Wine critics vs. wine consumers

There is a great post in The Pour, Eric Asimov's blog in the New York Times: "You can please all the people, or you can make great wine". It is the usual controversy on the critics' role in the wine business: should consumers follow blindly their reviews or should they appreciate a wine only on their own criteria and/or personal tastes? Critics are supposed to know their wines but they are also human beings with their own prejudices and tastes. Is there a way to help the consumers?

Some people might write a book, such as the Wine Trials by Robin Goldstein reviewed by Newsweek and commented upon by Eric Asimov in his post:

"According to the Newsweek article, the book shows that 100 wines under $15 consistently outperformed more expensive bottles. In particular, the article cited two comparisons: a $9.99 bottle of Domaine Ste. Michelle brut, a sparkling wine from Washington, outscored a bottle of Dom Pérignon, while Two-Buck Chuck cabernet sauvignon was preferred over a $55 Napa Valley cabernet, Artemis from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars."

This proves only that people have very different tastes in wines, some with discriminating palates and others with simpler tastes.

Consumers now have a new resource, a free wiki wine rating site to find the best wines in a specific location, wineape.com, I already mentioned in this blog. The idea came up when three people, Jeff Dracup, Colleen Wagner and Kevin Jackson, who enjoy trying new wines, found out that most wines had no rating. “We felt the 100-point wine rating system, used by Wine Spectator and others, fell short in many respects. First, the ratings come from a select group of people who may or may not have the same taste in wine as the average consumer. Second, and more importantly, there are just too many wines being released each year for all wines to be rated by such a small group of wine tasters”, said Jeff Dracup in his press release (September 6, 2007, published on pr.com). With that statement, Dracup shares the opinion of Kevin Kells, development director of consumer packaged goods at Google to wine industry executives during the 16^th Annual Wine Industry Financial Symposium held in Napa Valley on September 18^, 2007, when the latter said: “We don’t believe that five guys sitting in a room should be able to know the right answers compared to the hundreds of people who are out there. We want to hear people’s comments”. He has even gone a little further: "Who is this "critic" to tell me what I should or shouldn’t like? On the other hand if a group of independent consumers say they liked a wine – it is more likely I’m also going to enjoy that wine. I feel more confident buying a wine recommended by many other wine consumers than just a few critics.”

Web 2.0 is about user-generated content, and a wiki such as wineApe.com might bring an other answer to the controversy over critics and consumers: the voice of the people. Isn't it called democracy?

Eric Asimov, Sichuanese food and China

Today, for the first time ever, I posted a comment on the blog of the famous journalist Eric Asimov. I'm still a little amazed by my own audacity and wonder if I won't get some problems because of my silly comments.

Whatever... What was it about? It is the Chinese New year and Asimov had some Chinese food to celebrate and suggested some wines to accompany the food. It happens I just had dinner at a wonderful Sichuanese restaurant in Bordeaux, France, "Au Bonheur du Palais", owned by Tommy Shan and his family. If you want to read my post, go to Eric Asimov's blog. I'd like to move ahead on some thing more related to my usual topic and obsession, wine brands.

In China, consumers are not used to drink wine with their food: it is a western habit. Luckily for France, the Chinese still think that French wines are the best. That is why importers of the Classified Growths and all the luxury wines are selling their wines with no problem – sometimes even more expensively than in Europe or in the US! Wine is definitively on its way in China!

An anecdote tells it all. On April 18^th, 2007, in Beijing, some very happy Chinese tasted Chateau Haut-Brion blanc and Chateau Haut-Brion rouge: “it tastes better than rice wine or beer, and it’s better for your health”, said one of the lucky participants. Those words are milk and honey to the ears of many importers and owners of wine estates. Prince Robert of Luxembourg, whose family owns Chateau Haut-Brion, is aware of the growing interest of Chinese executives for luxury wines: “I think people are starting to understand the notion of quality brands. The luxury brand has ignited interest in the Chinese market. There's been a lot of work done by a lot of these luxury groups -- they're very visible here. I think the timing is right for us.”

Of course the market is still very small, but it is expanding dramatically. In 2005, China jumped into the world's top-10 wine-consuming countries. In 2006 Chinese wine imports doubled over the previous year, from 1.15 million cases to 2.2 million, and with annual consumption at a mere 0.7 liters per person, there is plenty of room for growth. No wonder wine-market analysts foresee a 36 percent increase in Chinese wine imports by 2010.

A good question of Eric Asimov: Why hate Bordeaux?

Maybe because I'm currently in Bordeaux, this beautiful city, I feel very concerned about the feelings expressed by Eric Asimov in his blog on Bordeaux wines and why some people dislike them.

Indeed it might be a generational problem: young people are more interested in less "serious" and classical wines. But Bordeaux is also the reference for very high quality wines, as Eric Asimov points out when telling with emotion his experience with an '86 Margaux. Bordeaux Classified Growths are the symbol of excellence, whether they're called Margaux or Haut-Brion.

Bordeaux is also felt as the country of the Cabernet Sauvignon, said Eric Asimov. How weird! Bordeaux wines are a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot and Cabernet franc on the Left Bank. But don't forget about the predominance of Merlot on the Right bank in Saint-Emilion and Pomerol. Maybe young people or Bordeaux haters just don't know their classics!

To make a long story short, Eric Asimov is right to point out the feelings generated by Bordeaux and its world. But we should not forget that Bordeaux is certainly one of the most romantic place in the world: it has history, people whose families are going back several centuries, landscapes and a beautiful city.

I love Bordeaux!