Monday, August 9, 2010

Supermarket wines undermining industry, say growers


The major supermarkets are moving into marketing their own brands of wine, but there is concern in the industry that home brands would not be obvious to consumers. Winemakers' Federation spokesman Steven Strachn says the more aggressive approach by the supermarkets will undermine the diversity of the industry.

"We will be facing an environment where the real drivers around purchasing of wine are going to be more and more about price and I don't think that is healthy at all," he said. "I think we want an industry that has diversity of production, that has a large range of producers offering consumers a wide variety of different products."

But retail giant Woolworths has rejected the winemakers' claim. Woolworths spokesman Luke Schepen says the company does not buy wine from the major players and the home brands provide a new opportunity for smaller operators.

"We mostly deal with mum and dad companies and smaller wineries that see the benefit of a private label market and they can actually deliver some really good quality wines to the consumer at the end of the day," he said. "We do pay fair prices and I suppose how we can deliver really good value for the customer is that we don't have all those marketing costs."
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Friday, August 6, 2010

Wine: Virginia puts money where mouth is


If you start hearing more about Virginia wine soon, it won’t just be through coverage here in The Washington Post. New legislation passed this year and signed by Gov. Bob McDonnell effectively doubles the state’s financial support for the Virginia Wine Board to use in marketing and research.

This dedicated funding for the Board, which is part of the state agriculture department, essentially reinvests taxes and fees the wine industry pays into efforts to promote and expand the industry. With the stroke of McDonnell’s pen, the Board’s annual budget rose from $580,000 to $1.35 million.

In addition, the Commonwealth Transportation Board has allocated $3.5 million to a wine tourism initiative that will let visitors to tourist attractions such as Monticello, Colonial Williamsburg or Civil War battlefields know that there are wineries nearby, too. This effort will also target short-term visitors who are merely passing through but wish to take advantage of the Old Dominion’s roadside amenities (i.e., rest stops).

Part of the Wine Board’s expanded efforts will focus on getting the word about Virginia wine into the media, said Annette Boyd, director of the board’s marketing office. The Board is a major sponsor of the national Wine Bloggers Conference 2011, which will be held in Charlottesville. It is also sponsoring a visit next month by the Circle of Wine Writers, a British group of wine reporters. The board also sponsored this year's DrinkLocalWine.com conference in Leesburg.

First Lady Maureen McDonnell has championed Virginia’s wine industry as well, backing efforts to promote exports to Britain during the governor’s trade mission there earlier this year. We can expect to see her playing a visible role in Virginia Wine Month in October, and she is planning an effort to push Virginia wines onto wine lists at restaurants in D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Not all the noise coming from Richmond this year has been positive. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) signed a letter of state attorneys general supporting legislation in Congress that would sharply limit the ability of wineries or consumers to challenge restrictive state alcohol distribution laws in court. While that bill, H.R. 5034, is not given much chance of passing, it could be devastating to many small wineries by restricting or eliminating their ability to ship wines directly to consumers.
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Monday, August 2, 2010

There's more to wine than just growing the grapes

Seven years ago, Amy Mumma came to Central Washington University with a plan. She wanted to establish a Global Wine Studies program.

One where students, consumers and industry members could learn about merchandising and selling wine. She expected resistance from administrators. She was wrong.

"We need a support structure to get our wine out there," said Mumma, the program's coordinator and lead instructor. "We have more than 500,000 wineries in the world. We need to differentiate ourselves."

To that end, Mumma and Central created a program that includes trade and consumer classes, a wine trade professional certificate and a wine trade and tourism minor.

She also established a bachelor of science degree in Global Wine Studies in 2008, the only undergraduate program in the country that focuses on the business side of the industry, Mumma said.

"Twenty percent of consumers drink 80 percent of the wines," she said. "We need to get a bigger slice (for Washington). That's what this program tries to do."

In 1981, there were 19 wineries in Washington. Now, there are more than 600. The economic impact of the state's wine industry has grown from $2.4 billion in 1999 to $3 billion today.

To keep pace with the rapid growth, Mumma said qualified people are needed for a variety of careers, including winery and vineyard management, wine merchandising, e-commerce and distribution.

Although many people are enraptured by the wine-country dream, she said the dream costs money. There's the cost of the grapes, equipment and barrels, then there's a one- to two-year wait before the product is available for sale.

Selling the wine is another matter, because consumers have choices. That's why marketing and branding are especially important, as is knowing the laws governing importing and exporting, she said.

"(If you don't), your wine can stop at a port and stay there," she said. "Regulations change daily. ... This is a complicated industry. Very complicated."

Students in Global Wine Studies are taught professional tasting techniques to detect, prevent and fix wine faults, in addition to wine business issues and the global wine industry.

The professional certification, which can be completed in one year, covers such topics as viticulture, oenology, world wine regions and wine marketing. The minor takes one to two years and includes those topics plus retailing, management and tourism.

The four-year degree is the most expansive, with additional instruction in such areas as wine faults, world cultures, advanced sensory analysis and international wine law.

Eighty-five percent of the program's graduates land jobs in the industry; most stay in Washington, Mumma said.

Jenn Jones, a 2009 degree graduate, says everything she's learned from Mumma has been applicable to her job at Goose Ridge Estate Vineyards and Winery in Richland. There, she assists the tasting room manager, helps coordinates events and participates in day-to-day operations.

"You can make the best wine in the world, but if you can't market it and sell it, you have no chance of surviving," said Jones, 23. "All the assignments had to do with real-life scenarios, so you could see why you were taking the class. You saw the relevance in it. That kept you motivated."

Beth McGuffin agrees. She graduated from Central in 2007 with a world wine program certificate and a minor in wine trade and tourism. Now she works as the marketing and trade manager for Benson Vineyards in Manson, Wash.

"Amy's program has a good overview about everything from the wine business. It touches on winemaking, vineyards and gets down to the nitty-gritty of the wine industry," said 25-year-old McGuffin. "Every single thing you learn there you could apply at a winery."

When the certificate program launched in 2004, four people enrolled. Now, the number of students is capped at 30 and there are waiting lists, said Mumma, who teaches the curriculum with one other instructor. To date, 20 people have graduated from her program with a degree, and another 150 have earned a professional certificate.

Mumma is continually bombarded with application requests from people throughout the country, which is why she's creating an online version of the certificate program, she said. Through it, students could complete the curriculum at their own pace but would have to come to Central for a week of wine tastings. Mumma hopes to offer the program by the end of the year.

For the online program, she's setting up a satellite site in Virginia -- the location of which depends on the number of people who enroll. Through it, people living closer to that state could complete their week of tastings there, under someone Mumma has trained, instead of flying to Washington.

Mumma hopes to establish similar sites throughout the country, adding the curriculum will still belong to Central.

Vicky Scharlau, executive director of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers, and Roger Gamache, winemaker for Gamache Vintners in Prosser, have lectured in Mumma's classes. To them, the wine studies program is a vital component of the state's wine industry and gives new employees an edge over the competition.

"People need to understand that the whole world of marketing and sales is not simplistic by any means," Gamache said. "You have a toolbox full of tools. The more you hone those tools and skill sets, the more professional you are. ... Amy is one of those tools that will help us move forward."

Scharlau agrees, saying Mumma's graduates are filling positions that help the industry grow.

"Her corner of the market is unique," Scharlau said. "She really has the pulse on the needs, the trends and the future."

Mumma said she doesn't want to stretch the program too thin. Instead, she wants to strengthen its core and debunk notions that the wine business is open to an elite few. If she can spread her passion for wine to others, she said she'll have done her job. "Art, science and business all combine into a glass," Mumma said about wine studies. "It's a beautiful thing."
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