Stand by your brand? - Philip Bernot

No question about it; we are the most “sold-to” society of all time. Madison Avenue has more impact on most Americans than the street that they actually live on. I doubt that most people even realize the role that advertising plays in their decision making process-and that is just the way the marketers want it. When marketing a brand everything is about market share, and when increasing market share everything is fair game. What does this have to do with the price of Shiraz in Barossa? The fact is that the most enjoyable wines in the world are not from “brands,” but from producers, a subtle yet distinct difference. Producers are actual individuals, families and small groups of like-minded, passionate individuals. These people are more often than not farmers. Brands are the domain of behemoth International Spirit & Wine conglomerates. They are frequently also in other businesses such as hotels or fast food. If there has ever been a group less likely to understand the simple joys of a well-made bottle of wine I don’t know who they are. In that end of the business it is all about increasing market share, or “moving boxes.” Quality is collateral damage. Brands are what you find in the supermarket; producers are what you find in ours and other stores that actually taste what they sell.

The reason I make this distinction is to try to put in perspective continuity. I know it can be frustrating for customers to find a bottle of wine that they like only to return and find out it is no longer available. But there is an inverse relationship between continuity and quality. Simply put, the more of a given wine there is the less likely that it is worth drinking. This is not to say we cannot have extensive runs of very good quality wines. It is to say that the most interesting wines, by their nature, are limited in supply. Too, it is important to remember that wine is a product of a finite growing season, or vintage. It is simply not possible to go back and get more of the 2005 Chateau Fillintheblank when the vintage is sold out. This still seems to surprise many people. Also surprising to many is that wines we have confidently sold can be dropped because of quality differences from vintage to vintage. For quite a while we happily sold an under-ten-dollar Spanish red that was my favorite kind of wine-one that was worth well more than what it cost. The new vintage of the wine was decidedly underwhelming. The biggest problem was that the new wine was not just a weaker vintage but represented a dramatic departure in style-and not for the better. It was still under ten bucks, but now it tasted like it.

Lastly on this subject is how a producer can become a brand in a heartbeat. A trip through the wine aisle in the local Acme supermarket can be a painful experience for me. It is there where I see formerly wonderful names that conjure up warm memories of tastings and visits reduced to commodity brands. The California wine industry is littered with these formerly terrific producers who couldn’t resist the economics of selling their label to a conglomerate who then puts any old swill in the bottle and hopes that takes at least five years for anyone to notice the difference.

Now I’m sure that there are readers out there who are already crying foul and thinking, “Phil, you are just a wine snob.” If that’s what I am than so be it – I’m used to it by now. I spent many years in the high-end of the restaurant business and one thing I learned is this: The Chef who seeks out only the highest quality ingredients, who eschews corner-cutting in their preparation, who has exacting standards that will not allow him or her to serve a meal that smacks of mediocrity; that person is a genius. The person who applies the same standards to wine is a wine snob. Go figure!