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Picked this up from Vinography, the story was originally from the Wall Street Journal:
Amazon.com has ended a trial program to sell wine online, the company confirmed.
The wine sales pilot, which the e-commerce giant launched last year, was intended to sell wine from California's Napa Valley and other U.S. regions.
An Amazon spokesman declined to give details about why the company ended the pro... read more.
I attended the Chianti Classico Collection trade show at the Stazione Leopolda in Florence on February 18th. I have more notes and comments to write up, but the Castellare 2007 barrel sample blew me away - an almost pure strawberry flavor - quite a surprise. I am looking forward to tasting this wine again once it is released.
... read more.
Eric Asimov has an interesting article in the NY Times about affordable but interesting American wine. He says there is more variety in Europe:
"Good bottles galore come from Italy and France, Spain and other historic Old World wine-producing regions. It's far more difficult to find inexpensive wines of real interest from the United States."
And then wonders why it is even harder to find quality... read more.
I see Il Mio Vino, an Italian magazine that I struggle through from time to time (my Italian is not great!), has an English version online. You have to register to read it, but if you don't mind sharing your info it probably is well worth it. They cover a lot of wines every month never make it into the U.S. press.... read more.
Well I have been in the NJ/NY area for a couple of weeks now and have been in several wine shops and the picture that is emerging is of the industry on the brink of collapse. You are not going to read this kind of stuff in trade magazines or newspapers I am sure since no one wants to create a panic, but from what I have seen and heard the wine glut is real, the high end is totally stagnant, and it... read more.
Alder Yarrow of the always excellent Vinography.com has a couple of recent posts up featuring Italian wines - 2006 Isole e Olena "Collezione de Marchi" Chardonnay and The Best Italian Wines: Tasting Tre Bicchieri 2009. Both are worth a read.... read more.
From the NY Times:
The reason is simple. Wine is a cash-flow business, and all along the pipeline, from farm to production to sales, cash is not flowing. Growers are behind on sales of grapes, which are fetching much lower prices than last year. Sales are sluggish for wines retailing at $15 a bottle and higher. Meanwhile, distributors, restaurants and retail shops are reluctant to buy more wine, ... read more.
So I have learned a lot in the last couple of weeks. It seems the direct to consumer movement (wineries selling direct from the web) is growing rapidly, as is the amount of logistics/fulfillment houses that are providing these services (I am going to make a page here soon full of links of the various companies that provide these types of services). I have received a lot of valuable advice so far ... read more.
New Vine Logistics is was a wine related company that few probably had heard of but that was a rather important bottle in the US and California wine case - until they closed up shop a week ago (Alder has the story on Vinography).
This matters to me all the way in Florence since they were one of the companies we were looking at to handle our direct to consumer efforts. Unfortunately this is just a... read more.
Late last fall I got an email from Howard Hewitt (that is Howard with Arianna Gelpke from Corzano e Paterno in the photo) - he was going to be in Tuscany and was looking for an alternative wine tour. He had found Florence Wine Merchants somewhere on the web, and we started an email dialogue that ended up with us taking a trip to the wineries/agriturismos of Corzano e Paterno and Fattoria Rignana,... read more.
Well cinderellawine.com - the newest venture from Gary Vaynerchuk and the Wine Library - went live last night, and their first wine just had to be from Tuscany!
The offering is the 2003 "Solengo" IGT from Argiano - at the unheard of price of $23.33 a bottle - with free shipping on orders of 3 bottles or more. It is interesting to me for a lot of reasons, but first and foremost it has to send a sh... read more.
Really good article up on the "Fermentation" wine blog discussing the horror of the antiquated three-tier system that strangles many states, "The Three-Tier System and Consumer Access To Wine".
This is just another in a long list of reasons that large, commercial wineries not only thrive but dominate the market. If it was easier to get small producers into markets and everyone wasn't focussed on... read more.
It is taking a while, but paperwork is being filed, labels are being approved, and in general things are going forward. Just wanted to post a quick update that we are fairly certain our first two wines will be Fattoria Rignana Chianti Classico, and Stefano Amerighi's Syrah from Cortona.
Both of these wines fit our criteria of small, handcrafted production, with super high quality fruit and hands... read more.
Interesting, refreshing article about "post modern" wine making:
"Almost everybody uses [modern] technology, but they want to be seen as on the artisanal side," Smith says. "That's why we all 'do the minimum,' whatever the hell that is. It's an illusion, and we've worked very hard to create it. I'm offering an alternative that we just be straight with people."
Smith's new book, "Postmodern Winem... read more.
News
Amazon giving up on wine sales
Picked this up from Vinography, the story was originally from the Wall Street Journal:
Amazon.com has ended a trial program to sell wine online, the company confirmed.
The wine sales pilot, which the e-commerce giant launched last year, was intended to sell wine from California's Napa Valley and other U.S. regions.
An Amazon spokesman declined to give details about why the company ended the pro... read more. Chianti Classico Collection 2009
I attended the Chianti Classico Collection trade show at the Stazione Leopolda in Florence on February 18th. I have more notes and comments to write up, but the Castellare 2007 barrel sample blew me away - an almost pure strawberry flavor - quite a surprise. I am looking forward to tasting this wine again once it is released.
... read more. Complex American Wine
Eric Asimov has an interesting article in the NY Times about affordable but interesting American wine. He says there is more variety in Europe:
"Good bottles galore come from Italy and France, Spain and other historic Old World wine-producing regions. It's far more difficult to find inexpensive wines of real interest from the United States."
And then wonders why it is even harder to find quality... read more. Il Mio Vino
I see Il Mio Vino, an Italian magazine that I struggle through from time to time (my Italian is not great!), has an English version online. You have to register to read it, but if you don't mind sharing your info it probably is well worth it. They cover a lot of wines every month never make it into the U.S. press.... read more. Industry Observations
Well I have been in the NJ/NY area for a couple of weeks now and have been in several wine shops and the picture that is emerging is of the industry on the brink of collapse. You are not going to read this kind of stuff in trade magazines or newspapers I am sure since no one wants to create a panic, but from what I have seen and heard the wine glut is real, the high end is totally stagnant, and it... read more. Italian wine talk on Vinography
Alder Yarrow of the always excellent Vinography.com has a couple of recent posts up featuring Italian wines - 2006 Isole e Olena "Collezione de Marchi" Chardonnay and The Best Italian Wines: Tasting Tre Bicchieri 2009. Both are worth a read.... read more. Just a little more dire industry news...
From the NY Times:
The reason is simple. Wine is a cash-flow business, and all along the pipeline, from farm to production to sales, cash is not flowing. Growers are behind on sales of grapes, which are fetching much lower prices than last year. Sales are sluggish for wines retailing at $15 a bottle and higher. Meanwhile, distributors, restaurants and retail shops are reluctant to buy more wine, ... read more. Making progress
So I have learned a lot in the last couple of weeks. It seems the direct to consumer movement (wineries selling direct from the web) is growing rapidly, as is the amount of logistics/fulfillment houses that are providing these services (I am going to make a page here soon full of links of the various companies that provide these types of services). I have received a lot of valuable advice so far ... read more. New Vine Logistics
New Vine Logistics is was a wine related company that few probably had heard of but that was a rather important bottle in the US and California wine case - until they closed up shop a week ago (Alder has the story on Vinography).
This matters to me all the way in Florence since they were one of the companies we were looking at to handle our direct to consumer efforts. Unfortunately this is just a... read more. Some Press for us - Palate Press
Late last fall I got an email from Howard Hewitt (that is Howard with Arianna Gelpke from Corzano e Paterno in the photo) - he was going to be in Tuscany and was looking for an alternative wine tour. He had found Florence Wine Merchants somewhere on the web, and we started an email dialogue that ended up with us taking a trip to the wineries/agriturismos of Corzano e Paterno and Fattoria Rignana,... read more. The Challenge
Well cinderellawine.com - the newest venture from Gary Vaynerchuk and the Wine Library - went live last night, and their first wine just had to be from Tuscany!
The offering is the 2003 "Solengo" IGT from Argiano - at the unheard of price of $23.33 a bottle - with free shipping on orders of 3 bottles or more. It is interesting to me for a lot of reasons, but first and foremost it has to send a sh... read more. The Three-Tier System and Consumer Access To Wine
Really good article up on the "Fermentation" wine blog discussing the horror of the antiquated three-tier system that strangles many states, "The Three-Tier System and Consumer Access To Wine".
This is just another in a long list of reasons that large, commercial wineries not only thrive but dominate the market. If it was easier to get small producers into markets and everyone wasn't focussed on... read more. Update, first wines announced
It is taking a while, but paperwork is being filed, labels are being approved, and in general things are going forward. Just wanted to post a quick update that we are fairly certain our first two wines will be Fattoria Rignana Chianti Classico, and Stefano Amerighi's Syrah from Cortona.
Both of these wines fit our criteria of small, handcrafted production, with super high quality fruit and hands... read more. Winemakers Must Come Clean
Interesting, refreshing article about "post modern" wine making:
"Almost everybody uses [modern] technology, but they want to be seen as on the artisanal side," Smith says. "That's why we all 'do the minimum,' whatever the hell that is. It's an illusion, and we've worked very hard to create it. I'm offering an alternative that we just be straight with people."
Smith's new book, "Postmodern Winem... read more. Top experiences in and around Tuscan wine country:
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