Next week I’ll be on my way to the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. I’m one of the lucky one who’ll get to speak twice – once on Social Wine Brand and the second time on the Future of the Social Wine Brand.

But what is exactly the social wine brand? More and more winery owners are getting aware of the importance of social media to reach their consumers. They start writing blogs, create a page on Facebook and an account on Twitter. Those are great initiatives but they’re far from being as efficient as they could be. Indeed being part of a social media network means a lot more. It means interfacing with other wine professionals – even peers – and, of course, consumers. One of the weaknesses of the European wine network is the lack of communication and cooperation between winery owners and wine makers. Europe is more individualistic and competitive than its New World friends – i.e. Americans, Australians or South Americans. It impairs the launching of efficient networks. Indeed, networks require trust and sharing information and tips. Europeans are usually more retentive and don’t give away information or tip to an unknown party.

Is there a solution for this situation? Yes, we see in Europe innovative initiatives coming from wine makers who understood how working together (and not against each other) is important. The French “Mes Vignes” network is one of the best examples. Several winemakers from various French producing regions got together to offer wine lovers the opportunity to rent some vines for a year and create their own wine. In Cahors, the wine makers “banded” together to promote their wines in the US through blogs and buzz marketing. I’m sure other countries have many success stories they’ll share during this panel on social wine brands.

Blogging is certainly one of the best social media a winery can develop. But it is not enough to write posts on the state of the vine or how the wine is doing in the vat or in the barrel. The blog needs to bring value to the winery or the shop owner by creating a special relationship with the final consumer. The blogger needs to create links with other bloggers by sharing information, giving away ideas or starting interesting discussions. Topics can vary. I recently read a discussion on Facebook initiated by David Corey on : “would you rather buy high priced wine discounted or small production wines with consistenly fair pricing? let’s say $29 and under?” The question is a very good example of the kind of topics consumers are passionnate about: over 30 people answered and commented upon each other’s comments.

Don’t hesitate either to join professional networks such as OpenWineConsortium or LinkedIn with its Wine 2.0 or Wine Business section. Be proactive, create relationship and emotion around your brand. Comment on other people blogs, give away information to help somebody, get involved in discussions you are interested in – “just do it” or “think differently” but whatever you chose to do, do it in a spirit of cooperation and with an open mind.

As a French wine professional, I’m always amazed by the creativity of American wine producers. While in France, you identify the wine regions by the type of grapes (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Burgundy and Champagne, Cabernet and Merlot in Bordeaux, Mourvèdre, Grenache or Malbec in the South West…), California is paradise for a lot of varieties, not at all indigeneous to the place but successfully adapted to the local terroir and thus opens the doors to very creative blends.

Dave Corey is the perfect example of this strategy. He grows Mourvèdre, Grenache, Tempranillo, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah for red wines and Roussane, Marsanne and Sauvignon blanc for the whites among others in his Alta Mesa Vineyard. His blends are very unusual for a French wine consumer: his 2006 Hard Core is a blend of 29% Mourvedre, 24% Grenache, 27% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon – impossible in France! And let’s not even think about blending 39% Grenache, 36% Tempranillo and 25% Syrah as Dave did in his 2006 Ground Around. Their quality is outstanding because Dave knows his terroirs, pays attention to the sources of the grapes and doesn’t hesitate to blend varieties for the way they’ll complement each other.

The originality of the wines is also reflected on the label. All the labels were designed by Dave’s wife and testified of a work of love and quality.

Dave Corey’s wines are the exact opposite of the image American wines carry around on the international scene: mono varietal, marketed and branded for a certain category of wine consumer, easy to drink and to forget. Dave’s wines are the proof Americans can make great signature wines – creative and innovative – for the wine lover. And those wines can rivalled with the best European wines at a much better price.

Vinexpo is this year again bubbling with activity and people: 2,400 exhibitors representing 48 countries, some new to Vinexpo (Poland, Sweden, Belarus and Egypt). In the halls you meet a lot of Eastern European professionals as well as people from India, Maghreb or Middle East. A fascinating medley of languages and styles.

But a girl has to focus on an activity a day in order to keep a minimal sanity. I went to the Malbec Summit where British and American wine journalists and experts conducted comparative tastings between Cahors and Argentine Malbecs. Dangerous exercise? Not so much since both places have very different expressions of their terroirs. There is indeed no way to compare the Argentinian and Cahors terroirs: different climates, different soils and different wine making techniques.

The panel went through the tasting of the wines. They all agree that the wines they chose were very good in quality but so different. When Argentina is lusher and made for immediate consumption, Cahors Malbecs’ new style is fruit-forward as their Argentinian counterparts but more structured, allowing a better ageing potential.

The format of the Summit, organized by the UIVC (the professional Cahors producers organization), is original. It shows that this rising grape, malbec, has a great potential for various expressions. Regions don’t need to be competitors. They can, on the contrary, work together to express the best of a promising grape now planted in several countries.

For more information on Malbec.

When a wine is very much connected to a region, should one try to get it more awareness by branding the region first, before branding the wines? This is a pertinent (if difficult) question when reading the last study conducted by Wine Intelligence and presented during the London Wine Fair in May 2009.

Wine Intelligence collected their figures from 2,000 wine drinkers in the US and 1,000 in the UK. They show very clearly that most drinkers ignore Malborough (identified as a cigarette brand) and don’t know very well Barossa.

In Wine Brands, I had two examples of region branding: Cahors, in the South West of France and the Tri-Valley in California. When I was writing the book those two regions were just at the beginning of their work. Tri-Valley had just launched a new tag line, “Our roots are showing” and a new web site with all the geographical and cultural information. When I googled Tri-Valley this morning, the tourist information site didn’t show up first but in 7th position. Worse, I had a few hesitation before clicking on the link, wondering if I wasn’t going to be directed to some hotel accomodations or restaurant lists.

It doesn’t seem like their awareness strategy and branding worked very well as the Livermore wineries didn’t benefit from their exposure. What about Cahors? After 2 years of work on the Malbec grape, a slight movement towards recognition is seen. The new tagline, “Cahors the original Malbec”, gets attention from Malbec lovers, mostly in the US already aware of the Argentinian Malbec.

Is branding a region a good strategy for a wine? To my humble opinion, it seems it is efficient mostly if you can link tightly the region and the appellation. In the case of the Tri-Valley, there is no wine connected to Tri-Valley, the appellation being Livermore. For Cahors the region and the wines – as well as for Bordeaux, Napa or other places – are deeply linked. By increasing the awareness of the place, people will more easily connect the place and the wines. It will also help the local wine tourism.

I knew about the Pinot Noir Days, the Pink Out! event organized by Jeff Morgan on Rosé wines, and others for Zinfandel or Rhone Valley style wines but I was amazed, when two years ago, the very small Cahors wine organization initiated the First International Malbec Days in Cahors. Even bolder, the organizers asked the Argentinian wines – a lot of them Malbecs – to be their guest of honor. In 2009, Cahors was in return the guest of honor of Mendoza for the Second International Malbec Days.

Cahors keeps being innovative. During Vinexpo, the Cahors wines booth will be next to the Argentina wines booth – the two forming the “Malbec Corner”. The logic behind this strategy is simple: Argentina is the first producer of Malbec wines with 70% and Cahors is second with about 20% of the international production. Cahors was the “original Malbec” having being imported to Argentina by the French Pouret at the end of the 19th Century. Going even further into the logic, the Cahors wine organization initiated the “Malbec Summit” held during Vinexpo on June 22, 2009. There will be two topics: “Cahors, the original Malbec” and “the Malbecs of the World”. The Summit is open to any wine professional and journalist trying to understand better this complex grape and the numerous wine styles emanating from it.

Last week, Bordeaux was buzzing with journalists, importers and wine professionals tasting the 2008 vintage on the Left and the Right banks of the Garonne River. It is always an exciting and fun time: when getting to a tasting room, one usually runs in a friend or a colleague not seen since the previous Futures week or can chat with a winemaker whose wines are tasting wonderfully or so different from the 2007 vintage. What happened? Why is it so different? Conversations are lenghthy and make everybody late for the next stop.

This year I limited my tasting to the Right bank and the Graves: along with my colleague Jean-Louis Carbonnier of Carbonnier Communications in New York, I went from L’Envers du Décor in Saint-Emilion (page in French), owned by François des Ligneris, former owner of Chateau Soutard and current owner of a very interesting range of wines to the tasting of La Grappe organization to the Biodynamic Wines Fair. The afternoon was devoted to the Classified Growths of Saint-Emilion and Pomerol before joining Michèle Piron-Soulat in Bordeaux for a tasting of the white wines of the Graves. A busy but great day!

“La Grappe” (the clutter) is an association of winemakers and vintners from all over France. They take advantage of the Futures Week to present their new vintage to the press and the trade. I had the pleasure of tasting the 2007 and 2008 vintages of Chateau Chambert in Cahors. Philippe Lejeune, new owner of this beautiful estate, managed his two new vintages with the help of consultant Stephane Derenoncourt. The wines taste almost like Bordeaux wines: smooth and rich in red fruit aromas. In spite of an obvious ageing potential, they drink very weel, even as young as they were. If you want a taste of the new style of Chambert without waiting too long, get the little brother of Chateau Chambert, the second wine. Before moving on to the next tasting, I “cleaned” my palate with a few extra-ordinary white wines: the libanese Château Marsyas and the 2006 Bargylus white from Syria (site in French). And then back to France with a wonderfully balanced Savennières Domaine FL wine (site in French).

Then on to the biodynamic wines. I was very curious about them having almost no experience in this field. Thanks to Jean-Louis who knew a lot more than I do, I was introduced to some famous (and famously good) biodynamic wines. I started with the Champagne of Françoise Bedel with nos sugar added: a real delight, moved on to Josmeyer‘s wines, stopped at Zind-Humbrecht‘s table and spent a little time with La Tour Grise’s vineyard manager. La Tour Grise produces traditional Cabernet Franc and Chenin blanc of exquisite quality. And then… surprise! I was invited to taste two bubblies: a rosé Cabernet Franc and a white Chenin, both fresh, fun and very low in alcohol (around 7%). They’re delightful and I strongly recommend them: they are unusual and their label is so much fun! The manager told me men consider those two wines as “feminine” and disdain them when women just fall for them. I must confess I was one of those!

After a delightful lunch at L’Envers du Décor and a tasting of François des Ligneris’s new range of wines (don’t worry, I’ll tell you everything about them very soon), we drove to the Union des Grands Crus Classés various tastings. In St Emilion and Pomerol, we were in the elegant world of the Classified Growths. The wines are of high quality, smooth and very good for such a difficult year. We now have to wait for the prices to come out. Yesterday Angelus opened fire by offering the 2008 vintage at 50 euros, the same price as the 2004 vintage and 40% lower than the 2007 vintage. We’ll see soon how the other Classified growths and famous estates are going to position their price.

France is currently debating a law on how to save its health coverage system and prevent various costly diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular accidents and so on. First culprit: wine consumption. I suppose drinking a glass of whiskey a day or a glass of vodka is much better for your health!

Whatever the culprit or the intentions of the government behind this targeting of the wine industry, I suspect France doesn’t to find the right answer to the problem of binge drinking among young people. The answer is called: education. In countries where drinking wine is not denounced as a crime, alcoholism decreased while wine consumption increased. Weird? Not so much! Education was the key word. Young children learned how wine was made, how it was part of their history, their culture and their traditions, that it was part of a high quality lifestyle. Grown up, they knew to choose wine, consume it with moderation and appreciate it for what it was: the result of a difficult work done by people dedicated to a high quality product.

This is so true that some French people are at the origin of very original and innovative ideas. The small but rising Chaors appellation is one of them. Its Marketing Director, Jeremy Arnaud, launched last year the Malbec Academy in partnership for the Wine MBA program of the Dijon Business School, under the direction of Pr. Joëlle Brouard. Each year, the students spend a week in Cahors to get both a theoretical and practical knowledge of the Cahors region and wines: in the morning, they follow seminars on the international strategy of the Cahors appellation and brainstorm with the speakers on various subjects. In the afternoon, they visit properties and meet producers and negociants. To complete this “splash course”, each student is invited to spend the week with the family of a producer or a negociant.

The program takes place from March 23rd to March 27th in Cahors. I’ll be one of the keynote speakers among many others: Jérémy Arnaud, Marketing Director of the Cahors Appellation (UIVC), Pr. Joëlle Brouard and Pr. Jean-Guillaume Ditter, authors of a comparative study on Cahors and Chablis; the journalist Jérôme Baudouin for his comparative study on Cahors and Australia, Pr. Valérie Olvier on agricultural management; Pr. Jean-Christian Tulet author of a documentary on Cahors wines; Franck Lederer, Financial Director of the Taillan Group, to mention only a few.

This initiative shows how education and not repression is the best way to answer the problem.

In Wine Brands, I devoted a long section on the marketing strategy of the Cahors Vintners association and their black wine. Over a year has passed since this writing and it’s time to update the information. Let’s see what happened when my interest in Cahors wines started in 2006. Though well-perceived as a high quality wine, Cahors was losing ground on the international markets. It needed a new marketing strategy. In 2006, the professional association of Cahors winegrowers (Union Interprofessionnelle des vins de Cahors – UIVC) launched a new marketing campaign around two major concepts:

- Cahors is Malbec.
- Cahors is black.

The goal: to be different in order to be more effective in international markets, and to counter the competition of the red wines. “Cahors is black” refers to the history of the wine. The Malbec grape growing on the Cahors terroir produces a very dark wine: Cahors is not red, it is dark. That is why, since the Middle Ages, it has been known as the “black wine”.

But is black a trend in the wine business? To answer this question, on the initiative of their new Marketing Director, Jeremy Arnaud, the UIVC organized a convention there in February 2007 on the theme of the “Black Paradox”, and invited a college Professor, Michel Maffesoli, some wine professionals and a writer whose work studies colors and their meanings. Black also connotes the night, dreams, and mystery. When associated with wine it generates an emotional link with the product, which is often linked to younger consumers.

The second strong point of the Cahors wine is its grape, the Malbec. For many centuries in France it was called “Auxerrois”, but the Cahors grape is, in fact, the trendy Malbec. Malbec is one of the most sought-after grapes in Argentina and in many countries. It is popular in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Cahors has the privilege of being one of the most ancient and one of the best terroirs for Malbec. Marketing the wine as a varietal wine with a special twist has great promise in the international market. Especially since, historically, the Argentinian winemakers cannot describe their wines as black.

Creating attention through a convention, and generating studies in French, does not carry any weight in the international market. That is why the UIVC created two blogs, frenchblackwine.com and frenchmalbec.com, open to contributions from wine consumers, winegrowers and anybody else wishing to comment. Thus far the result of the campaign has been fairly successful. The February 2007 convention drew the attention of many journalists and professionals and also resulted in an agreement among the winegrowers on the two major axes of the marketing strategy.

In April 2008, Jeremy Arnaud organized the First International Malbec Days in Cahors. Argentina was the guest of honor. The manifestation drew a lot of attention to Cahors as the birth place of Malbec. After this international success, Cahors launched a three-year campaign to market its Malbec wines on the US market. The tagline of the campaign is: Cahors, the original Malbec!

Why such a campaign when the US are in one of their worst financial crisis? Americans are familiar and fond of the Argentinian Malbec, fruity and easy to drink. They are becoming aware of an other Malbec region, Cahors where Malbec originated centuries ago and were reborn in the second half of the 20th Century. Many journalists recognized the qualities and the originality of French Malbec: The Wine Spectator and The Wine Enthusiast selected two Cahors Malbecs in their 2008 Top Wines of the Year. The Boston Examiner wine critic Julia Timakhovich resumed brightly what makes the specific quality of French Malbec: she liked the wine for “its unusual coarse texture, leathery feel on the mouth, and very subtle red fruit reminiscent of blackberries—very unlike the fruitier, juicier Malbecs from Argentina” as well as its good pairing with red meat.

Considering the growing success of the Cahors French Malbec and its potential on the US market, the professional Vintners Association of Cahors is launching a 3-year plan to reach the US market and increase their market shares. The Cahors wines are the only French wines that increased their exports in 2008, which is a great accomplishment in those difficult financial times: their exports grew by 3,7% in volume and 6,4% in value, according to the latest Ubifrance figures.

A lot of actions are going to take place in the US from 2009 to 2011: tastings, events, on line events. Many surprises are in store for French Malbec lovers and drinkers. Let’s Julia have the last word on that subject: “They fly under the radar of wine connoisseurs, don’t occupy a lot of shelf space, and don’t adorn the front pages of wine journals. Hence they are usually not expensive. But they provide a good return on investment.That is, after all, Malbec’s native land. It’s like drinking history…”

I must confess I have a soft spot for strong but fine wines. That’s why I enjoy wines from Cahors, Languedoc, or Spain, for example. Cahors and Languedoc are still fighting some prejudices as for their qualities. After a few years of campaigning Languedoc is now better off but Cahors is still carrying a wrong image. I even read lately on blogs or in the press some untrue comments onhow they are”tannic” or “rustic” or “difficult to drink”. Since I just came back from Cahors and had the privilege to taste some of their wines, I’d like to answer some of those articles.

Malbec from Cahors is the original Malbec – the Malbec that went to Argentina at the end of the 19th century and thrived in this new land. It gave birth to a new kind of Malbec due to the climate. While Argentinians were working with this new grape variety, Cahors was being true to almost 800 years of history of wine making: their strong and powerful wine was a huge success in Europe until the 1956 frost almost wiped out the vineyard. The producers replanted with even better quality vines and since then have been producing nice and powerful wines. Of course, there were low end wines like in every appellation but most producers tried to create high quality wines.

The result of this policy is now obvious when you drink Cahors wines: they lost a lot of the “tannic” edge that was difficult for the average wine drinker. They are now more velvety, smooth while still powerful – the real expression of their sunny and dry terroir. This new generation of Cahors wines express deeply the land they come from: they’re food-friendly and enjoyable. Cahors people enjoy life, good food, friends, sports. They carry in their wines their life values. You can enjoy their rounder wines as a pre-dinner drink with some roasted vegetables or a cheese plate. Their wines also have a very good ageing potential, allowing the wine drinker to savour older wines. I tasted a Château Lamartine 1978 full of life and smooth as a baby skin!

Of course, when you travel to Cahors, you will experience their wines with black truffles (even in an oyster or in cheese), duck or lamb. But I also had some of their wines with fish cooked in Mediterranean vegetables and with soup. Don’t be shy! next time you see a Cahors wine on the shelf of your favorite wine store, grab it: you’re in for a nice surprise!

Photo Pont Valentré in Cahors by PhillipC

This afternoon, weather permits, I’ll be in the train to Cahors, in the South West of France. Cahors is a small city nestled between Bordeaux and Toulouse. I have a soft spot for this quiet but dynamic city I discovered two years ago. Cahors is also a Controlled Appellation area and produces powerful and fine Malbec wines. The Malbec grape originated in Cahors and was very popular until the 1956 forst eradicated the vineyard. The producers planted new vines and are now producing fine, elegand and expressive wines based on at least 75% of Malbec. Their wines are absolute gems at attractive prices: for 10 to 15 euros the wine drinker enjoys powerful and exclusive wines worth at least 35 euros in any other Controlled Appellations.

I’m the lucky one who’ll taste wines and talk to winemakers for 2 days. I’ll certainly also have the privilege to experience the other black gem of the area, the truffle. Black wine and black truffle, what a delight! Stay tuned for more details when I’m back.