Out of network writing

Yesterday I read an article in the Denver Post titled, "Cabernet franc goes with a wide range of foods." I was pleasantly surprised that the newspaper would write an article about what might be  Colorado's signature grape cultivar. I thought the story would at least include a passing mention of the local versions. It wasn't until I finished the article, and the usual recommendations, that I noticed it was written by Bill St. John all the way from Chicago.

St. John used to be the food and wine editor for the Denver Post, but that was years ago. He since moved on to the Chicago Tribune. Occasionally St. John's writing is published in the Post as a special report (aka syndicated). Just as with broadcast syndication, newspaper syndication can provide market penetration and revenue for the author. Pretty good work if you can get it.

But the problem with this type of publishing is that it can actually be a detriment to the reader. Publishing generic articles that don't have a pulse on the local conditions goes against the grain of what wine consumers want: authenticity. Local sections of local newspapers should be about local conditions. I'm not suggesting that the article should have been solely about local wines, but some awareness that cabernet franc is important to the local industry would be something a local writer would have.

Now, syndicated wine columns are not all that bad. David White, of Terroirist.com, writes a twice monthly wine column that’s distributed to newspapers across the country. These columns are hosted over on Grape Collective. Generally syndicated columns are generic enough to be applicable anywhere. White usually does a good job with this. Most of the time articles about a specific grape variety are adequately universal, but yet the cab franc piece completely missed the mark when it could have been so much more salient.

Great American Beer Fest Kicks off

Tonight is a big night in the alcohol beverage world: The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) kicks off this evening in Denver, CO. I don't limit my description to just the beer industry because the wine and spirits industries should be taking note of what the Brewers Association accomplishes this week. GABF represents the largest public tasting of U.S. beer, and an actually meaningful competition.

The first flying winemaker...

The consultant winemaker has always been important. Many people have a vision and the means to start a winery, but not the winemaking skill. Perhaps the best example would be Robert Mondavi. Mondavi was not a winemaker. He always hired winemakers to make his wine. For many years, his sons were the chief winemakers. Many other now-famous winemakers have also passed through the doors at Mondavi.

However, the role of a consultant winemaker is not that of a person that oversees the day-to-day operations at a winery, but stops in a few times throughout the year to offer an outside perspective. Napa Valley and Bordeaux are two places where wineries heavily rely on the advice of consultants

In the 1990s, the idea of the consultant winemaker took on an even bigger role as more people got bitten by the vintners bug and established producers wanted to make a splash by adding a big name winemaker to the payroll. As certain winemakers' fame began to rise, the concept of the flying winemaker took shape. Flying around the world and consulting for dozens if not hundreds of wineries, the likes of Michel Rolland, Stéphane Derenoncourt, Paul Hobbs and Nick Goldschmidt, have developed a reputation for being a guarantee of producing high-quality, expensive wines. Rolland has become the poster child for the flying winemaker moniker, he has also been cited as a reason for the development of the international style of wine.

But Rolland wasn't the first winemaker to hop on a plane to go to work. Warren Winiarski, himself the son of a amateur winemaker (and for what it's worth, his surname literally means "son of a winemaker) was the first winemaker at the aforementioned Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa. He was also, perhaps, the first flying winemaker in the United States.

Colorado Wine Week, 2013

Next week (June 2-8) marks the third annual Colorado Wine Week. In 2011, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper proclaimed the first week of June to be Colorado Wine Week to coincide with the first ever Colorado Urban Winefest. Both the Urban and Mountain Winefest (in September in Palisade) are put on by the Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology (the wineries' and vineyards' trade association). The Urban event has changed venues three times the past three years, but has also grown in scope beyond just the Saturday afternoon festival and may soon surpass the original festival in importance for the local industry.

The kickoff event for the week's festivities is billed as a "Farm-to-Turntable" Party on Sunday, June 2. The idea behind this event is to combine a farm-to-table passed appetizer gathering with music from a DJ. It is nice to see a fresh approach for Colorado wineries to reach a different audience. Almost all of the wineries are run by retired Baby Boomers and the younger generation is often overlooked as an important consumer base. Not surprisingly, perhaps Colorado's most successful winery, Infinite Monkey Theorem, has focused on the "farm-to-turntable" type of crowd. I am looking forward to seeing how successful this event is.

Sticking with the hipper crowd and bringing back a theme from last year's Wine Week, local alcoholic beverages other than wine will be celebrated as well. There will be a Colorado Cocktail Celebration (June 4) at Green Russell where Denver's top mixologists will use local wines in creating unique mixed drinks. Also, on June 6, organizers have developed a wine, beer and spirits food pairing competition they've dubbed "Craft Colorado" at Root 25 Taphouse & Kitchen. I think it is an important step for the industry be considered on the same level as the highly successful craft breweries and distillers in Colorado. Too often wineries complain that they're not as successful as the breweries instead of trying to place nicely with them and support everyone.

One of the highlights of the week for me (because I helped organize the Governor's Cup) is the Governor's Cup Awards Presentation Reception and Tasting at the Hospitality Learning Center at Metro State University on June 7. Only medal-winning wines from the competition will be allowed to be poured; so attendees won't have to worry about getting a mouthful of vinegar or horse manure. I was able to taste many of the winners during the competition and can say that there will be some really nice wines poured. And for the second year in a row a cabernet franc won best of show. This year, Creekside Cellar's 2010 Cabernet Franc succeeded the Winery at Holy Cross Abbey as earning the Governor's Cup. As I've said before, I think Colorado could really make cabernet franc its signature variety.

The week concludes with the Urban Winefest breaking in its new digs at Infinity Park in Glendale. More than three dozen wineries will be sampling and selling bottles. The rugby stadium and park are near the high-rent Cherry Creek North so the walk-up crowd should be sizeable and affluent. The venue is not as centrally located as last year's, but the space is bigger and parking is more ample. If the festival stays at Infinity Park in 2014 I'd say this year's event was successful.

Perhaps the most important part of Wine Week isn't the proclamation or the events, but the buy-in from area restaurants and retailers. Along the Front Range, from Boulder to Colorado Springs, restaurants and wine shops are now involved in the local industry like never before. Dozens of restaurants will be offering Colorado wine and appetizer pairings all week. The restaurant tier has been a tough cookie for most Colorado wineries to crack, but Wine Week has been a boon for getting on wine lists and in consumers' mouths. And getting Colorado consumers to see that Colorado has a growing, quality local wine industry is the goal of the whole week.

Tickets for all events can be purchased here. Use the promo code "WINEWEEK" for $10 off (25%) your ticket to the Urban Winefest.

Restaurants need to get with the program

Restaurants in Colorado are missing the boat when it comes to being innovative and genuine with their wine lists. There are just over 100 wineries in the state, yet I can only think of a handful of wineries that appear on restaurant wine lists in the Denver area. Sure, some of the fault lies with the wineries. Many think they are too small to appear on a restaurant list and some just don't want to sell to restaurants. That's fine and good, but it is also a short-sighted perspective. Restaurants can and should be a vital partner in a wine industry.

When I was in Napa last week, the Napa Valley Vintners worked with 10 area restaurants to promote by-the-glass lists with only Napa Valley wine for Premiere week. Now, Napa has more than four times as many wineries and many orders of magnitude more acres of vineyards than Colorado so it is easier for restaurants to find local wines they want to place on their lists. I bring up the Napa comparison only because we are in the middle of Denver Restaurant Week (Feb. 23 - Mar. 8). I've eaten at two different restaurants and have been disappointed in the wine selections at each. Both wine specials at each restaurant were the exact same Gallo-owned brands. Sure, sponsorship for events such as Restaurant Week are important, but when a restaurant is trying to be innovative with its food, why not its wine? I only found one Colorado selection on their regular wines lists. Which leads me to my next point.

So many Colorado restaurants tout themselves are being farm-to-table or supporting local farmers. Yet, few have more than a token local wine on the list if any at all. Local beers and spirits appear on lists with much more frequency than local wines. Part of this has to do with the brewers and distillers being located along the front range whereas the wineries are much more spread out throughout the state and being more active promoters of their products. But a good deal of it has to do with restaurants being lazy. They only look the through catalogs that their beverage distributors bring them. Very few Colorado wineries actually have third-party distributors, but instead self-distribute their product.Yes, those wineries need to be more proactive in approaching select restaurants, but restaurants also need to show their support for local vintners by visiting the wineries and vineyards, too. Chefs are eager to find local greens and meats, but wine is often forgotten.

Now, I'm not advocating that any restaurant have a 100% Colorado wine list. But restaurants hold some responsibility in offering more than same five Colorado wineries. I should note that a few restaurants in the Grand Valley do a much better job of listing Colorado wine, but like it or not Denver and the mountain resort towns are the markets that matters most. The very knowledgeable Colorado consumers want to see that some thought went into the design of a wine list and not just wines that are easily available at the local liquor store, but with a 300% markup. Restaurants in other wine regions get this, why don't Colorado restaurants?