mondosapore

Looking ahead

What will 2010 be like for Italian wine in the US?

Like 2009. Only more so.

Everyone's been hoping for a big rebound in 2010, but early indications are that the market will not snap back to "normal."  Retailers and restaurateurs in New York-New Jersey keep pushing for lower-cost wines; except for holiday gift shopping, the mantra will continue to be "under $20."  

With the weaker dollar, this has important ramifications for producers, importers, customers. 

Producers need to get serious about discounts. I'll go beyond that and recommend they lower their pricing domestically as well. Italian consumers are scraping by these days. Aspirational pricing is no longer feasible, and fashion should follow feasibility. In terms of international competitiveness, Italian producers must lower prices or continue to lose market share to the South Americans. (Talk about an ignominious fate.)

The Grim Discounter

I just got a price list from a Piedmontese producer who assured me that the 20% discount he offered was the best deal he'd offered any US importer. But 7 euros for a Nebbiolo d'Alba reduced to 5.60 -- it's not an attractive price. It would end up on local shelves for, what, $25? I wrote the poor guy back and suggested we start talking at a 30% discount. 

Another Piedmontese producer understood right away, proposing something close to a 50% discount. He's sitting on a lot of wine. Forget dreams of getting rich. These days it's about enough cashflow to pay the bills.

As a consequence, importers have to get very picky. 

How many times have I heard of such-and-such an importer who has an excellent book, but whose wines are too expensive for today's conditions?  And how many times have I heard of the distributors who represent them slashing prices to an extent that undermines the entire market for, say, Brunello? 

May I tell you that it didn't take a genius to see two years ago that the economy was overheated and was going to experience a hard landing? We saw it coming, and we're hardly Paul Krugman. Our mistake was to underestimate the depth of the depression or "Great Recession" -- which was what they called the Great Depression for its first couple of years. We thought $25 would be the cut-off, not $20 or even less, as it is now.

So we, too, have some very good wines that must be discounted for clearance. Whether we reorder from the producers in question is a matter of their realism on pricing. If they remain fixed on their 2007 prices, then ciao ciao, bambini.

Customers -- our customers, the retailers and restaurant guys -- are having their own brand of hard times. All you have to do in New York is look at the exalted restos that offer deeply discounted prix fixe menus, or those which have changed their name, menu and price points to cope with the new reality. One startling example is David Burke's new eatery on the Upper East Side, FishTail. It focuses on seafood and posts prices far less extravagant than its sister restaurant one block south, David Burke's Townhouse.

Plenty of these guys are just scraping by because their clientele no longer has the money or stomach for $100+ bottles at restaurant table or $40 ones at home. They want a nice bottle with dinner, but they're willing to trade down. And in many cases, no doubt, discovering that the bottle costing one-half what they used to pay is really about as good as the expensive one. The inevitable thought will occur: "Why should I go back to spending more than I need to?"

For those of us who haven't received any TARP money, this mentality is going to persist a long long while.

    

  

Ities on a junket

I spent a half-hour at an event today. It was full of wine people and hangers-on. There was a press briefing, which I missed to my undying grief, at which Italian agriculture minister Luca Zaia and pezzi grossi from Veronafiere (Vinitaly) and other lobbying entities pimped the glories of Italian agribusiness. 

After the press wanking I went with the flow and found a wee table to stake claim to a seat, wandered around looking for something to eat -- forget it, I don't stand in line for so-so hors d'oeuvres -- and sipped a glass of Bastianich Tocai (Friulano, I mean) as the greedy masses lumbered by. 

I was snubbed by a couple of people (hi, Charles Scicolone, nice to see you too) but I mostly stared with bemusement at the merry Italian junketers who go from Del Posto to Marea to other high-end eateries, usually of the Italian persuasion, on their junkets to New York. Many so elegant, so beautifully tailored, so well-connected. 

They looked delighted, no doubt because They Have Access to Mr. Zaia & Co., and because, well, for a few days they're doing New York which is of course equivalent to saying, "I've been in America. There is a profound understanding of our wines/oil/cheese/salami, and so everything is marvelous." Not to mention the pretty young assistants who travel with il Patrone, whom they undoubtedly call Dr. Max* behind his back. They serve to mitigate the tristesses and solitudes of travel in a distant land.

If these Italian joy-riders do deign to visit another city it's usually Miami (obvious as to why), LA (ditto), San Francisco (ditto). They'll do Boston, Philly, DC -- well, they're not far away and they're important parts of the Northeastern Megalopolis (60 million people or so, the population of Italy in a tighter, richer space), but they're no Vegas, that's for sure. (House rules always favor the big spenders in Washington, unlike in Vegas.)

Maybe a few of the less well-heeled, and those who are more tolerant of provincial cluelessness, will schlepp to Chicago or Dallas or -- ha! -- Cleveland.  But those stalwarts are in a tiny minority, those who leave the cocoon of self-regard with all its comforts and transplanted values. What they experience is or should be a wake-up call, because:

People don't get your wines

They won't pay your ridiculous prices

They find you less charming than strange

You too often have an attitude that can be, oh, a tad off-putting

We all know understanding and appreciation go both ways. 

You're the ones trying to sell something that people can pretty much do without. You first. 

 

*Very old allusion to a scathing satire of the same title (patrone = boss) by Goffredo Parisi.

 

Italian wine guides: soliti noti x 5

The usual suspects indeed.  

A quick scan of most of the guides shows a numbing uniformity and predictability, whether from guide to guide or from year to year. Giampiero Nadali has published his compilation of many of the major guides - such as have made their best-of lists available - and you can catch his "public service" post here.

I have to tell you that, reviewing these lists, I realize how sick I am of Italians bitching about the pernicious influence of Robert Parker, the Wine Spectator, etc. The fact is that the tasting panels consistently select the biggest, oakiest reds of the producers. That these are the most expensive shouldn't be much of a surprise; the guide publishers are eager to sell books and the producers to get their best return on investment, and somehow their needs always mesh tidily.

What impresses me most is the relative independence (or is it contrariness?) of L'Espresso's guide. God knows my taste is to the less big, less oaky, the fresher, the more varietally distinctive. Massive amounts of wood don't allow that to come out, and God also knows all that oak masks a heap of defects and short cuts. the editor and tasters of L'Espresso must share some of my preferences because when it comes to the more "tipico" versions of a winery's bottles, they select those over the big barriqued ones.  Case in point: L'Espresso awarded Aurora's Rosso Piceno its highest rating while Veronelli picked the Barricadiero (obvious what that is). The Rosso Piceno is delicious and distinctive; the Barricadiero is, well, New World. 

Well, at least Veronelli selected Aurora for something. Though this guide was implicated in a pay-to-play scandal in recent years, they did break out of the rut and went deeper into regions where Gambero Rosso scarcely deigns to tread. 

Still, for me, the L'Espresso guide is far more credibile and adventuresome.

 

Tuscan grape prices fall 50%

As if to validate my occasional screeds about overpriced Italian wines, Roberto Giuliani of Esilazioni Etiliche has published a post relating the "worst conditions in twenty years" for the grape growers and winemakers of Tuscany. One spokesman for a Tuscan property said that he was offered ten euros for a quintale (roughly 220 pounds) of white grapes -- less than the cost of harvesting them. He left them on the vine. (Click on the link above to read the entire piece in Italian.)

This isn't the first I've heard of viticulturalists leaving grapes to rot this year, nor is Tuscany alone in its plight. The market is so weak that even Germany seems to be taking a lot less Italian red wine than usual -- and if the Germans aren't buying there is a crisis indeed. 

The Italian Wine Guy also has written lately about the crazy, unrealistic pricing of so many Italian producers -- one of his periodic screeds on the subject, too.  (Click here for link.) Everybody in the business knows that this is a huge stumbling block.   

First 5 regions of 2010 Tre Bicchieri winners announced

Today Gambero Rosso announced the newest winners of their ultimate accolade, the Tre Bicchieri, for 2010.  The five regions today are Umbria, Lazio, Molise, Basilicata and Calabria.  Go here for the entire 5-region list.  

More coming tomorrow and tomorrow...

Farewell, thou $50 bottle

There's an interesting piece from Reuters on the MSNBC web site today. It covers the "worldwide glut" in wine and how it's affecting prices.  The leading case in point, the collapse of the market for $50 Pinot Noir from a California vineyard, which is now offering the juice for $19.  (Click for entire article.)

Leave 'em hanging, boys

Well, business cycles come and go. There are periodic wine gluts, which are not always directly connected to business cycles -- bountiful harvests in several wine regions can skew prices for a season or two.

But the really significant piece of information in the article comes at the end: 

Danny Brager, vice president of beverage alcohol at The Nielsen Company, said, "When we last looked at wine at price points north of $20, we saw declines at each of them. It would seem quite logical to us that consumers are stepping down from what they used to spend per bottle, to a lower outlay."

He also found consumers were quite happy with the quality of wines they were buying for less than $20.

Marcelo Papa echoed that sentiment. Papa is one of the four chief winemakers for Chile's Concha y Toro, which unlike its competitors has seen sales of most of its brands rise 30 percent this year.

"Compared to 20 or 30 years ago, wines under $20 or $15 are of much better quality today. They're just better made wines." he said.

(Underscoring mine.)

It's normal for people to scale back in hard times, so the crash of the $20+ segment is no surprise. It's only a slightly greater surprise to read that some cult wines are offering deals. 

But the truly significant point is that improved quality from every wine region in the world, combined with vast production, threatens the medium-term viability of the over-$20 market. Why spend $50 or even $25 for a bottle when there's as good as one on the shelf at $20 or $15?

We see this problem quite clearly in Italy, our source. Makers of perfectly fine but unexceptional wines continue to demand 5, 6, 10, 15 euros a bottle. When we explain the realities of the economic situation in the United States -- not to mention the pitiless competition from all the world's wine regions --  the producers must think we're telling them a tale, something meant to entertain and swindle them.  As an Italian  acquaintance of mine who lives in New York said recently, "They are living in a fantasy. No one's buying there and no one's buying here at those crazy prices." He predicted a collapse of asking prices for wine after the first of the year.

We'll be there, bargaining hard for everyone's sake.

    

Si si, je suis un bloggueur

Yes, ladies and germs, it's been a while.  About two weeks since last I posted on this blog.  And the last few posts were just cross-posts to Muddy Boots.  

Yet, ladies and germs, I occasionally miss the old frisson that a really topping post gave me and, I assume, some of you.

Though, ladies and germs, I am glad to be free of the compulsion to write whatever crazy thoughts came into my head, perpetuating, say, a drunken rant for all posterity or till I cease to pay for the registration of this URL.

Even so, l & g, given the sort of nasty customer I am, there remains a need to spew venom on the happy warriors and poseurs of the wine and wine-blogging worlds, and this will be the place to do it.  Example: from the "town hall meetings" on "healthcare reform" I'm getting a vibe only slightly more vicious and ridiculous than the endless debate on (say) "natural" vs. "industrial" wines, or whatever terms people use to support their faith.  Add gun-toting to the mix and it will be a fun post with a bloody outcome.  Like a wine Hamlet, where everyone dies.  This prospect pleases me for some reason.  

       

89 is not 90: a tale of medium woe

What happens when your wine gets an 89?  

It's like the sound of one hand clapping:  here.

Organic growth

It's up!  The expanded Domenico Selections website!

We've added five producers in three new regions.  The new ones are in Green.

In each instance the process to "interview" and negotiate with a producer takes months (even years), and we spend many a soul-searching hour discussing the pros and cons of each winery and its products.  (Forgive me, Polly Pure, but wines ARE products that must find buyers, plural, in the marketplace, or no one eats dinner.  And you don't get all your freebies at tastings and on winery escapades.)

A few highlights of the new selections:

[Uh oh.  You'll have to navigate here to read the rest.]

Ciao, alla prossima.

Another dreadful podcast

I am a scemo.*

I intended to post another podcast of Dom & the Somm with Susannah Gold.  Somehow I recorded 'cast 2 over 'cast 1.  Really, I don't know what happened.  Forgive me, Susannah.  You should probably do the sound engineering thing next time. 

Anyway, here's the link to the latest thrilling episode of "Dom without the Somm":  click.

It's short -- 7-8 minutes.  

I tried the video version but the results were hideous to behold.  (Note to self: ALWAYS WEAR THE SHADES.)

 

It's all my fault!

* Halfwit, dummy, dope.

Score magic

You hear about it, but you don't quite believe it until it happens to you.  

I refer, of course, to the 90 Point Effect.

Ever since the news of the high scores for our Soaves broke early Sunday, assisted by Jeff's instantaneous emails to everyone he knew in the biz, the phone calls and emails have been whirring in.  "I want two pallets."  "I'll start with 20 cases of this and 25 of that." And so on and so on.  Many of these breathless messages from people who had been giving our man in New Jersey the cold shoulder.

And suddenly the word allocation is in the air. 

Heady stuff indeed for a startup importer.

No, Christy, we won't forget our early friends and supporters.  But you better place your order soon.   

We break the 90-point barrier in WS!

Today Wine Spectator posted to its web site the wine-review scores for the August 31 edition.  I Stefanini, our Soave producer, broke the 90-point barrier for Domenico Selections.  We are about to re-re-order.  We are pleased -- thrilled, in fact.

For it is a necessary thing that the wines you import earn a 90+ from one of the major dispensers of such grace -- whether you care about such things or not personally.  (For the record, scores never, I mean never, determine which wines I buy for personal consumption.)

Valentino Tessari, agronomo at I Stefanini, stands in front of the family home and, at left, the cantina

As I blurted the other day, we rather anticipated scores of 90 points or higher.  We got a more mixed bag of results with 3 of the 5 wines/vintages reviewed receiving 90 or more points.

Here is the link to the search I did on I Stefanini early today: link!

If you don't have a subscription to WS online, here are the scores:  

Today Wine Spectator posted to its web site the wine-review scores for the August 31 edition.  I Stefanini, our Soave producer, broke the 90-point barrier for Domenico Selections.  We are about to re-re-order.  We are pleased -- thrilled, in fact.

For it is a necessary thing that the wines you import earn a 90+ from one of the major dispensers of such grace -- whether you care about such things or not personally.  (For the record, scores never, I mean never, determine which wines I buy for personal consumption.)

Valentino Tessari, agronomo at I Stefanini, stands in front of the family home and, at left, the cantina

As I blurted the other day, we rather anticipated scores of 90 points or higher.  We got a more mixed bag of results with 3 of the 5 wines/vintages reviewed receiving 90 or more points.

Here is the link to the search I did on I Stefanini early today: link!

If you don't have a subscription to WS online, here are the scores:  

Qualcosa di nuovo

Something new

Here, ladies and gentlemen, is the first podcast of a series that Susannah Gold and I are planning to create over the next fews months. 

 Susannah is based here in Manhattan but she lived in Milan as a financial reporter for 12 years, meanwhile discovering a great affinity for all things Italian -- not least of which was the wine.  She studied hard, became a certified sommelier there (and here) and now uses her wine knowledge to act as PR counsel to various branches of the wine trade here and in Italy.

Each in podcast we'll take on a different topic -- this outing devoted to a discussion of organic/biodynamic viticulture and wine-making in Italy, next time (unless we change our minds) one devoted to aging wine, specifically if wine people have made a fetish of older wines.  

We'll plan to publish every two weeks but, then again, it might not quite work out that way.  

Click here to listen to Dom & the Somm 1.  (26:23).  

Buon ascolto!

The Babbo Effect

En bref, click here.

 

Pouring at two East Side wine shops next week

To see when and where Strappo will show up, click here.

Go taste and make the old boy feel the love.  

Typical upscale East Sider. Ignore the beer can.  It was a picnic.  

Aleatico & Soaves

Sorry, folks, another cross-post:

Here!

But of course, I'm not a mere blogger anymore.  I'm a Personage in Italian Wine.  

And how much time do you think I have to fart around blogging?!?!

I've just begun two sentences in a row with a conjunction.  I'm sorry, but I'm done now.  Buona notte.  

Let's hear it for lighter bottles

Senselessly heavy, expensive wine bottles are bad business and ecologically irresponsible. 

For a heartening development anent lighter bottles, please check out this post on Muddy Boots:  Click. 

When the ship comes in

Please check out this post on Muddy Boots: Click!

Something about the wines we have coming in this month and by the end of August.

Ciao for now.

A winery we're bringing to New York

Please see the post and the linked article on Villa Monteleone, an excellent Valpolicella producer whose wines we will be carrying very soon:  Click!

Wine producers in Fantasyland

I was talking with the ubiquitous Giovanni Bertagnolli the other day about the prices Italian wine producers are demanding for their products.  Actually, we were laughing and jeering more than "talking."  The gist:  What's wrong with these people?  Don't they ever get out?  Do they not realize that the world is in a crisis?  And do they really believe China is going to pull them through this severe slump?

There are so many ways in which Italian wine producers are deluded and wrong-headed in their approach to pricing.  Some of them are structural: if you set a price ex-cantina, that's the price you charge a restaurant or wine store too -- someone led me to believe that such is law in Italy. If not law, it's a pervasive custom.  

A lot of it is personal, a pride thing.  Or a desperate desire to claw back some of the immense investments they've made in everything from new vineyards to atmospheric tasting rooms.  Or both.

Anyway, let's imagine a typical exchange with a producer who has her head in the clouds.  (I use a female example only because there are so many good, earnest, ambitious young women making wine these days.  This is not to imply that they're any more unrealistic than their male counterparts.)

*****

"So, Alessandra, this is a nice little red you have here.  Clean.  Good fruit.  Good acidity and balance.  Great with food.  Should be excellent for everyday drinking.  Quanto costa?"

"This is 14 euro."

"Scusa?  How much?"  I nearly drop my glass.

"Quattordici.  Fourteen."  She smiles prettily.  "I use the best Alliers oak barrel."

"I'm glad you don't overuse the barrel.  Otherwise it'd cost even more."

Alessandra's face darkens.  "Good barrels are expensive.  This wine is a good wine!  They pay fourteen in Norway!"

"It is a good wine.  But it's Sangiovese.  From Emilia-Romagna.  To sell in America, it cannot cost me 14 euros a bottle!"

Sulks.  "Why not?  It is biodynamic!"

"It would cost about 60 dollars retail!  Maybe more!  No one would ever buy this wine.  Not one bottle."

She scowls.  "You are making too much!"

I patiently explain exchange rates, shipping, taxes, warehousing, delivery and the wonders of the 3-tier system.  Oh, yes, and the need for markups.  

She ponders.  Calculates in her head.  Sighs tragically.  "I give a discount.  But no one must know!"

"OK.  I'm glad you're getting realistic.  So what's the figure?  Three-fifty?  I could live with four euros.  It is biodynamic."  I smile in an encouraging, you-can-do-it, avuncular way.  

Alessandra steps back from the table.  She folds her arms.  Her eyes glint at me in the semi-darkness of the tasting room.  "Ten.  Not one cent less.  Ten euro.  If you buy five pallet."

I step back from the table, too.  I sidle toward the door.  "Interesting proposition, Alessandra.  Thanks so much for your time.  Let me go back and discuss this with my partners.  I'll' get back to you in a couple of weeks."  Which is me saying, You're nuts, lady.  This is an end-cap wine.  It's really worth 2.50.  And lay off the damn wood!