+1
I get that wineries exist to make money, and that marketing themselves has to be part of the equation. But I actually find it a huge turnoff when I sense more of my dollars are going to their marketing budget than their wines. Domaine Serene is, as I alluded to in another thread, an example of this. It’s their prerogative, and if it works for them, all good. But every time I look at a bottle of their juice, and the price tag on that bottle, all I can do is think of the percentage of my money going towards their marketing budget and servicing their debt. Doesn’t really position me to enjoy a bottle.
I find that most of the wine related stuff Elin McCoy writes for bberg is in this same vein. (John Mariani too) I’m sure they’re nice people, but the output always feels like reading a brochure.
Exactly Jason, this is what I am getting at… the nutjobs who have used a home equity loan (guilty) to get their idea off the ground. Not so much the crowd that no longer joins the golf or yacht club. Of course the juice has to be good. It must. But many of those folks need a direct avenue to the customers and I think the board can do that. I have reached out to some people and hopefully I can help pimp them out.
And as Larry says they ought to be part of the club too, add some flavor…
This article is not great and reads more like a press release. I guess AV is to cold for PN as the temperature rage quoted (57-61*) is warmer than our average at 55*.
I do agree that native ferments lead to lower conversion ratios. We see pretty low conversion mainly due to native ferments(no so2 till malo is finished), open top fermentors (allowing some ETOH to evaporate), and no refrigeration with peak temps for a day or so at up to 95*(evaporating many volatiles and some alcohol).
ie 24* brix at “normal new world conversion rates” of .6 (or more) would give 14.4%. 24* brix thru my facility at a conversion rate of .56 would be 13.4%.
There are real things we could talk about in regards to Pinot in a warmer world. Things like, double pruning, heat suppression, irrigation, crop load, dropping fruit, canopy management, pick dates, acid/water/nitro/yeast additions, open/closed top fermentors, and many more.
But really if people just picked easy enough to not get golf balling/dimpling/raisining grapes soaking up in the fermentor that would be a good start.
I’m curious who’s buying these wines.
There’s not a wine in Oregon worth more than $80 let alone $120-$180. You can buy a top cru Burgundy for that price. Honestly those prices are just laughable.
I’ve had guests bring both Chapter 24 and Monogram in blind tastings and they have been beaten by $30 to $40 wine consistently.
Brandon, Mr. Trump’s guys will be in touch soon…