Category Archives: Wine Education/News/Updates

Drinking Age, Contest, & Youth

25 Friday Apr 2014

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I don’t grab a handful of wine-related items and post them here often enough. So here are a couple interesting ones today.

Win a Luxury Vacation in Sonoma

I’ve written numerous times about the various online wine sales sites. Underground Cellar is a new one. (Twitter: @ucellar) Instead of discounting wine prices, you buy whatever number of bottles at the lowest price with a good chance of getting more expensive wines as an upgrade.

In other words, you buy six bottles of wine for $30 each – four of those six, or more .. or less .. could be more expensive bottles from the same offer.

This site is new and they’re running a great giveaway to drive membership. I like the concept. I have bought from them and will again. If you’re interested in the contest, you can read all about it and register right here.

Eliminate the drinking age?

Here’s a topic I’d never given much thought to previously but the author raises some good points. From Time Magazine, a column about eliminating the legal drinking age of 21. It’s an interesting read whether you’re a supporter or not.

Compelling Struggle of Young Oregon Winemakers

I’ve visited the Willamette Valley three times and headed back there in June with my first Grape Sense wine tour. I’m always on the look out for new and interesting wineries and approaches to Oregon Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris.

This story in The Oregonian paints a fascinating picture of young winemakers struggling to get their wineries going in largely difficult, challenging, and certainly competitive times.

Wine Returns to Indiana State Fair

16 Sunday Mar 2014

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Indiana winemakers are anxious to pour their wines at the Indiana State Fair. Hoosier grape growers are ready to stand alongside Indiana’s other agricultural producers.

Grape Sense Logo“I think this is a recognition that grapes and wine are an Indiana agricultural product deserving of all the pride and local support that other Indiana ag products have,” said Jim Butler, owner/winemaker of Butler Winery, Bloomington. “It shows that Indiana is keeping up in this rapidly changing world.”

Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the bill into law late Friday.

Jeanette Merritt

Jeanette Merritt

“We have been so fortunate that our Governor, Lt. Governor and Indiana State Department of Agriculture understand and appreciate our role amongst other commodities in the state,” said Jeannette Merritt, marketing director for Indiana Wines & Purdue Wine Grape Team. “I am thrilled that we will be represented and able to educate people on the grapes planted and the wines made from those grapes.  We will reach a huge audience who can enjoy and learn about our industry.”

Indiana’s wine industry continues to grow, strive for recognition, and build a substantial economic base from border to border. There are now 80 Indiana wineries generating an economic impact of more than $3 billion, according to an analysis by New York-based John Dunham and Associates.

There still seems to be some uncertainty of how the State Fair will implement wine and beer at the annual exposition. It certainly will be a restricted area. State fair officials have said they would expect Indiana winemakers to take an education approach to pouring their wines. That would indicate that “tasting’ would be a more appropriate term than having a glass of wine but no final decisions have been made. A legal ‘taste’ of wine in Indiana would amount to no more than a 1-ounce pour or what visitors get in a tasting room.

Jim Butler

Jim Butler

Indiana winemakers are cautious but anxious to participate at some level.
“If there is an “Indiana wine appreciation day” then it would be the place to be,” Butler said. “It would be a great chance to get our product out in front of people who are looking at other Indiana agricultural products.  It all depends upon how it is set up and organized. Wineries are limited to 45 festival permits per year. I can envision doing a day, two at the most, but not the entire fair. Festivalsare a lot of work!”

Dan Adams, owner/winemaker, Winzerwald Winery, Bristow, believes the legislation helps promote tourism, agriculture, and rural development. “We look forward to being able to promote our great value-added products to all the great fair supporters,” he said. “It gives us an opportunity to tell our story and showcase our products to people who enjoy the same things we do – farming, family and fun.”

Jim Pfeiffer

Jim Pfeiffer

Turtle Run winemaker/owner Jim Pfeiffer takes it a step further. “It shows our wine quality over the years has reached the level of national and international wines,” the Corydon-based winemaker said. “Mostly though, it indicates that Indiana consumers have a preference for our wines.”

Pfeiffer was uncertain how Turtle Run would participate but confident he’d be a part of the new exhibit.

Branding, Marketing Make A Brand

19 Wednesday Feb 2014

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I work in marketing at a small Midwestern liberal arts college. So we spend a lot of out time on messaging. About a year ago I started thinking about my wine writing the same way.

HLogo180I consider myself a wine journalist – not just a wine blogger. I spent 20 years in the newspaper business and have a column in 23 papers, every other week, about value wine. I think my best pieces are old-fashioned reporting/writing efforts.

But I also know building your brand is really important with all the clutter in the market. So a year ago I launched this blog site with a different look and URL – http://www.howardhewitt.net – my name.

I have quite a few former newspaper employees who’ve moved on to bigger and better things. I asked a really talented designer who once worked for me to create a logo. He gave me three great options. The one displayed here is my favorite but I may use a couple of the others in some printed materials.

While some might smirk at the ego-centric nature of this pursuit, and I probably would too, branding can help separate any writer from the crowd!

Join Me June 26 at Augustino’s

25 Tuesday Jun 2013

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I’ve written a lot about tasting wine and going to wine tastings for the past six years. I’ve conducted numerous private wine tastings for small to medium sized groups.

Augustino-logo1-300x65I will be the host for a wine tasting at 6;30 p.m., Wednesday, June 26, at Augustino’s Italian Restaurant on Indy’s south side. Old friend Deano Wilson started the tastings nearly a year ago for owner Brian Alvey. Wilson is moving to California and Alvey has asked me to be an occasional guest host.

I was happy to accept to gain that specific type experience of wine tasting paired with great bites of food prepared by the Augustino Chef – Duane Scott. I got the lineup for tomorrow night just this morning and can tell you the staff has lined up an interesting foursome of value wines from Italy.

Here’s the pitch if you’re in Central Indiana: $10 to taste four wines along with a nice plate of small bites for pairing. And this is not a pitch, but honest recommendation – hang around and try dinner! You can find the address and such at the website linked up above.

The only way to expand your palate is taste new wines. If you have the opportunity to attend any type of tasting – do so. Hopefully, there will be someone there to lead you through the wines, offer some insight and advice, and make the mystery of a wine you’ve never tasted – make sense.

That’s what I hope to do at Augustino’s!

Savino Preservation Device Works!

22 Monday Apr 2013

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Wine industry innovation has been pretty limited beyond winemaking. Arguably, screw caps and synthetic closures have been the most influential innovations in recent years.

Grape Sense LogoSavino founder Scott Tavenner believes his wine preservation device will revolutionize how consumers view a half bottle left after dinner.

“There is nothing like it that’s effective, easy to use, and elegant,” Tavenner said. “We have hit that resonance point of something that is beautiful to look at; you can pour from it, it’s easy to use, intuitive, and it’s effective. It covers up 98 percent of the surface area of the wine. When those things come together, magic happens.”

Savino Founder Scott Tavenner

Savino Founder Scott Tavenner

Simply, the Savino is a glass cylinder with a stopper that floats atop the leftover wine. There is a lid which locks into place to seal the attractive decanter.

It all started years ago when Tavenner’s wife put a glass of wine in the refrigerator to save it for another day. “I kind of laughed at her and said ‘that’s not going to work,’ We ended up trying out all the different wine preservation gadgets out there.”

After 15 years “stewing on the problem” Tavenner, who spent most of his career as a business development executive, decided to do something about it. He started raising funds through Kickstarter and raised 425 percent of his goal. The Savino went on sale through the company website April 17 with 2,500 pre-orders.

He hired a designer, shared his vision, and within 30 minutes had an initial drawing that looks much like the finished product. “I knew with my focus groups, and my own network, people were responding well. But it’s really validating when people you don’t know decide to pull their credit card out and purchase one.”

Device ShotBefore making the Savino available, the team tested the device with blind tastings, master sommeliers, and a few wine media people. The Savino shined in nearly every test.

Tavenner tells people wine will keep at least a week but suggests a Tuesday to Saturday test. “If the bottle lasts a week, that’s a standard we are very, very comfortable with and people will be happy with,” he said. “I think it will go longer.”

Savino will change the way people think about their fine bottles of wine, he suggested. “There isn’t a bottle of wine that I won’t open on any given night because I haven’t thrown away a glass of wine since I started using this device. The freedom that brings is really hard to describe.

“It’s intellectually intuitive. I love inventions when you see it, it’s obvious. We’re not the iPhone but the iPhone was an obvious extension of what a phone could be. When people see the Savino they say, ‘Oh, this is obvious and it’s great.’ “

Howard’s take:

I wanted to be skeptical of the Savino having tried all the methods available to preserve a half bottle of wine. The old journalist wanted to be very cautious because it was a trade sample for me to test.

The Savino works. Of all the pumps, stoppers, smaller bottles, and other solutions available, the Savino beats them all. I thought the wine was 95-100 percent of its original flavors on a second and third night. I conducted Tavenner’s Tuesday-Saturday test and could tell a difference but thought the wine was great.

It’s not a device everyone is going to buy at $49.99. But for serious wine drinkers, Savino is  an innovation you’re going to want in your kitchen. It’s available through the company website.

The newspaper column Grape Sense appears in 22 newspapers, mostly Indiana but also in Illinois and Michigan, every other week. Combined circulation of those papers is more than 300,000

News From All Around the Wine World

12 Tuesday Mar 2013

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There are many, many websites of wine news and opinion. In the past, I’ve occasionally posted stories I think are of great interest. With the launch of my new site, I want to do more of that. In the past I had a blog list but find I’d rather pick and choose the really good stuff to share. I’ll be your wine news editor, if you will.

These are largely stories about issues I’m familiar with or just find interesting.

I’ve heard vineyard owners talk time and again from Michigan to California, to Oregon about labor issues. Here is one of the best stories I’ve read on the topic form the Sacramento Bee.

This item caught my eye because it’s about Evening Land winery in Oregon. In the previous blog post I wrote that Evening Land Chardonnay was one of the best wines I tasted at the Mar. 7 “Pinot in the Windy City” event in Chicago. This Wine Spectator story is about change at Evening Land.

Millennial marketing is another interest of mine. Any time I see a story detailing the efforts of the wine industry to lure new, and specifically, younger wine drinkers I’m intriqued. Here is a great story on that effort from the San Francisco Chronicle.

And finally here is a voice you should be familiar with if you’re really interested in wine, Steve Heimoff. He has written for Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast. He tackles interesting topics and presents them in a clear manner – not always present in the wine blogosphere! This column is a bit geeky for the average drinker but of interest to some. Read Steve’s take on multiple-vineyard Pinot Noir.

Taste to Learn More About Wine

14 Monday Jan 2013

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Wine tasting sounds like something for wine snobs. Consumers who buy wine at groceries and liquor stores should do a little more wine tasting to expand their palate and knowledge.
Often novice wine drinkers shy away from tastings and wine events because of lack of knowledge. Still, human nature suggests learning more on a topic increases the enjoyment.

There’s nothing wrong with buying your wine in the aforementioned retail outlets. But to increase knowledge and expand the palate a wine shop is the best ‘next step’ for wine beginners or those who want to learn more.

“Go to a wine store where they have a person to help you,” said Dean Wilson, an Indiana-based distributor and former retailer. “A real wine person will educate you. Somebody in the retail market, who learns your palate, will guide you into other things to try.

“It is like Education 101, don’t be afraid to taste new things. Trust your wine professional and go to as many tastings as you can.”
Wilson suggested American consumers are actually hungry for wine knowledge. Sales figures over the past 15 years show significant increases in American wine consumption. And, there has never been a better time to try more and different wines.
“Consumers want a good deal,” Wilson said. “Consumers realize they don’t have to spend a lot of money on a bottle of wine. If they try something new and like it, then they can start trying different (price) levels of that wine.”
Dean Wilson

As a distributor, Wilson knows the wine market. He said the bulk of wine sales rests in the $9-$15 price range. The market “sweet spot” was just under $10 in the 1990s and then increased. The 2008 economic collapse dropped the sales point back below $10. Today, consumers are willing to pay $14-$15 a bottle.

You can expland your palate and education with a wine professional or a group of friends who enjoy wine. How many people do you wish to invite? Do you want wine education or enjoyment? Do you want to do specific wines or just have everyone bring a bottle?
You can make any wine event more fun by trying to pair wines with just the right food. Or have everyone bring 100 percent varietal wines in a brown bag and then try to guess the varietal. You could come up with geographical clues from the wine region to make the game even more fun.
If you have a friend who really knows wine or maybe you know a wine professional, give them a call. Most wine retailers, wholesalers, and wine journalists really enjoy sharing what they’ve learned from their experiences.
Drink wines at your normal price point. But maybe throw in one bottle of something special, and a little higher priced, near the end of your gathering.
“It’s like we tell our kids, ‘How do you know you won’t like it, if you don’t try it?” Wilson suggested. “That’s also true on wine.”

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

A Tasting Room Delivered to Your Front Door

13 Thursday Sep 2012

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The internet has revolutionized the wine industry just like many other businesses. In the last decade or so, wineries have improved their websites, embraced blogging, Facebook, and even new platforms like Twitter and Pinterest.

Around the time of the 2007-08 economic downturn wine flash sales sites exploded onto the scene often offering premium wines at heavily discounted prices. Many of the sites have come and gone but some have become very successful. Earlier this year, Forbes reported Lot18 hauling in an average of $2 million a month in revenue.
A standard bottle, TR bottle, wine from the TR bottle
One of my personal favorites is Wine Till Sold Out or wtso.com. These flash companies approach wineries and buy inventory that was over produced, or not moving quickly enough to meet the demands of the winery’s cash flow expectations.
The upside to such sites is consumers have the ability to buy much better wine at discounts consistently around 30-40 percent and often up to 50-60 percent.
But there is another internet wine site that has gotten lots of press and causing a buzz bringing sampling to your living room. TastingRoom.com sells six-packs samplers of wine in 50ml or 1.7 oz. bottles. While that sounds like a dribble it is enough wine for two or three tastes to determine if you like the wine.
Then you can buy a full bottle from the site at near regular prices. The novelty here is you can taste before you buy much like a tasting room. The six packs are packaged by the wine type or region or by celebrity endorsement. The six packs range from $19.95 to just over $30. You can sample wines by the grape, region, celebrity picks, a single winery and more.
Tasting Room.com was the brain child of Tim Bucher. He started developing a system to sell the 50ml bottles for trade and press samples. He was never interested in the discounted flash site approach.  He told Wines & Vines he had no interest in selling normal sized bottles for less calling that “a race to the bottom.”
He developed a proprietary system to transfer wine from the traditional 750ml bottle to the smaller samples.
The small bottle provides a reasonable pour for tasting.

The company got its start in 2009 and has been remarkably successful, so much so they added higher end wines to the lineup earlier this year. The created a Wines by the Glass program that offers 100ml bottles with wines from Silver Oak, Duckhorn, Patz &; Hall, Williams Selyem, Hess, Coppola, and others. 

Wines are sold individually in the Wines by the Glass format or in boxes of four single servings. So in other words you can buy wines from this internet site three different ways – in samples, by the glass, or in full size bottles. The business model is different because they are not selling discounted wine but a chance to taste before you buy.
My personal experience was with a six-pack sampler – the Michael Chiarello (celebrity chef) Holiday Pinots selection. The six wines were all from California. The labels were Domaine Carneros, Fess Parker, Papapietro Perry, Patz & Hall, Laetitia, and Lucas & Lewellen. I was able to taste the six different wines for less than any single bottle would have cost. The six wines I sampled ranged from $23.99 to $53.99. They were well preserved and tasted great.
The real beauty of a site like this is a chance to expand your palate. To taste the six wines above you’d have to travel to California or shell out more than $225 to buy the six 750ml bottles.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

Difference in Medals, Magazine Critic Points

11 Saturday Aug 2012

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For the states not on the west coast a wine competition medal can move bottles of wine out the door. But it’s a little different story for the big boys out west.

I’ve written in recent days about River City Winery’s incredible win for best overall wine at the Indy Wine Competition – the first ever for an Indiana or Midwest winery. That’s going to help Gary Humphrey sell wine. He knows it too. He jumped the price the minute he got back to New Albany.
While that may seem like capitalizing to some consumers, so what? You believe the great California or Oregon wine producers don’t bump their prices or the next vintage if they get 95 points from a publication like Wine Spectator? Sure they do!

Dan Crank, Willamette Valley winemaker

I’ve guest judged at the Indy Wine Competition several times and again this year. One of the judges on my panel was Willamette Valley Vineyards winemaker Dan Shank. Dan was funny, extremely knowledgable and anxiouis to share his insights and opinions. Just my kind of guy!

He had some great insights in how professional judge such competitons.

“The first thing is to figure out if there are any flaws in the wine,” he explained. “There are some pretty obvious things that can happen  to wine . Winemakers can go down the wrong path and those wines are flawed. So we’re going to dock those wines. Then we want to reward things that are very varietal specific,;if you capture the essence of a varietal then we want to reward you and give you a gold medal.

“It’s not whether you like the varietal or not. We had rhubarb wines and maybe you don’t like rhubarb, but it tasted like rhubarb. They did their jobs so you want to reward that.”

And while Dan enjoys judging these competitions, he admits the medals are more important in some areas of the country than others.

“That’s true, there’s a lot more competition and a lot more people have been doing the same varietal for a long time on the coast.  So the magazines and periodicals become a little more important to sell our wines. That’s a whole different game because those guys when they rate wine they don’t taste them blind so there’s a lot more to that dance. There is marketing and presence in the industry to consider.

Here in the Midwest a ribbon from a prestigious competition like the Indy Wine Competition can really help you out and help drive sales. But for me to take a ribbon home to Oregon from the Indy Wine competition, it’s not as big a selling point. We’re looking for the affirmation of the periodicals.”
But Dan confirms what I’ve heard for years – medals mean sales. Jim  Butler, at Butler Winery near Bloomington, told me that after he won best varietal for his Rose a couple of years ago, that it was gone in a hurry. And that included three price hikes!

Medals mean sales and affirmation of a good product. Don’t overlook awards when you visit a winery but don’t take them as a guarantee either.

 Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

Indy Wine Competition Always Learning Experience

03 Friday Aug 2012

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Staging area for 2,600 different wines

 A few years back someone in Jeanette Merritt’s office, probably Jeanette, had a great marketing/PR idea. The Indiana Wine and Grape Council, along with Purdue University, hosts the biggest wine competition in the United States outside of California.

Ann Miller and Todd Ranier between flights

Several years ago they started inviting “guest judges” to join a tasting panel for a few hours. The guest judges were bloggers, wine writers, foodies, and such. The guests taste right along with the judges and offer their opinions from no medal, bronze, silver or gold awards. But the guest’s vote doesn’t count.

I have done this several times now and besides great fun, learn a lot each time. Thursday at Purdue’s Memorial Union building I sat down at a judging table with Donna Adams, Winzerwald Winery, Indiana, Todd Ranier, Kahn’s Fine Wines, Ann Miller, St. James Winery, Missouri, and Don Crank, winemaker at Willamette Valley Vineyards, Oregon.

Donna was our table’s lead taster.

I was there for two hours and tasted through five flights of wines with the judging panel. The judges are only told the variety, vintage, and residual sugar of the wines place in front of them. The Thursday morning flights were American White Blends, Red Blends, Traminette, Chambourcin, and Vidal Blanc.

Judges rank the wines based on clarity, color, aroma, taste, aftertaste, and then overall opinion. Most flights range from five glasses up to 12-14. Let’s just say you learn how to taste wine and spit often in this game.

We had wines we hated, loved, and simply confused us. I like the experience because I learn so much. Crank makes wines at one of the Willamette Valley’s premier wineries and geeked us out several times even talking about a process or machine with “scorpion” in its name. Four pair of eyes were glazed over during that discussion.

Crank offered up plenty of technical expertise

But Dan also had the best line of the day I sent out via social media. We were talking about start up Indiana wineries and whether anyone hired professional help. Donna Adams shared one story of a start up which hired winemaking pro from U.C. Davis on a one-year contract to teach them all they needed to know.

“The wine business is very expensive but knowledge is a good thing to spend yr money on,” Don said. Ranier quickly suggested that was social media wisdom so I Tweeted and updatded. I wish more Indiana wineries heeded Crank’s advice.

I also have some comments from Crank about these wine competitions versus magazine point ratings. I’ll get that up in the next day or so.

The other thing I seek when attending this event is affirmation, not that I’m right in agreeing on a medal but do I taste, see, and smell the same things as the judging pros? Everyone is going to like different things whether you’ve ever judged wines or not. For the most part, I was right on this year and largely awarding the same level medal as the other judges. That gives me a little more confidence when recommending what I think is a well-made wine – whether it suits my palate or not.

Some numbers to ponder: 2,600 wines entered this year (up 200), 41 U.S. States, 14 countries. The competition started in 1992 with 454 entries. The contest was held for years at the state fairgrounds but moved to Purdue in 2010.

Jeanette will have the winners tallied and out in a press release very soon. I comb it for Indiana winners and other wines of interest.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com