mhicken March 1st, 2010

Interesting story in the Wine Spectator today on research showing a simple way to reduce green bell pepper flavours in red wine grown in cool climates. This could be an important development for BC wineries as some, but certainly not all, of our red wines are susceptible to this problem (see the comments about growing cab sauv in the Okanagan in the last Canadian Wine Awards).

Tags: bc, bell pepper, okanagan, red wine, research, wine

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mhicken February 19th, 2010

The federal government has announced funding for the publishers of Wine Access magazine which will assist in the production of the Canadian Wine Annual and further development of the Wine Access website. This type of assistance should prove to be a valuable benefit to the wine industry because it will ensure that one of the leading voices for Canadian wine continues to grow. It’s my view that this type of marketing assistance is exactly what the Canadian wine industry needs. Thanks Ottawa!

Tags: bc, canada, federal government, marketing, ontario, wine, wine access

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mhicken February 9th, 2010

Vincor is set to take marketing gold over the next couple of weeks as its brands comprise the official wines of the 2010 winter games in Vancouver. The exposure will no doubt be invaluable for Vincor which is already Canada’s largest wine producer (although it is owned by the U.S. giant, Constellation Brands). However, the route to the Games has not come without controversy, the most significant of which was the “Cellared in Canada” fiasco of last year in which it was revealed that the Esprit Olympic brand was, in fact, made from mostly foreign grapes. That mistake will likely be forgotten during the games as all of the product actually supplied for the Olympics will be 100% Canadian VQA wine. Vincor’s brands will get huge exposure to an international audience over the next couple of weeks … hopefully, the entire BC industry will also come along for the ride.

Tags: bc, marketing, olympics, vincor, wine

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mhicken January 27th, 2010

I attended this year’s Direct to Consumer Symposium in Sonoma last week. The recurrent message was that the future of DTC wine marketing is going to skew heavily toward mobile marketing (by which I mean marketing tools such as text messaging, twitter, facebook or websites … but all of which work on smartphones such as the iPhone or Blackberry). See this report from Wines & Vines for details. At almost the same time, the San Francisco Chronicle writes that it thinks that the big breakthrough app for wine consumers will be Cellar Tracker, created by Seattle wine lover, Eric LeVine.

If you happen to have an iPhone, you might want to check out the convergence of these two trends by using the app, Cor.kz. This nifty app allows you to bar-code scan a bottle of wine using the camera in your iPhone. The app then connects to CellarTracker and displays all the relevant information about the wine including user reviews from their huge database. You can then save the wine into your own cellar or if you are drinking it, share your own rating and tasting notes using Twitter and/or Facebook (connectivity for both are built in). Check it out … this is the future!

Tags: cellartracker, consumer, corkz, direct, iphone, marketing, mobile, smartphones, wine

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mhicken January 6th, 2010

Today’s Globe and Mail wine column by Beppi Crosariol highlights good value wines that retail for under $20. Beppi provides an interesting range of picks for consumers who want to find a reasonably priced “house wine”. However, the picks highlight the ridiculous price of wines in British Columbia. For the wines that are available in both Ontario and BC, here’s the price comparison:

Louis Latour Chardonnay: $15.95 in ON; $19.99 in BC

Concha Y Toro Marques de Casa Cab Sauv: $19.99 in both provinces

Santa Rita Medalla Real Cab Sauv: $19.99 in both provinces

Remole Toscana: $12.95 in ON; $13.99 in BC

Perrin Reserve Cotes du Rhone: $14.95 in ON; $17.99 in BC

Les Fumes Blanches Sauv Blanc: $11.95 in ON; $13.99 in BC

MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir: $19.95 in ON; $24.99 in BC

J & F Lurton Pinot Gris: $10.95 in ON; $13.99 in BC

Bollini Pinot Grigio: $16.95 in ON; $18.99 in BC

Pierre Sparr Gewurtraminer: $16.50 in ON; $21.99 in BC

Ouch … only two wines are the same price and many of the wines are significantly more expensive in BC. And this is a comparison between two liquor monopolies … not a comparison between the U.S. and Canada where the differences would be even greater. Something is seriously wrong with the LDB pricing structure when you have differences this large between MONOPOLIES. Doesn’t a government monopoly have an obligation to act reasonably when its the only game in town?

Tags: bc, LCBO, LDB, liquor stores, ontario, prices, taxes, wine

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mhicken December 2nd, 2009

Some of Ontario’s largest producers (those that make Cellared in Canada wines) have withdrawn from the Wine Council of Ontario and formed their own alternative trade organization, the Winery and Grower Alliance of Ontario. The split was apparently caused by the Ontario government’s introduction of increased taxation on CIC wines in order to support the growth of VQA sales. There now appear to be two distinct camps within the Ontario industry, those that produce solely VQA product and those that produce both VQA and CIC product. The latter group is apparently set to fight the new tax as reported in this story from Wines & Vines: Ontario Wineries From New Group.

Tags: cic, industry, ontario, trade, vqa, wine

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mhicken November 9th, 2009

Interesting story this morning on Bordeaux prices. Diageo, one of the largest purchasers of Bordeaux worldwide, is exiting the business and liquidating their huge Bordeaux wine inventory at greatly reduced prices. This is creating a cascade of downward price pressure for Bordeaux in the U.S. with retail prices ebbing below wholesale in some cases. Here in B.C., we are, of course, “insulated” from bargains by the LDB … but will consumers keep buying Bordeaux here when they see prices collapsing south of the border?

Tags: bordeaux, LDB, marketing, prices, retail, wholesale, wine

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mhicken November 5th, 2009

For your weekend reading:

Good blog post and discussion on marketing wine online here.

Here’s an interesting discussion of geographical indicators of origin and their effect on consumer wine choices.

Check out this nutty elementary school education project which equates wine with pot.

Tags: consumers, marketing, online, origin, sales, wine

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mhicken November 3rd, 2009

Just out for lunch and happened to walk by the LDB’s government liquor store at Harbour Centre. New signage for Cellared in Canada product was up. The CIC product is now displayed in a separate section with a sign that reads “Bottled in British Columbia” with smaller print stating “from International and Domestic Wine”. The real BC product is displayed separately with a “BC VQA” sign. This signage is a vast improvement from the previous displays which simply read “British Columbia” on both CIC and VQA product.  Readers will know that I don’t often offer kudos to the LDB but this signage is honest and clear. Well done.

Update (November 6, 2009): the updated Cellared in Canada signage was covered in the Vancouver Sun today. A few issues remain … the new signage does not contemplate 100% BC wine that is not part of the VQA system (this wine is rarely, if ever, sold in government stores), and … CIC wine sales should not be included in domestic sales figures.

Tags: bc, british columbia, cellared in canada, LDB, marketing, signs, vqa, wine

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mhicken November 3rd, 2009

Sanity has prevailed at City Hall. The City of Vancouver has withdrawn the proposed “anti-wine” bylaw and it will not be considered in its original form. The bylaw would have required restaurants to monitor food and liquor sales and ensure that food sales always exceeded liquor sales in any 8 hour period.  The law was administratively unworkable and could have seriously affected the sale of fine wines which would have skewed sales to liquor in the absence of huge expenditures on corresponding amounts of food. There will now be a “rethink” and further consultation with the industry.

Tags: bylaw, city, food, law, liquor, Restaurants, vancouver, wine

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