No on 1183

 Who is for 1183? Costco Wholesale

Who is against 1183? The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) and the public employee unions.

The US government chooses sides by the old saw, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” That is why we armed Sadam Hussein, so he could kick the crap out of Iran. I feel the same about this battle. WSWA is definitely the enemy and so are public employee unions, but that doesn’t make Costco my friend. The consumer will only benefit from lower prices due to a smaller selection. If you shop at Costco, you know that you buy what Costco sells, not what you want.

Costco wants to control the market in wine. I’ve covered this before on the previous referendum. They want to import wine from China or wherever and sell it for a dollar a bottle – One Buck Luck I called it.

Do we really want to turn the whole industry over to a couple of big box stores? Do we all want to play, “let’s make a deal” with Costco? I’ve offer Costco some pretty good deals and they don’t even return phone calls. If the Family Wineries of Washington think they can compete in this market all I can say is “Good luck.”

The sad part of this is that the small distributors will be forced out of business. I need my distributors to sell my wine – not Costco.

There are nearly 800 wineries in Washington. If each only offered five wines to Costco, they would have to wholesale 4000 wines. They are not going to do this. They will go big and they will go cheap.

Protect our small distributors and medium-to-small wineries by voting NO on 1183. Don’t swap the state monopoly for the Costco monopoly.

Brix Too Low? Time for a Costco Run

   We have become spoiled with high brix (percent sugar for non-winery people) in Washington State. It is so bad that a restaurant in Walla named itself 26 Brix (or was it 16% Alcohol?). Our philosophy is to make food friendly wines under 14%, so we often have to bring out the Jesus machine. What’s that you ask? Well, Jesus’ first miracle was to turn water into fine wine. It still works today, but now we call it a hose. This year is perfect for natural wines. No messing around.

Winemakers new to the industry (most of them) are freaking out over low sugars this year. I got an email from WSU last week suggesting methods of amelioration (adding sugar for non-winery people.) Blasphemy, you say. The Europeans have been doing it for years. They make great wines with low-sugar grapes. If you really want hot wine, freeze it in a tank and do a freeze distillation. If it’s alcohol you are looking for, that will do the trick.

What winemakers don’t know is that flavor and ripeness are key over raw sugar (read alcohol) power. Do a little math. 21 brix translates into 12.5% alcohol. Wines used to top out at 13% alcohol. It is only with the Parkerization of wine that people expect wine to taste alcoholic like a mixed drink made from raisins and prunes, with no acid (read flabby). I get people all the time in the tasting room, “I am looking for a big red.” Oh, you mean a highly alcoholic beverage that is overly extracted and tastes like prunes and raisins, without varietal character like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. Try someplace else.

I am looking to see some exceptional wines this year – more European in nature. Fruit flavors are super this year and the pyrazines are starting to disappear here in the Rattlesnake Hills.

As for the dumb sh!t who wants a big red, gas up your SUV and pray for global warming.

The Day the Music Died or The Music Nazis Are after You.

 Do you play the radio, some CD’s, or maybe the MP3 player in your tasting room? Do you have an event with a band? Beware, the music Nazis are out to get you.

Who are the music Nazis? They are the people that collect royalties for artists and composers for copyrighted work. They are called BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.), ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Artists and Producers) and SESAC (which stand for nothing).

BMI and ASCAP are big. They control most of the music you listen to. SESAC controls R&B and gospel music – probably something you don’t play often in your tasting room, but play one song and you owe!

I’m not opposed to paying artists for their work. They deserve it. But, general licensing fees are shared among the top 200 radio plays – not the artists you are playing. So you might play the Eagles and the money goes to Lady Gaga. It is not a fair system. Radio stations keep logs and the money goes to the actual artist.

Most of you are saying you can just ignore them. Wrong! Not only do they have the power of the law (thank you Congress) on their side, they have spies and lots of attorneys. You are guaranteed to lose if you fight the Music Mafia. They make Al Capone look like a bicycle thief.

How much does the Music Mafia want from you to play the radio? It is unclear because individual deals can be negotiated, but about $2500 per year. The price of their product far exceeds the value.

How do I know all this? Last year we started to get letters from SESAC telling us we had to buy their license. We ignored it because all the CDs we were playing were ASCAP and BMI. Then BMI found out that we had live music Saturday afternoon and they wanted their cut. Well, our live music was a Russian composer and artist who played his own copyrighted music, so we didn’t owe them a dime but they continued to get quite nasty. His music is registered with BMI and he finally called them and told them to back off. He can play his own music and sell CDs at our winery if he wishes. BMI backed off. SESAC continues to send letters.

Frankly I don’t like music in the tasting room, but the ladies do so we had to find a solution. Buying three overpriced licenses was out of the question.

One option is Muzac, the people who invented elevator music for the brain-dead. Muzak takes care of all licensing hassles with your contract. Muzak’s website wasn’t really helpful in figuring out a cost and we really didn’t want to treat our customers as brain-dead wine-drinking zombies anyway.

Our solution was quite simple; SiriusXM Radio for business. All licensing is taken care of by SirusXM, so you can tell the music Nazis to chuck off. They offer a large selection of stations to suit your winery ambience including 30 talk-free commercial free Channels just for businesses. Once you buy the internet radio, the cost is $35 per month with no contract.

And people wonder why I am grumpy!

Washington Wine Industry Loses a Pioneer

 You won’t read about M. Taylor Moore (aka Mike Moore) in any of those slick rags about the Washington wine scene. (Well, you might now as a footnote -an obituary.) In fact, his winery is not even listed on the Washington Wine Commission official web site. Mike died September 27, 2011 at age 55. Mike will be missed.

I could tell you lots of stories about Mike, having known him since the inception of Bonair Winery in 1985. But now is not the time to share those stories. These are the stories that make Washington wine interesting, unlike stories about the latest rock star who appears in every glossy publication with the same boring story about handcrafting ultra premium parkerized wine (and who often goes quietly out of business a few years later.)

I got to know Mike because in the old days, everyone (like the owners and winemakers) participated in every event and we being Bonair were always between Blackwood Canyon and Bookwalter in alphabetical order.

I also got to know his wife and father-in-law. His father-in-law was a set painter for the MacGyver TV series which was filmed in British Columbia. They were regulars at Bonair on their way to Blackwood Canyon.

Mike’s 1986 Pinnacle was his first claim to fame. Later, his chardonnay was declared best in the state by none other than Robert Parker. Mike told me he sold out the day of the announcement.

Mike strived to make wines in the old-world style. I find them reminiscent of the wines of Jura; perhaps a style he admired.

People would ask me if they should visit Blackwood Canyon. I always said definitely yes, but be prepared to stay a minimum of three hours. I  thought their visit would be much more memorable than a visit to a corporate-owned tasting room with polite women who announce, “This is a nice white wine.”

So, I propose a toast to M. Taylor Moore – and to all the forgotten pioneers of the Washington wine industry. May they live forever in our hearts and minds!

Yelp Twerps

 Picky picky is about all I can say about people who post on Yelp.com. They are some of the most inane people in the world. Here are some examples from our Yelp comments:

“I would have loved to tried (sic) this winery, but their no dog policy caused us to move on to the next winery” That’s funny. Bung, the Wonder Dog, roams the premises all day. We have a dog park where no leash is required. Oh, you wanted to bring your mutt into the tasting room? All wineries have at least a level III restaurant license. Because we serve food, we have a level II license. Sorry, in the state of Washington, only service animals are allowed in restaurants. Learn the law, dude, and while you are at it get a class in writing.

“I tasted the Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and the Bung Dog Red and none of them did anything for me, they weren't awful or anything like that I just didn't care for them.  They didn't taste big and bold and fresh I'm not really sure what they tasted like but it didn't do it for me.” This is definitely someone to listen to. “I'm not really sure what they tasted like” Maybe they tasted like wine; then maybe not? Maybe you expected Peppermint Schnapps? Please don’t write about things you don’t know about. Sorry, I forgot. This is Yelp and every dumba$$ is an expert.

“  the prosciutto wrapped shrimp being bad, I like fresh things” Humm. We call fresh prosciutto raw pork. Is that what you expected – fresh-cut raw pork? We are sorry to have disappointed you, but most people like their prosciutto cured (processed) and aged. (The next day she went to I-Hop, which she loved, and couldn’t decide between the Fresh Belgian Waffle and the Fresh large stack of pancakes.) She says she won’t come back. I hope she can keep a promise.

“The group of us were really bothered by how the older man was really condescending to the woman helping us, as he continued to interrupt her” Okay, it was Michelle’s first day and she needed a lot of information. I apologized to her; after all, she is my daughter-in-law and I love her dearly. Yes, the older man was the Grumpy Winemaker, himself!

“  you step into the tasting room and things start to go south. It has a kitschy old world decor that feels very dated and forced, and you're not quite sure if the space is there to support retail merchandise sales or sampling wine.” Okay, you don’t like the tapestries. They are actually there for a reason. With tile floors and hard walls, the room acoustics are awful, so the kitschy old world décor is at least functional. Lighten up for chrisake. Most people head to the gifts first and wine tasting second. (Read on, you are the alcoholic.)

“It wasn't that busy when we arrived, but the hostess immediately assigned everyone to designated locations at the counter, apparently to make things easier for her than optimize the visitor experience.” Duh, our tasting bar is 50 feet long. So you wanted to be at the far end by yourself for a private tasting. By the time you got served, our hostess would have had to walk 6 X 50 or 300 feet, (100 yards, or the length of a football field to serve you.) Our bar is set up for four hosts behind the counter. When we only have one server, use the section that is open a$$hole.

“  there really wasn't anything that spoke to me. I did buy a bottle of their Cab Franc for us to share on the patio just so I could honor my commitment to buy one bottle at every winery we visited, but I wouldn't have otherwise.” I read your whole thread. You tried unlimited wines at a neighboring winery, commented about the generous pours, and came here and drank a bottle of Cabernet Franc. You need alcohol treatment. Same guy, “You're allowed just four meager complimentary tastes from their short list of standard wine selections.” State law limits us to four ounces per customer. We take over-serving seriously. Probably our hostess limited your portions because you already appeared intoxicated and we should not have served you at all.

It is interesting to switch from a business’ post to the poster’s posts. It reveals a lot about the poster – mainly how stupid and opinionated they are.

Basically, Yelp sucks. The people who post are neither helpful nor intelligent. I would suggest using http://www.tripadvisor.com for recommendations. The people who comment there appear much more intelligent and informative.