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   Copyright © Ric Einstein 2009

Current Articles 2007  

Tesco/Jago Presentation - the Real Story (12 December)

Last weeks Snippet: "Tesco man gives our wine exporters an earful"- and the room reeks of bull$hit" proved to be a hot topic on many of the wine forums. The report certainly caused a brouhaha in the press too. As a result, the Winemakers' Federation and the AWBC published a clarification of the facts, but after reading it, I still had many unanswered questions. I decided to try and get all the facts. There was no recording, no complete written copy, just a Power Point presentation, but the Federation sent me a copy so I could see for myself what it was all about. After I read the copy I realised the press had not only got their facts wrong, they had written the wrong story. Tesco/Jago Presentation - the Real Story provides a completely new twist and perspective on the original, controversial story.

Wine Paranoia (5 Dec)

This story was due to go live next Wednesday, but given its topical nature and events on two wine boards, I have decided to post it early. The long thread on the UK Forum detailed chapter and verse about some of their members' experiences with being banned from The Squires/Parker Board. That eventually linked to an enlighten story from Lyle Fass (on his Blog). Lyle was a well respected member of the Squires/Parker's board being banned recently. Neither the UK Forum thread or Lyle's excellent story have anything to do with my story, but they all have the same central theme; the behaviour of the board owner, Mark Squires. Neither Lyle or I have to try and make Mark Squires look silly or like a demented and paranoid dictator. As my article shows, he is a master at doing that himself. Wine Paranoia should give you a good laugh too.        

Review: The Wine Advocate 2007 Australian Segment (28 Nov)  Click here for the Update

In past years, when Robert Parker was reviewing Australian wines for the Wine Advocate, the whole industry and many consumers waited with baited breath for the annual Australian edition. This is the first year that this segment has been handed to a new pair of hands, Dr Jay Miller, who is a long time tasting buddy of Parker's. This review takes a critical look at the segment and Miller's pluses and minuses. It also compares his work to Parker's. What effect will Miller have on the Australian segment? Read this and find out.     
 

TORB and the Dom Perignon Scam (23 October)

It all started when I received a strange email asking me if I had any Dom Perignon for sale, for delivery in London. I smelt a rotten scam here, so decided to play along and see what happened, and I am sure glad I did!  The trail I was taken on, and wound up taking the scammer on, had more twists and turns than a drive through the Adelaide Hills, and that's saying something. The whole operation is exposed for all to see, but there was one factor I never expected. The hopeless, apathetic attitude of the London/Metropolitan police who are much to busy running the police force to bother with trying to catch criminals engaged in perpetrating fraud. Read all about it here.   

More Wine Scams - a follow up with other wine scams doing the industry. (31October)      

The Big Picture - The 2007 South Australian Tour Diary (26 September)

In September The Pie King, Red Bigot and I spent a week doing what we do best together; tasting (and drinking) lots of good wine and eating far to much good food (whilst I tried to avoid the pies.) Prior to posting Chapter One of the 2007 Tour Diaries, this introduction will set the scene by providing the latest vintage comparison information, as well as my overall impressions, and the latest trends. Vintage Perspective 2007 and Tour Diary Observations can be found here.

Feature Winery Review: David Franz ???? (19 September)

Who or what is David Franz you may well ask; I know I did. David Franz is a boutique wine label belonging to the son of one of Australia's most well-known wine producers. Rather than trying to capitalise on the family's name, David is determined to do it "his way" and be recognised because what he is doing is good and deserves recognition, rather than trying to rely on his family's reputation. He is a young man that is not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve and tell you his personal thoughts. As a result, his story is refreshingly honest, devoid of bovine manure, and worth reading. Find out who the man is behind the David Franz label here.   

A New Beginning for an Historic Icon (28 Aug)

Seppeltsfield is the jewel in the Barossa Crown, and probably the most historically significant winery in Australia today. In June 2006, after Fosters took over Southcorp, they announced they wanted to sell the asset, a move that shocked and worried many Australian wine lovers. During that time, there was much speculation about potential buyers, but that's all it was, idle speculation. That was until last week when a local South Australian newspaper reported that the sale was close to being finalised. Fosters refuse to confirm or deny the story, so it was odds on that it was going to happen.  As soon as the sale was made public, I contacted Nathan Waks of Kilikanoon and interviewed him to get the inside low-down on the sale. The result is this article.

Wine Roulette (22 Aug)

Roulette was invented by the French in the 18th century, and legend has it, that a particularly deadly form of the game was invented by the Russians, in the 19th century. “Russian Roulette” was first written up in the press in the 20th century. The ball went back into the French court, and in the 20th century they came up with a new version, which you are reading about in the 21st Century. The new version is called “Wine Roulette.”  Its is a costly game with the occasional big win, but there are many losers too.  Read all about it here.

Book Review: James Halliday 2008 Wine Companion (15 Aug)

The Halliday Wine Companion outsells all other Australian wines books, and is eagerly awaited by thousands of wine lovers all over the country. For this edition, Halliday tasted over 7,200 wines and the Companion contains reviews of over 5,800 of them.  It also contains details on over 1,700 wineries, but enough of the statistics. In this edition, a few major changes have been made, and these changes herald a change in the direction of future editions. Read all about it here.

Wine Blogs - Part One (1 Aug)

The internet has changed the way we look at information, both figuratively and literally. The formal publications no longer have a monopoly on specialised topics like wine, and with all the free, easily accessible information that is available, they are hurting financially. The battle lines have been drawn; its traditional publications versus the bloggers, and like all wars, there are some that have an each way bet and try and maintain a foot in both camps. The traditionalists have fixed ideas about the shortcomings of blogs, and the bloggers think the traditionalists are too rigid.  This will be a two part story. Part One covers the evolution of the blog, the pros and cons of bloggs versus traditional publications, as well as other relevant information. Part One can be found here.

Wine Blogs - Part Two (8 Aug)

This component of the story covers blogs that will be of interest to Australian wine lovers, as well as those that love Australian wine. Both the good and the bad have been examined, along with where this whole movement is headed. Finally the question posed in the introduction, "Is the free information worth what you pay for it?" is answered. Part Two can be found here.

Simple Question – Difficult Answer (25 July)

Sometimes writing articles are easy; the words just flow and the articles are finished in no time at all. Sometimes writing an article can be a struggle and it takes draft after draft, and it still does not seem right. When I had the idea for this story, I thought the question I asked myself was so simple, that knocking out the answer would be a breeze. That was until I started to think about the question and work on the article.  It was a complete bastard to write! As a wine lover, you think it would be easy to answer the question “What do I like in a wine?” until you try and do it.   

High Octane Juice (18 July)

Alcohol levels in wine have been on the rise for over a decade and some wines are reaching the level of fortified wines, and without needing the addition of Brandy spirit to get there. Slowly but surely, there is a small but growing level of consumer concern that is already turning into a backlash against these high octane wines, and as the movement grows, it will get more attention. Find out why this is happening and where we are heading here.      

The Changing Wine World (4 July)

Twenty years ago the wine world was very different; not just the Australian wine world, the whole world 's wine scene.  Many factors have influenced the changes.  Amongst others, they include the decline in fortunes of much of the French industry, the rise of the US market and the success of the Australian industry. These changes have been monumental and rapid, but in twenty years from now, when we look back, the world wine scene will look nothing like it does today. This story examines the reasons why.

The Two Contentious T’s – Technology Versus Tradition (27 June)

Since man first started making wine thousands of years ago, there has been a continual drive to improve quality. Today that drive is insatiable and thanks to technology,  the ability to turn out drinkable wine has never been better. But, there are winemakers and wine lovers all over the world that will tell you the old fashioned ways are best.  Forget about reverse osmosis and machine picking, they love hand picked and basket presses. So who is right and who is wrong. This article examines both sides of the coin.  

From a Masters to a PhD in Marketing Incomprehensibility (20 June)

Students studying marketing often site "Harvard Case Studies" which are regarded as the be all and end all of both great examples of marketing campaigns, and marketing disasters. They teach students what to do, and what to avoid in marketing. After Southcorp took over Rosemount, (or Rosemount took over Southcorp, depending on your point of view,) the marketing of the Rosemount brand could have earned a Harvard Masters degree  in the way to wreck a brand. Once  the dust settled after the Fosters take over of Southcorp, the management of Fosters realised the Rosemount brand was in a coma and needed to be resurrected. The product was recently relaunched but in the process, the iconic Balmoral brand would now probably quality for a PhD from Harvard in marketing Incomprehensibility. Read all about it here.    

More on the Fizzics of Corks - (Article with Questions and Answers) (12 May)

Recently I received more feedback and comment from John Casey, the former Chief Chemist for McWilliam’s Wines and a man with a lifetimes scientific training and experience. At first, John's initial thoughts made me wonder what he had been smoking, but past experience has proved the man is no "dope" (and probably hasn't been smoking any,)  so I fired back a few questions that I thought exposed potential holes in his thoughts. The response blew me away; the more I thought about it, more sense it made.  Much to my surprise, I can away thinking that "corks are not all bad" (except for TCA) and that much of the problems associated with random oxidation and cork failure are in fact not cork issues. Now if that seems like a surprise to you, it was to me too, so find out why it is so here.

This Corky Story Stinks - and its not TCA  ( 31January)

The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) has come out with a report that basically tells the wine industry that unless they continue to use corks, the sky will fall in and they will be responsible for the extinction of animals, increase in greenhouse gasses and other insidious acts. This article takes a close look at some of the claims made in the report and exposes the other side of the coin. It can be found here.  

I am too Busy to Serve You (9 January)

In November I wrote an article called The TORBWine Trophy Winner for Bureaucratic BS and Bad Customer Service that castigated a winery for its attitude and poor customer response when it came to replacing defective bottles of wine. This week I underwent another "interesting experience" - this time dealing with  a retail liquor chain that is owned by one of the largest two grocers in Australia. Between them they have over 50% of the retail market wine market in Australia and after this experience, my advise is to avoid the chains and deal with the independents. They may give a damn about you as an individual and actually value your custom.  Read all about it here.

Copyright © Ric Einstein 2007