High or Low?
Courtesy of
30 Second Wine Advisor
By Robin Garr
Remember last winter's publicity flurry over "Two
Buck Chuck," the joking nickname for the Charles Shaw line of wines
that sold for just $2 a bottle at Trader Joe's food-specialty
stores in California and a still-affordable $4 at the chain's shops
in other states?
The fallout continues, according to an article in this month's
edition of California Farmer magazine, forwarded to me by a wine-
loving friend.
Writer Len Richardson, in an article headlined "Hijacked by Two
Buck Chuck," reports that market research shows very inexpensive
wines - "Chuck" and its competitors - are cannibalizing sales from
more expensive wines but not bringing many new wine drinkers into
the market.
"The research in part confirms what many in the industry believed
or feared - that Two Buck Chuck and other wines in the SVW ("Super
Value Wines") category are drawing sales from more expensive wines,
mainly those in the $5 to $10 range," Richardson wrote. "It also
reports that these low-priced wines are attracting very few new wine
drinkers into the category, but instead are appealing primarily to
established wine drinkers."
"Super Value Wines" are defined as "varietal" wines - labeled
with the name of the grape, such as Chardonnay or Merlot - sold as
table wine in traditional 750-ml wine bottles.
"Short-term, it's clearly bad news for the wine industry that
Super Value Wines are causing consumers to trade down," an industry
analyst told Richardson. "But there's some long-term good news for
the industry as well - the research clearly shows that the new price
point is causing consumers to purchase more wine."
Tom Restaino, managing partner of industry analyst BRS Group,
added that the Two Buck Chuck phenomenon suggests American consumers
may be ready to accept an American equivalent of the French "vin
ordinaire" for everyday enjoyment. "For years, the wine industry has
been trying to establish wine as an everyday beverage. Now the
consumer is pointing the way for us as to how to accomplish that."
The deeper question that all these issues raise, it seems to me,
is whether "you get what you pay for" is a valid principle when it
comes to quality wines.
You may recall that I got my hands on a few "Two Buck Chuck"
varietals last winter and taste-tested them in "blind" tastings
against somewhat more expensive wines of the same varieties. My
conclusion: They were certainly worth $2 or even $4, and
significantly exceeded the quality of most jug wines and boxed wines
in that price range. Frankly, they are probably as good as some
basic "fighting varietal" labels from California, France, Australia
and elsewhere that are overpriced in the $6 range. But they couldn't
quite match up to $10 wines, showing their low-rent heritage by
their relative softness, and their lack of structure and real
varietal character.
As a wine lover who enjoys wine as a hobby, I want something more
than innocuous simplicity in my wine, and I'm willing to spend a few
dollars more to get it. But I'm also critical in the quest for
value, and would rather have a good $7 wine than a boring $14 bottle
... and have the pleasure of telling you about my findings in a
daily wine report.
More in the realm of casual inquiry than serious research, I
decided to open a good cheap wine and a good pricey item over the
past couple of nights. First we enjoyed a classy but expensive
Washington State Merlot from a respected maker, L'Ecole No. 41.
It's not quite ostentatious but certainly exceeds my usual limit for
everyday wine with its $29 price tag.
The following evening, I pulled the cork from a downscale, simple
but pleasant and well-structured Italian red, a Montepulciano
d'Abruzzo from Masciarelli that cost only $7 - one-fourth the
toll for the Merlot.
Was the costly Washington wine four times better than the cheap
Italian? I can't honestly say that. But was the Merlot "worth it"?
It was certainly a subtle, complex, interesting and ageworthy wine,
and I very much enjoyed sipping it with and after dinner on a long
summer evening at home with my bride. "Worth it," I think, is one of
those imponderable, irrational decisions that we all have to make
for ourselves.
L'ECOLE NO. 41 2000 COLUMBIA VALLEY MERLOT ($28.99)
Inky dark reddish purple, almost opaque. Deep, plummy fruit aromas
add complex nuances of spice and smoke. The flavor is ripe, juicy
and tart, like biting into a perfectly fresh plum: Abundant fruit
polishes the edges of a firm acidic structure; tannins are present
but soft and smooth. Dark fruits, cleansing acidity and a gently
astringent edge persist in a very long finish. A "serious" Merlot
that will gain additional complexity with careful cellaring. (Aug.
11, 2003)
FOOD MATCH: Chosen to match the flavors in a dish created
for a Bourbon-cookery article: Chicken pieces coated with spiced
pecans on a sweet-spicy Bourbon sauce.
VALUE: Not a cheap wine, but appropriately priced for its
quality level, particularly when compared with the prices of
Merlot-based Right Bank Bordeaux or even some of its more "cultish"
competitors from Washington State and California.
WHEN TO DRINK: Drinkable now, especially with food, but
its brooding nature and soft tannins suggest it will improve with a
few years' cellar time.
WEB LINK: You'll find the L'Ecole No. 41 Website at
http://www.lecole.com Fact
sheets (in Adobe Acrobat format) on all the winery's current
releases, including the 2001 Columbia Valley Merlot, are linked from
http://www.lecole.com/html/newrel.html
 MASCIARELLI
2000 MONTEPULCIANO D'ABRUZZO ($7)
Very dark garnet, showing flashes of reddish-purple against the
light. Pleasant black-cherry and spice aromas, typical of the
Montepulciano grape, are reflected in its tart, sour-cherry flavor
shaped by tangy lemon-squirt acidity. Simple but nicely balanced,
fine with food. U.S. importer: Masciarelli Wine Co., Weymouth, Mass.
(Aug. 12, 2003)
FOOD MATCH: Couldn't ask for a better match with thick,
juicy burgers made from locally produced beef, sandwiched with thick
slices of fresh garden tomato.
VALUE: Hard to beat at this low-end price.
WHEN TO DRINK: Not made for aging, but will certainly keep
on a wine rack for a year or two.
WEB LINK: Masciarelli's Website is available in five
languages. For English, click to:
http://www.der-vino.com/masciarelli/gb/home.html
|
