Tag Archives: wine bottles

Winebits 729: Wine bottles, Eyrie Vineyards, robots

Label lawsuits
Yes, lighter is better.

This week’s wine news: Bogle will use lighter glass bottles, plus a tour of the legendary Eyrie Vineyards and robots among the grapes

Lighter bottles: Bogle, the one-time champion of quality supermarket wine, will reduce its bottle weight by 10 percent, starting next year. Bogle’s bottles were always a bit heavy, given the price of the wine, so it’s good news that it’s cutting down on their weight. Wine Business reports that the change will take place in phases, with the first lighter bottles coming to its being featured in Bogle’s chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, Essential Red, pinot noir, and merlot. Now, if the company would only stop sweetening the sauvignon blanc. …

Touring Eyrie: Oregon’s Eyrie Vineyards is one of the great treasures of American wine, and Austin Beeman shows us why in this video, “Walking the Original Vines.” Eyrie’s Jason Lett takes Beeman on a tour of where his father David planted the winery’s first vines and helped change the way we made wine in this country. If you get frustrated and overwhelmed with the way wine is going these days, do what I do — drink a bottle of Eyrie wine. It reminds me what wine can be.

Winery robots: Because, of course, who doesn’t like robots? Traxx will come in two types — to till vineyards and to spray them. It’s unique because it’s what called high-clearance, that it is taller than the vines. It will undergo field trials in France next year. No word on whether or when it will be available in the U.S.

Winebits 726: Alcohol regulation, wine barrels, wine bottles

wine barrels
Wine barrels? We don’t need no stinkin’ wine barrels.

This week’s wine news: China clamps down on booze advertising, plus 21st century technology comes to wine barrels and wine bottles

Just like in the U.S.: China and the United States might have all sorts of geo-political problems to solve, but we do seem to have one thing in common: alcohol regulation. Chinese authorities fined Big Drinks’ Pernod Richard some $25,000 for showing liquor consumption in an ad. thedrinksbusiness website reports that the ad, for a popular Cognac brand, announced a promotional video featuring a Cognac drinking scene on one of its social media accounts. Which is illegal: “alcohol-related products are not permitted to promote drinking, showcase the act of drinking, or show activities such as operating cars, boats or aircrafts. They are also banned from implying that alcohol relieves stress or anxiety.”

Clay and wood: Winemakers in France have been experimenting with clay fermentation vessels, similar to the amphoras used by ancient Romans, reports connexionFrance.com. The hybrid barrels are made with both wood and clay, allowing the wine to age and gain the benefits of both materials. The new vessels are either made with the familiar red clay baked at relatively low temperatures and commonly used for roof or floor tiles, or with white clay baked at high temperatiures. The combination barrels almost twice the size of a traditional wood barrel, and cost about twice as much. However, the manufacturer says they should last much longer.

Box and bottle? One more possible solution for the heavy and eco-unfriendly wine bottle – a wine container that is both box and bottle, called the Bio’teille. The boxtle – my bad punn – weighs just one-eighth the amount of a glass bottle and generates five times fewer CO2 emissions over its lifecycle than a glass bottle, says the Bio’teille manufacturer. Best yet – from the WC’s perspective – it’s aimed at wines costing around €10.

Will listing bottle weights in wine reviews help save the planet?

wie bottles
“Bottle weight.. we don’t need no stinkin’ bottle weight.”

Maybe not, but it’s much more effective than giving yet another 92 to yet another overpriced wine

Who knew wine bottle weights would be one of the next great battlegrounds in the fight against climate change? But that appears to be the case.

• In February, wine critic Jancis Robinson announced she would list bottle weights in her reviews, with the idea that great wine doesn’t need to be in a heavy bottle.

• In June, a variety of wine writers (myself included) got an email with an open letter from Italian producer Max de Zarobe, asking that we take a winery’s sustainability efforts into account when scoring their wine.

• Last week, Dave McIntyre wrote a piece in the Washington Post decrying heavy wine bottles for the environmental obscenity that they are – low recycling rates and carbon footprint among many faults. And which, frankly, made the most sense of almost all of the stuff I’ve read on the subject, and I’d say that even if Dave wasn’t my friend.

Heavy wine bottles once mattered – say, 200 years ago, when wine was shipped in horse carts over rutted European roads and the bottle needed to be robust enough to stand up to the punishment.

Today, the heavy bottle is nothing more than marketing – call it an enological phallic symbol for an industry dominated by men who sell big, expensive bottles of wine to other men. A woman executive, whose company uses the lightweight PET bottle (made of plastic), told me her harshest critics weren’t consumers, but older men in the wine business who were aghast that her company didn’t do what tradition demanded.

Which, of course, speaks volumes about how effective listing bottle weights in reviews would be. I’m not against it; in fact, I ranted about the subject seven years ago — yes, seven years ago. Two of the worst offenders then were Bonterra and its “organically-farmed wine” and a Downton Abbey wine. What better way to convince consumers you’re making “real wine” than with a heavy bottle?

In other words, the people who make decisions in the wine business could care less about bottle weights. If they did, they would have downsized years ago. Lighter bottles mean cheaper production and shipping costs and less wear and tear on equipment. If saving serious money didn’t convince them, then why would the bottle weight in a review?

And, frankly, I don’t think the wine drinkers who read Robinson and rest of the Winestream Media care much, either. What matters to them are points, not how heavy. If it’s 94 points and a heavy bottle, who cares?

Having said that, I’ll start listing bottle weights for the most egregious offenders, if only to follow Dave’s example. Most of the wines I review, given their price, long ago gave up any heavy bottle pretense. And though listing weights may not do much, it’s still more than most of the rest of the wine business is doing.

Photo: “Two boxes of green wine bottles” by wuestenigel is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Ask the WC 29: Birthday gifts, larger bottles, and on-line

birthday wine
Happy birthday — now let’s drink my birthday wine.

This edition of Ask the WC: Wine as a birthday present, plus buying larger bottles and making sense of on-line wine

Because the customers always have questions, and the Wine Curmudgeon has answers in this irregular feature. You can Ask the Wine Curmudgeon a wine-related question by clicking here.

Hi, WC:
I can’t find anything on the blog about buying wine as a birthday present — lots of wine for holidays and Christmas, but not birthdays. How did you miss that?
Birthday shopper

Dear Birthday:
That’s a good point, and one would have thought I’d have touched on the subject once or twice in almost 14 years. General guidance — buy someone what will they like, and not what you think they should like. Plus, of course, bubbly. More specifically, wine for a birthday (or similar special occasion) is about memories — reminding someone about a wonderful experience they once had or something they did with you that neither of you will ever want to forget. I can buy a certain bottle of sparkling wine, and still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I drank it.

Hello, Wine Curmudgeon:
A friend sent me this article about wine in larger bottles. Needless to say, it didn’t make much sense to me. Can you explain?
Confused

Dear Confused:
Ah, the wine geek larger bottle story. No wonder you were confused. The wine geek theory goes that the world’s best wines last longer and age more gracefully if they’re in larger bottles, as opposed to the standard 750 ml bottle. So most of the information in the story doesn’t apply to most wine drinkers, since we don’t regularly spend $100 for a bottle of wine, regardless of size. Besides, as happens very time I buy a 1.5-liter bottle of the La Vieille Ferme rose (which is the equivalent of two standard bottles), I drink too much of it. And I’m a professional and should know better.

Hey WC:
I’m a fairly traditional wine shopper, which means I either buy it at the market or at Costco or a chain retailer. So, needless to say, I’ve been confused by this on-line and delivery stuff. Do you have any words of wisdom?
Retail shopper

Dear Retail:
The biggest problem with on-line wine (save for delivery charges) is that you can’t read the label — so no idea about alcohol levels, the grapes in the blend, and he importer (if there is one) without a lot of Googling. And there’s no guarantee about vintage, either. Otherwise, it’s not that much different. I wrote a post about it here; just find a decent on-line retailer and go from there.

Photo: “Wine for Colin’s birthday #wine #food #vscocam” by jeremiah.andrick is licensed under CC BY 2.0

More Ask the WC:
Ask the WC 28: Wine Curmudgeon ethics, sweet red wine, and wine spending
Ask the WC 27: Pandemic wine sales, red Burgundy, wine competitions
Ask the WC 26: Wine gifts, supermarket wine, blog ads

Winebits 702: Premiumization, Smithsonian, wine bottles

wine toast
“Let’s celebrate! Wine is going to come in lighter bottles!”

This week’s wine news: One retailer says premiumization is out of control, plus good news for wine at the Smithsonian and wine bottles get lighter

Enough, already: Writes one of the leading independent wine retailers in the country: “The damage caused by skyrocketing pricing for exclusive allocations may be irrevocable.” Brett Zimmerman, the owner of the Boulder Wine Merchant, says prices for top Burgundy are out of control, citing a 600 percent increase for one wine over the past couple of vintages. The result? A bottle costing $4,300 wholesale – even before he takes his markup. At this rate, Zimmerman writes, “the damage to our industry caused by skyrocketing pricing for exclusive wines may be irrevocable. … [W]ith pricing like the offer I received recently, there’s no doubt that these wines will be available only for a small demographic otherwise known as the Billionaires Only Club.” His post discusses the “disingenuous” pricing and sales tactics used for these wines, and points out that prices like this can only alienate younger consumers – the people wine needs to thrive.

Thank you, Warren: Wine is getting a boost at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, thanks to the generosity of Barbara and Warren Winiarski. They’ve donated $4 million to establish a curator for U.S. wine and food history, who will guide the museum’s efforts to research, collect, and exhibit the country’s wine and food traditions. Warren, of course, was one of the participants in 1976’s Judgment of Paris, which established that California wine could hold its own with the best from France. His Stag’s Leap cabernet sauvignon was one of the winners. And, if I may name drop, Warren has been a long-time friend of the blog.

Lighter bottles: The Wine Enthusiast reports on a growing trend among wine critics and wineries to advocate for lighter bottles, what Britain’s Jancis Robinson has called a chance to make wine more green, since “making and transporting glass bottles is by far the greatest contribution to wine’s carbon footprint.” Who knew the WC was so far ahead of the rest of the wine business? Regardless, it’s about time that more writers and producers noted that lighter bottles make environmental and fiscal sense.

Photo: fauxels via Pexel

 

Winebits 656: Paper bottles, Argentine wine, “athletic beer”

paper bottlesThis week’s wine news: Johnnie Walker scotch will use paper bottles, plus political tensions in Mendoza threaten Argentine wine, and get ready for “athletic beer”

Paper bottles: Johnnie Walker scotch and its multi-national owner Diageo are doing something wine claims isn’t economical – paper bottles. Reuters reports that, starting early next year, the whisky will be available in containers made from wood pulp that meets food grade standards and is fully recyclable. In other words, we’re stuck with $7 wine in glass bottles with some kind of cork, but a $23 bottle of Johnnie Walker Red can come in a milk carton? In addition, paper bottles for Lipton tea and Pepsi are also expected to launch next year. Is it any wonder I worry about the future of the wine business?

Argentine wine woes? Argentina, which always seem to be on the brink of political turmoil, is facing threats of secession from Mendoza, its world famous wine region. The Financial Times reports that “Mendoexit” became a possibility after Argentina defaulted on its international debt for the ninth time and the central government blocked the $1.2bn Portezuelo del Viento dam, billed by local media as the “development project of the century.” So far, secession doesn’t seem likely – it’s technically illegal – but the political upset can’t make it easier for Argentine producers to do business.

Is that like low-carb pizza? The Wine Curmudgeon offers the following, the beginning of a news release for Athletic Brewing, with a minimum of comment: “Lululemon, Spartan, Peloton, Kashi, Beyond Meat …brands not on the radar of American consumers 15 to 20 years ago. Fueling their rise to prominence — Americans’ increasing interest in living healthy, being mindful, getting active, and seeking balance. One of the last industries to understand and truly attack the trend is the beer industry, and one American craft brewer, Athletic Brewing, has changed that and unlocked an entirely new market in the $116 billion beer industry — the ‘athletic beer’ category.”  Who knew non-alcoholic beer would help me achieve balance in my life?

Winebits 644: Flat wine bottle, wine lawsuits, artisan wine

flat wine bottleThis week’s wine news: Meet the flat wine bottle, plus one more yummy wine lawsuit and trying to define artisan wine

Bottle of the future? How about a 750 ml plastic wine bottle, made from 100 percent recycled material and is flat enough to slide through a mail slot? The Wine Curmudgeon is beside himself with excitement. “I was surprised by how little the wine bottle had changed in the last 200 years,” Santiago Navarro told Wine Business International magazine. His goal: Find a bottle better suited to home delivery and that would interest younger wine consumers. The article reports that the bottle is lightweight and environmentally friendly — and it didn’t break when dropped more than four feet onto a tiled floor.

Bring on the attorneys! Regular visitors here know how much fun the WC gets from wine lawsuits, and this one is even better than most. JaM Cellars, which makes Butter Chardonnay, has filed a series of lawsuits against The Wine Group, which makes Franzia Bold & Jammy cabernet sauvignon and Rich & Buttery chardonnay. JaM alleges that the Franzia products infringe on its trademarks and “is likely to cause consumer confusion, deception or mistake.” Where’s Shakespeare when you need him? The story in the link does a decent job of explaining a difficult subject, complete with sidebar discussing legal precdents. To me, though the best thing is that JaM has been suing other producers since 2013 to defend its trademarks. One would think that the money would be better spent improving the wine, but I’m just a cranky wine writer and not a marketing guru.

So what is artisan? Artisan wine is one of those terms difficult to define. There is no legal standard, and Big Wine mostly uses the same production techniques as the smallest producer. And this news release, with its 40-word first sentence that is full of gibberish and jargon, doesn’t help matters much. It mostly does a mediocre job of promoting the company that says it’s going to help artisan wineries and doesn’t really say what it’s going to do to help them or what an artisan winery is. It almost makes me want to bring back the Curmudgies.