Winebits 831: Wine surveys, postal service wine delivery, Mike Grgch

This week’s wine news: A wine survey that really isn’t, plus letting the postal service deliver wine and Mke Grgich dies

• Always ask first: This survey, commissioned by a wine accessories product company, offers to explain all that is troubling the wine business: “At what age do Americans hit their moderation era?” Because then we can figure out how and when to market to them. And, of course, it really doesn’t. In this case, it’s not even the sponsor that’s the problem, as it is with so many of these “social media”-style surveys. Rather, the survey doesn’t define moderation, but presents it as some great, ethereal goal that we all strive for. Sigh. is it any wonder I worry about the future of the wine business?

• Postal service wine: Alex Koral, a long-time friend of the blog, pushes to let the U.S. Postal Service deliver wine. This is something the WC has long advocated, not only because the postal service needs the money, but because it will provide much-needed competition to FedEx and UPS. Koral does identify a potential legal issue, since the post office is a federal agency and each state has its own alcohol shipping laws. How does the post office apply for a state license to deliver wine?

• Mike Grigch: Mike Grgich, one of the great winemakers in U.S. history, died last week. He was 100. Grgich, whose self-named Napa winery is an institution, was the winemaker for the 1973 Chateau Montelena chardonnay that was one of the winners at the Judgment of Paris, the 1976 blind tasting in Paris that established California as one of the world’s great wine regions.