Heard about Mondavi?

[wineguruchgo]

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.