Winebits 393: Meiomi sale, wine retailers, restaurant wine
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
? Winery consolidation continues: The wine cyber-ether was full of pontificating and prognosticating last week after Constellation Brands, third on the U.S. Big Wine list, bought pinot noir maker Meiomi Wines for $351 million. Most of the commentators were baffled by the sale price, which seemed like a lot of money for the winery, especially since it didn’t include any vineyard land. Still, it wasn’t that surprising, given that Constellation paid $160 million for Mark West, the $10 pinot noir, in 2012, in a deal that also didn’t include vineyards. Meiomi is on track to sell three-quarters of a million cases in 2015, making it the $20 version of Mark West (marked down to $17.99), and as such seems like a perfect fit for the strategy that most Big Wine companies are following. They’ll sell you an entry level product, and then they’ll sell you the next wine when you trade up, and they’ll make sure you will be able to buy both wines in a grocery store. In this, it’s no different than E&J Gallo buying J and The Wine Group buying Benziger — business as usual for Big Wine in the 21st century.
? Retailers and grocers: This otherwise run-of-the-mill post about a Florida liquor chain adding a couple of stores explained the expansion thusly: “[I]n a bid to keep the ever-expanding grocery store channel at bay.” Which means the owners behind Florida’s ABC Fine Wine & Spirits understand what’s going on, even if most wine writers don’t. Interestingly the chain is up to 140 stores, which is still 60 less than it had 15 years ago, and speaks to the power supermarkets have today in selling wine. One national wine retailer told me that grocers thrive on competition, which explains much of their success, and aren’t scared of it the way so many regional and local liquor chains are.
? Restaurant price gouging: One would not expect the New York Post, home to the legendary Page Six gossip extravaganza and headlines like “Four sex scandals rock one hanky-panky high school” to commiserate with anyone who buys restaurant wine. But reviewer Steve Cuozzo, in a story headlined “Restaurants overprice wine because they know you have no idea the pain” spared no punches. Restaurant prices “… can drive you to drink ? anything but wine, that is.” He does an excellent job of explaining the contradictions and discrepancies in restaurant prices, and you can almost hear a bit of sympathy. Almost, of course, because the piece ends with a restaurant charging $100 for a very ordinary $25 retail Bordeaux.
Meiomi, too sweet. On first try, I thought, way too overpowering for a Pinot, and weeks later, had it again, less impressed, and third time, the heavy manipulation and sweetness of the wine made it hard to drink. WHen they first brought it out, it was priced in the mid twenties, then they lowered it to under twenty. Must have found their selling point.
Exactly, Burnsey. And, Mark West and similar $10 pinots have the same flavor profile. It’s a marriage made at the cash register.
Since I spent so long writing this thought I would stir the pot a bit – comment submitted to Matt Kramer article on the recent Meomi Pinot Noir transcation and certainly applicable to comments here: http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/51826
TIRADE WARNING! Great article but it also brings to light some other common clich??s and misinformation that could use overhauling in the ‘wine education’ realm. The comments do more to confirm this need. The understanding of true wine traditions, preferences and customs is abysmal with an understanding of consumer preferences the greatest void of all.
Fondness for sweetness in wine is not a limited to American consumers nor is it a function of growing up drinking sodas. Humans all have an attraction to sweet tastes that has to be ???unlearned??? – it is universal and there is a huge segment of consumers that demand sweetness – French, Italian, American, Chinese; you name it. A preference for sweet wines is actually a clear indicator that a person has the highest degree of perceptive sensitivity ??? the true ???super-tasters??? to coin a much misunderstood and misinterpreted term.
If we are to believe that wanting and consumer sweet wines is a sign of immature palates, beginners, uneducated and unsophisticated consumers and (by many in the wine community and trade) that these are not even ‘wine’ then then logic would follow that France, Italy, Germany and Spain were NOT wine consuming countries, the history of wine does NOT go back thousands of years – people clearly have historically preferred sweet wine. Sangria, Kir, Vermouth, vin mute, wine mixed with a little water and sugar or honey and countless other iterations. Cola and red wine is a Basque phenomenon, not American or Chinese.
And when people speak of ‘traditional’ red Burgundies are you speaking not so long ago (into the early 1980s) when most people agreed that red Burgundies were so unpredictable and that 70% or more of wines in good vintages were commercially unacceptable in quality? Or before the notorious and ???untraditional??? practices forwarded by Guy Accad and others were adopted not so long ago and still argued about today? Begs the question – back when there were 3 to 5 ‘good to excellent’ vintages occurred in a decade, and 70% of THOSE wines were considered unacceptable, who the hell drank them and what food were they ‘paired’ with? Hmmm.
And does anyone remember the practice of adding white grapes/wine to red was traditional, and often even required, in Chianti, the Rhone and that it is still legal and practiced today in Burgundy? Up to 15% additions of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Beurot and Chardonnay are legal in even Grand Cru wines despite the misinformation that red Burgundies MUST be 100% Pinot Noir. Since dark, extracted and concentrated = ???good??? wine today this practice is seen less and less, but this was the norm, not the exception. That is also why so many ‘pure’ Burgundies were (are?) fortified discretely with Rhone, North African wines and even cognac or spirits. And many of these wine were (are?) awesome!
Well, the training wheels finally fell off in France and Italy where consumption continues to dramatically, and disastrously decline. Sweet wine drinkers ???who needs them? The wine industry does. And the wine community needs to have a much greater degree of rigor about history, personal preferences and traditions. And speaking of sweet, fortified Port wines above ??? the French drink more of this than any other country and BEFORE, not after, dinner is the tradition. Just like the lost French traditions of serving sweet wines (and I mean VERY sweet wines) with oysters, fish, meat and cheeses. But hey, let???s emulate the traditions today of French wine in France and stop drinking wine!
Do you need to like sweet wines? No. Love what you love. But let???s clean up the crap that is being disseminated. Just sayin??????
Wow. A Tim Hanni comment on the blog. Who says we aren’t big time here?
Mr. Hanni, you’re preaching to the choir here. I am, for what it’s worth, probably the leading wine writing authority on sweet red wine (because, of course, no one else writes about it), and have posts here with reviews of a couple of dozen sweet reds.
That the Winestream Media insists on telling us what we can and cannot drink is one of my reasons for being, because you are absolutely correct — drink what you like, but be willing to try different things.