As usual, a report by VinTank creates a lot of interest amongst wine aficionados and tech people. Good iPhone apps in the wine business are not that easy to find. VinTank’s report is of great help to the wine consumer: Paul Mabray went through all the hard work of buying the apps, and creating various filters to test them (wine reviews, wine and food pairing, wine journal, social media capabilities, Point of purchase option, User Interface, innovation and data cleanliness). With those 8 features, any wine consumer can chose the app most pertinent to his/her use.

VinTank’s paper is very informative on the best BtoC apps. The top apps recommended are good tools to establish and maintain contact between wine companies and consumers.

This said, my main concern is that there is no real app for wine professionals. As such I’m also interested in price comparisons between two or more sites and not only what the price point. I’d also be interested in auctions for more expensive wines.

Next steps for the industry: mobile site for all wineries to maintain the stream between wineries and consumers, more BtoB apps and specific apps for high end wines (Opus One, Haut-Brion, Palmer, Sassicaïa, etc.). And more reports from VinTank!

The Bordeaux chateaux heard the requests and the pleas of the trade. The 2008 prices went down by about 40% for most estates. However there are a few significant exceptions. La Mission Haut-Brion came out at 110 euros and Haut-Brion at 150 euros – well above the four other First (Mouton, Latour, Laffite and Margaux sold at 100 and 110 €). Château Palmer came out at 80 euros, not very far from La Mission and well above the other Margaux wines of his category.

What does it mean? Those three estates have very strong and powerful images but very different histories. Haut-Brion and La Mission are now tied because they’re owned by the Dillon family but they have distinct history and wines. La Mission came up very strongly in quality

Yesterday, during the on line radio show for the new wine consumer about the first American and European Wine Bloggers Conferences, we brushed on a topic that could be interesting to both sides of the Atlantic: the differences of demographics between Europe and the US.

In continental Europe, the main bloggers are usually wine makers or wine lovers. It might not be true in every country but in France, it is obvious: the main bloggers are the Perrin family, Bizeul from the Clos des Fées, Alain-Dominique Perrin from Château Lagrezette in Cahors and Château Palmer in Margaux. They write mostly about their vineyards and sometimes expands on topics related to the wine industry in their country or outside. But the core subject of the blog is related to their vineyard. Some blogs are even only in French – which considerably reduces the audience – but many are bilingual (French and English).

The situation is very different in the UK and the US – in the UK, because the wine makers are still a minority and in the US, because marketers, journalists, wine lovers and academics are driving the movement. It makes the conversation between writers and audience a lot more rewarding as well as lively. The OWC community provides information and links to a lot of those blogs through the Wine Bloggers Group.

I’d like to hear from bloggers from Europe on this topic. Do you share my opinion or do you have information that contradict me completely?

I just read an article in the North Bay Business Journal that raised a very interesting question: is it better for a winery to create a second label or to sell the wine in bulk when you have too much of a lower quality wine for your main brand? This discussion happened during the Business Journal’s 2008 Wine Industry Conference on April 9. Some said that their “winery had considered a second label but determined selling the excess wine in bulk was better than risking diluting the brand.” Others argued that “a second label can help a winery with distributors, but it should have a different name,” and be tied to the main brand at least on the back label.

The debate is still going on in the trade anyway. I can think of a few successful examples I know in the French wine industry. In 1998, the famed Château Palmer, a classified Growth of Margaux, near Bordeaux, launched a new brand called Alter Ego de Palmer. It’s not a second wine but a full new brand, clearly linked to the main brand but different in its positioning: the wine can be drunk young with all the qualities of a great Margaux wine, finesse and elegance. It is not confusing for the consumer and very reliable for the distributors.

An even more recent example is “Clarence”, the second wine of Château Haut-Brion, one of the five First Classified Growths. For many years, the second wine of Château Haut-Brion was named Château Bahans Haut-Brion after the plot on which the vines were planted. The name was difficult to remember and to pronounce, even for French people. A few weeks ago, Domaine Clarence Dillon, owner of Château Haut-Brion, officially announced the new name of the second wine: Clarence. “In 2009, stated the press release, Domaine Clarence Dillon will be celebrating the 75^th anniversary of the first visit of Clarence Dillon to Chateau Haut-Brion. This milestone will enable us to write a new page in the modern history of our second wine. In recognition of three quarters of a century of presence of the Dillon family at Chateau Haut-Brion, Domaine Clarence Dillon has decided to mark the occasion by renaming our second wine “Le Clarence de Haut-Brion” and by bottling our second wine in the elegant “Haut-Brion” bottle, specially engraved with the mention:“Clarence”. It was Clarence Dillon himself who fifty years ago brought this now iconic bottle design to Chateau Haut-Brion and first began using this elegant form for the 1958 vintage.”

Second label and second wine are common business practice in the French wine industry. This practice is considered as a reinforcement of the primary brand instead of a dilution.

Last night, during our podcast on video on the Net, it occurred to me that we got used to new technologies very fast and that they spread all over even faster. Blogs and podcasts – considered new tools a few months ago – are now… would I dare say banal? We all have cameras, know how to use them and post our videos on line; we all know how to create and animate a blog. What’s the use?

Like blogs, podcasts are of two types:

• branded podcasts for an estate or a winery;
• thematic podcasts – about wine, food, women, travel, lifestyle etc.

Château Palmer, a Classified Growth in Margaux, launched its blog first, then its webcasts. What is the purpose of these unusual actions by a very formal Bordeaux estate? The blog was at first supposed to replace the “News” page of the first site. In 2004, when the second version of the site was opened, a blog was quite a novelty. Château Palmer was the first Classified Growth to open a blog, and, as far as we know, is still the only one to have such an interactive tool. The management very quickly understood the use of such a tool: to interact with their consumers and wine lovers. Their posts are open to comment, and whoever wishes to express an opinion is welcome.

The first video podcasts were launched for the 2006 harvest after much thought. Once more Château Palmer was a pioneer in Bordeaux, and, in this rather conservative area, the Châteaux owners gave interviews which were then published as a podcast. The site of the Wine Spectator is now full of this sort of video. Until this move by Château Palmer, no estate had published its own podcasts. Harvest is a crucial time for a château, and filming it, as well as interviewing the participants, is rather tricky. Accidents may happen, rain may fall, thunderstorms may occur – and everything will be recorded. Of course one may edit the film or the interview, but then where is the honesty in such an enterprise? The idea is to give the consumer information, which is as accurate and true as possible. The risk cannot be described as non-existent for a winery. Château Palmer took the risk, and so became famous for the quality and realism of the information given to its customers and web visitors. This type of “branded” podcast is the best way to reach the end-consumers. Life at the Château and interaction with the team are shared with every end-consumer and Club member.

The thematic podcasts are different. They want to bring together people sharing a common interest or passion, in our case wine or wine and food. From December 2006 to March 2008, at the suggestion of longtime friend Randulo, Robin Garr, the creator of wineloverspage.com, launched the “WineLoversPage TalkShoe”, a weekly live Internet radio show.

The live show was hosted on the talkshoe.com platform, which is a community of web users and show hosts. How did it work? Every week Randulo and Robin chose a topic related to wine: for example, how to read a French label, corkscrew or screwcap, unusual wine and food pairings, wine goes to Hollywood, Champagne, wine and cheese, etc. The audience could listen to the live show, call in to give an opinion or take part in the topic, or download the show after it was completed.

Podcasts are not only videos or audio interviews. Behind the scenes there is a syndication technology called RSS requiring skills in programming and editing, which were provided by Randulo. TalkShoe’s technology allows a much better interaction with the web users. People can talk to the show host live and/or can download the podcast – keeping it for further listening on their MP3 or iPod at a convenient time. Podcasts, like blogs, are syndicated and have a life of their own on the Net. Once they start being syndicated they reach more and more people.

How does it answer our question? By their instantaneity, the podcasts, especially when they are hosted on a platform such as TalkShoe that allows live broadcasting, can bring information on very actual questions and serve as news carriers. It’s not the “breaking news” of CNN but it provides a very accurate information by its quick realization and the speed of its distribution. The technology brings the world up to speed and people together.

The European press – whether on line or off line – on the wine business in Europe gives the readers very mixed signals on the state of the industry. I’d like to try – “try” being the key word – to sort out what I read lately and what it means in comparison with the “New World” wine industry.

First of all, today is the opening day of the famous “Futures” week in Bordeaux. Journalists and wine professionals gathered to taste the 2007 vintage still in barrels and that will be on the market at the end of 2009. This tasting will allow importers and buyers to set a price for those expensive and luxury bottles of wine – usually between 30 to a few hundreds euros for the most famous names (Haut-Brion, Palmer, Petrus and other Yquem). Those estates represent hardly 5% of the Bordeaux wine market: there are thousands of other properties whose wines will be sold between 2 to 10 euros for the luckiest.

Surfing on the wave of those luxury wines are a few upscale on line wine stores, such as 1855.com introduced on the Paris stock exchange and vins-fins.com (fine-wines.com). Both companies just released their new projects: expanding their business by opening their catalog to international fine wines. They might very well succeed because the wines they sell are the very symbol of a lifestyle full of elegance and classicism.

At the same time, France, Italy and Great Britain are campaigning against alcohol consumption. “Alcohol” is the key word. There is a strong confusion, in the mind of the law makers, between wine, beers and spirits, all labeled “alcohol” and demonized. In France, the “Evin” law prohibits advertising on any kind of alcohol, including wine, in the press and on TV. The law is used by a very strong and active network of anti-alcohol lobbyists, subsidized by… the French government. This lobby won two court cases lately: one against Heineken that had to close its French site (by so, making all French wine sites and blogs illegal) and an other one, against a newspaper who published an article recommending a few Champagne brands before the holidays (what about freedom of the press and freedom of speech?). At the same time, Champagne wines are so much in demand that a law included more villages in the Champagne “Controlled Appellation” area. In Italy, a law against wine (this link was provided by my friend of OpenWineConsorsortium, Ronald) might be passed by the Parliament. In Great Britain, one of the most important markets for imported wines, a campaign against drinking was recently launched to prevent “binge drinking” and female consumption. “Binge drinking” is a real and true concern for everybody since it affects mostly young people: they get badly drunk in the evening – so much as they can’t stand on their feet anymore or are getting very violent. Women are a totally different case: they are the buyers of wine and food for the family and as such are very much targeted by marketers, producers and retailers. They are also – except for a few of very young women who sometimes join the “binge drinking” crowd – moderate drinkers. Unfortunately recent medical studies, in UK and in the US, linked alcohol consumption to breast cancer: more than one glass of alcohol a day could increase the risk of breast cancer. Worse, in England, Dr. Janet Treasure identified a new female drinking pattern, the drinkoresia: women are drinking without eating to compensate the calories taken with the alcoholic beverage. The damages done to the stomach are very fast and deep, which is a subject of concern for public health.

After the worries and the horror stories, the dream: Spain made wine a part of their patrimonial history and just allowed 32 millions of euros to support the export of Spanish wines. Spain wants to become the n.1 exporter in the world. By doing so, Spain joins the club of “proactive” countries, such as Australia or California – wine producing areas giving themselves the financial and human means to develop their wine industry.

What kind of logic can we find in this contradictory information coming from wine producing or loving countries? There is a confusion between wine and spirits: wine is not as strong as spirits in alcohol contents (even in warmer countries); it is part of a lifestyle and a cultural subject. Young men and women are not getting drunk on wine in bars and night clubs but on hard liquors and cocktails. Law makers should be educated about what wine is about: when we educate our young people, we should also educate our legislators and other people who think they know about wine better than the professionals. Those countries need a strong wine lobby to protect its interests.

On the other hand, those countries are also producing the most exclusive and expensive wines: the most famous brands are from France and Italy (as well as Spain). Those brands won’t have any problem to keep selling but by promoting repressive policies, France and Italy are badly hurting the lesser brands and producers. Whether expensive or cheaper, good wines are the ambassadors of their country of origin. Do our governments really want to destroy part of our history and culture? I bet they don’t but they don’t really know what they’re talking about. Without lessening the dangers of overdrinking, they should consider wine as a beautiful story shared all over the world by millions of amateurs.

I read today on the decanter.com Newsletter that Dom Perignon opened a bar in the famous Harrods store in London and offers a glass of 1975 Oenetheque vintage of Dom Perignon for £250. If you have some financial problems, you can settle for the 1995 Vintage of Oenotheque for the mere sum of £60. If you are lucky, you might meet Claudia Schiffer at the bar since she was the advertising icon of the Karl Lagerfeld video on Oenotheque Champagne.

We all know that Champagne aimed at making its wines a luxury product. Question for luxury buffs: do you sell a luxury wine by the glass? Do you need “people” to make it great or expensive? NO! Why sell a very expensive and luxurious champagne by the glass? It is the same strategy as all those branded cheap Dior products for 50 or 100 € you see all over. Does it blur the image of the brand? YES! A luxury brand exists only through the phenomenon of scarcity: a glass is not as scarce as a bottle. Would you sell a bottle of perfume by small bottles?

Why is it bothering me so much to see a wonderful champagne sold its image to the crowd? Because I see everyday in the wine business how luxury wines protect and develop their fragile image without compromising it. Think Château Haut-Brion, think Château Palmer: all those brands create a very emotional and affective link between them and their consumers without selling a glass of their precious nectar in a department store, as elegant as it could be. Wine is not a coffee shop or department store product. Before being a commercial endeavor, wine is about taste, pleasure, people and places. It is about tradition, emotion, history –past and present. Indeed the contemporary brands might become the wines of our children and grandchildren. They will tell the next generations what our life was about.