The revelation, though, that 75 per cent of American wine bloggers receive no remuneration at all for their work
set me thinking again about a topic wine writers often discuss amongst themselves: financial survival. A few wine-writers are indeed millionaires; the vast majority are emphatically not. It is a profession of princes, princesses and paupers.  

The circumstances surrounding Jay Miller’s resignation from Team Parker; the Institute of Masters of Wine’s investigation into Pancho Campo MW, the organiser of last year’s ‘Wine Future’ event in Hong Kong, and his subsequent resignation; and more recently the revelation that James Suckling was paid $24,000 by Quebec’s wine monopoly for “videos” (and not tasting notes) has continued to keep the spotlight on the means by which those at the top of the pile enrich themselves.    

In the interests of transparency, and to allay Mr Noble’s suspicions, let me declare my total pre-tax earnings from all sources for the last year: £38,090.13 in the UK (to October 31st, when my accounting year ends), and €22,401.41 in France (to December 31st). I pay tax in both countries.  

Compared to most of the world’s population, of course, this makes me immensely wealthy, and I do indeed feel very fortunate at not having died of dysentery in infancy, not having to live in a shanty town, and not having to beg in order to feed my children. Compared to most of my friends and contemporaries in other fields, by contrast, I am a fiscal failure and an involuntary workaholic. Some of them have retired several times already. You, dear readers, may have to put up with me for many years to come.

Numerous wine-writing colleagues earn less than I do, and in most cases wine writing is either a second job or a hobby pastime, or is a second-string income in a two-income family.  I have always thought that those organising wine-writing competitions should warn potential entrants not to think about taking it up professionally unless they have a private income, intend to remain austerely single, or have taken the precaution of marrying a banker, a doctor or a lawyer first. Bread-winners beware.

I don’t, by the way, hold any of this against my various employers: they pay market rates, and pay promptly, and I am grateful for their patronage. If anyone is to blame, it’s probably me. To be financially successful as a wine writer, you need to create business opportunities, platforms and synergies; you need to be an effective self-marketer; and you need a finely honed streak of entrepreneurship. I’d scrape by with a D- in each category.

The reasons for all this are not hard to unearth. Wine-writing seems to be an agreeable activity, and wine (and winemakers) certainly make an inspiring subject. The wine-writing offer, consequently, greatly outweighs the wine-writing demand, which deflates remuneration rates. Yet the potential audience remains a limited one, thanks to wine’s innate complexity. Sports writing, food writing and recipe writing will always command a much bigger audience, and generate a much bigger revenue pool.

What are the implications? It means, first, that most wine blogs are doomed: sooner or later the writer will need to earn a living, or will burn out of an expensive and time-consuming hobby which can never blossom into a career. The wine world may well find it loses its most original new writers, and keeps only its geeks and its self-promoters.

It means that most wine-writers are ill-qualified to write about fine wines, which are the wines most worth writing about. Tasting them occasionally isn’t really enough; you need to own them, cellar them, drink them and watch them evolve. Without plenty of disposable income, you can’t buy these wines and you won’t have anywhere to store them.

Above all, it means that objectivity and ethical conduct in wine writing are, in any strict sense, illusory. Any wine-writer who is not already wealthy at the beginning of his or her career will need a commercial platform of one sort or another. Consultancies, courses, events, promotions and tastings are the usual means of supplementing a meagre writing income. These will bring you closer to some producers and some retailers than others. You are unlikely to savage the hand that strokes you.  

Unless you are already wealthy, too, you will be unable to fund much or any of the extensive travel which constitutes wine-writing research. You will be reliant on some organisation or individual offering to fund this for you. Travel funders, in effect, dictate a sizeable percentage of what gets written about in the wine world. Only writers with colossal wealth can circumvent this, and not all chose to do so.

It is still possible, I should stress, to produce worthwhile work under these circumstances; inspiration and insight have nothing to do with money.  Personally, I am in favour of transparency, opposed to the hypocrisy involved in witch-hunting and finger-pointing, and grind my teeth when the princes of the wine-writing world chose to lecture its paupers on ethics. And now, let’s get back to what matters: wine itself.

 

A fantastic article on wine blogging by Jefford, who is my hero. It is such an insightful article.

The Billionaire's Vinegar

The Billionaire’s Vinegar tells the story behind the notorious and controversial Jefferson bottles, a collection of vintage Bordeaux said to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson that subsequently sold at auction for record-breaking prices.

The book written by Benjamin Wallace, traces the history of the wines, found in a walled-up Paris basement by German collector Hardy Rodenstock. They include a 1784 Château d'Yquem, a half-bottle of 1784 Château Margaux and a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux, which set a record sale price of $156,450 when auctioned at Christie’s in 1985.

The cache’s authenticity has remained a constant source of controversy and has been the subject of several high-profile court cases involving billionaire William Koch and Decanter’s veteran columnist Michael Broadbent.

In May 2012 it was announced that the book will be adapted into a film starring Brad Pitt.

 

via decanter.com

If Brad Pitt plays Hardy Rodenstock as a sympathetic character...I will walk out of the theater. All he has to do is wear his Benjamin Button make up and it will be perfect!

Great Drinker: Winston Churchill 1874-1965

Words by: Theodora Sutcliffe

On 8 May 1945, the world celebrated Victory in Europe so this week we celebrate the man behind the triumph, the late, the great, the permanently sozzled Winston Churchill.

So who was Winston Churchill?
Seriously, you need to ask?! War leader, rhetorician, speechmaker, historian, politician, Nobel Prize winner, painter, army officer and one time war correspondent, Churchill is considered one of the great war leaders of all time. The man who saved Britain during World War II did so on a diet of champagne, cognac, whisky, claret, port and hock, admingled with the odd martini.

Where did he drink?
Where didn't Churchill drink? The Cabinet War Rooms, Chequers, his bath and his family home, Blenheim Palace, not to mention grand hotels including the Ritz and the Savoy. There Joe Gilmore created The Blenheim, a potent combination of Cognac and Chartreuse, in honour of his 90th birthday.

What did he drink?
Churchill famously said, "I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me. One source claims that he consumed 42,000 bottles of Pol Roget champagne. He routinely enjoyed a glass of hock with breakfast and started the day with a "Papa Cocktail" - a hint of Johnnie Walker to be topped up with water throughout the day.

One of Churchill's paintings depicts a bottle of Johnnie Walker, and wine, whisky, Cognac and champagne were as constant companions as his cigar. Lunch routinely included champagne and finished with port, brandy and cigars, while he enjoyed the odd pre-dinner martini: Plymouth gin, with a bow to France in lieu of vermouth.

Any famous drinking buddies?
Churchill drank vodka with Stalin when negotiating peace treaties, and knew every politician and royal in the Western World. But his friends included actors like the hellraiser John Barrymore, the comedian Charlie Chaplin and the heartthrob Cary Grant, as well as Albert Einstein, Aristotle Onassis and Lawrence of Arabia.

How did drink change his life?
When Field Marshal Montgomery told Churchill, "I neither drink nor smoke and am a hundred per cent fit," the great man replied, "I drink and smoke and I am two hundred per cent fit." Churchill lived to 90, won World War II, and did all this on an intake of alcohol that would have the average doctor today in fits of the vapours.

Any drinking stories?
"I have been brought up and trained to have the utmost contempt for people who get drunk," Churchill once wrote, and he was rarely seen to be so.

Drink did, however, seem to sharpen his repartee. Nancy Astor once told him that if she were married to him she would put poison in his coffee. To which Churchill replied, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."

When Bessie Braddock accused him of being drunk in Parliament, saying, "Winston, you are drunk! You are disgustingly drunk!" the great man replied, "Madam, you are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober."

And, 67 years ago, when the great and good of the establishment were celebrating VE Day, and Astor tripped on the pavement, a well-refreshed Churchill cried exultantly, "Madam! If you had drunk as much as I had, you would not be falling over."

To say I am a Winston Churchill fan is a massive understatement!

California: 'surge in demand'

A surge in demand for grapes and wine in Californian's North Coast region has led many wineries to enter long-term contracts with growers, to ensure a stable supply of fruit for the next several years.

Grape prices have risen as much as 30% in some vineyards and appellations during the past six months, John Wilkinson, a member of the board of directors for Napa Valley Grapegrowers and owner of Wilkinson Family Vineyards, told Decanter.com.

'It is not a crisis,’ Wilkinson said. 'Replanting will increase and the future is extremely bright with demand expected to outstrip supply for the next few years.'

This re-balancing of grape supply and demand began after the relatively small 2010 harvest.

It was caused by the reluctance of growers to replant at a time when demand was rising, despite the financial crisis.

'Prior to the recession, industry leaders had already warned of impending shortages in key varieties. The softening of demand during the recession masked this inherent shortage and growers were reluctant to make capital investments', said Jon Ruel of Trefethen Family Vineyards.

Nick Filice, head of grower relations at Silver Oak Cellars in Napa said that the shortage was also starting to affect regions further afield.

'I have spoken with my contacts in the Paso Robles/Central Coast area(s), and they have indicated that buying has been extremely active. We can expect planting activity to increase in some of these areas, considering grape nurseries are sold out after years of sluggish sales', he told Decanter.com.

Napa Valley Grapegrowers said that per capita consumption of wine in the US had continued to climb over the last two years, although consumers had been trading down to wines at lower price points.

Recent Nielsen data however shows a large percentage increase in bottles costing US$20 being bought in 2011.

'As consumers return to buying at higher price points, we see higher demand than ever at a time when supply has been flat or decreasing, especially considering a couple of light harvests', Ruel said.

Yikes..expensive wines going up!

Wayne's World of Words and Phrases

Words by: Wayne Collins

Veteran bartender, trainer and self-professed cunning linguist Wayne Collins, Mixxit Global Manager for spirits and liqueur distributor Maxxium UK Ltd, is rarely lost for words. In fact, he has something of an obsession for rediscovering the spirituous origins of common phrases, idioms and expressions which are directly linked to or have in this occasional series, he hitches up the skirts of history, challenges convention and tweaks the nose of knowledge.

The phrase: the Real McCoy

 

Usage: To illustrate the genuine origins and authenticity of something, to prove that it is not fake or a copy, as in 'That's the real McCoy'.

The theories: The most common belief of this phrase's origins and its relation to drink has been the tale of Captain William 'Bill' McCoy, an American ship-builder based in the Bahamas who was also a legendary and renowned rum-runner captain during US Prohibition (1920-1933). Many rum-runners and bootleggers of the day would carry illegally produced and watered-down hooch into the US, but Bill McCoy was famous for only selling top quality merchandise and well-known imported whisk(e)y brands, and because of the quality of products he smuggled along with his honest dealings he popularised the phrase 'it's the real McCoy'. With this, McCoy became an enemy of the U.S. Government and organized crime. When the US coast guard discovered McCoy, he established the system of anchoring large ships off the coast in international waters and selling merchandise to smaller ships that transferred it to the shore.

Although the story of Captain Bill McCoy is based in fact, and well-documented in US history, the phrase and its meaning actually also has some earlier usage. Below are some well known examples:

• c.12th-century Scottish Clan of MacKay. An internal dispute between chiefs during the battle for Scottish independence sought to find who the true leader was? Lord Reay headed up the Reay MacKay branch, which could have migrated to 'the real MacKay' before further modification?
• 'The real MacKay' is also an old Scottish drinking phrase that is thought to date back to the 1850s. The Scottish National Dictionary documents the phrase in 1856 as a word used as a marketing slogan to promote G MacKay & Co Ltd's Scotch whisky, 'a drappie (drop) o' the real MacKay!' It's completely plausible that this is the true origin of the expression's link to alcohol.
• Elijah McCoy, a Black Canadian born in Ontario in 1844, whose African-American family fled the troubled plantations of the Southern States some years earlier. He trained as a mechanical engineer in Scotland. On returning to the US, he invented and patented a revolutionary automatic lubricator and oil drip cup for steam engines. It was widely copied all over the world but when railroad men wanted the real thing they asked for 'the real McCoy'. This could be the origins of when the name 'McCoy' changed from 'Mackay'. Elijah is also credited with creating the folding ironing board and lawn sprinkler!
• 'Kid McCoy' was the nickname of American welterweight boxer Norman Selby (AKA Charlie McCoy). During the 1890s he dominated the sport and was known throughout the land that led to many imitators earning money by using his name at boxing booths in fairgrounds all over the States. After retiring, McCoy was having a quite drink one evening in a bar when a drunken boxer challenged him to a fight to prove he was the real McCoy. He floored him with one punch and went back to his whiskey, and when the challenger came round he is believed to have declared: 'Goddammit, that's the real McCoy'! A nice story that adds another twist to the tale but perhaps not its origins.

Other less convincing origins:

• An infamous family feud between the Hatfields & McCoys of West Virginia and Kentucky in the 1860s - common folklore, if you ask me.
• A well-known American cattle baron Joe 'Cowboy' McCoy with his reliability to drive well-reared long horn cattle from Texas to Kansas for market without disease - wishful thinking, I fear.
• The finest heroin from Macau - 'the real Macau' - er, I don't think so!

Wayne's Final Word: You can see how marketing folk the world over have jumped on the band wagon to use this powerful phrase to advertise and sell all kinds of merchandise, but looking at the facts, it seems to me that the term derives from Scotland, was popularised as McCoy by America and is closely connected with the drinks industry with both spellings. Today, it has become a hackneyed term for anything claiming to be the genuine article, even for a packet of crinkle cut crisps - that's potato chips if you're American.

The Real McCoy is a phrase I have used a million times to describe real single malt!