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+--- Thread: Heard about Mondavi? (/thread-20974.html)
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- Kcwhippet - 11-04-2004
It appears the entire Monadavi empire was bought the other day by Constellation. Yup, the folks who bring you Arbor Mist are now the proud vintners of Mondavi NV Reserve Cab.
- winoweenie - 11-04-2004
Is there any indication that Big Bob and sons are buying back the premium division? We'll probably stop by next week. WW
- Kcwhippet - 11-04-2004
Nope. The whole kit and kaboodle, including Opus One, went to Constellation. The only Mondavi they want keep is old Robert to act as "ambassador."
- wondersofwine - 11-05-2004
I did hear Richard Arrowood might buy back his winery name. Wonder if that will happen now. I have great respect for Robert Mondavi and I'm sorry to see it come to this. I'd be fine with Constellation promoting Woodbridge, etc. but don't trust them with the finer properties.
- Thomas - 11-05-2004
WW, Mondavi tried to keep the premium division but Constellation told them it would be all or nothing at all; they did, however, agree to up the ante for whole thing.
To me it is a sad day for 2 reasons:
Mondavi's family fights, plus the family desire to be big and powerful has brought them to this point; and consolidation seems one day will wipe out all individuality, not to mention choice and competition.
- californiagirl - 11-05-2004
Check this out:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/11314879p-12229661c.html
- wondersofwine - 11-05-2004
Thanks for the link, CG.
- winoweenie - 11-05-2004
Very intersting and at the same time depressing. WW
- Thomas - 11-06-2004
Amazing what a company can do; this one, Constellation, was formed out of Canandaigua Wine Co., which got rich off Richard's Wild Irish Rose (great juice ww), and which had been manipulated over the years in a most crafty and successful manner. Wine? That's just incidental to the goal...
- winoweenie - 11-06-2004
Will hopefully do a 10-day vertical on this whenced we return from Napa next week-end. WW
- wineguruchgo - 11-14-2004
I've heard though the grapevine (no pun intended) that the three kids couldn't decide on an agreeable path to take by all of them.
The world hasn't been fond of Tims wines for a few years so that hasn't helped them. Michael has been focusing way too much on Woodbridge. BTW - he drinks the White Zin with ice in it! Go figure. He stood before us at a sales meeting, held up a bottle of Woodbridge and said "What is this?" I said (in what I thought was a low voice) "The cash cow?". Needless to say the room burst out laughing and management wasn't too pleased with me!
Anyway, I digress, from what I understand it was a common agreement of all three children to sell to the highest bidder, get out of the huge debt that they have and go their own way.
Tim and Michael may buy other property and start all over again. My gut says they won't remain as a team. I guess time will tell.
- Thomas - 11-14-2004
That's a funny story wineguru. At your age you should know that the last thing anyone wants to hear in a sales meeting is the TRUTH, especially in front of the vendor.
I used to get in lots of trouble when I worked for a distributor, especially with a certain volatile product that we were forced to sell (which I refused to do). Management would bring out wines--sometimes with the winery rep--for us to taste, ask for our opinions and then get crazed when we gave a real opinion, if it happened to be negative. They had already decided to buy the horrible stuff and they don't need sales reps telling them how horrible a move it was...
- stevebody - 11-14-2004
It may just be the latent hippie in me but I flinch down to my chromosomes when one of your Constellations or Southcorps buys up a respected winery. I see the spin has already started, with that business about this sale being good for the CA wine industry when someone will pay $1.3B for a company. I think the question should be Who's Paying It? A conglomerate that's made its bones on Wild Irish Rose stands a fair chance of not properly respecting the Mondavi brand. The Mondavi rep up here, Michael Ginder, is a long-time friend of mine and has run up against the same company attitudes about truth-telling as did Guru. But when was truth ever a hallmark of the wine business? The brands manager from Stimson, Dave Strathey, has poured his wines for me at lunch several times over the past five years and solicited my opinion and then goes away pissed when I give it to him. (Not a big fan of Ste. Michelle) I had a twenty minute phone argument with Gary Hogue, once, after he asked what I was doing to sell his wines and I said "Nothing". He asked why and I told him I didn't think much of them, except for a couple of the Genesis things. Bad feelings ensued.
Don't worry: I'm not climbing all the way up on the soapbox but I just think that creative rationalization is as old a tradition in the wine trade as is bottling grape juice. And what a pity that is...
- wineguruchgo - 11-14-2004
Foodie,
"I used to get in lots of trouble when I worked for a distributor, especially with a certain volatile product that we were forced to sell"
We had the rep from Lolonis blind taste us (80 of us) between his wine and another brand. Each time, different varietals, we picked the other guys! We obviously didn't do it on purpose. Not only was the guy miserable, he left our house shortly thereafter.
Guess we had better sense than he did. If you are going to blind taste make sure your wines are superior!
Stevebody,
"when one of your Constellations or Southcorps buys up a respected winery"
Here's a really sad story for you. Approx. 10 years ago Southcorp was unknown here in Chicago. The local broker finally landed a decent distributor for his wines and was making headway. Southcorp decided they were paying him too much money because he was a broker and decided to hire him. When the brand came to the distributor I was working for they were selling approx. 2,500 cases. 5 years later the number was at 50,000 cases!
He was just fired. Had it not been for him the brand wouldn't be doing what it did here in Chicago. If I am correct it was actually Rosemount that bought Southcorp.
We can blame the yellowtails of the world for much of what is going on right now. The 2 buck chucks are killing the reputable brands out there that sell for less than $10.00 per bottle.
I also knew that we would see a shift in the market within the Aussie lines because the gov't is no longer subsidizing the growers/wineries. That is part of the reason that Australia has outpaced Chile. They have a goal. 25/12 is their motto. They want 25% of the American market by the year 2012. They are right on track.
The sad thing is that there are great wines from all over the world and they are really feeling the pinch. No wonder the French are so pissed at us. They have some decent little wines that are virtually ignored by the American market because of the flood of Australia.
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the Aussie wines, don't take me wrong. It's just the monopoly that bothers me. Which is why I like this board so much because we, as a group, tend to jump out of the box and recommend wines that newbies or others would never think of or venture to buy.
Just my humble opinion.
- Glass_A_Day - 11-14-2004
I have another theory. It's not just the flood of advertising and catchy labels that is doing the real wine in. It's the public's lack of real wine interest. People don't care about finding the good fun values each vintage. It's too much work for them. They want the Coors Light of the wine industry. I.E. the KJ Chard or the Yellow Tail Shiraz. They want the label and the wine to be the exact same every year. People feel comfortable with that. I don't think any amount of quality will ever overcome this. We are a lazy nation who want to be thought of as wine people but really we a mostly no better than the Budweiser drinkers. Of course this is en masse and present company is excluded. The real wine people are still a niche society. Sad.
- Thomas - 11-15-2004
"No one ever went broke underestimating the intellingence (or laziness) of the American public."
HL Mencken, late 19th, early 20th century.
foodie wrote in the parenthesis.
Not much seems to have changed since...
To the wine point: America simply is not a wine culture and, I fear, we will slide even further down the 2-buck-chuck ladder as premium wine prices rise and America becomes a poorer society, financially.
- hotwine - 11-15-2004
I have a completely different view. To me, the biggest roadblock to success for the smaller producers, whereever they are, isn't the perils of competition in the marketplace, nor government financial policies.... it's distribution of their products. That translates to availability for would-be buyers. The big distributors have a stanglehold on the small producers, and so long as that's the case, the buyers' choices will be limited to the products the distributors want us to have. Free and open competition is the solution to that problem, not the cause.
- Thomas - 11-15-2004
Hotwine, I fully agree, but it is only one of many issues that create the 2 buck chuck phenomenon.
Even if small producers could reach the whole market, the market won't change much until more people understand and seek premium wine. Not that I fault people from liking what they like, but a lot of what people drink has been manipulated to appeal to something other than a taste for wine.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 11-15-2004).]
- Glass_A_Day - 11-15-2004
Exactly. Table and Vine is one of the biggest around these parts and still sells a huge amount of cheap mass marketed crap. It's not that people don't have good stuff to choose from. It's that they are too lazy to educate themselves and and choose.
- Kcwhippet - 11-15-2004
GAD, What is Paul doing now to help educate the masses? When he was at Yankee Spirits, he would average one tasting seminar a month that would cover the spectrum of wines down in the $10 to $15 range up to full blown wine dinners at The Castle in Leicester.