Tag Archives: wine thefts

Winebits 788: Blood alcohol, trading down, wine thefts

family eating dinner
“No. no, no — no wine with dinner.”

This week’s wine news: Washington state wants to criminalize wine with dinner, plus restaurant diners are trading down and wine thieves strike again

• Two glasses is too many: The Washington state legislation will consider a bill to cut the state’s legal blood alcohol limit from .08 to .05. The change, following a similar bill in Utah, pretty much makes anyone who drinks a couple of glasses of wine with dinner legally drunk. The bill will also cut limits for marijuana and other drugs. We’ve discussed this subject on the blog many times before, and there is no easy way to parse the argument. Yes, we want to cut drunk driving deaths. But will cutting the limit do it? The results from Utah are inconclusive. And do we want to criminalize what is otherwise legal behavior? Reporter Renee Diaz does a fine job of outlining just that conundrum.

• Cheaper restaurants: Consumers are opting for less expensive restaurants, says a new report, and that’s not good news for the wine business. Consumers “have begun trading down, nonetheless – illustrating they have some simmering anxiety about what is happening or what’s to come. At least, that’s the gist from the first two weeks of public restaurant earnings calls – a solid indicator of consumer confidence given the industry’s ubiquity and discretionary position.” The downside is twofold for wine: first, even though we’re still eating out, we’ve switched to less expensive restaurants and which don’t necessarily serve wine; and second, that if we’re not eating at wine restaurants, how will that sector recover from the pandemic?

• More wine thefts: The Wine Spectator notes that wine thieves have been busy in Europe over the past several months, hitting cellars of wine-focused restaurants in Norway and Spain, as well as at retailer-grower in Austria. The magazine says there is no evidence the crimes are related, but that the thieves knew what they wanted. The stolen wines included some of the greatest names in the business, such as Harlan, Haut-Brion, Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux, Mouton-Rothschild, Pétrus, Pingus, Sine Qua Non, Solaia and Yquem. All told, the value could have exceeded a quarter of a million dollars.

Winebits 692: Barefoot, wine thefts, wine influencers

barefoot wine
Welcome to the club, British supermarket wine drinkers!

This week’s wine news: Barefoot is taking over the British wine business, plus wine thieves hit San Francisco, and who needs bloggers when you have influencers?

• Bring on the Barefoot: British sales of Barefoot, the $6 U.S. supermarket wine, grew almost three times faster than overall British supermarket wine in the 12 months ending in January, reports The Drinks Business trade magazine. This is an odd story, since it combines what seem to be legitimate sales statistics with a sponsored post label. Still, if it’s to be believed, British supermarket shoppers are going ga-ga over Barefoot, which the story says was the country’s best selling supermarket wine last year. And, to show that some things never change, one of the top Barefoot sellers was white zinfandel, a wine style that has been out of favor in the U.S. for a decade or more. And no, I have no idea why this is.

• Stealing Italian wine: Thieves are targeting San Francisco wine shops and bars looking for pricey Italian wine, says the Sfist website. The thieves robbed two locations, and tried to rob a third, and their haul focused on Barolo and Barbaresco, high-end Italian red wine. Interestingly, the thieves didn’t steal cash and expensive electronics at one of the shops. This has led to speculation that the robberies were commissioned to get just those wines, which are prized among collectors. Or, says the story, they could be sold under the table to restaurants looking to upgrade their wine lists.

• Yes, influencers: Some of us who write about wine are aghast at the influence of so-called influencers, people with large social media followings who are paid to post about certain brands in the expectations their followers will buy the product. This has aided rose’s growth in the wine business. So, if you’re one of those wine writers, don’t read the rest of this bit. That’s because “Wall Street analysts [are] monitoring Instagram posts to find out what the next consumer drinks trend might be.” Specifically, they’re watching to see if influencers are switching from hard seltzer, currently the market darling, to pre-mixed cocktails. If so, then it’s time to dump the seltzer brands in favor companies who make the cocktails. Ain’t post-modern stock analysis grand?

Winebits 592: Wine thefts, direct to consumer shipping, truth in wine advertising

wine thefsThis week’s wine news: An airline investigates wine thefts, plus the growth of direct to consumer wine shipping and a plea for more truthful wine advertising

• Missing airline wine: Employees of Cathay Pacific airlines are being investigated for stealing sparkling wine, as well as ice cream and cutlery. The story is vague about what was actually stolen, and this may be more about a labor dispute than theft, but the point is well taken. As we’ve seen on the blog many times, if you’re going to commit a crime with wine, steal the good stuff. What’s the point of swiping the wretched plonk that those of us in economy have to drink?

• Direct to consumers: Tom Mullen, writing on Forbes.com, gives a level-headed account of the history of direct-to-consumer wine sales in the U.S. – how it became possible for most of us to buy wine directly from a winery, bypassing retailers and distributors. The piece is a bit long, but any mainstream article that calls U.S. wine laws “sometimes archaic” and spends time discussing the history of Missouri wine is well worth reading.

• More truth, less artisan: “I see far too many industrial brands calling themselves ‘artisanal,’ ‘family-owned’ or claiming their wines are ‘hand-crafted’ when they are anything but.” No, that’s not the WC ranting, but Dwight Furrow in Edible Arts. His argument is passionate but logical: The “issue isn’t whether there is an exact cut off point for what counts as artisanal. What is obvious is that wineries with annual case production levels over 50,000—enough to supply large retail stores—are unlikely to use artisanal methods. To claim they do is just false advertising.” His point matters more than ever as younger people, who are more sophisticated about advertising than their parents and grandparents, may be turning away from wine because they see those claims as hooey.

Winebits 563: Wine snobs, wine theft, legal weed

wine snobsThis week’s wine news: Are tasting notes the last refuge of wine snobs? Plus, a tragic end to one of the biggest wine thefts ever and Big Beer gets into legal weed.

• Wine snobs: Tim McKirdy, writing in VinePair, strikes a chord with anyone who has struggled with a tasting note: “But convoluted tasting notes inevitably alienate at least as many prospective consumers as they entice. It begs the question: Is it time to change the way we talk about wine?” The answer, of course, is yes, and if McKirdy sometimes writes as if he composing a university research paper, his points are well made. “If wine industry professionals truly want to make wine more open and accessible — besides providing free wine education for all.” he says, “sommeliers and critics should carefully consider when to use technical language. In wine, as in most things, it’s better to keep things simple.”

• Suicide: A man charged with stealing more than $1.2 million worth of rare wine from Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon apparently killed himself last week while his lawyers waited for him in court. The BBC reported that Nicolas De-Meyer, who was Solomon’s personal assistant, fell from the 33rd floor of the Carlyle Hotel in New York. Police said De-Meyer had used the money from the sale of the stolen wines to fund a 14-month globe-trotting adventure. He was facing up to 10 years in prison.

• Big Beer and weed: One more multi-national booze company is getting into legal marijuana. Molson Coors Canada has foremed a joint venture with Canadian cannabis producer The Hydropothecary Corporation, or Hexo, to sell cannabis-infused drinks. Called Truss, the new company will develop non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beverages for the Canadian market, following the country’s vote to legalize the recreational cannabis. This is at least the third deal between a leading alcohol producer and a Canadian company to get into the legal weed business.