Wednesday’s Meritage – Economics of Wine Collecting, Wine in Numbers, WTSO Marathon, and more
Meritage Time!
Today we don’t have the quiz to talk about, so let’s get right to the interesting stuff around the vine and web.
An interesting article by Mike Veseth, who writes an excellent Wine Economist blog, is on the subject of wine collecting. Mike just started writing a new column for Wine Searcher online wine magazine, analyzing the world of wine collecting. While the article is pretty technical, it still makes a thought-provoking read, whether you are the wine collector or not.
W. Blake Gray published interesting numbers regarding volume of wine imported into the United States from different countries. Which country do you think is a number one importer? And then which country will take lead if you will disregard “big brands”? Check it out here.
Believe it or not, but the Wine Til Sold Out (WTSO) is doing it again! Free up some space in your cellars, and get ready for next Tuesday, September 10th – WTSO Cheapskate Marathon is coming! The rules have not changed – starting 6 AM Eastern time, WTSO will be offering new wines every 15 minutes or sooner if sold out. The only notification mechanism is Twitter (no e-mails), all the wines are priced in $7.99 – $18.99 range, free ground shipping on the orders of 4 or more. Marathon will continue until 11 PM Eastern time. Featured wines will include (among many others) Maroon Cabernet 2010, 2009 Red Blend from Shadowood, 2010 Valley Gate Chardonnay, Diamond Ridge Pinot Noir, Redheads Moonlight Cabernet, Sacoya Sauvignon Blanc. Make sure your account has all the right information ready, as the wines will be gone in a blink…
Steve Heimoff ponders at an interesting question – what will happen with the wine writing going forward? While he doesn’t offer any radical predictions, I’m sure many of you have the same question in mind from time to time. Check it out for yourself.
Last but no least – an article by Alder Yarrow talks about name protection gone too far. As you might know, the new Apple iPhone line will include new colors, one of them being champagne. Now the Interprofessional Committee for Champagne Wine (ICCW) is now getting concerned with Apple’s use of the word Champagne as a color descriptor and wants to have them stopped. Talk about complete waste of money and lawyers not having anything better to do…
And I think we are done here. Happy Rosh Hashanah to those who celebrates, and happy Wine Wednesday to all of you! Until the next time – cheers!
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Talk-A-Vino 
Happy New Year, Anatoli! And a happy Wine Wednesday, too. 🙂
Thanks, Patty!
Interesting articles, Anatoli. I might take exception with your assessment of the Champagne lawsuit, however. Champagne has spent a lot of time and money trying to turn their wine into a “brand”. Every time that term is used outside of their branding image, it diminishes the “brand”. How would a certain car manufacturer feel if the new color were “Mercedes Black”? Or if it were a greenish blue and they called it “Tiffany”?
Jeff, this is very touching, but for then for the sake of consistency, I would recommend that ICCW should also sue Sherwin-Wlliams, International Champagne Horse Registry, Wikipedia and thousands of others who unknowingly violate the rights of the exclusive naming of the sparkling beverage producers. Also, I don’t know about Mercedes Black, but Tiffany Blue is an existent color name, which is commonly used.
Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way defending lawyers nor am I saying that the lawsuit does not border on the ridiculous. What I am saying is that perhaps more than any other wine region in the world, the Champagne name has been used by countless other entities in order to elevate their own product based on the association of Champagne with quality/luxury.
Apple chose “champagne for its association with luxury, of that there is little doubt. They did not opt to call the color “ginger ale” or “beer”. They are trying to benefit from the association, of that there is little doubt.
There is no doubt that the horse left the barn on this issue many years ago and that Champagne’s efforts to put it back in can border on laughable. Perhaps the two examples I provided were not ample–what if Apple came out with a silver iPhone and called it “Rolex” or if they produced an off white and called it “Wedgewood”? Don’t you think that those companies would have a right to defend their brand?
By the way, “Tiffany Blue” is trademarked and if Apple came out with a phone that color, you can bet they would be sued.
It all depends on one’s perspective. You think that Apple wants to be associated with luxury, and I think the ICCW is undertaking the cheap publicity shot aiming at the extremely successful and popular consumer brand. Yes, going after Sherwin-Williams would not be sexy at all. If ICCW believes that “champagne” should be a protected color, they can try to do what Tiffany did and patent it. Otherwise, this is nothing more than a cheap PR stance.
Thanks for posting the link to the article on wine writing. I hope he’s wrong. I like to think a good wine writer can organize and present information in a way that google can’t.
Yes, I think the wine writing will stay, same as any other writing – the medium is digital now, but fundamentally, nothing else changed…