Comments on: The avoid-brands wine strategy

By: JCM1975

JCM1975 — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 20:27:17 +0000

I’d like to point out a mistake by the author. Banfi does not make Riunite, never had, never will. Banfi before they were a producer was a wine importer and they still are. Riunite is one of the many brands they import and or sell in the USA along with Travento, Walnut Crest, Bola, Choncha y toro and now Kenwood vinyards from the US. Fiat is closer to a Ferrari then Banfi is to Riunite.

By: najdorf

najdorf — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:14:28 +0000

There are plenty of big, widely-distributed brands that offer a predictable, decent quality product which is safer than taking a flier on something totally unknown in a weakly staffed and stocked store – d’Arenberg’s Stump Jump, Borsao in Spain, Chateau Ste Michelle, etc. There’s not always an opportunity to discover a great product from a noble, small-scale farmer when one is trying to pick up a wine for 10 bucks on the way somewhere.

ARJ, your examples are not great. Montelena is a classic large Napa producer that is riding its reputation and pricing accordingly. Robert Mondavi is dead and before he died he sold his name to Constellation Brands. These brands are better at manipulating your beliefs than you realize.

By: Sedimentblog

Sedimentblog — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:12:39 +0000

You need to define what you mean by "brand" and "branded"! Effectively, all wines are "branded", albeit with the name of the producer. But is a Chapoutier wine a "brand" any more or less than "Mondavi" or "Latour"? And why? The Sediment Blog

By: johnhhaskell

johnhhaskell — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:49:42 +0000

1. Your link to Jay Miller’s problems with rating Spanish wines was interesting – as you may know Jay Miller has some other problems now.
2. I’m quite flattered to find my $60 bottle of Tignanello mentioned in the same breath as Opus One and Lafitte. If that’s bad value, I’ll take it

By: crocodilechuck

crocodilechuck — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:45:59 +0000

Felix,

What were you doing in Chesterfield, MO?

;)

By: ARJTurgot2

ARJTurgot2 — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:08:04 +0000

Another thing you should know about the big guys: I heard this story more than a couple of times from small producers in CA, that when they were struggling early on, old man Modavi showed up and bought their crop, sometimes for years, giving them the cash to survive. I was like you for a long time, now, I would not hesitate to buy either a Gallo or Mondavi wine. It’s not like NY, Felix, lots of ethical, honest, decent people are doing business in this country.

By: ARJTurgot2

ARJTurgot2 — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:46:33 +0000

Bulgari is going to find out it’s not competitive. There are some exceptional large company wines. Gallo and Mondavi have deeper pockets than Bulgari can dream of, and the Gallo daughter has more business sense in her pinky than the whole Bulgari bunch together.

But, take a wine country tour. Head west to Calistoga, avoid Napa and Sonoma, and you will find small family vinters that compete against the best in the world, and beat them. Take your bike, or rent one in town. Chateau Montelena is an easy ride from any of the downtown hotels, and it beat ALL of the rest of the world. If you are really interested and serious, post a note on this site. I have contacts there you should talk to. You will never buy imports again.

By: Auros

Auros — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:23:18 +0000

Totally agree, re: Spanish wines. When my spouse and I were there on honeymoon, we saw this effect. You can get an excellent bottle Malaga Dulce for well under €20, and we found perfectly respectable wines by the glass in the range of €5, even in good restaurants.

By: QCIC

QCIC — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:19:38 +0000

I tend to just grab something in the 7-10 dollar range I haven’t tried before. Then if I like it I get it again, if I don’t like it I avoid it. I know rocket science!

By: FifthDecade

FifthDecade — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:05:37 +0000

My sister has an interesting wine buying strategy: if the label has any gold on it, she won’t buy it. Her point is that if they have to spend money on the label to sell the wine, the wine can’t sell itself so she avoids it. It works pretty well, too.

Another rule when hunting value, avoid French wine. It’s terribly overpriced for what you get, whereas Southern Hemisphere wines offer a far better cost/flavour ratio. They may be harder to get hold of, but they’re worth hunting down.

All the above assume you are looking for an alternative to the mass produced US varieties.

By: Chris08

Chris08 — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:46:45 +0000

You assume one wine objectively tastes better than another (delicious and characterful; great Rioja, etc.). But as one expert said when asked which wines he prefers, “I usually buy the cheapest since they all taste about the same.” I would say that once one gets above the dirt cheap wines (say over $6-7 a bottle) it is purely a matter of taste. So why worry about brands at all? And differences in taste are minimal and purely subjective.

By: MickWeinstein

MickWeinstein — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:12:05 +0000

What you say is true in Spain is also in Israel – you can count on the Ramat HaGolan Winery, which is the biggest producer and responsible for the whole Israeli wine boom since the 90s. Try a Yarden cab if you can.
But the Parkerized Castel and Yatir are also very good!