesaintmartine.com/ …stay tuned, I’m still pinching myself.

The people here with whom I've met this week - they’ve shared their passions, opened their hearts and are so very grateful for their following in the USA. I’m honored to have spent this time alongside so many folks in the Rhone that are just doing what they love…Cheers -  TexaCali Ali

PS - pardon my typos, writing without spellcheck, after exercise for the first time in a week and now a bottle of 2010 Tavel Rose tonight!

Photo of the Day

The proper way to leave a winery tasting room.

Châteauneuf du Pape

France- first 2 days have been total CDP immersion. I'll let a few pictures do the talking, hard to say what the highlights have been since every minute has been full of new & fabulous experiences.  More details soon...6 pages of tasting notes to decifer! Cheers - Ali

France, Finally.

Travels to Italy, Argentina, Spain, Japan...you'd think France would have been first for this gal, finally 2011 brings it! I'm off to a 14 day romp in the Rhone Valley and Bordeaux with a handful of my wine-mentors from K&L Wine Merchants -  which makes this trip even sweeter.  Many of you know I got my true wine biz start working for K&L Wine Merchants back in 2003.  I walked into my position with eyes-wide-open and soaked up knowledge from every person and every sip, every single day.

Hours learning from Ralph Sands, not only listening to him talking and selling to collectors over the phone but really discerning my own palate while I tasted alongside Ralph.   He probably doesn't know this, but I use to hustle to get in front of him during staff tastings each week.  I would sip, spit and think about what it was I tasted then would eagerly await his notes to compare my own taste buds to Ralphs.  This built great confidence in my wine palate quickly, which I'll forever be grateful.

I also had the great pleasure of learning from Clyde and Trey Beffa.  I was a California girl from the start, mega enthusiasm and passion for the family winemakers all over the West coast actually.  One of my fondest memories is when Trey asked me if I would begin writing a blurb about domestic wine for the September 2003 K&L newsletter - 'Plain Talk about Fine Wine...", funny to think of my excitement to write about wine now that I've been blogging weekly since 2005! 

So the next few weeks ahead are full of new experiences in the Rhone Valley and Bordeaux specifically.  Anchoring in beautiful Avignon for the first week, I'll be alongside Mulan Chan, who's made quite the name for herself leading the Rhone category for K&L over the years.  We have a packed itinerary visiting some of my favorite producers and tasting some new wines as well.  

The last few days of the trip brings the Big Guns...I'll have the great pleasure of visiting and tasting all the First Growths of Bordeaux and a few hundred more (I'm not kidding here).  Back in the day while at K&L, I was lucky enough to attend the EPIC Bordeaux dinners that Clyde and Ralph would put on.  I learned so much sitting next to famous Bordeaux vintners and tasting their gorgeous old and new releases at those dinners.  To be tasting on their home-turf will be fascinating. 

Tune into the TexaCali Wine Trail, I'll do my best to post along the way.  I'm looking forward to seeing many of my wine friends from all over the world in Bordeaux especially.  Honestly I already feel like a kid in a candy store and am thrilled to see what the next 14 days brings...Cheers! Ali

Up Close and Personal with Stony Hill Vineyard

As the TexaCali Wine Trail moves along, I am thrilled to have spent a few hours with Peter McCrea recently of the legendary Stony Hill Vineyard. I mentioned to a few friends of mine who know my wine preferences well "figures you would make the trek over to Napa for the first time in months for a Cult White Wine producer!".  Whew, a very curvy and steep drive up from Hwy 29 just a few miles south of Calistoga atop the St. Helena western hillside sits Stony Hill Vineyards.

 

They were right, what a pleasure to taste the beautifully and electicly made wines of Stony Hill alongside the McCreas and Mike Chelini, their winemaker of 40+ years.  They've been making fruity "non-oakey", non-maloactic, Chardonnays, White Rieslings and Gewurztraminers for fifty-eight years straight.

The afternoon sunshine was beaming down the first hint of spring warmth as I walked past 48 year old Riesling vines.  To see the very tops of the vineyards I had to take a few steps back  - a vertical gaze straight to the top of the mountain side that faces East towards St. Helena.   I couldn't help but text photos of the old Riesling vines and post a few pics to my Facebook during my walk with Peter - overwhelming historic views to share!

Character with Style...

What was most surprising to me during the tour of the tiny old winery - "the French Oak barrels were purchased about 38 years ago", yep, the wines scream "NO NEW OAK".  A welcome tasting experience indeed.   

In the very back corner of the winery, I pointed to barrel with red streaks stains around the bung hole, "what is this red wine?"...Peter was quick to thieve a little out of the barrel and fill my glass.  Beautiful!! It's Cabernet Sauvignon from their estate vineyard planted on the West side of the hill in 2004.  Of course the Cab was made in the same vein as all the Stony Hill whites...all about the fruit! I loved it. Currently they are selling their 2008 Red Table Wine -  they produced about 195 cases of the 2008 vintage and are selling it for a steal $25 a bottle. This is a Napa Cabernet I could drink weekly. A pleasant surprise.

Soon after the walk along the grounds we tasting inside the McCrea home. The house next to the winery is the original home purchased by Eleanor and Fred McCrea in 1943. I felt the history just upon walking through the front door streaming at me.  What a magical hillside to have created memories on for so many years.  I'm super glad to know the youngest generation (a daughter and son about my age) of the McCrea family is actively involved in the winery to this day. Stony Hill is an old producer and the "new generation" of world class Sommeliers and Wine Pros should be showing off these wines to their followers no doubt!

The line up in the kitchen that day included: 

2009 Stony Hill Gewurztraminer - 12% alcohol. Very Dry and floral. Sees time in French Oak, which gave it a tiny hint of softness on the finish.

2009 Stony Hill White Riesling- 1% residual sugar, 12% alcohol. A fun riesling to "blind" your pals on...honeydew melon on the nose, touch of apple in flavor - very dry.

2008 Stony Hill Chardonnay - Tasted pretty opposite of how I remembered my first sip of Stony Hill years ago - a bottle that was at least 6-8 years old. The 2008 was just a baby - a baby Burgundy if I was blinded on this glass though!  Great structure but has not come into her glory days yet.  Peter told me the 2007 is much more lush in flavor than the 2008, but haven't pulled a cork on the 2007 yet - tasting notes posted as soon as I do - promise.

2008 Stony Hill Red Table Wine - another low alcohol at 13.8% - which is crazy speaking in Napa Valley Cab terms.  What I loved about this red wine, it was all about the deep red fruit - berries to be exact that drew me into the glass and made my mouth water once sipped. It's a perfect medium-bodied red for me, the tannins were slight, but structured.

2008 Semillon de Soleil- screams Creme Brulee! Went home with 2 bottles...can't wait to pair these at a fun dinner party, a total treat!

Recent Press from the Sommelier Journal: 

Hot Picks

2007 Stony Hill Chardonnay

Lots of California winemakers are talking about changing their style to feature lower alcohol and less oak.  Stony Hill started building California's reputation for Chardonnay nearly 50 years ago, and its approach has never changed: careful handling of the fruit and hand-off winemaking.  In this version, the purity and depth of character that come only from older vines will impress even the most diehard white Burgundy fans.

If you have a chance to visit the winery - awesome! But if not, you can always buy directly from Stony Hill and experience their history at home.  http://www.stonyhillvineyard.com

Cheers! TexaCali Ali (click on each photo to enlarge for a better view!).