The difficulty of finding the right Wine's Average Market Price

The difficulty of finding the right 

Wine's Market Price

Trump 25% additional duties on wines
from France, Germany, Spain and the UK
by ©LeDomduVin 2019 
(Trump photoshopped credit to u/qda on reddit)

Like the stock prices, wine market prices always move up and down due to the fluctuations of supply and demand. Fortunately for us, they remain generally more consistent as the fluctuations for wines are not as wild and sudden. And to a certain extent we could even say that, as wines get older, for most high-end wines, prices tend to go up rather than down (especially with great vintages bottled in large formats). 

Yet, prices also go up and down due to the world economy (the major countries economy should I say) and, sometimes, also due to the decisions made by their leaders or governments. On that matter, for example, Trump decided a few days ago to add additional duties on some European Wines (for various reasons), and consequently, the market prices for these specific wines sold in the US market will rise. 

Taken aback by this decision, in this instance, I somehow felt the sudden need to write a post about wine's market prices, and the difficulty to find the right ones among the various major websites and apps offering them. As many of you (in the US mainly) might not be able to overcome the urge to check the prices of their habitual vino on their computer as soon as the duties are effective, I thought it would be a good time to write on this subject. 

Regarding the additional import duties, the official document titled “Section 301 Investigation – EU Large Civil Aircraft – Final list of products” has been written in response to an investigation stating that: “The U.S. Trade Representative has determined that the European Union (EU) and certain member States have denied U.S. rights under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement and have failed to implement WTO Dispute Settlement Body recommendations concerning certain subsidies to the EU large civil aircraft industry. The U.S. Trade Representative has determined to take action in the form of additional duties on products of certain member states of the EU.”

The paragraph “section 7.” of the document states that: “Wines from France, Germany, Spain and the UK will be subject to an additional 25% ad valorem import duties, for all wines other than Tokay (not carbonated), not over 14% alcohol, and in containers not over 2 liters, effective October 18th, 2019.” 

Basically, all wines (except Tokay and champagne/sparkling), containing 14% alcohol and lower, and coming in carton box or bottle of 2 liters and lower (which obviously includes magnum size) will be affected by the 25% additional import duties. Which understandably means that your usual bottle of wine from any of these 4 countries (sold in the US) will be slightly more expensive and might trigger you to look away for better values within the prices you use to pay for these bottles before. 

Those who have the financial means, might not mind the added import duties and will probably continue to buy their favourites, even if at higher prices. But those who don’t (meaning the rest of us) will surely mark a hesitation at the sight of the increased price for our regular bottle of vino. 

These additional import duties will surely and greatly affect the markets on both sides of the Atlantic. In the 4 stated countries (France, Germany, Spain and the UK), producers and wine merchants will see their order from the US decrease and thus volumes sold in the US diminish. And in the US, importers and distributors will have to pay an additional 25% on all wines they will receive after October 18th, a budget they surely did not anticipate when they bought/ordered their wines few months prior the announcement (especially wines bought "En Primeur" like Bordeaux). A bump to the cost prices, which will consequently be reflected on the shelf’s prices at your local retailers and affect most US customers drinking wine within $10-$15 more especially. 

Although we all surely would prefer to pay $10 or less for our regular bottle of wine, most of us usually pay within $15-$20, the typical “sweet spot” for everyday drinking. But on October 18th, the price for that same bottle will suddenly hike to $18.75-$25, and we will surely not look at it the same way, having promise ourselves rarely to exceed $20 normally. 

Some may say that it is only $3.75-$5 bucks more and that it is not a big deal!!! However, if you buy a bottle daily, or at least as regularly as 2 or 3 times a week, it will add quickly to roughly $50 more per month (or $600/year), the price of 2.5 bottles at the previous price per month, and unavoidably put a dent in your wallet and your monthly wine budget. 

Hence the importance of checking prices online (more attentively than usual) to find the right market price that suits your budget. But which website could you use to find a good reference market price? 

In a wine market constantly evolving, on a daily basis, with more online tools and Apps at anyone's disposal appearing, nearly every year, it has become (in my opinion) more and more difficult to choose among the various websites and define what is exactly the Average Market Price of a wine as a reference. 

Most of you will tell me: "Easy! Just go on Wine-Searcher and take the Average Market Price of the wine you're looking for as a reference!" And I will agree if it was that simple, yet, it isn't, and I will try to explain to you why. 

Let’s go back in time first. 

Prior to the mid-90s, there were barely any sites on the internet for regular consumers to compare retail or auction prices. At the time, wine retailers based their prices on cost, of course, some adding margins exceeding 50% (greed, located in remote areas, having the market monopole due to lack of immediate competition, having excess expenses, etc…), but most had to have savvy market knowledge to figure out their selling prices and remain competitive while still making decent margin closer to 30-35%. The later visited their competitors (or had somebody doing it for them) and/or attended the auctions and other wine events to remain aware of the market trends and prices. With no internet tools, listening to word-of-mouth was a given. Information was also conveyed through long discussions with the suppliers and distributors, taking on the role of informants depending on their relationships with the retailer, during on-site tastings or friendly visits. 

In 1995, the replacement of the old internet system (NSFNET – 1985-1995) by new networks operated by commercial service providers, brought the internet to the public on a much larger scale and opened it to commercial traffic. A virtual door to the world was now opened for new communication ways and commercial opportunities, which have since tremendously impacted our daily life, our culture and the way we see and look at the world. 

A couple of years later, websites started to mushroom everywhere on the web in all imaginable fields and subjects. Communication and information as we knew it via TV, radio and paper press, rapidly evolved into discussion forums, blogs, social networking and even online shopping. 

By 1997 and especially in 1998 and 1999, as technology advanced rapidly, this expanding network connecting people to the word gave birth to websites which became benchmarks in their respective industry, essential and indispensable professional tools easing the job to find and compare brands and prices. 

By early 2000s, algorithms became more powerful and thus more performant and could compute even more data than previously. At the time, the data were fed by either the algorithm's genitors and/or by the people entering and/or downloading the data (e.g. Wine-Searcher collected data, in the form of excel list of retailer's wines with retail prices, from participating retailers, which constituted the listing on their website).

And despite advance technology, even with AI helping, it is still the case nowadays. Sites like Wine-Searcher can only gather what has been given to them, meaning that the prices are not generated by computers. AI can anticipate and eventually predict on its own and even generate its own data to be fed on, yet most data like prices are still decided and generated by humans. Meaning that compared to computers, the human mind is influenced and twisted by many factors and strategic thoughts making most price listings on prices search engines like Wine-Searcher and Liv-Ex somewhat unreliable, more especially their Average Market Prices.    

Although other wine prices search engines websites existed prior the following ones (e.g. winery’s websites, retailer’s websites, etc…), in the wine industry, these pioneer websites were called: Wine-Searcher (1998), Wine Market Journal (1998), Liv-Ex (1999), Wine.com (1998), and back then (even still now) constituted the backbone of wine info, services and price tracking. It was rather simple and quite straight forward at the time. 

wine-searcher logo courtesy of wine-searcher.com

Wine-Searcher

Founded 1998, in London, which was the world hub of wines back then, Wine-Searcher mainly focused on providing retailer’s prices, from local retailers at first, then expanding it gradually to the whole world (even featuring auction prices now). And although few knew about it and using it at first, within a couple of years after its birth, it rapidly became the essential market price tracking tool of all importers, distributors and more especially retailers in the early 2000s (especially in the US where consumers used to buy their wines on price rather than on quality, provenance, producer or brand). Wine retailers could now track and compare their prices against their peers and eventually adjust them to fit the image they try to convey (e.g. large retailers with less expensive and more commercial brands usually practising lower prices and discounts, while wine boutique stores focusing more rare bottles, limited production and less commercial, smaller, independent wineries and vintners). It was a breakthrough which revolutionized the market prices and the way retailers behaved toward one another. Nowadays wine-searcher.com is still the leading search engines for retailers and even pre-auction wine prices (personally, as a Wine Market Analyst, I use it every day).

Liv-Ex logo courtesy of liv-ex.com

Liv-Ex

Back then in the late 90s, I was working as a Head Sommelier and Wine Buyer in a restaurant in the British Capital, which was THE place to buy wines from all around the world. Wine was imported, exported, bought, sold, exchanged and shipped for restaurants, retails, auctions, private collections, and also for investments, a new emerging trend putting the wine at the same level as Art, Antiques and rare collectable luxury products. Wine was sold not anymore for its intrinsic taste, value and characteristics, but for the profits, it could generate. It became a product of speculation. And Liv-Ex was created in 1999 to track the price movements of the most traded fine wines on the market. It rapidly became the industry’s benchmark, providing info about the trading prices (like the stock exchange):

1. The buying price (understand how much people are ready to pay to buy a wine?), 

2. The selling price (understand how much people want for their wine for sale?)

3. And the market price (enabling traders to compare the buying and selling prices with the market price and define if it is a good deal or not. 

Personally, I use the offspring of Liv-Ex, called "Cellar Watch"

Wine Market Journal logo courtesy of winemarketjournal.com

Wine Market Journal

Also in the late 90s, Wine Auctions becoming an unavoidable way to buy old vintages of famed Chateaux and Domaines as well as rare bottles of iconic wineries with limited production, the need for a website regrouping the auction’s results as well as informing about trade values and market prices became an evidence, and in 1997 Wine Market Journal was created.  WMJ has been collecting every single trade prices of every bottle of wine at every major auction house in the world ever since. It is the leading and most authoritative auction prices website, as its historical data are unmatched by any of its competitors. It is a great tool to find prices and market trends, especially for old and rare bottles scarce or unavailable on the market. 

Back then, these 3 websites constituted the core of wine searching and price browsing online for both consumers and professionals within Europe and the US. Pioneers in their own field, they have inspired the tsunami of wine search engines websites and (more recently) apps which followed and are now crowding the web, transforming the simple experience of searching wine prices online as a real nightmare and even to a certain extent questioning their reliability. 

wine.com logo courtesy of wine.com

Wine.com

On the other side of the Atlantic, back in 1998, as rules and procedures to wine shipping to other states within the US were relaxed a little (**), American wines competed with an increasing demand for European wines getting more recognition with American consumers. With rapidly growing imports of wine in the US from Europe, but also South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, the need for a large online wine retailer to facilitate access to these wines became somewhat of a necessity, and wine.com was created.

Visually attractive and user-friendly, wine.com was created to revolutionize the way people discover, buy and enjoy wine. As per Wikipedia: "Wine.com is a San Francisco based online wine retailer that offers the largest selection of wines in the world. Wine.com sells over 2 million bottles per year, with a stock of more than 17,000 different bottles of wine, shipping throughout the United States."

But first and foremost, prior taking some examples, regarding the data fed super algorithms and AI, understand that no matter how good the algorithm or AI of your preferred wine website or app is, it will never be accurate nor reliable, as you cannot remove the human factors (errors, made intentionally or not) and the twisted mind of men out of the equation (greed, deception, lure, etc...).

As said above, prices are still generated by humans. And fortunately, you will tell me, and I would agree; but these human factors (errors and twisted minds) are what makes it so difficult to find the right websites with the most accurate market prices. 

And although I have been heavily using the four websites sited above over the last 16 years for wine search and price tracking, and highly recommend them for many reasons, their average market prices are far from being accurate for the most part due to these factors. Let me try to explain my point of view, as it may open your eyes on certain things about wine market prices on websites you’ve always trusted blindly. 

In my opinion, the Average Market Prices of all wine search engines online are not correct nor reliable, mainly because of the difference between the fishy lowest prices and the highest prices (sometimes astronomically high):


The Lowest Prices are usually for bottles that are (most likely):

• In bad conditions (low level, damaged label/capsule, badly stored, etc...) 

• From unreliable provenance (god knows where it comes from and in which conditions it was stored previously)

• Potential counterfeits (the wine world is flooded with fakes and counterfeits at all level)

• The sole and unique bottle available in that store (potentially presenting all the above)

• Inexistent (i.e. despite the merchant or store promoting it, when you try to order online call or physically go there to check, the bottle is either not available or has been sold... such coincidence... 
• Surely a lure to attract more people to their website or store 
• and have the most novice wine buyers fall into the trap

• Or, on last resort (and only if you are really lucky), the bottle(s) really exists, and the price is so low because:
• The price was never changed according to the market trends, and in that case, you might get a real bargain reflecting the trends of a few years ago 
• The merchant/store wants to get rid of that particular bottle (even sometimes at loss compared to its original cost, eventually for the reasons cited above)   

The Highest Prices are usually for bottles that are (in general): 

• Super rare or even unavailable on the market (old vintages, big formats, limited production)

• From top producers with limited production/allocations (e.g. DRC)

• Received top scores from wine critics (100 points, best of the vintage, etc...)

• Still too young and deserve a few more years (i.e. raising the prices very high dissuades buyers, prices might be readjusted according to market trend (or not) a few years later when the store/merchant is finally ready to sell them)   

• Or, like for the lowest prices, 
• a lure to attract more people to their website or store by promoting such a bottle at such price 
• a good marketing stunt as even if people criticise such practice, they still talk about the store/merchant...   

Let’s take some visual examples.


Wine-Searcher

💢Work in progress - to be continued soon💢




(*) If interested in the list of products subject to the additional duties, you go to this website and read or even download it here. And if you really want to read more details about "Section 301 - Large Civil Aircraft", you can go to the official website of the "Office of the United States Trade Representative" here.

(**) Which wineries and retailers will sell and ship wine directly to consumers varies from state to state, winery to winery and retailer to retailer. (Note that it is illegal for consumers to sell or ship wine without the assistance of a licensed third party.) In most states, consumers may have wine shipped to them directly from a winery, though most states prohibit consumers from ordering wine from an out-of-state retailer. Today it is illegal for a state to permit consumers to buy wine directly from an in-state winery but not from an out-of-state winery, but a state's right to regulate retailer shipping is less clear, and most states will allow consumers to have wine delivered from a local retailer, but not from one beyond the state's borders.
(source wine-spectator.com, read the full article here)

Hong Kong: Hub of wine buying, Yes! But is it really the hub of wine selling and drinking?

Hong Kong: Hub of wine buying, yes! But is it really the hub of wine selling and drinking?

Over the last 2-3 years, Hong Kong has become the new world hub of luxury goods and more especially high-end wines. Auction houses like Acker Merrall and Condit followed by Christie's and Sotheby's (HK branches) are breaking world records of sales, now predominantely selling to richer middle class and corporate companies from mainland China rather than Hong Kong customers and consumers.

Even foreign connoisseurs and collectors from Europe, USA, Russia and a few more countries, who continue to occasionally attend some of London and New York auctions, are now coming to Hong Kong. Yet, due to the economy, the amount of foreign buyers has tremendously depleted, compared to the ever increasing new wave of rich mainland Chinese and Hong kong buyers.

Evidently, due to the rapid Chinese economic growth over the last 4 years, a touch of occidental influence as well as the amount of potential customers in China (due to the population density) and the young state of this juvenile market, Hong Kong has become the world's hub of wine buying and the Chinese gate to a booming wine market.

Rich Hong Kong and mainland Chinese connoisseurs, amateurs, buyers and consumers are undeniably concerned and careful about the brands and the names, but also how and where they buy their wines. They usually buy mostly from expert specialized merchants, private owners and auction houses enabling them to verify quality and provenance, rather than buying in uncertain main street wine stores.

However, my concern, which is also the reason behind this little article, is that most of these wines (once again) are bought for speculation, investment and lucrative activities and businesses, rather than consumption. Especially the old vintages of top growth Bordeaux and Burgundy wines, which instead of delighting the palates of convives gathered at a table sharing dinner and laughers, spend more time travelling in containers all around the world from a city and auction to the next, without even seeing the rim of a glass, to end up in a warehouse or a private cellar until the next sale.

If you have any interest (or even worst, refuse to believe in that fact), take a few minutes of your precious time spend mostly on social network and chat zone to do a market analysis of some of these wines. The internet gives you all the tools you need to come up with a precise idea. Vinopedia, Wine Searcher, Liv-Ex, Vinfolio's Wine Prices, Wine Market Journal,  Wine Decider, Snooth, CellarTracker, Idealwine, and a few more (among others) represent some of the most powerful and recognized search engines on the market. Wine Prices and Wine Market Journal, for example, even give you the date of previous auction sales, which could help you to realized that certain wines have gone around the planet more than once over the last 10-20 years(+) between London, Paris, Geneva, Berlin, New York, San Francisco, Rio, Tokyo, Singapore and Shanghai before landing in Hong Kong (and maybe go for another round...).

Speculation on wine is not new and has always been very active at least for the last 30 years, yet it has never really reached such nonsense, craze and disputable pricing until 2000. The last decade saw the biggest inflation of price ever recorded in Bordeaux top growth, the En Primeur prices nearly multiplied by 10 in 10 years. A 1st growth En Primeur 2000 went in first tranche in the market for about $125-150 a bottle; while the same label 2009 vintage, went between $875-950 a bottle.

Therefore, their again, the wines seem sold from a buyer to another buyer to make money rather than being sold, then consumed and appreciated as it should be. The ever rising prices also scare the mundane consumers. 

Expensive wines have become a casual commodities that even the rich and famous seem to really appreciate more for the return they could make out of them rather than the aromas, flavors, sensations and pleasure they could procure instead. Everything is about business nowadays, fast efficiency and results and money making deals, no time anymore to enjoy life and even less for a good bottle of wine.  

That said, one question come to mind: Hong Kong, Hub of wine buying, yes! But is it really also the hub of wine selling and drinking?

In my opinion, not really, but before jumping too hastily to conclusion, let me try to explain my point of view, based on my years of experience as Sommelier and Wine buyer for retails and restaurants in various market such as Bordeaux, Paris, London, New York and now Hong Kong. In fact, let's talk about the few factors that will explain why sales are not booming in HK.  

First, wine consumption has never been a cultural thing in Hong Kong where people are more concerned by their health, their cloths and job title. HK culture is more incline to hot water, tea, beer, cocktail and hard alcohol rather than wine. Certain acohol and more especially wine in general can have secondary effects that surprisingly, compared to any other etnies and races, really affect a big part of the Asian population.

"Alcohol can only be oxidized in the liver, where enzymes are found to initiate the process. The enzyme Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH) metabolises alcohol into acetic acid (vinegar) a product from which the body can obtain some energy.  Some people have an alteration, called a polymorphism, in the ALDH gene which renders the enzyme inactive and makes it impossible for them to convert alcohol into acetic acid. Such persons should avoid alcohol, although they can enjoy the benefit of the antioxidants found in non-alcoholic red wine. This leads to allergy-like symptoms including most notably nasal congestion and mild flushing of the skin within minutes of ingesting alcohol. The commonest abnormal reaction to alcohol is seen in persons from an oriental background, who get flushing, increased heart rate, and symptoms of reduced blood pressure. This is sometimes referred to as 'oriental flushing syndrome'. Approximately 50% of Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans are deficient in ALDH, and this has been reported to be protective against the development of alcoholism." - courtesy of www.foodreactions.org (http://www.foodreactions.org/intolerance/alcohol/index.html)

But also because people are always working, doing longer hours than before to show that they are dedicated to their job, showing how important and dependable they are (understandable in such economy) to always obtain better results, and more of this and more of that, while not taking the time to really enjoy life, family, friends, food and wine. They usually end up stress and nervous, always on their smartphone, busier than ever due to the amount of texts, chats, emails and social network updates and comments they have to post minutely, yet it is part of their work...not their life they said... But this is another subject. 

The other things is surely due to lack of knowledge, education and interest on the subject. Altough, it is changing slowly, and despite the ever growing numbers of certified and uncertified wine courses and wine school around town, I can not help to notice how empty average main street wine stores are and how narrow their wine selection is. Probably one of the reasons why that they have a huge lack of pedstrians traffic, despite maybe a few tourists.

Peering at the shelves of most Hong Kong wine retailers, it is not difficult to realize that some of the greatest Bordeaux and Burgundy wines are more predominantly represented than any other wine regions in the world, led by the First Growths and DRC of course.

It is actually quite amazing to see the line up of all of these expensive bottles and larger formats, waiting patiently standing up, in full light behind the windows or on the shelves, while nobody in Hong Kong really buys their wines in these mostly-empty-of-customers main street wine retail stores.

Understandably, they usually source their wines elsewhere, surely because standing up bottles are an acceptable common concept for small retailers and supermarket chains offering an interesting wine selection with more attractive and competitive prices generating cash flow and quick turnover (i.e. Mark & Spencer, etc...).

Therefore, it is folly, for these small main street wine stores, to expect a quick turnover and successful business returns, when mainly offering expensive bottles of Bordeaux and Burgundies, lots in large format too, especially if they have been standing up in the light for weeks or even months, with the cork drying and the wine turning, without seeing a soul.

HK small community of real connoisseurs and amateurs are looking at the conditions in which the bottles rest, hence it is not surprising these kind of stores don't inspire much sell (add the hefty prices and the counterfeits, and now you have a clearer picture of why these stores are often empty). The selection has also something to do with it. 

In fact, most Hong Kong wine retailers don't offer much of any else aside of Bordeaux and Burgundies, despite a few usual suspects and high end wines from Australia, New Zealand and Italy and a rare few from the US.

Rarely or scarcely represented are the beautiful and less expensive gems from Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Argentina, Chile and South Africa just to name some of the most recognized world wine countries, and strangely enough barely no Chinese wines either (but this is more a question of locale culture..., it is not my place to talk about this on this blog, so just ask someone from Hong Kong, they usually are pretty explicit when describing people from mainland China). However, let's get back to wine.

In fact, being the world references of wine, fetching astronomical prices (and god knows the Hong Kong people love the luxury brands), Bordeaux and Burgundy have been crowding the shelves of most Hong Kong retail stores and the wine lists of most HK restaurants for years, especially those with more occidental influenced food.

Unfortunately, these beautiful Burgundian and Bordeaux gems are not really selling, rather taking the dust more than anything else, due to some of the multiple reasons and factors cited above, including hefty prices, crumbling economy, bad storage conditions and, even triggering more concerns lately, fake bottles. 

I know, I'm repeating myself, but I would like to stress the point that lack of interest due to the economy and genuine fear from the customers about the wine quality, are especially true for the wine retail stores where shelves seem overcrowded with countless amount of unsold bottles, magnums and even larger size bottles of some of the most expensive French wines standing up in full light and poor air conditioning system.

Moreover, the ever increasing number of counterfeit bottles discovered over the last few years had huge consequences on the market, consequently sales have been declining deeply over the past year-or-so. The recent growth of the Chinese economy is also slightly slowing down. 

The last quarter of 2011 was the worst with sales in retails and restaurants depleting dramatically (despite a little surge around Christmas and New Year celebration, yet usually representing a higher percentage of the year sales). Also, the last two quarter of 2012 didn't bring back the spike of hope eagerly awaited by most importers, suppliers and distributors.

All the above combined with a slowing down economy, the prices going up and the customers being rather cautious with an easy-on-the-wallet attitude, put the Hong Kong wine buying mood on a down slope.

It has been happening everywhere else, more especially in Europe and the US; and even if until now HK has managed to remain slightly above the water as the door to an emerging and rapidly growing market in China with enormous potential, the wine buying market has far exceeded the wine selling market. 

Although China and more especially Hong Kong remain full of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Bentley as well as privately owned yachts and jets, wine warehouses and stores alike are full of unsold stocks of expensive and exciting wines, but interested customers are not as numerous as expected and attitudes have changed regarding buying and consuming high end bottles.

Also, although wine has been produced in this part of the world for centuries and the Brits brought a bit of their knowledge and wine drinking culture, the Hong Kong and to a certain extend the Chinese wine market consumption is a fairly new market (15-20 years maximum) compared to the rest of the western world, where drinking and consuming wines have always been fully integrated parts of centuries-old culture and traditions. Therefore, the Chinese and Hong Kong wine connoisseurs and amateurs constitute only a small minority of the population, which also explain the sales not being as good as expected.

Most importers, suppliers and distributors, probably thought that it will be an easy thing for them to sell their stocks, even the bad vintages (young uneducated market tend to fall easily for this kind of thing at the beginning. However, my personal experience working in two Hong Kong restaurants and quite a few wine events in various places, enable me to say that not many people drink wines in restaurant. Most of the time, it was the foreigners, expats and tourists, who will order a glass of wine for the lunch or a bottle for dinner, rarely the Chinese customers. In fact, the latter were ordering more hot water, tea, fruit juice and beers than wine. But there again, things are slightly changing and more wine is getting consumed, yet we are far from Europe and the Americas in general in terms of wine consumption.

In any case, let's not forget that China wine production place them in the top 5 largest producers in the world. That position does not yet reflect the Chinese wine consumption yet, but, a surge of wine education and wine consumption in the last few years put the Chinese within the the top 10 wine consumer in the world. Things are also changing in Hong Kong too.     

In fact, and more especially since 2008 when Hong Kong decided to take off the tax on wine, everybody realized the birth of a very lucrative business, importing and distributing wines. Suddenly, corporate companies as well as small investors all in the same time had the same idea, and the word spread very quickly. In less than 2 years, more than 1000 importers and distributors were fighting for their respective piece of the Hong Kong wine market. By september 2011, more than 3000 importers, suppliers and distributors were overcrowding and overflowing the market with wines. A year later, probably only 10-15% are really making a good living, the rest of them are struggling to sell their stocks.

Moreover, small innovative retailers are now even importing directly their wines for their boutiques, finding a niche and new ways to attract customers and being different. The last two years have pushed most of them to turn their head and business towards mainland China, but then again, things are not are easy as they seemed they will be at the beginning.      

As for the available wine selection, even thought it is slightly changing, it remains mainly French based. The rest of the world wines are more wildly found now, while barely nonexistent still 2-3 years ago. Wines from Spain, USA, Germany, Austria, Chile, Argentina and even South Africa, and not only the big appellations or big brands, are currently more represented in more specialized stores, which help diversify the shelves and wine-list around the proud Asia's World City. Being also better value for money, they make for a better and more adequate choice for most consumers.

Consequently, and in my opinion, it seems that the Hong Kong market is the hub of wine buyers and wine buiying for sure; yet the buying market doesn't reflect the selling marketing which is still struggling, suffering from being overcrowded and over-flooded with an insane amount of unsold and snail-moving-speed wine stocks.

The recent exodus of expats to Hong Kong, especially from France and Europe in general, in addition to the locals who, over the last few years, opened countless wine import-export and distribution companies as well as small retail stores, submerged the market with thousands of wines from all over.

They were first thinking that selling wines in HK was lucrative and profitable enough to make a better living, yet they didn't realized how fierce the competition will be. The most successful businesses were established about 4-5 years ago when the movement started after the abolition of import duties and other taxation on wine, but it has faded tremendously since then and the market is now somewhat out of breath with new comers facing a very difficult market in Hong Kong.

Just to compare, New York encompasses about 1,000 importers and distributors of wine & spirits for about 8+ millions inhabitants, while Hong Kong counts about 3,000 wine importers and distributors for about 7+ inhabitants

While mainland China market  is still booming and growing, some of the most fortunate and wealthy mainland Chinese continue to come and shop in some of Hong Kong well established and reputed wine Auction houses and specialized retailers and private cellars. Yet, the selling numbers and statistics, compared to the continuous flux of wine palettes constantly arriving in Hong Kong, are way under what they should be, even if a good part of it is sold to mainland China.

Therefore and in conclusion, and after all of the above factors and reasons, (I could still talk about it but it would be too long), I can confidentally say that Yes, Hong Kong is surely the new hub of wine buying, like New York was 6-7 years ago and London still has been over the last 15 years, but no it is not the hub of wine selling and even less the hub of wine drinking. There is still a long way to go to reach that point. 

To be continued... as this blog is my hub to the endless wine debates and discussions that daily crowd my head.

Enjoy!

LeDom du Vin

Back to the Future or my new Job in Hong Kong

Back to the Future or my new Job in Hong Kong

It has been a few months since I've last updated my wine blog, and I could try to invent all the excuses in the world to explain why I didn't, but I think it is best to stay simple and tell you the truth: I relocated to Hong Kong.

Of course, said like that, it doesn't really explain why I couldn't write anything since then, but the reason why is that I'm not working anymore as a Store Manager and Wine Buyer, tasting more than 10,000 wines a year in one of the greatest city in the world, New York, with enough time in my hands to handle my work, my family, the various tastings and my writing time and still find the time to travel to Europe to taste wines. Instead, I'm now back into the restaurant business as a Head Sommelier & Wine Buyer for a renown restauranteur in Hong Kong, which is great and I love it, but it doesn't leave me much time to write as much as I would like.

So, it is a bit like Back to the Future, because I worked in the restaurant business for nearly 11 years, then went to the US and work in Wine & Spirits retail for 9 years in between, before being back to where I started my career, running around in a restaurant, suggesting food pairings and pouring wines. I still have the passion for it in me and, I must say, even after 9 years, it came back right away. The excitement of sharing these special moments with my customers, be a part of the entertainment, provide exemplary attentive service and redefining who I'm everyday with different customers like an actor will do, all this is fun! Yet, I will just say that age has taken a bit of a tall on me, but hey, I'm not that old and I chose the fun and the adventure, so we'll see... as for now, I'm in Hong Kong.

It has only roughly been two months and a half, and I should be use to it by now, but still, sometimes I wake up... and I'm in Hong Kong! It is a weird yet exciting feeling at the same time. Who knew, nearly 40 years ago, that a little boy like me who mostly spent his time in the vineyards and the countryside in the northern part of Bordeaux will ever, one day, end up working on the other side of the planet? However, it is still quite interesting to keep an open mind and embrace different cultures, being receptive to new and different ideas and opinions and ways of living of others. See the world was one of my many dreams when I was young and I'm pursuing that dream.

Next year, I will celebrate 20 years of working in relation with Wine & Spirits and 15 years as a certified Sommelier and Wine Buyer for restaurants and retails in Bordeaux then (for a very short time) Paris (and quite a few other French towns in between), then London, New York and now Hong Kong.


Hong Kong market is very exciting, yet like most market it has its pros and cons. Here are a few things and facts that I noticed and came to understand over the last 2 months.

• The first obstacle in this market is the fact that most Hong Kong's natives, and Asian in general, do not drink wine or rarely. It is a very young market that need to be educated, despite the number of wine and spirits retails, bars and restaurants, importers, distributors and wine schools, which mushroom everywhere, every month. At the restaurant (where I work, in Central, where a lot money and wealthy people converge), both for lunch and dinner, most tables drink water, warm water for that matter (culture and pollution oblige). Only few dare sometime ordering a glass or two for dinner with their meal, and a full bottle is a rare treat. In general, mostly foreigners (expats and tourists) and Asian people with a certain background or a certain education, people who usually travelled abroad or even went to boarding school in the UK, Europe or the United States, drink wines and order by the bottle. The other drink a lot of water, herbal or floral tea, fruit or vegetable juices, or cocktail, or beer or strong spirits like Cognac or Whiskies. 

• The second obstacle is that wine (and pretty much everything else) is terribly expensive in Hong Kong, especially the most well known brands, understandably because wine remains predominantly an imported product. Usually, in most markets I've worked, it is a conflict of interest for the suppliers to sell the same wines, therefore they usually avoid doing it, which also guarantee a better control of the distribution and sales of the brand, especially from the winery point of view. However, in Hong Kong, it is not rare to have multiple suppliers (distributors and importers) selling the same wines (especially the high end ones), sourced in various ways: for example, in most markets, the wines come from the wineries directly; however, in most case scenarios, here in Hong Kong, the wines may come from private buyers and may have already transited before by one or more markets; i.e.: London or New York or else. In fact, I don't think that there are many regulations regarding who buys or sells what and how in terms of wine. Of course, there must be some laws to control the market and guarantee the provenance of the wines, but they are probably not yet as strict as they are in America or in Europe. There is a certain idea of monopole and sole distributor type of operation for certain wines, usually the less well known and small wineries from lesser regions; but for the high end market, I personally experienced the fact of trying to buy a well known brand for the restaurant and received as responses, multiple offers at various prices for the same wine and the same vintage from various suppliers. Which lead me to conclude that one has to do his home work well and buy intelligently to pay the best price for a great bottle in very good condition. I just said that because it is not rare (in retails especially) to find countless amount of fine Bordeaux, Burgundy and Tuscan wines stored indifferently up side up and not on their side as they should be, so beware of dried cork and oxidize wines. Know your retailers or your suppliers for that matter, it is very important.      

• Atop these 2 obstacles, the market is overcrowded with wines, suppliers and importers. In fact, pretty much all successful individuals, private investors and major companies that have some spare cash, are already or will in the nearest future import or distribute wines and spirits. If you compare with New York for example, NY counts about 24,000 restaurants and about 2,300 Wine & Spirits retail store for about 8 millions people living in NYC and I heard that the number of wine suppliers (importers and distributors) in NY was roughly about 600; while Hong Kong counts about probably twice more restaurants for a population of 7+ millions inhabitants, definitely twice less wine retail stores; yet twice more suppliers than NYC overlooking in most case scenarios the business on both side: Hong Kong and mainland China (which is huge and could very quickly become bigger than NYC and London market combined, if they continue to grow at this pace). It is a young and exciting, yet rapidly evolving market somewhat comparable to New York 15-20 years ago. 

• Hong Kong has a predominantly service-based economy, and restaurant businesses serve as a main economic contributor. Restaurants are literally everywhere in the street, in the shopping malls, in the private residences and even in companies building. With the third-densest population per square meters in the world and serving a population of 7+ million, Hong Kong is host to a restaurant industry with intense competition. Due to its small geographical size, Hong Kong contains a high number of restaurants per unit area. With Chinese ethnicity making up 98% of the resident population, Chinese cuisine is naturally served at home and in most restaurants. A majority of Chinese in Hong Kong are Cantonese in addition to sizeable numbers of Hakka, Teochew and Shanghainese people, and home dishes are Cantonese with occasional mixes of the other three types of cuisines. Rice is predominantly the main staple for home meals. Home ingredients are picked up from local grocery stores and independent produce shops, although supermarkets have become progressively more popular. Hong Kong homes and kitchens tend to be small due to a high population density, and traditional Chinese cuisine often requires the freshest possible ingredients, so food shopping is undertaken frequently and in smaller quantities than is now usual in the West. Take-out and dining out is also very common, since people are often too busy to cook with an average 47-hour work week. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

• The market is wide open to anyone and competition is fierce. And that is where my problem resides, it is very difficult to find the good wines amongst this ocean of brands and labels; because most companies carry only a few very interesting and renown brands, leading the pack of their portfolio, lost in the middle of a huge amount of unknown producers and wineries. It has been very difficult for me to redo the wine list for the restaurant, for the 200+ wines that I chose roughly come from 20+ suppliers, which is not that easy to handle. Instead of buying from a few suppliers only and keep it simple, I only bought a few wines from various suppliers (usually the ones that I knew and the ones that I tasted and presented a certain uniqueness due to their grape variety or the region they where from), to incorporate more incentive wines in the wine-list. I somehow wish that I will have bought these wines from less suppliers;  yet I felt oblige to work that way to create an eclectic, more interesting and somewhat out of the beaten path wine-list that is both complete, offering a wide array of wines from the various major producing countries around the world, and attractive, giving the chance to the customers to explore and discover wines from lesser known grape varieties and regions.        

• The other difficulty is that the market is still dictated by the two most expensive French regions. Hong Kong is the hub for countless retail stores and suppliers offering mainly the same Bordeaux and Burgundy wines, with a significant section for Australian and New Zealand, but that is about it. Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Austria and the US, and the rest of the world for that matter, are still pretty poorly represented; yet it is definitely better than it was only a few years ago. The biggest problem is that most of the best vintages are sold to private buyers and some restaurants, but most retails mostly carry the lesser vintage. For example with Bordeaux, it is very difficult to find 2000, 2005 or 2006 or older great vintage, but you can find plenty of 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007 and older vintages which were not great respectively for various reasons. It is the same with Burgundy and the Rhone, and I'm not even talking about Loire Valley or the Languedoc, because one can barely find anything from these regions. To finish my thoughts about the bad vintages, sorry to say it bluntly, but even the greatest producers can craft mediocre wines in bad vintages. And, although an established brand or label or producer usually implies reliability, a renown brand can not entirely control or ensure the quality of a vintage or the evolution of the wine in the bottle or the way the wines have been stored (even with the newest techniques), especially for bad vintages. And even if producers have more and more difficulty to admit that they are still bad vintages due to technical progress and experiences, I can still say with conviction that they are still mediocre and bad vintages, and as proof of it, I will suggest you to do as often as you can some vertical tastings, which emphasize differences between various vintages of the same wine. 

• In my opinion, Hong Kong is still a young and opportunistic market trying to fool the customers with established, expensive brands, too often available in ok to mediocre vintages, selling the names rather than insuring the quality of the product. This situation has changed a bit over the last few years apparently from what I heard, but still and I witnessed it, certain suppliers remain overwhelmed with unsold stocks of older, mediocre vintages of certain established and also unknown brands, which is definitely true for reds but more especially for the whites. Due to their high prices for the most well-known or lack of marketing or promotion or even knowledge for the lesser known, these wines are hard to sell and it often takes longer for the suppliers to empty their stocks because of the increasing competition. Moreover, I come to realize that some of these suppliers are very young in this business and have no wine background, too often just basic knowledge and barely no experience in previously choosing or selling wines. Some apparently did it without passion, more for fun and some lucrative ambitions. Therefore, as I said earlier, it is important to know your suppliers and the storage condition of your wine in Hong Kong, especially with the subtropical warm and humid climate. Don't get me wrong, not all suppliers are like that, some are doing a great job, but I was and still am astonished by the amount of unbalanced, mediocre or even bad wines that I found here, even with recognizable established brands, and also how old the whites can be (you can still find some 2004, 05, 06 and 07 in whites which were not supposed to age that long and some that I tasted were totally oxidize and deep yellow in color, however some suppliers were still trying to sell those....unbelievable). Yet, if like in any market you can find find bad wines, there are also some really good wines if you take the time to search for them and taste them. At the end of the day, the only way to define the quality of a wine is to taste it, and only your taste buds will define if you will like the wine or not, not the label or the name of the wine.    

• Until only a few years ago, the situation was even worse because Bordeaux and Burgundy with some of the Super Tuscans were the only wines that you could find and buy. Nowadays, it is definitely better and consumers and suppliers are more wine savvy, because over the last 3 years the market has seen a surge of importers and distributors who thought that bringing wines to Hong kong, was a lucrative business and overflowed the market with all sort of wines... which usually push the interest of people to learn, read and get more acquainted with wine, and thus explain the fairly recent enthusiasm for Hong Kong people to know about and enjoy drinking wine.

In conclusion for this post about this subject, I will say that lucrative the market was, maybe 2-3 years ago, but the market is now saturating. There are still a few niches that haven't been explored, but otherwise, the place is pretty full and new suppliers seem to emerge at the door of the restaurant nearly everyday. It is a really tough market. And the incredible amount of Wine and Spirits fairs and expositions and tastings happening in Hong Kong every month, is surely a sign of the desire for the population to learn about and appreciate wine, but it is also a sign that suppliers constantly need to promote their wines to be able to sell them due to the ever increasing competition and the ever growing number of labels, brands, producers and wineries from all around the world available in this market.

I will continue to describe the Hong Kong market and my various experiences in this incredible city, but I will stop here for today.... I could get carried away and write much more as I very often do, but it is already enough for a first post after nearly 3 months without one. And it is already late at night. Good night.


To be continued....


Enjoy!


LeDom du Vin now in Hong Kong

African-American winemakers and vintners

African-American winemakers and vintners   

Only fifty years ago, it would have been impossible to think that people of color, which constitute mostly and wrongfully depicted minorities, could find there way and acquire their rightful rights in a world conquered, dominated and ruled by white people. They were, and still are irrevocably, victims of outrageous stereotypes, suffered unjust segregation, oppression and severe discrimination, and abused of their civil rights up until the 70-80s.

However and fortunately, after more than 40 years of fighting for their rights, integration, acceptation and recognition, and thanks to many great personages along the way, like Martin Luther King, Jr. and more currently President Obama amongst many others, things have changed a little for the better. Today, amongst these minorities, it is important to note that more African-Americans can now have access and finally excel freely and rightfully in executive and determinant positions in our so called “civilized” society.

Like Martin Luther King, Jr. said it in his "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963:

“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” 

“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character…" "...little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with the little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.” 

The African-American society can be proud of what it has achieved in favor of all people of color in the United-States. The examples are endless and more African-Americans can everyday proudly rise and succeed, from Television, Radio, Music, Acting, Magazines, Art, Fashion, and all sort of other creative and executive jobs. Daily, they show their talents and prove that they are, if not equable for (still) way too many people, far better and high above than what they were wrongly and inappropriately depicted to be. They strived for years to finally gain the recognition they deserve. And that’s is a beautiful thing. It is the result of a fight that started nearly 500 years ago with the birth of the abolitionism.    

Abolitionism was, and still is, a movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first European law abolishing colonial slavery in 1542, although it was not to last (to 1545). In the 17th century, Quaker and evangelical religious groups condemned it as un-Christian; in the 18th century, rationalist thinkers of the Enlightenment criticized it for violating the rights of man. Though anti-slavery sentiments were widespread by the late 18th century, they had little immediate effect on the centers of slavery: the West Indies, South America, and the Southern United States.

The Somersett’s case in 1772 that emancipated slaves in England, helped launch the movement to abolish slavery. Pennsylvania passed An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1780. Britain banned the importation of African slaves in its colonies in 1807, and the United States followed in 1808. Britain abolished slavery throughout the British Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, the French colonies abolished it 15 years later, while slavery in the United States was abolished in 1865 with the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

However, I can hear you asking: what this has to do with wine? Well, although, and unfortunately, if African-Americans have finally succeed to be represented in almost every kinds of jobs, even to this day, agricultural land owners in the United States are often long established families or corporate companies, both mostly white, and only a handful of African-Americans succeeded to enter this jealously guarded and, historically talking, awfully marked territory (especially in the south). Yet, they are present and proud, pioneers for new generations.

In the wine world, African-American owners, producers and winemakers are even fewer. Out of 900+ wineries in California, less than 10 are owned by African-American (as far as I could read in various articles). Therefore, they deserve our interest and attention. Yet, these very few producers experienced phenomenal growth across the nation, saleswise and recognition, since the beginning of this century, and should be mentioned more often by the regular and the wine press for the quality of the products they craft and their perseverance to pursue and realize their dream; to prove that there is room for everybody and that great winemaking, like anything else, isn’t a question of color, religion or race, but simply a matter of skill, experience, knowledge and savoir-faire with a little help from Mother Nature.

Also, it is very important to have African-American vintners producing quality wines to open the door and invite the black American community to fully embrace the pleasure of tasting, appreciating and drinking wine, good wine, and not necessarily the sweet juice that they have been wrongly stereotyped to drink for years. Things have changed and evolved for the better, in the United States, regarding wine drinking, over the last decade; white Zinfandel, Manischewitz, Mateus, Lancers, Rashi and other “sweet” wines by the gallon are not in favor anymore. Mostly white people have always predominantly made wine, but here as well things have changed since the mid 90s. And anyway, after all, wine is a joyful thing that everybody should be able to produce or have access to; no restriction or wrong preconceived and misinterpreted ideas should stop that.

Despite a few recent interesting articles (and videos) in local magazines and online, the subject of African-American vintners is rarely dealt about. Therefore, I’m proud to write this post, (my wife and kids being African-American, I have taken even more pleasure writing it) and to say that I bought for the store a few wines produced from a winery owned by an African-American family: Vision Cellars, led by its owner Mac McDonald; because they were very good and well crafted, not because they were a novelty or some kind of fashionable things to have in the store to show off.

No, I bought them, because the wines talked for themselves, they have great character and taste. It is after tasting the wines, while talking with my wine rep. about the winery, that I realized that an African-American family produced them. I’m proud to have them on the shelves, and it always triggers my interest to see the reaction of people when I tell them the story of the winery. I invite you to visit the winery website at www.visioncellars.com for more info. At the store we carry 2 of their Pinot Noir and a white. (http://www.heightschateau.com/catalog/product_search_results.php/search=dmlzaW9uIGNlbGxhcnM=)   

The problem is the lack of information and wine education available about and toward the African-American community of consumers and producers. Therefore, it is important to know that there are huge efforts that have been done to counter this lack over the last ten years:

• For the consumers, an association called The “African American Wine Tasting Society” (AAWTS) has been created in 2002. The African American Wine Tasting Society, Inc. has a mission of enhancing its members’ wine knowledge and enjoyment in a relaxed atmosphere, open to all. They are committed to furnishing unbiased knowledge about the cultural legacy of wine and wine tasting. Their vision is to be the premier source for African Americans and others interested in learning about wine. Essential to success is their duty to focus on the needs of their members and sponsors. They support the achievement and professional development of African Americans and minorities in the wine industry and affiliated businesses. Visit their website at www.aawts.org 

• For the vintners or producers, another association called The “Association of African American Vintners” (“AAAV”), a non-profit organization, was founded also in 2002, to provide a supportive network to African American vintners and wine industry professionals worldwide and to bring fine wine, education and the Wine Country Lifestyle to consumers. The AAAV annually holds wine tastings and seminars around the country to introduce consumers to the world of wine. Visit their website at http://aaavintners.org/

The Association of African American Vintners (“AAAV”) includes the following wineries: 

Vision Cellars 

Mac McDonald, Proprietor 

www.visioncellars.com 

wine@visioncellars.com 

(707) 887-1619 

Sharp Cellars 

Vance Sharp, Proprietor 

www.sharpcellars.com 

info@sharpcellars.com 

(707) 933-0555

Running Tiger Wines 

Daniel Bryant, Proprietor 

www.runningtigerswine.com 

daniel@runningtigerswine.com  

(707)292-3765

Black Coyote Wines 

Ernest A. Bates, M.D, Proprietor Vanessa Robledo, Partner 

www.blackcoyotewines.com 

vanessa@blackcoyotewines.com 

(707) 252-2292  

Stover Oaks Winery 

Lou Garcia, Proprietor 

lou@aaavintners.org 

(707) 478-7222 

Theopolis Vineyards 

Theodora Lee, Proprietor 

(510) 604-5015

Here is another winery to discover:

Esterlina Vineyards,

The Sterling Family, owner

www.esterlinavineyards.com

(707) 895-2920

Here is a list of links for very interesting articles that I didn't write but that I invite you to read and discover about African-American vintners and producers and other things touching this post subject (courtesy of each article's owner).

• The African American Wine Tasting Society (AAWTS): http://www.aawts.org/

• The Association of African American Vintners (“AAAV”):http://aaavintners.org/

• African American Vintners - America's Heartland Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8TD-XJdkjU

• California Farm Bureau Federation article: http://www.cfbf.com/magazine/MagazineStory.cfm?ID=110&ck=5F93F983524DEF3DCA464469D2CF9F3E

• Gang of Pour wine Blog post: http://blogs.gangofpour.com/vision-cellars

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/African-American-Wine-Tasting-Society-AAWTS/167231404159

• http://www.zimbio.com/Wines/articles/427/African+American+Wine+Vineyards+Happy+Anniversary

• http://articles.sfgate.com/2003-01-02/wine/17471844_1_wine-country-dessert-wines-wine-drinking

• http://www.esterlinavineyards.com/links.html

I hope that this post was helpful to discover new things about African-American vintners, producers and winemakers. The above links are only a few amongst many but I hope that, in addition to mine, they will inspire you to taste and appreciate these wines that you, may be, didn't know before.

There are surely other wineries owned by African-American family in the United States, therefore I invite you to leave a comment after this post with the names of these other wineries to share with me and complement for others the above list, which is by no means exhaustive.

Enjoy!

Ledom du Vin

Step into the Green! Drink more Biodynamic, Biologique and Organic wines and spirits and food) from sustainable culture and respect the environment! Support the right causes for the Planet and all the people suffering all around the globe! Also follow projects and products from the Fair Trade, an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries obtain better trading conditions and promote sustainability. Also support 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses that donate at least 1% of their annual revenues to environmental organizations worldwide. "Commerce Equitable" or "Fair Trade" is evidently and more than ever a needed movement connecting producers and customers, to be aware of others and their cultural and traditional products based on high quality, natural components and craftsmanship.

Wine Buyer's theories, deliberations and thoughts...

Wine Buyer's theories, deliberations and thoughts...

Bye bye 2010 and welcome 2011, hoping that it will be a better year! Isn’t it what we say every year?… except that lately, over the last three to five years, it has been more anticipated and especially more expected than ever before.

While parts of the world are at stake regarding politic, religion, power, civil war, terrorism, dictatorship, protests, strikes, unemployment, unsettled economy, man made catastrophes and other natural disasters due to unstable climate and rapid weather forecast changes and consequently logical earth evolution and adaptation in addition to Nature natural cycles and adaptation too, it seems that the market in the US isn’t great but somewhat feels thinly, slightly better. Yet people are still very cautious and prioritize needed things rather than indulging on unnecessary stuffs.

Hence, all these factors make for an uncertain and questionable future. In the long term, we will hopefully find solutions and will reestablish a certain balance and order to things. Yet, in the short term, for now, it is pretty difficult to predict the immediate future and how things will turn.

Therefore, this trembling world economy somewhat obliges us to look more closely at our bank statements and savings, and make lesser use of our wallet and plastic cards. It is true for pretty much everything in life like food, cloths, bills, furniture, etc… but when it comes to wine and spirits, which are once again part of luxury and special occasions beverages rather than daily routine drinks for most of us, it really means to search for rather inexpensive, or let’s say less expensive wine and spirits than what we could still afford only a few years ago.

Consequently and thankfully, my job has become even more challenging and more interesting than before because, despite continuing to be accurate and consistent during tastings, about the quality of the wines that I buy and the quality/value ratio, I need to be even more precise to determine greater quality and complexity in cheaper, or let’s say more affordable wine and spirits. It is not as easy as it seems, but it helps me to remain focus and determinate to find good values and great deals to satisfy my faithful clientele.

Before, let say 5-10 years ago, it happened that even if a wine wasn’t that great, but was just good, I used to buy it from time to time. It happened for different reasons: real bargain, friendship with the distributor, a little help for my friend, etc… (and a few more lame excuses that resurfaced here and there, even now from time to time but way less than before). But nowadays, with much more competition in the market than before (more retailers, but also much more importers and distributors than only 5 years ago), therefore, with a lot more wine & spirits pouring on the big Apple and elsewhere, I can now say NO as much and often as I please. And If I don’t love a wine why buy it? Why put it on the shelf if I only just like it? No, no, not anymore! I want the best for my customers and I don’t want any of them to go next door because one my wine displeased them. It might still happen, but I'm trying really hard to avoid it.

A welcoming, well maintained cozy store offering enjoyable, efficient, and responsive services dispensed by knowledgeable staffs is everything for sure in any retail business. But eyes-catching, informative and user friendly website with competitive prices, real bargain and frequent sales, in addition to abundant in-store tastings and events are the keys to success. Yet, most important of all, integrity and honesty in your manners and ways of treating yourself, your employees and more especially your customers will definitely open the door to greater longevity of the store. Not working with your customer’s budget, “bullshitting” and lying about an item (or more) to your customers will not only make you lose your own credibility but also the credibility of the store.

That is why, as I said earlier, being accurate during tastings and consistent in my taste and ways of tasting are very important and help me to remain focus and determinate to find good values and great deals to satisfy my faithful clientele. As a wine buyer, it is essential for me to taste thoroughly all the wines that I buy and put on the shelves, to offer the best quality/value ratio wines that I can find on the market and only get the ones that I really love, and not anymore the one that I just like.

Fortunately for us all, wine and spirits buyers and drinkers, the world market is overcrowded with wines and spirits from all around the world, due to recent surge of optimist entrepreneurs, investors and producers who, thinking that it will be quite lucrative enough, fiercely over the last 2 decades, nearly over-developed two of the fastest growing segments of earth agriculture: vine-growing and wine-making.

Which means that I have to taste much more wine and spirits than before (life is really difficult… I love it), but it also means that I get to say no and being more picky than ever before, more often. It is not going to arrange my already wildly known reputation of being a difficult, opinionated and picky wine buyer. But, it is for a good cause…

However, wineries and distilleries have been mushrooming everywhere around the world, even in places that we didn’t think that it was possible only about 10-15 years ago (Vietnam, Cuba, etc…). Consequently, the market is now over-flooded with thousands of brand new wines and spirits, and, like for science, medicine and especially electronic, it is difficult to keep pace with the new trends and new comers.

In any case, like with many other things in life, I realized that most benchmarks and gifted winemakers and distillers prevail. All the others are way too often only pale copies of their mentors and inspirations. Don’t get me wrong, there are great wines and other beverages made by young, innovative, talented and/or adventurous, spirited minds out there. And more and more smaller, artisanal producers come out of the dark to craft beauties and gems for the pleasure of our taste buds. But within the crowd of people trying and the resulting ocean of wine and spirits that submerges the market every year, only rare and few remain the best that are really worth putting on the shelves.

Buyers like me watch this fast evolution with interests and opinions, but remain cautious not to let our taste buds and palates get to hasty conclusions and bad buying decisions.

Spirits, which were pretty stable and safe for the last 40-60 years, even saw their world rocked by a growing wave of modernized and altered versions of highly recognizable benchmarks.

Take for example Vodka, which was usually made from fermented substances like grain and potatoes, it now adorns new profiles being crafted with grapes and other fruits. I hear you say: “It should be Grappa then!” Yet not really, because Grappa is obtained by distilling "pomace" and grape residues (mainly skins, but also stems and seeds) left over from winemaking after pressing. Therefore the distilled component is different and distillation process also differs from Grappa. Therefore, Vodka nowadays can be made pretty much out of anything and still being called Vodka. An idea that was surely unthinkable only 20-30 years ago.

And for wine, same thing! After World War II and consequently due to the baby-boom generation, wine was overproduced in the 1960s and 70s. Producers couldn’t keep up with the demand of a world population that suddenly double in 30-40 years, from 2.5 billions in the mid-20s to more than 4 billions by the mid-60s. A lot of chemically enhanced fertilizers and machine were used. Herbs and plants in the vineyards were suddenly considered bad and useless and unhealthy, and after multiple spray were looking rather unhealthily and uniformly yellow instead of their original bright and lively colors.

Then, while more and more wineries mushroomed everywhere, the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s saw an evolution in the wine world, vinification, ageing and bottling processes were fully done at the property rather than at the local cooperatives, or by the Négociants, like it used to be only a few decades before. The world population increased to about 6 billions. Critics like Robert Parker Jr., Wine Spectator, Stephen Tanzer and importers like Neal Rosenthal, Kermit Lynch, and many more timidly led, as pioneers of an America having great interest in wines, the way to educate the American palates about wines from the rest of the world.

Also in the mid-70s, Steven Spurrier organized the Tasting of Paris (Judgment of Paris, 1976), which, in my opinion, was more a publicity stunt than anything else; yet it allowed California to be recognized and put on the map of world class producing wine regions along Bordeaux and Burgundy. An eyes-opening experience proving to the French that they were not the only one that could make great wines and putting on pedestal an American area that will now rival some of the most established French and other prestigious European wine regions like Rioja, Ribera del Duero in Spain and Piedmont and Tuscany in Italy. Due to high demand, production increased. And somewhat influenced by certain critics and newly-recognized-future-flying-winemakers, new oak treatment with medium-to-heavy toast burn became the norm, led by Bordeaux and California where vanilla and toasted bread flavors dominated the fruit. Heavy chemical treatments were still occurring massively everywhere.

In the 90s, human being aspired to a new social consciousness, new wood ageing became less important, stainless steel tanks appeared everywhere in many shapes and forms, and organic method had a renaissance. People in general came to the conclusion that we needed to be green once again and step back in the trails left by our recent ancestors. Suddenly, we had to be good again with Nature to preserve the earth and the soil and all the life that it encompasses.

Nowadays, Us, people of the 21st century like to give names and words to things that already existed before but were spoiled, forgotten or neglected for the past 100 years due to supposedly to rapid progress and better solutions systems. Yet and fortunately, after spoiling, neglecting and rapidly destroying the earth and its natural ecosystem, especially since World War II, we recently came to the conclusion that what our ancestors were doing without real science but rather by listening the cycles of Mother Nature and being attentive, cautious, methodical and more especially a bit less disruptive with the environment, was probably better and more appropriate to healthier results.

My grandfather, which was a winemaker, was an earthy man and a man of earth, spending most of his time outside from 6am to 7am (+) and actively living at Nature pace, always busy doing something in the vineyard, or in his orchards of multiple fruit trees, or in his garden planted with many herbs, plants and vegetables, or even with his animals: hens, roosters, rabbits, dogs, cats, fish and birds amongst other things. He lived the farm life paced by Nature rhythms from dawn till dark. He didn’t need the television forecast to know what will be the weather for the next few days. It was instinctive, habitual and the result of knowledge, know-how and other experiences passed on from Father to son from previous generations started hundreds of years ago.

People like him were just paying attention about the signs of Nature and seemed to know more accurately than nowadays approximate forecast and previsions, what will come their way depending on the reactions of the animals and the plants and the changes in the atmosphere and in the air. Just by observing and obey ancient ritual and processes and ways of doing things at a certain given time and periods during the day, the week, the month or the year, they knew instinctively how to do and apply in their life what we have nearly lost and will be soon forgotten, if we don’t go back to it faster: taking the time to watch, observe, understand, comprehend and apply the right method, treatment and process with the utmost respect for Nature and the environment. Think about it….

Take Biodynamic method for example, regarded by some as the first modern ecological farming system originated out of the work of Rudolph Steiner, it is simply the result of researches of organic and sustainable cultures applied into a scientific calendar following the natural cycles of Mother Nature in accordance with the movement of the stars and the influence of the rotation of the moon mixed with a few recipes to naturally enhance the soil and recreate a proper environment amongst which the vines and other plants and trees and life in general can naturally and biologically regenerate themselves.

All this knowledge about organic and biodynamic "savoir-faire" that was almost innate for generations and existed for centuries before we recently gave it a name, nearly disappeared by the beginning of the 20th century, but was gathered and put into books and scientific methods by now renown searchers and doctors who somewhat amputated modern men of this all natural six sense: instinct, which was only the biological, rational and methodical result of the other five senses applied to everything that surround us in our everyday life: vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

However, we are less and less often using our senses and especially instinct, and definitely not anymore with Mother Nature. We are now totally devoted to speed and progress, but we are not learning anything about surrounding anymore, the animals, the plants, the earth in general. Even if comprehensive movies and documentaries are made about the fact that we should preserve Nature, the environment, the extreme diversity of the fauna and the flora of little planet, rare and few are the ones that really pay attention or even care.

Yet, many winemakers around the world have adopted sustainable, organic and / or biodynamic farming cultures and methods, and we should all follow these examples, for a healthier planet and a better future for our children (I have two now, I have to be optimistic and hope that things will change for the better).

Things have never changed so fast than over the last 20-30 years. The cadence has accelerated in term of progress and lightning fast changes. In the last 100 years, we talked about changes happening in generations, which was approximately every 25-30 years. Then it became more like every 15-20 years, then from 10 to too rapidly 5 years and nowadays, we speak in term of every 6 months to a year maximum. It is specifically true for science, medicine and technologies, but it also true for wine and spirits making. The competition is fierce out there and new comers continue to appear every year.

About 40-50 years ago, out of the 195 countries in the world, barely 40 countries were producing wine and spirits with a significant import-export market, and only about 15-20 remained the top leaders, the model tank engines on which most other wines profiled themselves for years before reaching their own status, taste, characteristic and Terroirs.

Nowadays, more than 75 countries produce their own wine and spirits for local and export market. Even in the US, out of 50 states, now 38 are firmly producing wines including 6-8, also producing for the export market (California, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, New York, Michigan, Virginia, etc…) and some the remaining 12 too have locally scattered vines and wines.

Like everything else, the world wine and spirits market is evolving at rocket speed, with methods and trends that also evolve and step into modern technologies, or sometimes comeback to traditions too. Like the recent trend of abandoning oak barrels and vats and stainless steel tanks to favor bare concrete tanks without the usual resin epoxy or even glass lining, or even to bring back from the ocean deeps and the Roman and Greek ruins from which they were inspired, the buried ancient ceramic and dirt Amphorae(s), which were the original container in which wine was contained thousands of years ago.

Therefore, whether reenacting the gestures and habits done for the past 4000 years by our ancestors and their nearly infallible and recognized methods and knowledge, or stepping into the future led by computerized machines and most updated gems of technology, the wine and spirits world will always remain an active world producing happiness, moments and momentum for people who know how to appreciate and share great food, wine and spirits to have good times with family and friends with earthy, healthy agricultural products coming from around the world.

As I said earlier, it makes my job more challenging but also more fun and rewarding. But one thing is sure, no matter what, I will always continue to discover and taste to provide you with the best of what I can find. I never say NO to taste something, whether it is food, wine, spirits or any other beverages, because life is too short and I don’t want to die stupid. Consequently, it is good for me to experience as many things as I can.

And as I always say: “Everything that you can eat or drink deserves to be at least seen, smelled and tasted for your personal knowledge, education and experience; even if not everything should be consumed!”

Think about it…

Enjoy!

LeDom du Vin

Step into the Green! Drink more Biodynamic, Biologique and Organic wines and spirits and food) from sustainable culture and respect the environment! Support the right causes for the Planet and all the people suffering all around the globe! Also follow projects and products from the Fair Trade, an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries obtain better trading conditions and promote sustainability. Also support 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses that donate at least 1% of their annual revenues to environmental organizations worldwide. "Commerce Equitable" or "Fair Trade" is evidently and more than ever a needed movement connecting producers and customers, to be aware of others and their cultural and traditional products based on high quality, natural components and craftsmanship.