Category:Wine Curmudgeon

Billington Imports closes

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Alfredo Bartholomaus And so ends an era in the wine business.

Don Alfredo, as Billington founder Alfredo Bartholomaus is fondly known, is one of the best people I have met in my time writing about wine. (Though his penchant for the pisco sour, a Chilean cocktail, always baffled me.) Bartholomaus was among the first importers to bring cheap, well-made South American wine to the U.S., and every time you enjoy a bottle of Argentine malbec or Chilean sauvignon blanc, you have Don Alfredo to thank.

My pal Dave McIntyre has the sad details about Billington ?s end on his blog and in the Washington Post. It ?s the recession, of course ? the recession that all the wine wise guys said wasn ?t going to hurt the wine business. Well, when it claims someone like Don Alfredo, it hurts the wine business.

I met Bartholomaus several years ago when I took the famous Billington trip to Chile. He was a joy ? understood how wine writing worked, never asked for a favor, and understood that those of us on the trip would write about the wines we tasted because they were good, and not because he was paying the bills.

One of the best parts of the trip, which was a tradition, came on the last night, when Don Alfredo recited Pablo Neruda ?s love poetry after dinner. How do you replace a tradition like that in today ?s multi-national, label-driven,celebrity winemaker culture? You can ?t, and the wine business will be the worse for it.

Fred Franzia: Love him or hate him?

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Or, actually, ignore him, which the wine industry seems incapable of doing. Franzia, the man behind Two Buck Chuck, Crane Lake, Forest Glen and a bunch of other cheap wines in the guise of the Bronco Wine Co. loves to throw his success in the faces of the people wine writer David Falchek calls the vinerrati. And they can ?t help themselves ? foaming at the mouth, spewing venom, and the like whenever Franzia does it.

The latest turmoil (and the cyber either is full of it, from the New York Times to Cincinnati to California) centers around a profile of Franzia that ran in the New Yorker. Two things struck me. First, that an old media property could cause such a stink among so many New Media types, and second, that what Franzia said wasn ?t any different from what he has been saying for years and years. And years. He thinks wine is overpriced and that most wine people are phony snobs.

Which is hard to disagree with, given the foolishness that the Wine Curmudgeon sees in the wine business every day. Though, to be fair, The Times ? Eric Asimov notes that Franzia ?s motives are far from pure: ?He ?s not a man of the people making high-quality bottles available for less. He ?s a businessman masquerading as a populist for his own benefit, which is fine but his defenders ought to be honest about Mr. Franzia ?s motivations. ?

Which doesn ?t change his message and why the vineratti dislike it so. And nothing will change until all $100 wine is 10 times better than all $10 wine. Until then, Franzia will continue to drive them crazy.

Wine blogging and ethics

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

This has been the subject of much discussion in the wine cyber-ether, starting last fall. That ?s when Rodney Strong said it would send samples to selected wine bloggers before it sent them to the Mainstream Media, with the understanding that the bloggers had to write something, good or bad. That ?s because most mainstream types never get around to writing about all of the samples they receive, and they pile up until they ?re given away. This way, Rodney Strong would get some kind of publicity ? and, as we all know, some kind is better than none.

I thought that was much ado about nothing. Samples are samples, with all of the ethical concerns they entail, and it really doesn ?t matter who gets them first. But that doesn ?t mean that ethics aren ?t something worth discussing. I have written about this before, but it ?s worth clarifying and expanding on. After the jump, how I do this at the Wine Curmudgeon and how I avoid conflicts of interest:

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International Eastern Wine Competition

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Wish me luck. The Wine Curmudgeon is judging this competition, one of the most prestigious in the U.S.,over the next three days.

Why do I need luck? The IEWC gets thousands and thousands of entries, which is a lot of spitting. Or, as one friend of mine said, ?After you ?ve judged this competition, you ?ll know you ?ve been judging a competition. ?

Which is not necessarily a bad thing. I ?ll get to taste regional wine, which I enjoy; get to taste wine made from grapes other than chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, which I also enjoy; and get a chance to spread the word about DrinkLocalWine.com and our August conference, which I will really enjoy.

Wine blogging, what makes it tick, and how we can do it better

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

That ?s what Tracy Rickman, a graduate student at Auburn University, wants to find out. Her doctoral project is wine blogging: How people choose which blogs they read, whether they trust the blogs, how many blogs they read, and how professional the blogs have to be.

Frankly, this is a wonderful idea, and just the kind of thing we need. As regular visitors here know, the Wine Curmudgeon doesn ?t think much of most wine writing. It ?s too snotty, too parochial, and too self-absorbed. Rickman ?s project may well be the first attempt to actually analyze what is going on in this part of the cyber-ether.

Because, if we know what ?s going on, then we can use that information to get better. For example, if her study shows that people who read wine blogs want clearer, more educational information and less winespeak, maybe we ?ll get the hint and write that way.

I ?m curious about two parts of her research: First, do wine blogs have any credibility with their readers, and which among us are the most credible? Second, do you have to be a professional, either a wine type or a writer, to do a wine blog, or can you be credible if you ?re just someone who likes wine? As I have always said, anyone can write an effective wine review.

Rickman expects to have some preliminary data in a couple of months, and I ?ll check back with her and see what she finds out. What can you do to help? Take her survey. Yes, it ?s a bit complicated and it will take 10 or 15 minutes. And there aren ?t any questions about what wine you like to drink. But this is for a PhD project, and so has to include some technical stuff to assure that the results are legitimate.

Rickman, by the way, told me she loves cheap wine. Enough said.

Yet another reason why I love French wine

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

The Wine Curmudgeon just got back from a big-deal tasting, sponsored by Wilson Daniels. I asked Erwan Faiveley, the heir to Domaine Faiveley (and a very nice producer), if the 2007 Burgundy vintage would age. Not really, he said. The 2007s aren ?t for collectors ? don ?t expect to get more than 30 years out of them.

Only in France (and Italy, I suppose) would 30 years be considered not aging.

Red River Wine Festival

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

I saw the future of American wine two weekends ago. That ?s when what must have been 1,000 people attended the fifth annual Red River Wine Festival in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Wichita Falls, about 140 miles northwest of Dallas, is not what most people consider wine country, even for Texas. It ?s an old ranching and oil town on the Oklahoma border, and it ?s known for a bicycle race if it ?s known at all.

But all those people showed up at the city ?s agriculture center to sample wines from 50 Texas producers (the weekend after the dog trials and the weekend before the horse show). Even the Wine Curmudgeon was surprised – ? pleasantly, of course, but surprised nonetheless.

The best part about all this? Those 1,000 people weren ?t attracted by scores or snob appeal or famous names. They went because they were interested in wine, and wanted to see what it was like. Yes, some looked confused and many may not have been quite sure they were supposed to have fun. But they paid $20 a head to be there, and they were drinking wine. What else matters? That's something for the industry to consider as it continues to obfuscate and befuddle consumers instead of educating them.

A personal note: The Wine Curmudgeon spoke at the event ?s Friday night dinner, and it was great fun. The women at the city ?s Junior Senior Forum, which puts on the festival, do a terrific job. In fact, I ?ve been to more prestigious events that aren ?t as well run or organized. Much thanks for inviting me. And I'll wear a less nice tie next time.