Wine Gifts

If you’re starting to think of holiday gifts, which many people are already here in September, why not consider giving wine gifts this holiday season? Wine gifts give you two big advantages. To start, they are among the most luxurious gifts which can be given. Secondly, even if you don’t know wine well yourself, you [...]

Source: http://winewithmark.info/archives/658

wine types wine types of wine merchant french wine

Luxury Gift Baskets

Every year with Uncorked Ventures Matt and I want to make improvements in both the way we handle our business (the processes involved) as well as the offerings we have. On the wine, simply continuing to grow our customer base as well as continuing to build relationships with wineries and vineyard owners will do the [...]

Source: http://winewithmark.info/archives/651

wine types of wine merchant french wine sparkling wine

Perfection in a Bottle?

In the rolling hills of Tuscany the Frescobaldi family has been making wine for 30 generations and some 700 years.  Yet, it was only in 1995, when the family aligned with the Mondavi’s, America’s first wine family, that a cross-continental collaboration was borne in Montalcino, an area within the Tuscan region famous for its Brunello, a 100% Sangiovese wine.

Luce della Vite, meaning “Light of the Vine,” is the resulting winery even as gyrations in the Mondavi family business have blunted the initial collaboration of the two families in jointly creating a world class winery.  Now run exclusively by the Frescobaldi’s with investment from Michael Mondavi (and imported to the U.S. by Michael Mondavi’s Folio Wine Partners), their flagship wine, sourced from 29 DOCG certified acres, the 2006 Brunello di Montalcino, has been awarded a perfect 100-point score by James Suckling, former European Bureau Chief for Wine Spectator, now leading his own wine project at his eponymous web site.

This introduction would be apropos of nothing besides ornate wine writer affectations were it not necessary to create the milieu for what is an interesting convergence of issues in the wine world.

Encapsulated in this one wine, from an Italian wine family, formerly aligned with the scion of American wine and imported to the U.S. by his son and given a perfect 100-point score by a former critic with the Wine Spectator, many of the contemporary issues of the wine world can be examined and pondered…

Consider:

•  A 100-point score

Is there such a thing as a perfect wine?  I’ll leave the question open-ended while noting that my own scoring only goes to 99.  In the realm of subjectivity, can something like wine or art achieve perfection?

•  The fallibility of wine criticism

Stephen Tanzer, another notable wine critic, gave the same wine 92 points.  Wine Enthusiast scored it 93 points.  Robert Parker’s Italian wine critic (and recently anointed California reviewer), Antonio Galloni, gave it a 90.  While a 90, 92 or 93 is a good score, the difference between a 93 and a 100 certainly points to a margin spread that provides more questions than answers about the wine.

•  Crossing the digital divide

Suckling, ex-Wine Spectator, is out of the paper magazine business and running his own web site with subscriptions, a business that is less than a year old.  He has lived in Tuscany for a number of years and knows Brunello wines well.  However, anointing 100-point wines isn’t something critics do lightly or without thought.  So, when he declares that, “The 2006 vintage for Brunello di Montalcino is the new benchmark…” is he genuinely reviewing the vintage and the region’s most notable vintner or is this his attempt at market-making relevance akin to Robert Parker Jr.’s declaration of ’82 Bordeaux as “superb” when others weren’t as bullish?

•  Critical scores affect on inelastic pricing

While so-called “cult” wines get a bad rap based on their stylistic profile, the reality is that prices are high because of scarcity – more people want to buy it then there is wine available to buy.  Suckling’s 100-point score for the Luce Brunello is oft-repeated on numerous retailer web sites where the retail price has been raised from a suggested retail price of $89.99 to an average price of $127 based on Wine-Searcher.com data.  Meanwhile, the 2005 Luce Brunello is being discounted and has an average price of $84 based on Wine-searcher.com data.  It should be noted, that save for Suckling on the ’06, both wines were reviewed consistently with scores in the low 90s.

•  A global style

It’s interesting to note that Suckling’s tasting note for the Brunello called it, “…A wine with soul.”  Meanwhile Antonio Galloni noted, “The sheer concentration and depth of fruit are remarkable, but ultimately this comes across as a heavy, labored Brunello with limited finesse.”

So, which is it?  Is it a soulful wine or one with limited finesse?  The U.S. has the largest global appetite for Brunello with some reporting that upwards of 25% of all Brunelli produced is imported to the states.  Given that, is the Luce Brunello made to appeal to more of a fruit-forward palate that is often found in the U.S., a style of wine that Wine Spectator and Suckling have lauded in the wake of Robert Parker, the so-called, global style?

Summary

I’ll save the full review of the wine for my Forbes.com column…in the meantime, I’m reminded that the conversations about the people, personalities, ideas and issues in the wine world are often as interesting as what’s in the glass and that’s certainly the case with the 2006 Luce della Vite Brunello di Montalcino, a 100-points for interest and conversational fodder and less for the actual wine.  For me, that’s just perfect.

Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/perfection_in_a_bottle/

wine brands brands of wine discount wine wine distributors

Inside the Bread: Whole Foods to Open New Location in Wellesley

Whole Foods Market is set to open its new location in Wellesley on Monday - just one day after closing their 5,900 square foot location at 278 Washington St that's been open since 1980. The new store will offer 26,000 square feet of grocery goodness and perhaps more importantly, over 200 parking spaces.

After touring the new location as finishing touches were being applied this week I have a feeling Whole Foods loyalists will be pleased with the new location. And the store will likely attract shoppers who previously shopped primarily at conventional grocery stores. More on this in a moment, but first a little background about Whole Foods.

Bread & Circus

To understand Whole Foods' presence in the region we need to understand the history of the Bread & Circus chain they acquired in 1992. Whole Foods has grown through a combination of acquisition and organic growth - no pun intended - and Bread & Circus was one of their earliest purchases. Although the brand was retired long ago, stores in the region still pay homage to their Bread & Circus heritage. One of the first things I spotted in the new store was this stencil above the produce area:


The first Bread & Circus opened in Brookline in 1975. The Wellesley location opened in 1980 and over the years a total of six Bread & Circus stores operated in the region. They were somewhat similar to green line T stations in that they were situated in little pockets in neighborhoods as friendly little markets.


CEO: John Mackey

To understand Whole Foods you have to understand John Mackey. To understand Mackey you need to read two articles:

From around 2000 to 2005 I was a Whole Foods shareholder. I liked to invest in companies I was impressed with and each time I visited a Whole Foods location I saw long checkout lines and outstanding overall execution. Kind of like Chipotle these days.

Yahoo! Finance message boards were big at that time and I remember being impressed with the postings of  one the forum's consistent contributors, "rahodeb". Rahodeb would bust out compound annual growth rate statistics (CAGR) and familiarity with Whole Foods expansion plans with incredible clarity and accuracy. Here's an example of a typical posting - someone should really compile these into a book. When someone would question whether Wal-Mart's expansion into organics would threaten Whole Foods, Rahodeb would fire back that it was instead Wal-Mart that should be concerned about Whole Foods. Rahodeb would spar just enough with "liberfar" and "hog152" to make you think they were a regular message board nut job meanwhile planting seeds of doubt if you should be so foolish as to short Whole Foods stock.

It turned out Rahodeb was none other than Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. Rahodeb was an anagram for his wife Deborah. Looking back I'm glad Mackey's identity was revealed. I'd developed an inferiority complex over my inability to delve into the details of a company the way Rahodeb did and it actually made me feel better when I learned it was the CEO posting anonymously.

Still a Good Investment?


The chart above shows the performance of Whole Foods Market stock (WFM) over the past 20 years. Their largest acquisition - of Wild Oats in 2007 - came right before a precipitous dip 2009. But the stock has bounced back remarkably well.

Is it a good time to buy Whole Foods stock? I think it depends on their ability to continue growing - both in terms of same store sales and in terms of new locations. When viewed through this lens it becomes clear why they'd move to this new, larger location. How could they possibly eek any more dollars out of the old location? The place was bursting at the seams and had to be constantly restocked.

Competition

When Wellesley-based Roche Bros moved to its snazzy new location across Linden Street, it demonstrated that a modern supermarket could indeed be shoehorned into landlocked Wellesley. I doubt Roche Bros had much direct impact on Whole Foods, but the disparity in spaciousness between the two stores become glaringly obvious. One would have to think Whole Foods real estate management had this in mind when the opportunity to move into the site formerly inhabited by Star Market presented itself.

Star Market's departure was mostly unlamented (the situation with Tian Fu kicked up far more controversy) and by displacing another store there is one less grocery store in town. But I've always felt like Whole Foods main national competitor is Trader Joe's. With locations in Needham and Framingham Trader Joe's would make a lot of people happy by opening in the space Whole Foods will vacate. I've heard rumblings it may be just as likely to become a Panera Bread.

Perhaps the real competitor hasn't arrived yet. Rochester New York-based Wegman's regularly appears near the top of Fortune's Best Places to Work list and is planning to open in Northborough, MA in October with rumors of additional stores in Westwood and Burlington over the next couple years.

I've always felt Whole Foods was uniquely positioned. Yes they have a lot of organic and natural foods but they sell food that's flat out delicious while maintaining standards I haven't seen other grocery stores come near matching. They've always said "It's about Whole Foods, not Holy Foods" (link).

Some might say it's more like "Whole Paycheck" but in my experience if you like the product assortment at Whole Foods their prices are as good or better than other stores.

New Wellesley Store Photo Tour

The main store entrance places you squarely in front of the produce section. It was 5 days before store opening so perishable items hadn't been stocked yet:


Just behind the produce is the seafood section - soon to be stocked with fresh catches from Pigeon Cove.

Behind Seafood is the Butcher Shop. I learned that the unique signage you see in Whole Foods locations are custom made for each location.

The location mixes rough-sawn signage with polished concrete floors. Very cool.

Dry aged steaks make their first appearance at a Whole Foods in Wellesley.

The cheese section is large as a percentage of the square footage of the store. It offers a combination of pre-packaged and hand-cut gourmet cheeses in an alcove similar to one at their Dedham location.

Baked breads are available as well as fresh-made pizzas available by the slice or whole pie to take out.

Coffee - just one part of one tiny aisle in the old location - finally gets respectable treatment:

A special feature near the adjacent little league fields is a take-out counter offering refreshments, gelato and coffee. Taking advantage of the store's adjacent to the ballfield location. Nice.

Here's what the take-out counter will look like from the outside:

Next to the take-out counter is a community room where cooking demonstrations will take place:

Whole Foods are starting to become more like restaurants than grocery stores. The prepared foods section is massive as a percentage of the store. I'm particularly looking forward to the burritos made to order...and the free Wi-Fi.


The salad bar/hot foods section looks to be as large as those found in larger Whole Foods locations.

Will The Old Location be Missed?

I have a feeling we'll look back on the old location much like we do the Bread & Circus brand: With nostalgia. But overall we'll be pleased with the changes. It was sometimes nice to be able to buzz through the tiny store and pick up things in a hurry. But when the store was crowded it was nearly impossible to navigate. Parking was challenging. Feast your eyes on all this beautiful free parking:


Although the new location isn't huge (26,000 square feet compared to around 60,000 at their Dedham location) the aisles are relatively wide. Kiddie carts are set to be available - another Wellesley Whole Foods first:


A small kids play area is near the registers and, I presume, where some tables are soon going to be for shoppers to eat prepared foods.


Conclusion

The opening of the Wellesley Whole Foods Market has been highly anticipated. I think people are really going to like it. If you haven't shopped at Whole Foods in the past I'd encourage you to give it a try. As I toured the store I got the sense I'll enjoy shopping here with my family for years to come. It's a nice space they've created and I'm looking forward to seeing the store with its shelves fully stocked and staffed.

The store is offering a sneak preview this Friday, August 19th, 2011 from 8 am to 6 pm. Click here for more information.

They're also holding a "bread breaking" ceremony at 7:30 am right before their 8:00 am grand opening on Monday August 22nd, 2011. The first 500 shoppers get a reusable Whole Foods shopping bag. More info on their website.

Wellesley doesn't allow wine to be sold at retail. Even if the town did allow it, the state currently allows a maximum three liquor licenses per retailer. Check here for a list of grocery stores in MA that do sell wine. 

Check 'em Out:
Whole Foods Market Wellesley
442 Washington Street
Wellesley, MA
Hours: 7 am - 10 pm daily (except holidays)
@wfmwellesley
On Facebook

Further Reading from Casa Dwyer:
A Fresh Look at Wellesley's Whole Foods Market


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/AL1gfxfRK4o/inside-bread-whole-foods-to-open-new.html

wine for sale wine sale fine wines wine ratings

Refreshing Brunello: Il Paradiso

I attended a private dinner recently where a Brunello was the main wine. It was big and extracted and I found it fatiguing. I can’t even remember the producer’s name. Of course, the palate fatigue wasn’t helped that the other wines on the table were a primitivo and an Amarone. It was the sort of [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/GuSC/~3/vw1ExehQtMY/

about wine what is wine wines about wines