Join the Club (Part 1)

by Chris on Sep 18, 2010

Wine clubs is a topic I’ve intended to write about since I started this blog.  I don’t know why I haven’t before, and even though I read a lot of wine blogs, I don’t recall ever reading a post devoted entirely to the subject of wine clubbing.  So, here goes.

There are all types of wine clubs, and I’m sure there are some I don’t even have an awareness of, but the ones I’m familiar with probably fall into three (maybe four) main categories, what I’ll call “post card” wine clubs,  then there are social wine clubs, and the last one (or two) winery clubs.

Post card wine clubs are what we knew about when we lived in the large, unwashed region of the country known as Not Wine Country.   This type of club posts ads in magazines, or send alluring mailers to prospective winos (I’m not sure how we got on their mailing list), and there are pictures of far away places (California or even France!) draped in luxurious grape wines with shiny glasses of wine, beautiful people, and constant sunshine. The offer is typically 6-12 bottles of wine for a low, low introductory cost.  We’ve bit on a couple of these and I’ll say that for the uninitiated who wants to try some wine types or wine regions for the first time, this a fairly inexpensive way to get in on the ground floor.  The problem with this type of club is that it’s pretty much a crap shoot on quality and preference. You are very likely to get some wines you don’t particularly care for either because they are not your style, or they are simply plonk.  And that’s because there is obviously no way to taste the wine before the box arrives at your door.  The pictures on the post card ad don’t really tell you much and they don’t even have a scratch and sniff section for the wines on the menu.  We dropped the post card clubs when we moved to nirvana, aka, wine country.

The second type of club are the geographically based social clubs that cater to winos in a particular area.  These clubs are likely to exist anywhere I guess, but they appeared on our radar when we moved to wine country and in the Yak the ones I know of are the Tri-Cities Wine Society and the Yakima Enological Society.  We joined the TCWS at their annual Tri-Cities Wine Festival competition last fall and have been to several of their monthly get togethers where folks typically pay a fee which covers food and wine for the event, and the group meets for a themed wine tasting: Champagne style wines, Rhone style wines, wines of the Columbia Gorge, etc…  These events are very educational and it’s been fun to meet and get to know some fellow wine geeks through the TCWS.  Since our move, the YES is much closer to us and I’m guessing we’ll switch social wine clubs for the monthly events, but still trek down to Kennewick for the annual TC Wine Festival.

The last type(s) of wine clubs, that I’m familiar with at least, are clubs associated with specific wineries, or winery clubs.   These clubs are more or less a marketing tool for most wineries, where individuals are invited to join the winery club in exchange for certain benefits of membership, discounts, private event invitations, special tastings, and the priviledge (and obligation) to buy the winery’s wines at some frequency and quantity.  These winery clubs come in all shapes, sizes, and forms, and some wineries are more agressive than others in soliciting membership.   Barb and I belong to 10, 11,  er, a lot of winery clubs and since we have so much experience, mostly good, some not-so-good, with these winery clubs I think I’ll do a “part 2″ to describe in more detail the joys, advantages, and occasional tribulations of winery club membership.

I’ve alluded to a fourth type of club, which, as you can see, I consider a subset of the winery clubs.   These last winery clubs are more or less the pinnacle of wine clubbing. This is because the wineries involved have been so successful in alluring buyers that they have (mostly) been able to sell out their entire inventory through a wine club or mailing list system, and the membership is a closed club.  These winery mailing lists belong to those wineries that have reached “cult” status such that there are waiting lists to be on the list.  And there may even be waiting lists to get on the waiting list.  I kind of think of this like season tickets to the Green Bay Packers; the folks on these lists treat membership like a family heirloom and write it into their will who will inherit it when they die.  I can’t really fault this type of winery club since it makes most business sense for the wineries involved if they can reach this level; they are able to sell out without going through distributors or really marketing very hard, their wine is obviously very good, and they have a captive buying base that they can count on every quarter, year, or however often the list goes out.    Buyers on these lists typically love the wines so much they’re willing to forego food and shelter to buy the wines (hence the cult comparison), and for the most part all those inside the club are pretty happy about the situation.  At least it appears that way to those of us on the outside.

 So far, Barb and I don’t belong to any of these mailing list clubs, we’re on a waiting list or two, and I don’t know what we’d do if our number came up on one of those waiting lists.  The other possiblity is that one or more of the winery clubs we already belong to will reach the point that they will convert to a mailing list only winery.  If that were to happen, we’d be initiated with the true crown of winery club achievement, if there is such a thing, a charter/founding/legacy/grandfathered member.

I’ve sort of layed this wine club discussion out without a whole lot of critical commentary on the pluses and minuses of wine club membership.   Next time around I’ll go more in depth into the type of clubs we’ve become most familiar with, winery clubs, and I’ll share what we see as the things that make a winery club a good thing and worth belonging to, and those those things that sometimes make you go “hmmm??? ” when you…

Join the Club.

Out of the Blues – Whisper Ridge – 2004 A Voix Basse – Washington State

by Chris on Sep 11, 2010

Just like that, summer is over. Maybe it was our huge events in June and July, the Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, the Wedding of the Century in Illinois, and moving all of our worldly possessions. Maybe it was the lengthy cool spring. Or maybe it was just that I’m now officially old and all of my memories are now of nostalgic lazy summer days, even if it was just last week.

Selling Ice to Eskimos – Cascade Wine Company – Yakima, Washington

by Chris on Aug 27, 2010

As you may have noticed, Barb and I have spent a LOT of time touring and drinking wine at the various wineries, tasting rooms, and events around the Yakima Valley and beyond over the past two years. By going place to place we get an opportunity to meet many of the people in the winery business, tromp past the rows of vineyard, and sometimes see the inner workings of the production side of the wine business. In the tasting room, we typically have the opportunity to taste through a line-up of several of a winery’s wines; for a small or newer winery sometimes ALL of their wines. Many times tasting is (still) free in the Yak, sometimes for a small fee. Practically every weekend, and even some weekdays, there is some sort of wine event in wine country where anywhere from a single; to a few; to over a hundred wineries are there pouring wines. Through these methods, Barb and I have tasted through literally thousands of different wines over the past two years. And, as our bank accounts can attest, we have bought hundreds.

About a month or so ago I was looking for the wine for one of Sean Sullivan’s virtual tastings (he always misses what we already have), so I went back into Cascade Wine Company. The store had moved from its previous location and is now on Yakima Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. I introduced myself to Jim Collins, the store owner, told him what I was looking for, which he didn’t happen to have, but just browsed the store for a while. This time, somewhat to my surprise, my perspective of what was on the shelves was a totally new experience.

I now recognized at least half of the wines and wineries in the Washington and Oregon sections, this comprises about half of Cascade’s inventory; and for the California and import sections of the store, I now had an interest again. Barb and I have realized our wine palates, while they have evolved over the past couple of years, have become pretty geographically narrow. Not that there’s anything particularly wrong with that, but as we’ve done when we’ve traveled outside the state for the past year or so, it’s interesting to us to test our new palates, honed to Washington wines, against what else the world has to offer, whether it’s Virginia, California, British Columbia, or New Jersey.

Cascade offers wines from all over the world, and on that first visit back there I sampled a Spanish Rioja made from Tempranillo and Garnacha (Grenache), and some other grape that I don’t remember. My palate recognized the flavors and it’s interesting to expand and learn. As an aside, one thing Barb and I keep meaning to do is to buy some of our old standby wines from when we lived in Illinois, typical for us would be a Fonterra Chilean Cab/Merlot blend, $15 per 1.5 Liters, and see how our wine palates now react. Good? Ok? or What were we thinking?

Anyway, even with the Washington wine labels I know, I could now survey these shelves and pick out wine I either like or producers I know. Sometimes the wines are the same as tasting room line-ups, but often the vintages was different than what I had sampled, and it’s interesting that many times the wine now on the retail shelf is “sold out” at the tasting room. I’ve even seen wines that have long been sold out at the wineries on retail shelves and have stockpiled a few favorites that way. Cascade gets new releases too, and I’ve sampled many wines I haven’t seen yet traveling the tasting room trail. Though it seems like we may do this at times, it’s impossible to hit 100 plus tasting rooms every month.

Besides the Yakima Valley labels that I know (and love), Cascade’s Washington wine section includes many West Side wineries, I first bought and sampled a Kennedy Shah Malbec based on Jim’s recommendation, as well as Walla Walla, Columbia Gorge and other Washington wineries. This even includes local wineries such as DavenLore and Southard that are grown and made in the Yak; they just don’t yet have public tasting facilities.

Cascade has daily, or almost daily, tasting of wine as well, and Jim often has guest wineries and winemakers come into the shop to pour their wine and meet the Yakimites. (I’m not sure what actually sure Yakima residents call themselves, but I like Yakimites.) After my first revisit, Jim invited me back for a New Zealand themed tasting where they were going to be serving mutton. I’d just had mutton the day before, so I passed on that event.

The thing that I’ve realized that is the most attractive about having a Cascade Wine Company close by, even though we live in the middle of literally hundreds of tasting rooms, is that I’m basically lazy. I can go to Cascade and buy a case of mixed favorites, new tries, and long shots all in one place. My last trip in there I bought a wine gift for a friend which was a wine I had in my cellar at home, but I was giving the gift on the spot so this was my typical last-minute shopping. I also bought a bottle of California Zinfandel Jim recommended and a Gilbert Cellars Rosé of Mourvedre. This last bottle was the ultimate lazy convenience since the Gilbert tasting room is about a block east of Cascade Wine Company and within sight.

So, if you’re in Yakima and have a hankering for some mutton, or are inherently lazy like me and want to sample some of the area’s finest wines side by side with wines of the world, even California, try out Cascade Wine Company, now on Yakima Avenue, not 1st Avenue, in downtown Yak.

Spam Samples and Clarification

by Chris on Aug 27, 2010

I’m new to this writing thing, but as I’ve developed this blog I’ve tried to be more conscious of the fact someone might actually read this and that my opinions and the information I base them on might need to be checked by someone else.  This is particularly true when I interview someone directly or quote something someone said or wrote.  In those cases I’ve usually tried to give the subject the opportunity to review a draft of my blog before publishing it here.

For my recent blog on Paul Gregutt’s new book, Washington Wine and Wineries, Second Edition, I e-mailed a draft of the blog article to the folks at UC Press who had provided me with the book for review.  I didn’t think I had recieved a response from anyone and after a week published the blog as written.  Last week Sean Sullivan of Washington Wine Report published a review of the same book, and during some chatter in the comments, I learned that Mr. Gregutt himself had tried to contact me about my draft.  The folks at UC Press had forwarded my draft to Paul, and he had taken time to read it and e-mail me directly about some of the information contained in my review.

This is where the spam comes in.  Due to the wonders and vagaries of the internet, Paul’s e-mail to me had been filtered as spam by my e-mail provider, so I didn’t see the message until he pointed it out to me through his comments on Sean’s blog.   I apologize to Paul for this missed communication.

Paul and I subsequently had a nice dialogue off line about a few things in my review.  In particular, Paul clarified his methods of sampling wines and wineries and pointed me to the introduction of the book where this is explained.   After a re-read, it is clear that Mr. Gregutt does seek out wineries throughout Washington through his travels, at events, and through various avenues.   He also takes great care in how he tastes and reviews the wines he writes about.   The introduction to the book explains this is detail and I admit I either skimmed over most of this or forgot about it when I was dissecting the lists of wineries that appear later in the meat of the book.

The issue of samples, whether submitted by wineries or their representatives or obtained by Mr. Gregutt by request or through his travels, is clearer to me now.   I have my own opinions about wine samples in general, and think it’s really a topic that deserves a separate write up because, as I said in my original post about Mr. Gregutt’s book, I don’t have a problem with his sampling methods.

That said, I’ll close with a quote from Mr. Gregutt’s introduction regarding sampling and selection of wineries for his book that he pointed me to as the clearest he can be on the topic…

“If you already have your own list of favorite Washington wineries, you may find one or two missing from my own selections. Please do not take offense. Some are simply too new to evaluate. Some do not choose to take advantage of the many opportunities to submit their wines for review. Some simply do not suit my personal tastes.”

Barbilocks and The Three Wines

by Chris on Aug 15, 2010

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful young maiden named Barbilocks. Barbilocks was under the spell of an extra, extra, extra large wine lover named Doakie who tempted Barbilocks with chocolates and sangiovese. After lots of chocolates, and even more bottles of wine, Barbilocks married Doakie and they moved west, eventually settling in the far, far, away kingdom of Cowiche in the magical land called the Yak.

One day, while Doakie was eating a large platter of chicken at a banquet, Barbilocks raised the number in her little hand and won a Grand Prize. Doakie became angry and tore the number into little pieces. But he still loved Barbilocks and she kept the tickets for the prize under her pillow.

After a long time, when the tickets had almost expired, Barbilocks made reservations to claim the prize, a weekend getaway to the Center of The Universe. Since it was a scary place, Barbilocks took Doakie along to drive her chariot.

They went out of the Yak and over the mountains, across the rivers, and over even more mountains until they got to the edge of the land, near the Sea(ttle). You may think it’s odd that The Center of the Universe is at the edge of the land, near the Sea, but it is so.

Barbilocks and Doakie found the small cottage near the Center of The Universe where they would sleep. This cottage was surrounded by green and blue trees, was gray and purple on the outside, and red and orange on the inside. It was a cozy and warm cottage and a magic code opened the door. Barbilocks and Doakie felt safe inside the cottage and the guest register listed other wine lovers from the land of the Yak and beyond who had stayed here when they came to the Sea. There was Charlie, and Eric, and Big John.

Outside the cottage, Barbilocks and Doakie went exploring the neighborhood in the Center of the Universe and found many, many, many strange and interesting things. Barbilocks wanted to get a tattoo, but Doakie was afraid. Barbilocks wanted to ride a Duck, but Doakie was afraid. Barbilocks wanted to visit the troll under the bridge, but Doakie was afraid.

What Doakie isn’t afraid of is wine. Barbilocks knew this and at every chance tried to find a wine that would make Doakie not afraid to get a tattoo, or ride the Ducks or visit the troll.

On the first day, Barbilocks and Doakie went to a place called the Hollywood Schoolhouse looking for wine. It looked familiar to a place near their homeland, the Jet Black wine tasted the same, and the people were nice, but they were different people and they didn’t hug Barbilocks and yell Doakie’s name when he came in the door. This made Barbilocks and Doakie sad, so they kept on looking.

On the second day, since they were near the Sea, Barbilocks and Doakie went to a place called Ray’s Boathouse. Since Ray’s is a popular place, Barbilocks and Doakie went to the bar to wait on a table and ordered a bottle of wine from a nearby Creek whose grapes came from the red mountain in the Yak that was bound to taste like home, there was even a horsey on the label.    Barbilocks and Doakie drank some of the wine, but since seafood is white, and the wine was red, something didn’t seem quite right and Doakie was still too afraid.

This made Doakie very brave, if only for a short while, and as long as Barbilocks was holding his hand, Doakie agreed to get a tattoo.  He didn’t even cry (much).

Barbilocks and Doakie went home to the Yak and lived happily ever after.

 The End.