Paul Mabray: wine’s biggest problem? Consumers don’t care about wine

The Buyer ^ | 21 Aug 2019 | Richard Siddle

[ptsal]

There is a lot spoken and written about the wine industry’s inability to truly connect with more consumers about what wine is all about and why there is so much to discover if only people took the time to look. But why should they? Are they ever going to change the habits of a lifetime and not just see wine for what essentially it is. An alcoholic drink to enjoy with friends or on your own. That’s where Paul Mabray start his conversations about wine. If wine is truly going to connect with its target audience it needs to really understand what consumers do care about and that means getting deep, down and digital. Which is the message he delivered to great effect at this summer’s MUST Fermenting conference in Portugal.

[TBP]

Some do.

[LouAvul]

Red Foxx always liked Champipple.

But I suspect the potential new wine customers might just be going straight to marijuana. Easier to hide (for kids), harder to detect. And it's a perfect gateway to crack and heroin.

Better all around! Plus, they don't even have to work anymore. Just buy a used Eddie Bauer tent off craigslist and move to downtown San Fransicko!

What a life!

[monkeyshine]

Which is the one that tastes like apples? Night Train? Don't forgot the ever popular cold duck.

[Mariner]

Generally, only Wine Snobs “care” about wine.

I drink wine occasionally, but it is not my favorite beverage. By far.

I’m pretty sure I’m in a 90% majority.

[monkeyshine]

No idea why I can’t resize images anymore. Seems like everyone else can. They show up resized in preview then they post in full size. height=50% width=50% works for preview.

[bk1000]

bumwine.com

[oldvirginian]

All you need is a bottle of Hogs Head and a bottle of Double Barrel and you’ve run the table.

[MplsSteve]

OH!

Cripes, I think I just got a hangover from looking at that picture!

[toast]

My girlfriend makes sure I stay on the lookout for Vin Vault Chardonnay. It comes in a 3 liter box ($17.99). The stores around here keep running out of it. It seems to be a local favorite.

I drink light beer. Mixed drinks when I don’t have to drive.

[momincombatboots]

Look for wine probes. I don’t know what you call them here. They have them in wine country n carolina. Did it in W Germany.. walk through vineyards tasting wines.
I have a super taster gene so tannin makes me sick. No red wines.

[CatoRenasci]

Two Buck Chuck? Charles Shaw - a label owned by Bronco, which is headed by one of the Franzia brothers. When first introduced almost 20 years ago at Trader Joe's it sold for $2 a bottle. Hence the name. Pretty mediocre plonk, but popular. I grew up in and around the wine industry in California and have seen it grow from its generally sleepy post-Prohibition roots in the '50s through its various stages of growth and popular expansion and a new generation discovers some new sort or style of wine every decade or so. I've been drinking (or at least tasting under the supervision of winemaker/oenologist relatives) fine wines from California and Europe since I was around 10. I've tasted semi-professionally since the '60s. I'm of two minds: on one hand, the expansion of the industry has made many things available and encouraged much useful innovation, but on the other hand, the increased popularity of wine as status symbol has priced the very best wines out of reach for all but the very rich, or those in the trade who get to taste and even drink, top wines as part of their work. I certainly was able to drink more prestigious wines in the '50s, '60s, and even '70s than I am today - and I'm thinking only of relative pricing, not about the effects of inflation. The article is interesting. Many more producers have some sort of pretension to making 'fine wine' than was once the case. Still, I think it probably remains true that 90% of wine sold is meant to be, and usually is, consumed within a year or so of release. (People used to say within a year of being made, but there is a lag of up to a year (for whites) or two (for reds) between harvest and and you finding a bottle in your local market or wine shop). This is the sort of wine that used to be called 'ordinary' (vin ordinaire)or everyday wine. The overall quality of everyday wine has undoubtedly vastly improved over the past 75 years. Starting with the much (and justly) reviled Gallos and their 1970s creation of "Hearty Burgundy" (which sold for around a dollar a bottle in the late '70s) the quality of inexpensive table wine from California and later Australia and New Zealand, as well as from traditional wine-growing regions in France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Austria has been improved by scientific winemaking and by improvements in viticulture (grape-growing), introducing far more grape varieties to the average drinker who knew them only generically. This is not really the case for the best 'fine' wines - the quality of a top 1928 or 1929 Bordeaux is hardly less (if ant all) than that of a 1945, 1959, 1966, 1982 or .... Bordeaux. Similarly in California: though there were far fewer Cabernets made in the 40s, 50s, 60s, or even 70s than today, the best of the 1941, 1968, 1970 and other outstanding vintages are still drinking well today (though fully mature) and are as good as anything made in the past 10 years. I could go on for hours on the topic of wine, but I'll stop here by observing that as a result of the changes, most of the wine you can buy today, with a little care in selection, is what used to be called 'sound commercial wine' - that is the grapes were ripe (often a problem in France, not so much here), of reasonable quality varietals, reasonably well made and assembled, without significant flaws, and a taste within the range of what is expected for the grapes used.

[dainbramaged]

Real men drink whiskey. Those who don’t should wear dresses.

[Lakeshark]

Generally, only Wine Snobs “care” about wine.

Here in Michigan, you can buy spirits, beer and wine in all grocery stores. Most stores wine sections more than double that of beer and spirits combined (Costco and Sam's club as well), so I think you're far off the mark here.

[The Great RJ]

I sell wine for a large grocery chain. Consumers are very interested in wine, but it needs to be “ hand sold”. Most consumers are very intimidated by wines especially when they lack any knowledge of wines. They will often buy the same wine over and over because it’s a safe choice. Some will even buy based on the fanciest label or bottle. Customers appreciate a knowledgeable sales staff who will help them to find a great wine at a price with which they are comfortable. I have many customers who are developing a quite sophisticated taste in wines simply by being helped in their wine choice. Sadly many wine shops do not have a knowledgeable staff or who just push products made by large conglomerate wine makers and not wines from smaller wine makers or less common regional wines from Europe.

[zaxtres]

Consumers don’t care about wine because the United States of America is a beer-drinking country. This goes back to the early settlers who came to this country. Most of the early settlers came from northern Europe where hops was grown and a climate not conducive to wineries. When these settlers immigrated to the US they brought their habits with them and their tastes as well. The only way that people will turn to wine nowadays will be to label beer drinkers as white supremacists.

I think I see a forty in my fridge... I am thirsty.

[CatoRenasci]

I agree that most places that sell wine, including many wine shops, do not have knowledgeable staff. And that some often push products that provide the store with the highest profit and that large producers are often in a position to provide the wholesaler with the ability to give greater discounts (usually known as post-offs in the trade).

That said, I have mixed feelings about shops that primarily push wines from small producers and relatively obscure regional European wines. IF the shop owner and the staff are really knowledgeable and if they don't use exclusivity as an excuse to jack prices up -- both big ifs and not common -- it can be rewarding for the consumer.

However, too often, small producers do not make better wines, just more expensive one (because their costs of production are greater, if for no other reason).

Many reputable large producers are very careful about the quality of their wines and will almost always provide fair value for the price. Their wines will rarely be fabulous (but it does happen....), but they will almost always be sound and well made, enjoyable for what they are.

For the average person whose interest in wine is limited, my advice is almost always to find a few reasonably large producers whose products you like year in and year out, rather than trying many boutique wineries without solid guidance.

[Crolis]

These fine vintages are reviewed here.

[Reeses]

Too many of our trading partners have huge import taxes on our wines, like 200%, making an average wine bottle cost $40. That has to stop. Hopefully once the China dam breaks many other countries will fall in line with fair trading practices and our wine makers will prosper.

[vpintheak]

Cold duck is our family tradition on holidays! Not bad in small amounts!

[Romulus]

Yeah, plonk. Y’see, making our peace with plonk is precisely what I’m advocating.

Let’s face it: we can all remember that heavenly bottle of 1970 La Mission Haut Brion, but who can afford to drink like that every day? For years my every day dinnertime drink was Gallo cabernet sauvignon. At $4.99 for 1.5L, I didn’t expect much, and didn’t get much. But I got my money’s worth: an honest varietal that was good enough for every day meals at home when no company was coming. “Good enough” is the market space nobody wants, but it’s the space that needs to be served if wine’s to be incorporated in the affordable family diet as it is in France and Italy.

I’ve been to Napa several times, and tasted my way up and down and all over, but that is a tiny niche: bottles for the seriously rich, the restaurant trade, and special occasions, much of it coming from vanity winemakers, hobbyists sitting on massive Hollywood or Silicon Valley fortunes. They are not in business to meet my needs. Even $10 bottles are unaffordable for every day family drinking in most households. Nowadays I drink box wine, without apologies. If I could afford it, I’d upgrade to an Aussie screw-cap brand. I’m not out to prove anything, and marketing aimed at the ignorant and prestige-hungry doesn’t work on me.

When I was a student in Italy many years ago, we bought wine in bulk — so cheap that you could (and we did) throw it around the room at toga parties. It was literally cheaper than bottled water. It wasn’t prize-winning stuff, but still managed to enhance many a meal. Government fiscal greed and anti-alcohol prudery make “throwing wine” impossible in America, but widespread access to decent plonk would be a service to mankind.