This Week in Wine – 7/17/11
July 17, 2011
Gallo’s Growing Barefoot Brand Is No. 1
Sutter Home is No. 2, while total domestic retail wine sales increased 7% in June.
E. & J. Gallo Winery’s fast-growing Barefoot brand remained No. 1 in retail sales for the 52 weeks ending June 13, with $255 million in sales. With Carlo Rossi ranking seventh in sales and Gallo Family Vineyards ninth, the Gallo company owns three of the top 10 brands. Two other Gallo products, Livingston Cellars and Peter Vella box wines, also made the top 20.
Trinchero Family Estates’ Ménage à Trois brand was the only wine in the top 20 to grow faster—33%—than Barefoot. Fetzer dropped fastest, with 14% negative growth.
My Thoughts
It’s so easy to turn your nose up at wines like Barefoot, but I actually have a lot of respect for them. How many Sommelier’s will you hear say THAT!?!?!
My first car was a £250 ($400) Ford Fiesta. Needless to say it was a piece of crap, but I loved it! Hopefully, in the not too distant future when I buy my first Aston Martin, I’m going to have so much more respect for it, than if my first car was, let’s say, a BMW.
Everyone needs to start somewhere on their wine journey, and it’s much easier to appreciate what you have in your glass when you start out drinking wines such as Barefoot.
Click here for the full article
Australian drinks to carry health warnings
So it seems that the Australian powerhouse wine brands of Hardys, Jacob’s Creek and Banrock Station, will soon carry health warnings on the label.
The move has supposedly comes after a survey showing that ‘Two thirds (61%) of Australian consumers said they would support the idea of information messages on alcohol labels and one third (32%) said they would be likely to seek more information about responsible drinking as a result of seeing a label.’
Many health experts see the move as a step in the right direction. ‘Australia has one of the highest rates of alcohol abuse in the world,’ Michael Farrell at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre said.
My Thoughts
I just don’t think that labeling in this way will help curb excessive drinking. Obviously I’m not an expert in the matter of alcoholism, but I have worked in restaurants, bars and hotels my whole life, and I know what I’ve seen. Wine very rarely is the issue, at least from my experience. If anything I think attention needs to be diverted toward liquor, alcopops and beer; as well as government funding toward educating people from a young age.
Personally, if it was up to me, I think all wine should carry the following message:
WARNING!: Consumption of wine may lead to sophistication, cultural awareness, worldly concerns, youthful ambiance and possibly severe happiness.
Click here to read the full story.
Andrea Robinson officially has the worlds toughest job!
Tasting over 2,000 wines over the course of a few days, sounds like a mammoth undertaking for even the most seasoned wine drinker; but to Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson, this is just another day at the office.
According to the International Air Transport Association, through the first four months of this year, there was an 8.5 percent increase year-over-year in premium passenger traffic, which includes business class and first class seats. Those seats are among the most pricey and profitable for airlines.
The wine and champagne will be served in Delta’s BusinessElite class cabins in 2012. The world’s second-largest carrier expects to order some 1.6 million bottles for the service. The still wines Robinson looks for range from a retail price of $25 to $30 a bottle, while dessert wines will run $30 to $35 a bottle and the champagne will run $45 to $50 a bottle.
My Thoughts
Andrea must have one of the most feared palates in the world! I can only imagine that her taste-buds strike fear into the heart of many a winery owner. Click here to read the full story.
Thieves Make Off With Vineyard’s Irrigation System
Grape grower Frank Rashid was on track for a record-breaking year, however bad guys stole the grape irrigation system worth more than $10,000. And now, his Petite Syrah grapes are starting to shrivel away.
Rashid says someone walked on to the 14-acre family vineyard over the weekend and went straight for the pair of tanks. In his 12 years of growing grapes, Rashid has never been hit by thieves. He believes the criminals will cash in his equipment as scrap metal. He plans to install a fence — and even cameras — to protect his crop..
My Thoughts
What kind of world are we living in, when even your irrigation system isn’t safe!?!?
Click here to read the full story.
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