• Wine glasses by the stem: The most recent episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent was loosely based on the controversy surrounding Robert Parker and a German wine collector. How loosely? Only a major wine geek would have noticed. Which, I guess, is one of the reasons why I'm here. Of more interest to the Wine Curmudgeon, though, was one of the opening scenes, when the characters were tasting what was supposed to be a 250-year-old red Bordeaux owned by George Washington -- and every single one of them was holding the wine glass by the stem, just like big deal wine tasters would. I was impressed; that level of detail usually escapes TV producers.
• Wine's new demographic: The Wine Curmudgeon, in one of his other lives, used to write a lot about marketing, and marketing in the past decade meant selling products to the U.S.' fastest-growing ethic group, Hispanics. (Ask me why so many Spanish-language ads have grandmothers in them.) So what's the newest advice for wine markets? Target Hispanics. Better late than never, I suppose. Of course, since the wine business does such a lousy job of marketing to everyone, why should we expect it to be current in this phase of its approach?
• Good news on the sales front: Especially if you sell cheap wine. Sales rose almost 5 percent through the first four months year, according to Symphony/IRI, and among the leaders were Barefoot and Bogle (and most of the brands listed were $10 or less) How zeroed in are consumers on less expensive wines? Sparkling sales, traditionally the most expensive part of the market, were up almost 10 percent, and led by some of the least expensive -- prosecco and asti from Italy. The wine world is changing significantly around us; is anyone in it noticing?
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