The Wine Curmudgeon

Big wine companies and wine quality, part II

This is the second of two parts looking at consolidation in the wine business and the rise of the giant producer --  a handful of which dominate the U.S. wine business. Today, advice on how to tell which multi-national made the wine you drink. The first part, which ran on Dec. 13, looked at company size and why it matters.

What do the Barefoot, Cupcake and Two-buck Chuck wines have in common? Each are labels owned by one of the largest wine companies in the country, but you can’t tell that by looking at the label.

Nowhere does it say that E&J Gallo owns Barefoot, perhaps the best-selling wine in the U.S. Or that The Wine Group makes Cupcake through its Underdog division. Or that Two-buck Chuck, the Charles Shaw wine sold at Trader Joe’s, is one of dozens of labels produced by Bronco.

That’s because there is no legal requirement to do so, and most wine companies aren’t interested in that sort of thing. So what’s a curious consumer to do? Googling the wine while standing in the store aisle isn’t the most efficient use of time. Rather, look for clues on the back label – details of which are after the jump.

The Wine Curmudgeon on sports talk radio

No, I'm not reverting to my newspaper days, but my old pal Tim McNally switched stations for his immensely popular New Orleans radio show about wine and spirits. His new home is WWWL, ESPN1350 AM in New Orleans. He's on every Friday at noon, pre-empting the sports programming. Which, Tim reports, has led to some irate phone calls, given that football is part of south Louisiana's Holy Trinity, with family and food.

You can stream the show live; there's a link in the upper right hand corner. I'll be on around 1 p.m. CST on Friday. We'll talk about holiday wine and perhaps Robert Parker's impending semi-retirement. Though, to be honest, I don't know how we'll be able to avoid Bounty-gate.

 

Big wine companies and wine quality, part I

Godzilla: "What's so bad about big?"

This is the first of two parts looking at consolidation in the wine business and the rise of the giant producer --  a smattering of which dominate the U.S. wine business. Today, a look at size and why it matters.  Part II, posted on Dec. 14, offered advice on how to tell which multi-national made the wine you like.

A handful of giant companies produce as much as 90 percent of the wine sold in the U.S., contrary to what most of us think. We still believe that wine is made by families and small companies, fighting the good fight, and the wine business has been perfectly happy to let us enjoy that myth.

That’s one reason why the biggest producers, like E&J Gallo, The Wine Group, Bronco, and Constellation, rarely put their names on their various brands, even though the practice is quite common among other consumer goods companies. S.C. Johnson, for instance, labels its cleaning products (which include Glade, Shout and Pledge) with the slogan, “SCJohnson, a Family Company.”

Is big bad in wine? The answer requires ducking insults and dodging hyperbole, and even then it’s not necessarily clear. I may drink more grocery store wine – the staple of the big producers – than anyone in the world, and I’m grateful that it is better made and of a higher technical quality than ever before. But does that mean it’s "quality" wine, or that big is better?

More, after the jump:

Wine of the week: Ravenswood Old Vine Vintners Zinfandel 2009

One of the things that the Wine Curmudgeon doesn’t like about this job is how cynical it has made me about grocery store wine. So many of them have been so disappointing that I’m at the point that if the front or back label uses adjectives or descriptions like reserve, old vine, or artisan, I figure the marketing department is compensating for quality (given that federal regulations for using terms like these is vague, at best).

So I expected absolutely nothing from the Ravenswood ($10, sample); that’s why it sat in the wine closet for 13 months. Shows how much I know, other than to reiterate the No. 1 rule of wine reviewing: Don’t judge the wine until you taste it.

This red is surprising in many ways, not the least of which is that it held up for a year. There is lots of sweet berry fruit in the modern zinfandel style, but it’s not unpleasant and it’s balanced by some some traditional zinfandel character (particularly pepper). It’s a nice value for $10.

Don’t worry too much if the wine you find is the current vintage and not this one. One of the good things about grocery store wines is that they are consistent in taste and style from year to year.

Robert Parker and the end of an icon

It’s hard not to be cynical about the announcement yesterday that Robert Parker is making significant changes at his Wine Advocate newsletter – quitting as editor and selling a good part of it to Asian investors.

It’s also easy to feel just a little bit sorry for the critic, who used to be the most important person in the wine business -- and not all that long ago. The sale, though, shows someone trying to remain important in a wine world that is far different than when he started three decades ago.

More, after the jump:

Winebits 259: Wine consumption edition

• French wine consumption declines again: But they still drink more than the rest of us, something that tends not to show up in these stories. A five-year study by a French agriculture ministry agency found that French adults drink more than six bottles of wine a month, down from about 18 in 1965. By comparison, the average American drinks about one bottle a month. Why have the French cut down? They’re “increasingly cautious about products that are dangerous in excessive quantities,” said a ministry spokeswoman.

• English buying less wine: By two percent over a year ago, according to figures from a British trade group. This is an amazing statistic, given Britain’s long history as a wine drinking nation, and it shows just how deep and difficult the recession has been there. A report spokesman did not hedge his comments: “Overall, the latest market report shows that consumers are continuing to tighten their belts and shop around for the best value in these tough economic times.”

• Wine.com customers love their Cristalino: It was second most ordered wine from the Internet retailer in 2012, and this was the sixth consecutive time it made Wine.com’s top 100 sales list. This does not surprise the Wine Curmudgeon, long a Cristalino fan, though it may surprise many in the business who keep waiting for wine prices to increase. In fact, the top 10 list was headed by an $8 Columbia Crest wine, and two or three wines on the list were really expensive.

The new CellarTracker -- improved and easier to use

CellarTracker, the on-line wine management and inventory tool, has long been the most effective way to record my wine drinking. It was straightforward, it was flexible (I could use it for my purposes, which are not quite the same as most wine drinkers), and it was free. What more could the Wine Curmudgeon ask for?

That’s why I was not happy when CellarTracker impressario Eric LeVine released the new, upgraded version and everyone had to switch  Yes, the original CellarTracker had its flaws and could be clunky, but it worked. And my experiments with the beta of the new version always left me unfulfilled.

Fortunately, my fears were overblown. The new CellarTracker does what what the old one did, and does much of it better. Meanwhile, its new emphasis on social media and sharing reviews with other wine drinkers doesn’t get in the way of its basic function, which had been a concern. More, after the jump: