Was at the Napa Valley ranch of a friend’s parents, for their annual celebration of all things Portuguese (the sopa was sooo good), and ran into K-J’s (Jackson Family’s) top PR and marketing people. Despite my friend’s injunction that this was not a day to talk shop, that’s exactly what we did, and of course shop topic #1 with them was Murphy-Goode. I wondered “Where do you go from here” or, put another way, is there another rabbit to pull out of that hat?

From what I can tell, “A Really Goode Job” was a case of lightning striking (millions in free publicity), and as we’ve been told, lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place. Now, that’s not true. But it does seem to me less likely to strike in the same place than to strike someplace else. What Jess Jackson and his team are calculating is that, now that M-G has at least got on the map, they can keep the conversation going by having entertaining, stimulating, smart dialogue with untold numbers of people through social media, thereby making all those Twitter followers and Facebook friends “brand ambassadors.” It’s not that they think people like me — print critics — or paper-based magazines like Wine Enthusiast are going away anytime soon, or losing our clout in any significant way. No. Instead, they feel that the circle of influential voices has widened, and that word-of-mouth, spread digitally and virally through the Internet, will continue to grow both in volume and in impact, so that Liar’s Dice Zinfandel, for example, will see a boost in popularity, carried forward on a wave of social media-generated buzz.

This is, of course, the Holy Grail of the theory of social media as marketing, PR and sales tool. It’s the democratized “let a thousand flowers bloom” equivalent of Chairman Mao’s 1957 invitation to China’s chattering classes to weigh in on the artistic, scientific and cultural issues then dominant in China (although, of course, just ten years later, Mao, realizing that the “liberal bourgeois elements” he himself had unleashed now had to be controlled, rounded them up and crushed them). There is perhaps a lesson to be learned: be careful what you wish for, lest ye get it.

Anyway, the crux of the social-media-as-marketing-tool theory eludes me. Yes, I completely understand its mechanics — the way it’s supposed to work. I “get” the fact that Millennials would rather text message or tweet than watch TV or read a magazine. I understand the power of Twitter, and also the sense of empowerment that young people (and some not so young; Gov. Schwarzenegger supposedly lives on Twitter) feel when they see and hear everywhere that they are driving the future forward through their preferences and behavior. That is heady stuff. Baby Boomers experienced roughly the same sense of specialness in the 1960s, when we felt that the entire burden and joy of the future was being borne upon our eager shoulders.

What I don’t get is the belief that all the Twitterers and Facebookers are going to be “brand ambassadors” for some winery smart enough to organize them. For one thing, it flies in the face of their vaunted independence and dislike of being manipulated — values we saw riotously illustrated just a year ago during the Rodney Strong “Rockaway” brouhaha. I think that social media can drive the popularity of a rock band, or a political candidate (Gavin Newsom comes to mind, although he’s not doing too well in the polls), or a social-revolutionary movement (the disputed Iranian election and Neda’s martyrdom). CNN can invite viewers to weigh in via Twitter and they will, while A YouTube like “Dancing Wedding” can spread across the planet, and a fun conversation like #whostillwears can be the #1 trending topic on Twitter, covering everything from oversized thug clothing to the unpopularity of New Balance. But is there any evidence, anywhere, that social media ever have driven the sales of a wine, beyond perhaps a temporary spike, the way, say, a Parker 100 does (or for that matter a #1 on a Wine Enthusiast annual list)?

Call me a revanchist if you want. It’s a common charge against someone who dares to question whether social media is all its most ardent supporters claim it to be. The question is not, I think, What is the ROI for a social media sales campaign so much as this: Can social media sell anything but itself?

There’s an interesting debate happening right now in France over a proposed new appellation, and reading about it in Decanter reminded me of something I wrote in my 2005 book, A Wine Journey along the Russian River. In a chapter on Pinot Noir, I said:

I used to joke (and it’s truer than ever) that every extra word a vintner can squeeze onto the front label is worth an additional $5.  Apply this formula to a hypothetical wine — Jones Winery 1999 Brown Vineyard South Block Bobby’s Corner Lily’s Row Clone 9 Old Vine Grandad’s Special Estate Grown Pinot Noir — and be prepared for sticker shock.

What I meant, of course, was that many consumers, not fully understanding what label terminology actually means, are apt to be fooled by wording, and whenever a consumer is fooled, you can bet he’s paying more money than he should. This is elemental marketing; it’s why advertisers know that the use of terms like “New!” and “Free!” have such dramatic impact on the psyche.

The brouhaha in Bordeaux concerns an effort to have the French government approve a new appellation: Bordeaux Premier Cru. As things now stand (I’m referring only to the Médoc), Bordeaux is divided into three tiers: AOC Bordeaux, regional AOCs (Médoc and Haut-Médoc), and AOC communes (Margaux, Pauillac, etc.). The latter category, of  course, itself is divided into 5 tiers, or Growths, as defined by the 1855 Classification. There used to be an additional tier, AOC Cru Bourgeois (itself with three levels, from highest to lowest: Exceptionnel, Supérieur, and plain Cru Bourgeois), but my esteemed Wine Enthusiast colleague in France, Roger Voss, tells me these are “a voluntary association” and the sub-classes within Crus Bourgeois (exceptionnel and supérieur) “were banned by a court decision 3 years ago.” In essence, then, the “Bordeaux Premier Cru” would have replaced “Bordeaux Supérieur” as the appellation of choice just below Médoc/Haut-Médoc.

Well, of course you’re thoroughly confused by now. So am I and so, more importantly, are the Bordelais themselves, which is why this brouhaha has reached, well, Gallic proportions. Isn’t all this proof that Bordeaux’s system is hopelessly muddled in the first place?

Everybody wants to charge as much as they can for their wine. Vintners know that the public is influenced by what it says on the label, and that people have some hazy, half-formed impression that some words are more important — and thus worth more — than others. Read my quote again, above, about $5 per word labels; I suspect the same holds true for those who want to invent “Bordeaux Premier Cru,” as if that were a guarantee of anything. In Bordeaux, as elsewhere, the best châteaux understand that you don’t need a title in order to make great wine and convince the public to buy it. Chateau Gloria is a shining example of this. Unclassified, it’s considered as good as most anything else. (And to this day the wines of Pomerol aren’t classified at all.)

So I have to agree with one of the critics of the proposed new change, who said, “Adding Premier Cru, presumably so a euro or two can be added to the cost, with no change in the chais or vineyards, will only highlight the quality issue further and will send the discerning customer diving for a much cheaper and more rewarding bottle of Chilean Cabernet or Aussie Shiraz.”

Back here in California, it’s the same situation, beginning with the awful words “Private Reserve” which mean absolutely nothing, in most cases. We writers have to continue doing a better job educating consumers not to be misled by labels (and the TTB has been less than useful in helping us). The next time you see a bunch of words on the label that you suspect are trying to fool you into thinking the wine is more prestigious than it really is, trust your instincts.

Having visited a few “outlying” areas lately — including Suisun Valley and Lake County (twice in the last 6 weeks) — I’ve been thinking about what it takes for a wine region to bust through the clutter and establish itself, favorably, in the consumer’s consciousness.

I call them “outlying” because they are, in two senses of the word: Suisun Valley lies just outside Napa Valley, within Solano County but literally just cross the street from Napa. And Lake County is one mountain range (the Mayacamas) away from Napa Valley, although, as a Lake vintner laughingly told me, when he told a visiting French winemaker that the Mayacamas were mountains, the Frenchman replied that, in France, they would more properly be called hills. And, in fact, when I drove early yesterday morning from Langtry/Guenoc winery, outside Middletown, along Highway 128 to Rutherford, I saw once again how close southern Lake County really is to Napa. A short hop, skip and jump across the Mayacamas and you’re at Pritchard Hill, which is one of Napa’s high-rent districts (Colgin, Bryant, Chappellet).

So how can a new region become known? What conditions must it fulfill in order to hit the bigtime? In my experience, the region must:

- attain a critical mass of wines that have been highly-rated by respectable writers
- be close enough to major transit routes to be easily visited by writers and tourists
- develop an infrastructure of amenities (restaurants, lodging, tasting rooms and other recreations) to provide hospitality for visitors

If you look at California’s best known regions (Napa Valley, most of Sonoma County, Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo’s Edna and Arroyo Grande valleys), all three conditions have been met. Even meeting two out of the three conditions can be enough, as the Sierra Foothills shows. It’s close to transit routes (various highways over the Sierra Nevada, and Highway 49, which winds through Gold County). And, of course, there are tons of restaurants and nice places to stay in El Dorado, Amador and Calaveras counties, as well as things to do besides visiting wineries. So even though the wines may not be as good as they could be (IMHO), the region is doing just fine.

Take away two of the conditions, though, and it’s much harder. Mendocino County makes pretty good wines, but it’s a schlep from the Bay Area, and the areas around Hopland and Ukiah lack the fine dining and lodging and overall excitement that wine country tourists seem to want.

Lake County is trying very hard to get on the consumers’ (and critics’) map. They’re pushing wine quality relentlessly, especially in the vineyard, and the wines are beginning to show marked improvement. At the same time, it is a longer drive than Napa/Sonoma (and if you’re talking about the areas around Clear Lake, it’s another 45 minutes beyond Langry/Guenoc). That’s no longer a day trip but a weekender, which eliminates lots of potential tourists.

While I was typing this my friend Scott Carpenter called and during our chat reminded me that without a great sales, marketing and distributor force, it doesn’t matter if you’re making good wine. You won’t be able to sell it anyway. And lots of the wineries in these outlying areas are small family outfits, who find it hard to get distributed. When you think about all the obstacles a little winery from an outlying area has against it — especially in this economy — it’s a wonder they even try. At the same time, in a way they’re able to be more innovative, since they have little to lose by being bold and creative; in a place like Napa Valley, wineries grow more and more conservative over the years, the operative philosophy being: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

In the end, it takes a long time for a wine region to establish itself. Doesn’t happen overnight, which is why I hope the family wineries and Lake County and Suisun Valley are committed to the long haul. At the very least, they should understand that some of us writers are out here watching them and, if there are positive developments, we’ll be the first ones to holler about it. I include the bloggers, too, not just paper reporters like me. In fact, with bloggers and twitterers and all that, the outlying areas and wineries may be able to radically shorten the time it takes to get known.

Dept. of What were they thinking?

Lewis Perdue’s Wine Industry Insight is reporting (and I don’t think he’s joking) that a British publisher, Kraken Opus, “is currently working on a wine book…that will retail for £640,000, (approximately US $1.12 million).” “The Wine Opus, an 850-page book, will feature the 100 best wineries in the world selected by a panel of as-yet-unnamed judges,” Perdue writes, adding, “Extravagantly thirsty purchasers will also get six bottles of wine from each winery in the book. Only 100 copies of the book will be released. The company says that 25 have already been pre-ordered. Kraken Opus is owned by former Goldman Sachs derivatives and tax expert Karl Fowler.”

I guess the Recession is over! Disclosure: I’ve ordered 3 copies of the book, myself. (I got a deal from Kraken, an unbelievable $3 million for all three.) And I’m announcing the first-ever steveheimoff.com contest: The winner of the most interesting comment to the following question will win one of those books and a dinner with me! Here’s the question: Why I want to have dinner with Steve.

(Could I get sued for lying? You know I am, don’t you?)

I’ve been up in Lake County, doing a judging for the winery association. I haven’t done many big judgings like this (I mean, organized into teams, not by myself), and since I’ve expressed doubts over the years about big judgings, I wanted to get some thoughts down here. (Disclosure: I was paid for my participation.)

To start with, the county people said they were holding the tasting to try to figure out what are Lake County’s best varieties, and which AVAs do they grow best in? Of course, the tasting wouldn’t determine those things completely, but it would be a start.

So is it better to taste alone or with a group? When I taste alone, it’s just me, so when you read my review, you know you’re getting pure Steve — for better or for worse! No dilution, no compromise, no dialogue that results in a score going up or down.

My impressions of the group format were mixed. I suppose you could say it’s more “democratic” because it’s really a vote. (At several points I was reminded of the College of Cardinals selecting a new Pope.) Not that there’s politics involved; there aren’t, that I could see. But there are strong opinions. So, for example, if I really loved a wine and gave it a gold medal, and two people hated it, the wine might walk off with a bronze medal. So the result wasn’t pure “Steve” or pure “Dorothy” or pure anyone, but a group consensus. Is that better than a single-reviewer judgment? Is it more useful to the consumer? I leave it to you to decide.

Incidentally, the medal concept is interesting. At first glance it’s a four-point system: gold, silver, bronze and none. But since people add pluses and minuses (“gold-plus, bronze-minus”), it’s really a ten-point system. At first I found myself uncomfortable with that format, which was new to me, but I quickly adapted. Being used to the 100-point format, I figured it was sort of like gold plus = 97-100, gold = 93-96, gold minus = 89-92, or something like that. So it was all right.

The back and forths between judges during the conversational part were interesting. Sometimes I got people to change their scores; sometimes they got me to change mine. Sometimes we all hunkered down, so the Chair had to make a final call. That was okay with me. Every panel needs a Chair to avoid chaos.

Varietally, here were my observations for Lake County.

Sauvignon Blanc really does remain the county’s certified superstar. Racy, clean wines of enormous charm, usually priced well below $20.

Chardonnay: My group didn’t taste Chard, and none of them made it to the final sweepstakes. From tasting Lake County Chards at home, I can say they’ve largely failed to impress me.

Pinot Noir: Russian River Valley has nothing to worry about.

Zinfandel: Too fruity. (More on this later.)

Petite Sirah: Lake County’s best red winegrape. Big, jammy, tannic, and ageworthy in the best cases.

Cabernet Sauvignon: We didn’t taste these either in my group, but the other group passed only one into the final sweepstakes, out of 27 tasted! That confirms my experience over the years. Cabs from Lake County show potential, especially from Red Hills, but growers and vintners have a generation of work ahead, and I think they’ll do it.

Rhones, Syrah: Fruity, tending toward simplicity.

The U.V. factor: One of the winemakers explained to us how Lake County vineyards, being so high in elevation, receive a powerful does of ultraviolet radiation every day. Combine that with the cloudless skies (no fog this far inland) and hot temperatures, and the result is massive fruit. Fruit is good, of course, but everything in balance! Too much of a good thing is just that. The winemaker said how growers are going away from vertical shoot positioning to more of an old-fashioned California sprawl, to protect the grapes from the sun. That may help to reduce fruitiness, but one problem is that Lake is a very dry area, and there’s not much water. That prohibits vigor, which makes it harder to throw the kind of canopy you need for a California sprawl. So one thing leads to another, and these growers have their work cut out for them.

The Lake County people are very passionate. There are many Napans at work here from “just over the hill” who are bringing their expertise. The chilly nights, with their big diurnal swings, give a refreshing acidity to the wines, which provides important balance. The land itself is beautiful, with slopes just crying out for vineyards. So Lake County has lots going for it.

Oh, one final thing on group tasting. It’s fun! You get to meet nice people and hang out with them all day and night, eating lots of good food and drinking lots of wine. That may not mean very much to the consumer, but it makes these grueling tasting sessions a lot more pleasant. I think I’ll do it again.

From beyond the grave, Julia Child shows that print still matters

The late chef’s magnum opus, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” sold 22,000 copies in one week following release of the movie “Julie & Julia.” That is “more copies than were sold in any full year since the book’s appearance” nearly 48 years ago, according to the New York Times, citing the book’s publisher, Knopf.

The book also hit No. 1 at both Amazon and B&N.com earlier this month, and is racing up the charts at Publishers Weekly’s hardcover nonfiction best sellers.

i.e.  People still read books!

Yes, I know how Twitter can drive events. The Tehran uprisings are a classic example. But predictions of the demise of print (as well as the power of an old-fashioned Hollywood movie) have been greatly exaggerated!

Think about it. Here we have a 752-page book that’s racing off the shelves, and the publicity for it has been driven exclusively by the film, as well as (I would argue) the stellar reviews it got, mostly in print newspapers and magazines. Could social media have resurrected “Mastering”? Maybe, but the book’s amazing comeback proves that the tried-and-true way of making things famous still holds a trick or two up its sleeve.

* * *

2009 Vintage could be great

The winter was very cold. Rainfall was low until Spring, when the skies opened up, making for near-normal precipitation. A hard frost hit statewide in mid-April, followed by a heat wave. May and June were rainy and cold, with June setting low temperature records. July was fairly average, and August has been mild. There were some excessive heat spikes in the usual hot places, like Paso Robles, but nothing that could spoil the vintage

Harvest began August 12, mainly for sparkling wine grapes and Sauvignon Blanc. Some vintners expressed concern about green flavors, due to the coolness. Monsoonal moistness in late August also raises the threat of mold, although this doesn’t appear to be a big problem. The big reds have yet to be picked, but 2009 could be a very good year for Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, provided that ripening proceeds steadily, with no major heat waves, and the rains hold off. With a weak El Nino effect in the Pacific, California, especially Southern California, could be in for higher-than-usual rains this Fall, but it’s too soon to tell. But overall, the pieces are in place for a good vintage: coolish weather, dry conditions during harvest (so far) and an absence of heat waves should enable ripeness without high alcohol.