This Week in Wine…
April 9, 2011
Trump buys Kluge winery operation for $6.2 million
The Trump Organization, headed by business mogul and potential presidential candidate Donald Trump, bought the bulk of the Kluge Estate Winery & Vineyard at auction.
So it seems that The Donald wants to get into winemaking! It’s nice to see that he wants to restore Kluge to its former glory, only time will tell how that works out for him! No word on whether he’s going to be picking the grapes himself…
U.S. survey uncorks our buying habits, attitudes
The results of a new study about how much wine we’re drinking, who’s drinking it, what we’re drinking and how often might lift an eyebrow (or not).
I can’t say I was too surprised by the findings. The survey shows that Millennials are driving wine growth in the wine market, and are more open to screw-caps and trying new and exciting wines. Baby Boomers stick to the “classics” and are less like to experiment.
It still blows my mind how much wineries still rely wholly on targeting the Boomers and forget about every other market.
Many restaurants expecting to raise prices
Grocery prices rose by more than 1 1/2 times the overall rate of inflation in 2010
With meat and produce prices skyrocketing, its only a matter of time before that cost is going to be passed on to the consumer. Surely there must be something else you would rather cut back your spending on, rather than going out to eat!?!?!
Top Gary Vaynerchuk Quotes from Napa Wine Marketing Symposium
Attendees at the Wine Drinkers Symposium this week at the Culinary Institute at Greystone in St. Helena, were treated to the Social Media giant that is Gary Vaynerchuk.
Love him or hate him, Social Media starts and ends with Gary Vaynerchuk. The dude knows his subject better than ANYONE, and in this article he shares some great insights into Social Media in the wine industry. My favorite quote from the article (because I have been saying it for years):
“There’s been a gross misunderstanding in this industry of what stories to tell the consumer. No customer cares about how many yields per acre you’re picking at. …"
Did social media save a winery from bankruptcy?
“Olivier B.”, (French producer in the Cotes du Ventoux) recently announced he was hanging up his hat from making wine due to financial woes. He put a picture of his bottles in the shape of a cross, with the hat that adorns the labels of all his wines in the middle, and said it had been his cross to bear for the past few years and the dream was over.
Social Media advocates ended up coming to the rescue by telling his story, and eventually helping him raise 20,000 euros of sales of his wine in two weeks!
And “they” thought this whole Twitter and Facebook thing was a fad…
Napa sheep slaughter solved: Culprits were cougars
The 10 lamb massacre in the woodlands of Napa County’s Mount Veeder had sheriff’s investigators puzzled, believing that humans may have been the culprits. But wouldn’t you know it!?!?! If it wasn’t those pesky mountain lions!!!
I’m not going to lie to you, I didn’t even know there were mountain lions in Napa! I’m going to be watching my back the next time I’m there!
Wine of Austrlia: How bogus bottles of Jacob’s Creek were caught out by poor spelling
Hundreds of fake Jacob’s Creek bottles were seized by authorities in the UK because of a misspelling on the label.
I reported on this story last week, however new information has surfaced which states that the crooks were only caught due to Australia being spelled as Austrlia on bottles of Jacobs Creek.
Rumor is that the fake wine actually tasted better than the original! (Just kidding…OR AM I!?!?)
‘Ultimate wine collection’ sells at auction for $11.9 million
A rare collection of Burgundies and Bordeaux wines that Sotheby’s auction house billed as the "ultimate wine cellar" has sold for $11.9 million.
I’ve always wondered what the return policy is on wines of this pedigree, if one turns out to be corked.
