Life of a Salesman

First published on Harpers' TalkingDrinks website on 17 November 2008 - see here.

"We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired."

With these words Alec Baldwin's character scares the life out of his sales force in the classic 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross. Forget performance-related bonuses and share options, this is one way to incentivise your employees that gets the message across.

Things may not be quite this bad for the UK's wine salesmen and women but it's instructive to watch how the current economic doom makes us sit up and pay attention. It was all mildly entertaining when it was about bankers leaving Canary Wharf with cardboard boxes and stunned expressions, but now the crunch has turned into a crisis/catastrophe/cataclysm and threatens our pockets and - shock horror - our jobs, it is no longer a laughing matter.

The idea of this weekly blog is to give a personal view of the wonderful world of wine, mixing in some news and observations in what I hope will be a coherent way. I'll try not to go on about the credit crunch too much - I think I speak for us all when I say it makes for rather depressing reading.

Starting with something a bit more upbeat then, last week's big trade tasting was the Farr Vintners 2008 Christmas Tasting at Vintner's Hall. On show were Krug's and Dom Perignon's rosés - both good but do they really deserve their enormous price tags? The Domaine de Chevalier Blanc 2002, billed by Farr as "Bordeaux's answer to Grand Cru white Burgundy", was a fantastic example of the top class whites that Bordeaux can produce. The Clos du Marquis 2000, the second wine of Leoville Las Cases, promised great things (it has been described by Robert Parker as "one of the great sleepers of the vintage"). Of the Vins Doux Naturels, the 1956 Rivesaltes (Cave de Rivesaltes) was the pick of the bunch and remains surprisingly fresh.

Wine Cartoons

Many thanks to John for sending me these great cartoons, illustrating the post on wine and dementia on 6 November.

Flavonoids found in red wine may help to prevent obesity, as they improve the body's ability to break down sugar...

...antioxidants in red wine may combat the harmful effect of dangerous free radicals...

Info Mine - Acidity

The Wine Mine Blagging Toolkit - 5 wine nuggets with which to impress your friends...

1. Acidity is necessary to counterbalance the sweetness in wine. Without it, wines may taste cloying and sickly sweet.

2. It can be detected by a sensation of crispness in the mouth, particularly along the sides of the tongue. After spitting/swallowing the wine, if you leave your mouth open, the speed with which it fills with saliva is an indicator of the level of acidity of the wine.

3. Wines from cooler regions (Northern France, England, New Zealand) tend to have higher acidity. By contrast, some Australian wines are so low in natural acid that they have to be artificially acidified.

4. The level of acidity is measured on the pH scale, with most wines having a pH of between 2.9 and 3.9.

5. The most common acids in wine are tartaric, malic and lactic acid. Tartaric acid has the most direct bearing on the structure and taste of the wine. Malic acid is found in green fruits such as apples and is present in higher proportions in cold climate wines. Lactic acid is milder and produces milky textures in wine. It is produced by lactic acid bacteria, which convert malic acid and sugar into lactic acid, a process known as malolactic fermentation.

New Zealand wine exports at record high

Over $100 million of wine was shipped out of New Zealand in September, a new record in terms of both value and volume.

Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir continue to be New Zealand's best sellers. Trade body New Zealand Wine Growers claims demand remains high in key markets despite the economic downturn.

New Zealand's wine industry has set itself an export target of $1 billion a year by 2010.

Wine may protect against dementia

Published today on Decanter.com - click here to go to the webpage or click on the image below for a larger version.

Organic Shrinkage

Whole Foods Market, the American-owned Kensington organic temple, has lost £10m in its first year. Does this point to an underlying malaise in the controversial and seemingly unstoppable organic food revolution? Say what you will about the economic slump/recession/catastrophe, but it seems to be engendering some much-needed consumer perspective. The principles of pesticide-free 'natural' food are unimpeachable. But what irks the organic movement's detractors is the culture of snobbishness and elitism that has grown up around it, resulting in what AA Gill calls "the sort of exploitative, chic pricing that is generally reserved for celebrity perfume". Whole Foods' company motto is "Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet". The way the organic bandwagon has learnt to serve up its food with moral value is clever marketing, but is frankly bananas (see picture).

The vagueness of organic certification is also a sticking point. The Soil Association is the most respected organics body in the UK, but its blessing is not required in order to sell products as organic. In wine, stories are rife of organic vines growing right next door to non-organic vineyards and being polluted by their pesticides which freely waft over in the air and soak through in the soil. Biodynamics, sometimes branded as 'organic plus', has even less regulation.

Maybe a tightening of consumers' wallets will bring organics back into perspective and keep the focus on quality rather than smoke, mirrors and marketing.

Chilean wine boss dies

Ricardo Claro, chairman of Chilean wine empire Santa Rita, has died of a heart attack aged 74. Claro made his fortune in shipping and the media, before branching into wine with the acquisition of Santa Rita in 1980. A politically divisive figure, Claro has been labelled by some as one of the 'civilian generals' behind Pinochet's 1973 coup.

Politics notwithstanding, he will be remembered for his role in putting Chile on the international wine map. Click here for the El Mercurio obituary (Spanish).