We just got some new wine glasses in the tasting room. They are not the bulbous, fabulous beautiful Riedel wineglasses. In fact, they are pretty plain and not very exciting.
I am a bit of a wine geek myself, and understand the need for nice glassware. I have it at home and that’s pretty much all I use when imbibing in the sweet nectar of the gods. We used to have really nice Riedel tasting glasses. And you know what happened—people took them. We traded down to another, less expensive brand….but still really nice. And people still took them. To give you an idea of our wine glass loss over just the last 3 months—we have had to reorder 400 glasses. At $4 a pop (and $7 for the Riedel), we are talking about a pretty serious loss.
It kills me that at some of our bigger events, we are now using plastic glasses (although we do advertise that people are more than welcome to bring their own glassware) or guests can purchase a glass for $7. But in order to continue to keep our doors open to make great wine and host fun events, I have to keep the expenses and the costs in check.These days our margins are so thin—glassware walking makes them non-existent.
If anyone has any really good ideas to keep people from stealing glasses, I am all ears. Until then, ordinary looking is what we have (they are still very thin at the top--so tasting is a good experience). We even tried to make them uglier (like Range Golf balls at a golf course) by etching pour lines (1 ounce for tasting, 3 ounce for half a glass, 5 ounce for full glass) on them. Pretty snazzy. Not.
At all of our wine dinners, special events and weddings, we will continue to use our Riedel glassware. And we will take fingerprints beforehand, just in case.
I love web sites where I can view other people’s reviews of products or businesses. I love how on Amazon when I am buying something I can look at customer reviews of toys or sheets or books or whatever. On Athelta, one of my favorite web sites to buy yoga stuff and bathing suits, people review the fit and fabric etc. I have made a ton of buying decisions based on that. We allow people to post reviews of our wines on the clos.com site as well. And Yelp—I never go anywhere without reading a review on Yelp first.
With that said, I wanted to address something that a Yelper recently said about Clos LaChance. I know that as a business I can respond to this guy, but I have so much to say, I thought I would take it up here.
First, here is the review in question:
“The grounds here are easily the most picturesque in the SC Valley, but that was the only thing that really impressed me. I could see this being a great wedding venue, but I have some philosophical differences with the way they do things here.
The tasting room is large and modern, but the wine was pretty ordinary.
Whenever I go to a winery and I see three tiers of labels, it bothers me. It says, here's something affordable to the masses that it is made cheaply with cheap grapes from wherever. Here's something that's made with a little more care, as we grow the grapes ourself. And finally, here's where we're really going to gouge you because this is what we gave the most attention and care to. And gouge you they will, at $50 bucks a bottle.
I like my wineries to give 100% effort and care on everything. Instead of making 900 different wines, focus on making a few great ones. I guess they want to be like the Ferari-Carano or Mondavi of Santa Clara. No thank you. More power to you if you want to be a billionaire, but I'll give my money to the little guys.”
Now I am fine if people say they do not care for our wine. Everybody has different tastes…and if what we make is not for you, then hey, thank you for trying and I hope you find something you like. But when people question our business model without having the faintest idea how this industry works—well, then I might just have something to say about it.
This is the paragraph that bugs me:
Whenever I go to a winery and I see three tiers of labels, it bothers me. It says, here's something affordable to the masses that it is made cheaply with cheap grapes from wherever. Here's something that's made with a little more care, as we grow the grapes ourself. And finally, here's where we're really going to gouge you because this is what we gave the most attention and care to. And gouge you they will, at $50 bucks a bottle.
A three tier product strategy is definitely not uncommon in this industry and pretty much what has to be done to stay in business these days. You see, my Yelper friend, distributors buy about 70% of our wine. These distributors are the ones that sell the wine to restaurants and wine shops. Distributors, especially those that are in states in the “middle” don’t carry things like Viognier, Petite Sirah and Malbec. They want Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc….because those are the things that sell. They also want wines at a certain price.If you have taken a look at the economy lately, well you may have noticed that it sucks. People are not going out to eat all that much. So restaurants are not buying a lot of wine. Especially expensive wine. You see, Wall Street banker expense accounts don’t exist anymore (okay, bad joke). So the $200 bottles of wine on a list are few and far between.
So the first tier of products…called our Hummingbird Series..mainly goes to restaurants and wine shops. Yeah, we sell a little in our tasting room, but we find that people who come to our winery want things that are different…and more limited.Our second and third tier is called the Estate Series (wines made from grapes grown 100% on our Estate) and the Special Selections Series (usually vineyard designate wines). They are made with more expensive barrels, they are stored longer in these barrels, the labor to make them is more costly (smaller lots) and the package is more expensive (when you buy 100 cases of labels vs 1000 cases, the price is much higher). Sometimes we have to buy the grapes. Because we spend more, we charge more. I don’t believe that we are gauging people at $50 a bottle. In fact, we only have three wines (out of 20) that we sell for $50 a bottle. Each are very limited (less than 200 cases made) and they are hard to make. And they sell at that price because people who appreciate them think they are worth it. We have plenty of other wines here that sell starting from $5 all the way to $50 a bottle. Most range in the $18-$30 range. I do not believe we are gauging people at all. In fact, almost every week, we have an amazing deal on something in the tasting room (last week we had a bottle of Zinfandel for $5!) If you don’t want to spend $50 a bottle, then there are PLENTY of other options.
I like my wineries to give 100% effort and care on everything. Instead of making 900 different wines, focus on making a few great ones. I guess they want to be like the Ferari-Carano or Mondavi of Santa Clara. No thank you. More power to you if you want to be a billionaire, but I'll give my money to the little guys.”
We give 100% to every wine that we make. Some are made with less expensive ingredients (grapes that are cheaper to grow (more grapes per vine) and packaging—but it doesn’t mean that they are bad. There are many wines at different price points out there in the world. Some people may want an Everyday Chardonnay or Cabernet for $15 or less. Others may want a special occasion Pinot Noir for $50. And I personally, as a consumer, appreciate when wineries make more unusually varietals that cannot be found in stores or restaurants. Our wine club members like it too. Otherwise, you may never get to try a Grenache or a Marsanne Roussanne blend. Having small lots of different, eclectic varietals gives our winemakers a chance to experiment and come up with new and interesting things.
I guess they want to be like the Ferari-Carano or Mondavi of Santa Clara. No thank you. More power to you if you want to be a billionaire, but I'll give my money to the little guys.”
This makes me laugh a little—comparing us to Mondavi…who makes MILLIONS of cases. We make 60-80K cases annually. That is TINY compared to Mondavi. And billionaire…ha. When my mom and I stop driving our Chevy’s, I will let you know. It is not easy to make money as a small/mid-sized family-owned winery (yes, we are under 100K cases annually and are still considered barely above a small winery). This industry is really hard, especially right now. We have a nice place and people have a great time when they are here. It’s not a public park…we do have to pay money to keep this place looking good and running well. And if you choose to give us your money, we won’t gauge you. Your wine will be worth every penny.
As any winery that does a majority of their business via the wholesale channel will tell you, business is tough. The number of wholesalers is shrinking due to consolidation while the number of wineries and brands continues to grow (there are over 6,000 wineries just in California now, did you know that?) The Clos LaChance brand has been growing continuously, however not as fast as we would like. The grapes are here, we have to pick them. It would be a giant waste if we didn’t process them and make wine.
So what do you do when you have a lot of wine, but can’t sell it through your existing brand’s channel? You put it under a different brand and sell it. To create a new brand and try to sell it into stores and restaurants would be counter-productive—the same wine would be competing with Clos LaChance for distributor attention. So we had the bright idea to pitch private labels to larger accounts. They get the Clos LaChance high quality wines, but under an exclusive label.
For about a year, this was decent business. And then we realized we were definitely not the only game in town doing private labels (so much for bright ideas). And frankly, larger wineries could do it cheaper and more efficiently then we could. New customers were scarce and existing customers were either not taking the wines they had promised or going with other wineries that could do it cheaper.
So, as quick as it started, we pared down our private labels —just a few select, very reliable customers/partners that take large quantities at a time.
Where did that leave us? Well, we have inventory to move. Inventory of labels that are not ours. The majority of the wine in the bottle is ours (outside of some California Merlot we bought in bulk and bottled for a large client). We have no channel to move it wholesale, so we gotta go direct.
So…if you are a fan of the Clos LaChance Chardonnay, Merlot, Meritage or Cabernet Sauvignon—these wines are a great deal. They are at least half off, some up to 75% our retail price for the SAME exact wine in the bottle.
We will ship as well. Prices start at $2 a bottle.
Here is the link online to the wines (we can’t put up what the brands are in order to protect our former customers). We are updating these wines in real time as we sell out. Call or come down. Fill up your cellar with interesting conversation piece labels. And help us clean our cellar!
You can call to place an order….or you can come to the winery and taste. There are a few wines we have limited inventory of—and they will be sold out pretty quickly.
I (Cheryl) am answering phones all day today (everyone in the office is) . If you know me, I am extension 101…call and order and say hi.
We are having a big sale. November 12-15. Online and at the winery.
Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Petite Sirah
SSS Meritage and Rhone Blend
Late Harvest Semillon and Zin Port
and MORE.
50% off, online and here at the winery. Certain varietals are really limited...so its while supplies last.
Thursday the 12: sale preview for Wine Club Members Only. We will be open till 8pm that evening. Friday-Sunday, 11-5pm.
New stuff is fun. A few of the new things we have going on around here this month:
-New Web site header....we finally changed it to a little cleaner, more modern look. What do you think?
-New events: Time for Wine Live is coming to a close next week. We will have two more Time for Wine Happy Hour events this year, but with a twist:
October 15--Time for Wine Raw, featuring Bill the Oyster Man. You guessed it...live and bbq oysters for $1.50 each. We will also have special wine flights that pair well with oysters and Bill's amazing sauces.
October 29: Time for Wine BOO, featuring the Harvest Zombies. Who says adults can't have fun on Halloween too? Come in costume and prepare to be judged for the costume contest. Flashlight tours of the winery--be prepared to be scared. And wine flights paired with your favorite Halloween candies.
-New cool tool on our bottling line: this may not seem like a big deal, but to us it is the best thing ever. We got a case printer tool for our bottling line. There is certain information that legally needs to be on the outside of a case....(same that is on a label). We were printing one extra label per case for all our wines. In addition, there are certain distributors, accounts, countries that need what is called an SCC code on the outside of the case as well. Ugh...it was a giant pain to put labels on these cases just for these customers. SO, the investment in the case printer made sense. And it makes things a lot easier for everyone.
Harvest is still underway. The crew is getting really busy since it was so hot last week. But it is supposed to cool down this weekend. Interesting, long season this year.
Its our Annual Investor's Dinner tonight. This is what we are eating, thanks Le Papillon (www.lepapillon.com).
Clos LaChance Investor’s Dinner With Le Papillon Restaurant September 21, 2009
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Roasted Tomato Gelée with Parmesan and Balsamic Caviar Lobster Tartare on Brioche Minced Quail Tart with Tart Apples and Truffle Glaze Gougeres Cucumber-Elderflower Water & Clos LaChance Tasting
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Slow Poached Alaskan Halibut with Toasted Milk Puree, Preserved Lemon and Confit Grapes & 2007 Liebeler Chardonnay
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Duck Ravioli with Sour Cherry and Duck Skin Brittle & 2006 Biagini Pinot Noir
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Berkshire Pork Tenderloin with Hibiscus Reduction, Smoked Maple and “Chicharones” & 2006 Lila’s Cuvee
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Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Coffee Jus and Meritage Braised Plum & 2005 SSS Meritage
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Gorgonzola Dolce Soufflé with Poached Figs & NV Zinfandel Port
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Fresh Peaches with Jasmine Tea Custard and White Chocolate Torte & 2006 Nectar
So the big buzz word in the wine world these days is Social Media. Everyone is curious, everyone wants in, some people get it….and some people don’t. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, MySpace, Snooth….there are a ton of social media outlets to participate in on the wine side of things. But these things all take time and resources, so CLC’s strategy has been to pick a couple and focus. The two we chose to work with, for now, are Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook is interesting….Clos LaChance has a group, a fan page and is set up as a person (which I think we may have to change soon….I believe that is against the rules.) We probably have access to about 900 people via those individual channels on Facebook. And pretty much everyone that works here has a personal Facebook page. When we have something to say or something is going on….it’s easy to get the word out via Facebook. The winery updates its page for friends and fans. Everyone who works here updates their page via status updates or posts. It’s incredible the amount of people that can be reached via Facebook with just a few taps on a keyboard. In January, we had a cellar sale that we promoted pretty much only through Facebook and our email list. We had a record breaking (by FAR) weekend. We haven’t done much with Facebook ads, yet. It’s next on the always growing list.
Twitter is still an animal we are trying to tackle. There is so much going on with Twitter, it’s hard to keep up. People are twittering about wine, wineries, food pairings, events and more. We are pretty excited for a big event we are doing this Friday night called Twitter Taste Live.People can all get online from 4-7 (PST) and join us in tasting three wines—the 2008 Glittering-Throated Emerald Chardonnay, the 2007 Crimson Topaz Meritage and the 2006 Ruby-Throated Cabernet Sauvignon. You can do it from home….or come to the winery. Melanie Gameng, our Social Media Superstar and former Princess of Fun, has been working hard all week to throw a great party.
So yesterday our email, phone and cell service all went down for 18 hours thanks to this yahoo. It was a little surreal being completely out of touch, but kind of nice. I got some deep thinking done—made some decisions about production planning and cleaned out my desk a little.
We also went out to lunch as a group—which never happens. Since the winery is 10-15 minutes from restaurants and take-out food places, most of the time we all bring our lunch and eat here. Don’t get me wrong—I love our lunchtime here. We all eat together and talk about the topic of the day—movies, stupid people, bodily functions (don’t ask), Dominic’s passion of the month etc.
So on the way out to lunch, I made Claudia stop the car—cause in the vineyard there were four HUGE turkeys. Two male and two hens. It was really cool. Of course we don’t want to see turkeys in the vineyard when there are grapes on the vines—they eat them. But the shoots are just starting to grow on the vines right now…so no harm, no FOWL.But there was something really surreal about these huge birds just walking up and down the rows.
I wonder sometimes if I don’t notice these types of things on a regular basis because half the time I am driving in and out of the winery I am looking at my Blackberry (yikes) or dialing my husband to let him know when I will be home. Did the cell service being down cause me to take the time and look around these gorgeous surroundings?
We discussed this a little in the car on the way back from lunch and then started listing some of the other creatures that we see around here, outside of the turkeys.
-White Herons
-Blue Herons(saw a huge one yesterday right near the turks)
-Magpies, really pretty black and white birds.
-Deer (thankfully on the OTHER side of the fence)
-We have a few ducks that come back to the ponds every year to have their babies.
-Turkey Vultures (that’s how we know something is dead on the road)
-Brown eagle (we have one that come back every year in the summer. Its wingspan is HUGE.
-Mountain lion (one time when Bill was driving out at night, there was a dark colored mountain lion creeping beside his car on the road. We have only had that one sighting though).
-Hummingbirds. Tons of hummingbirds. Of course.
-Another type of bird that is black and red. Not sure what kind it is.
-Rattlesnakes. The baby ones are scary.
-Tarantulas. The guys like to bring them into the office to freak us all out. Ugh. So gross.
Supposedly there are some wild pigs in the hills too.
I hope I can continue to take time to enjoy the surroundings in which I work every day. I am lucky to have 100 acres of vines and gorgeous views just from my office window. Hopefully it doesn’t take another outage for me to appreciate it.
The news about the EU’s recent decision to ban certain terms from US imports got me thinking about Seth Meyers from "Saturday Night Live." He has a segment in the news called “Really? With Seth Meyers.” If you haven’t seen it before, check it out here:
Obviously this affects Clos LaChance. Technically, the Euro have banned the term "Clos" (means closed in area). And Chateau (means castle), and a bunch of others like classic, sur-lie, late-bottled, noble, superior, vintage and ruby.
Really?
A little background about why this makes me, as a US wine producer, just a little ticked off. I have tried to sell wine in the EU. The taxes on US wines are insane. Basically the price at least doubles once you get the wine there and on the shelf. Every deal we have done in the EU, we came down significantly on price. And we have also had to put on special labels....more materials and labor costs for us. Our margins barely break even. Over the last couple of years we have given up on the European market and focused on friendlier export territories like Asia and Canada.
Don't get me wrong, I totally get the sense of place in Europe. There is nothing like drinking Riesling in Germany, Pinot Noir in Burgundy and Soave in Venice. Eating and drinking locally allows one to experience the true culture of a region.
However, how would Old World wine producers be effected if Americans started having that isolationist attitude here in the US? Come on guys, let's make things as difficult for them as it is for us. Our consumption of wine per capita is growing significantly every year. France, for example, is going down (their new President is not a fan of the drink.) We have the power people!
All these recession news reports have been telling me that the alcohol industry hasn&rsquot been affected that much. Makes sense. People drink to relax, let loose a little and forget their troubles. Nothing wrong with that.
Want to make a little extra dough US government? Start taxing imports the same way they tax us trying to get our wine into the EU. France for example, ships a sea of wine to the US every year. I would even venture to say they would be kinda screwed without the US market (well, most wine producing countries would). Charge an equal percentage of tariffs or taxes or whatever they call it. Protect the US's home grown goods a little. It's hard for us to compete.....especially with labor and land prices in places like Australia, Chile, South Africa and Argentina. I can't tell you how many placements I lose to wines from these areas because it&rsquos just cheaper to make similar quality stuff.
Recently California wanted to raise the excise taxes by 400% on wines produced here in California and sold in California. Really? Why not slap those taxes on the French, Italians, Germans, Spanish, Australians, Chileans, South Africans, Argentineans and anyone else who is trying to bring wine in to compete with our locally grown wines? It didn't pass....but if it did, California wine prices in CALIFORNIA would have increased significantly. Really?
So, consider this an open letter to whomever is making the deals with the EU and this whole wine term debacle. Realize you are in a position of power. Tell those Frenchies that if they want to ban the term "classic" or "Clos" on a wine label then you can't use it on your labels that are shipped over here. In addition, raise some money for our country, encourage people to drink US, and tax them how they tax us.
Really EU? You want to complain about words that are considered commonplace amongst winemakers all over the WORLD? I totally get the reason why you want to protect "Burgundy" and "Chablis"and "Champagne." Same reason we want to protect Napa Valley and the rockin' Santa Cruz Mountains. But come on vintage? Really? Classic? Really? Ruby? (means we can't sell our Ruby-Throated Cabernet in the EU). Really?
I try to live a healthy lifestyle—I eat pretty healthy, I exercise almost every day and I drink in moderation (most of the time). However, I dread filling out doctors’ office forms—the ones that ask how much alcohol and how often I drink. When I check “daily” for how often, the doctor usually raises an eyebrow and asks a few questions, followed by a lecture about binge drinking.
Like most people I know, I have a glass of wine pretty much every day. During the week, I drink usually just one glass of wine with dinner. On the weekends it ends up being two or three. Add that up…that’s five glasses on weekdays and four to six on Fridays and Saturdays. My maximum average consumption (outside of special occasions) is 11 glasses a week. A little less than three bottles (I pour approximately 4 glasses to a bottle). Not too bad right?
In 1991, the French Paradoxstory aired on 60 Minutes. Red wine sales boomed and the health benefits of wine in moderation were the talk of the town. Other health benefits of wine have since emerged, including:
-Women wine drinkers have fewer kidney stones
-Moderate Wine consumption reduces risk of stroke
-Studies link moderate alcohol usage to life longevity
-Drinking wine can reduce chance of upper digestive tract cancers
-Anti-oxidants in wine can reduce the occurrence of cancer in general
-Moderate wine drinkers have a lower chance of getting diabetes
(click herefor an interesting summary of the aforementioned studies—compiled by a wine shop in New Jersey)
So this is great news, right? Wine is healthy and everyone should drink a glass a day for a longer life without strokes, cancer and diabetes. Well, then thiscame out last week:a study saying that just one drink a day actually increases the risk of cancer in women.
So now there are opposing studies….one says that wine decreases risk of cancer, the other says it increases the risk in women.
Being in PR and knowing a little bit about how the media and news stories work—these “health benefits” or “health risks” stories always intrigue me. I am sure the reports are very complex….discussing the test group vs. the control group, taking socio-economics into consideration, age groups, etc. But journalists have to fit the results of a giant report into a one or two column article. So they tend to leave out things about how the research was done and just focus on the sensational headline and reactions to it. Or they write their story based on the press release from the research facility—which essentially does the same.
I feel the same way about the positive articles about wine consumption as I do about the negative ones. Skeptical. Who funded the research project? How were the test subjects chosen? How were the test subjects surveyed? How were the results compiled? What was the duration of the project?It seems like every week there is a news article about one thing or another being bad or good for us. I would just hope that people question these things and do their own research before jumping on any type of mass hysteria bandwagon.
It has now come out that the one drink a day research was flawed. Among other things, the questionnaires asked about weekly consumption and then divided by 7, vs. asking about daily consumption. If someone averages 7 drinks a week, but they were all consumed in one or two sittings, then that is bad for the heart, the liver and a bunch of other things.
In any case, risk or no risk, I will continue to drink in moderation.For me, life without good wine and good food isn’t really living.
Last weekend we had a 5-day Cellar Cleaning Sale. Wines were going from $3 to $7 a bottle, plus a few odds and ends of some old vintages we got back from our distributor. The wines that were selling for $3-$7 were left over private label wines from a few clients we are no longer doing business with. Most were Clos LaChance juice under a different label. However, the retail prices were anywhere from $14.99-$19.99.
We initially brought over 300 or so cases of various items. We sold about 90% of it on Thursday from 5-8pm. Yikes!Who knew it would be that successful?? On Friday we put a truck together (all of our case goods are stored off-site at California Wine Transport in San Jose) of another 1000 cases. On Monday, another truck!It was incredible the amount of people here and the wine we went through.
It was funny on Friday. We open at 11am. I was sitting in the conference room having a meeting. From the conference room, there is a window looking out to the walkway and gardens leading into the front door. At about 10:30am, people started showing up. It was a steady stream into the tasting room right from the start.
If you were here at some point over the long weekend (especially Saturday), we apologize if our customer service was not up to par. It was an absolutely zoo on Saturday….and we were totally unprepared for it.
We have now had a few days (Dominic and Cindy have taken some time off to regroup) and we are sifting through the fallout that was our Cellar Sale. A few of the things we have learned:
Overstaff. Especially with schleppers….people that can carry lots of 40lb boxes to and fro.
Never underestimate the power of grassroots marketing. We did not advertise this event at all outside of our own resources. We mentioned something about it in our email newsletter in December, without a specific date. About two weeks beforehand, we sent out another email newsletter, this time being specific about the date. We put it on our Facebook pages. We Twittered about it. The week of we sent out a few update emails to our local list. And we had the biggest weekend in terms of incoming dollars and visitors we have ever had. Ever. By far!
People are looking for a deal. The economy sucks big time…but people are still drinking, and they are drinking wine. They are looking for a deal and are willing to stock up on something that is considered value priced.
Be a little more organized in terms of logistics. Taste and sell the wine in the Tasting Room. Physically deliver the wine to cars on the truck dock. Should make things a lot easier.
Have a POS System that works (of all weekends, ours had to crash at the most inopportune time)
Inventory after the Cellar Sale was so off it wasn’t even funny. And its taking a lot to time to fix. But it was worth it to move some wines that needed to be moved. Not that these were bad wines…the reds especially were very, very good.
We will do the Cellar Sale again at some point in the future. Next time, our Wine Club members will have time to go through the wines before we open it up to the public. And we will be more organized.
Were you at the cellar sale? Any thoughts to share? Here is blogger David Tong’s tasting notes of a few wines we sold at the Cellar Sale.
We concluded our Annual Company Meeting on Friday, after two days of meetings, presentations, tastings and dinners. It was actually a lot of fun. We have a really good group of people working here right now....in the office, the vineyards, the winery and the field.
We came to a number of conclusions this year....with the most obvious being that the economy really sucks. Most of our presentations were geared to how we were going to get revenue to where it needs to be while cutting back on pretty much everything. We seem to be in a good spot with our pricepoints in the Hummingbird Series. Our Estate and Special Select Wines--unfortuantely it is not a good time to be introducing these to the broad market. With prices of $30 and above, our distributors are very wary, no matter what the quality. But our volumes are such that we can keep these in the Tasting Room and the Wine Club.
We also talked about what is working....and what is not. We have some great Syrah from our Estate Vineyard. We all love it, the critics love it. It just doesn't sell. So we are cutting back on it, selling some juice, selling some grapes. Same story with Rose. I love it. I personally drink 4-5 cases myself in the summer, minimum. It just doesn't sell. I remember a few years ago being in the market around April/May and all anyone can talk about is Rose and how it is the next big thing, Think Pink, RAP, etc. If it is the next big thing, I am just not seeing it. So we will probably be doing away with Rose. It is just so difficult to get distributors to take on additional SKU's in their book. I would rather use that valuable line item with a year round product. Any Rose that is hanging around in October is very difficult to sell.
It is so important to get everyone together at least on an annual basis. We have 4 full time employees that live all around the country in their respective markets. They have their fingers on the pulse of the local market and trends. We need to hear from them and they in turn need to know all that is going on here. And to taste the wines we have coming up.
Good wines that I tasted last week: surprisingly the 2007 Hummingbird Series Merlot ROCKED my world. it was fantastic. And I am not a fan of Merlot. I also liked the 2008 Unoaked ET Chardonnay and the 2007 Biagni Chardonnay were stand-outs in the white category. And, as always, the Viognier. Yumm.
Here is a picture of everyone together. Thanks for a great meeting. I learned a lot....and had some fun doing it.
It's 2009 and everyone is back in the office and into the full swing of things. We have an all-company meeting (officially dubbed OMAO, or The "Offsite Meeting that is Actually Onsite") taking place tomorrow and Friday, so everyone is hard at work preparing their presentations about 2008 results and plans for 2009.
These meetings are interesting, and as the marketing person for the brand and all the business units, I, of all people, should be paying the closest attention to any updates, changes or anecdotes that I can use throughout the year in whatever it is I am doing. But usually after lunch, it gets harder and harder to pay attention. That's why we have started including a "State of the Winery" Tasting after lunch. We taste through everything we have in the cellar, make group decisions on blends, new products, old products, etc. Its fun and informative all wrapped in a big buzz, especially after 30-40 wines in one sitting.
It certainly makes the OMAO that much more interesting.
This week everyone at the winery has been in a tizzy. This weekend is our second annual Art and Wine Fair. The weather is gorgeous, we have over 50 artists and a few food vendors AND it is the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association's Passport Weekend (all Passport holders receive a complimentary tasting and a free glass).
We are expecting a big crowd. But I don't think we have ever been so organized and ready for it. We brought in extra bathrooms and we bought 2,000 new glasses. Our gift packs are arranged "just so." Melanie is making posters! And Cindy is the puppeteer, directing people and furniture, wine and cash registers.
If you are in town, please come by this weekend. It's an all hands on deck scenario, so if you know someone who works at the winery, most likely they will be here this weekend. 11-5pm. Please click here for more information and a list of the artists attending.
Melanie makes a poster showcasing personalized labels.
Dominic and Natalie pose with a pallet of new glasses and the SCMWA passports.
We picked the last of the grapes (except for anything Late Harvest) on Thursday, right before the rain. The crew is really excited about the Cab this year...the low yields made the flavors go through the roof. Looking forward to releasing that 2008 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon in three years.
We had a little bowling, beer and pizza celebration after the grapes were brought in. To spice it up, we added a little Halloween costume contest into the mix this year. First place got about $350 cash....(part of a pool we all threw in), second and third, some wine.
I will preface this by saying that yes, I am a poor loser (I came in second). However, my costume was completely homemade AND wine related. Anyways, next year I think we need a more offical voting system...I HATE losing to a blow up doll.
And the winners are.....
3rd Place, Winemaker Stephen Tebb, a bottle of Clos LaChance WIne (with his lovely wife Kathleen as a bunch of grapes).
2nd place: Me, Cheryl Durzy, VP Sales and Marketing, Cork Dork (here with the Murphy clan, Brenda as some kind of weird curly haired dancer, Bill a hippie and Kristin a Sharks fan).
And 1st place, Jason Robideaux, Cellarmaster, as Ken and Barbie.
We held our Annual Investor's Dinner on Monday here at the winery. About 100 people attended, and a great time was had by all. Bill, Stephen, Cheryl and Paige spoke about the overall "state of the winery," Harvest 2008, sales and marketing, and our growing private label business.
Le Papillon did the food. It was incredible, as usual. The pairings were spot on and the presentation was gorgeous. We also debuted our new retail items....clothing and gift packs.
Click here for pictures of the event, the food, the people and the fun.
The menu, prepared by Scott Cooper of Le Papillon in San Jose. If you haven't been there, you must go. It is a wonderful dining experience.
Passed Appetizers:
Housemade Mortadella with Grain Mustard
Lobster Brandade w/ Browned Butter Vinaigrette
Trout with Dashi Cream in Fillo
Truffled Hamachi Tartare with Preserved Lemon
Lamb Terrine with Horseradish Sabayon
First Course
House Smoked Sturgeon with Rasin-Almond Relish and Lemon Emulsion
Paired with 2005 Liebeler Vineyard Chardonnay
Second Course
Roasted Breast of Mary’s Organic Chicken with “Coq au Vin” Jus & a Foie Gras Biscuit
Paired with 2005 Biagini Vineyard Pinot Noir
Third Course
Duck Ballotine with Chestnuts
Paired with 2005 “Lila’s Cuvee” Special Selection Series Rhone Blend
Fourth Course
Braised Shortribs of American Kobe Beef with Parsnip Puree & Pressure Cooked Cocoa Nibs
Paired with 2005 Special Selection Series Meritage
Cheese Course
Vermont Cheddar with Dried Apricot & Lavender
Paired with 2006 Estate Late Harvest Semillion “Nectar”
Dessert
Black Mission Figs with Chocolate & Zin Syrup
OND stands for October-November-December. It is our busiest season (usually about 40% of our business happens in the OND timeframe).
It is only the first day of October, and I can already feel the pressure of OND start to build. And in the midst of it all, harvest is in full swing and the grapes are steadily being brought in for processing.
A few snippets of things going on here at the winery:
-Paige is working with Dimitar and the bottling team to bottle and label up 9 different products, today. It takes about half an hour for EACH label change on the line. And this is if things go smoothly. She has also been on the phone with a client and label printer dealing with "issues."
-Kristin is dealing with a vineyard customer that is angry about not getting the fruit yields he was hoping for. No comment...just click here or here or here.
-Melanie is working on closing a big corporate holiday gift program. Keep your fingers crossed.
-Cindy just ran Wine Club, so her phone hasn't stop ringing with people updating their credit cards, changing addresses, canceling (we hope not!).
-Colleen is dealing with our sales reps requests and trying to help them with computer issues. As well as developing the International channel for the brand. She's getting ready to go to India and Korea this year!
-Linda is plugging away at "retro-fitting" our accounting systems to be more streamlined.
-Cheryl is writing this blog entry, doing label approvals for the next vintages, running end of month and quarter reports, reviewing orders and depletions, filling out forms for potential National Account placements, writing sales materials, creating POS. And has her fingers in (or has at least heard about and expressed her sometimes wanted, sometimes unrequested opinion on) all of the above.
-Bill is playing golf with a customer today, left after the third hole to come back to the winery to help with the corporate presentation, then went back to playing. Should be on about 14-15 by now? Tough work, but someone has got to do it (I need to learn to play golf).
-Not sure where Brenda is, but she's on email somewhere.
-Stephen and Ben are bring in grapes, grapes and more grapes. Stephen cut his hand pretty badly yesterday while giving a retailer a tour. He is doing one handed grape sorts today.
-Dominic is celebrating his Saturday today (since he works on the weekends).
I am sure there is a lot more, but I have got to get back to multi-tasking. Welcome to OND!
Ugh, I feel ill right now. But it was my own fault. We had a chocolate company come in here to do some tasting this afternoon and I probably ate the equivalent of 5 or 6 full truffles, in 25 different little pieces. I generally don’t get too involved with vendors for the Tasting Room’s non-wine products we sell, but when a chocolatier comes to town, color me happy, I’m in for the ride.
One of the really interesting things that we did today was pair up some chocolates for a White Wine and Chocolate Seminar that we are planning (some Saturday this Fall) and will offer to our corporate clients as a stand-alone seminar for off-site meetings. A few of the pairings that stood out:
*Plain Milk Chocolate with the Muscat: The sweetness of the wine was curbed a little by the sweetness in the chocolate, which for me is a good thing. It really brought out the aromatic fruit components of the wine and gave it a very rich, creamy mouthfeel. So good, that we are going to start giving samples of the milk chocolate when we taste the Muscat in the Tasting Room.
*Fall Fleur de Sel Carmel: We paired this one with the Liebeler Chardonnay. OMG, it was incredibly rich and decadent. The caramel enhanced the new French oak in the wine and the toasty vanilla undertones. And the little salty component was a flavor enhancer, bringing out the lush tropical fruits. Banana was a big marker for me on this particular pairing. Delicious.
*Lavender Honey Truffle: This was spot on perfect with our Viognier. The balanced acidity in the Viognier made the lavender in the truffle explode in your mouth. The honeysuckle/honey combo was outstanding as well, and the finish was perfectly smooth.
The chocolate company that came down to present is a local purveyor, Charles Chocolates, based in Emeryville. Obviously the sales people did a good job….I have been raving about this to everyone in the office. Hopefully we will get them down for our “Just Desserts” event on September 20th to showcase some of these amazing chocolate and wine pairings.
Is not a bobcat. But it sure looks like one. Check it out:
Apparantly bobcats have tufted ears. Oh well. It made for a fun day in the office., The wildlife lady said that she could certainly see why we thought it was a bobcat.
There is still some smoldering from the Hummingbird Fire this afternoon, but for the most part it is out. Everything here is as it should be...just a little smokey still. We are so thankful to the brave firemen and firewomen who kept the winery safe. We made up some tee-shirts and other apparel on Cafe Press. All the profits from this stuff will go straight to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Click here to check it out.
Also, recently updated the Flickr Page with new photos. Here's my favorite--a helicopter pulling out water from one of the ponds on property.
Thanks to everyone who reached out to us here at the winery, making sure we are okay. Everything is fine...although we are still a little shaken from the experience.
A quick update from the Hummingbird fire from Kathleen this morning:
"The road is still closed, but we were able to go to the winery to check on things this morning. We just saw your dad and Tom. The fire has burnt down to the boarder around the vineyards. A skeleton crew is still on watch hoping it doesn't jump --there's just so many fires and people/structures come first (as they should). Winds are calm, but expected to pick up this afternoon. It looks good, but fingers and toes are still crossed..."
Bill has been there all day, making sure things are okay. Here are some pictures he took...starting yesterday through this afternoon. Looks like things will be okay, and in fact this will be good for the environment.
Yesterday afternoon, there were a series of lightening strikes in the Morgan Hill/San Martin area. There are about 70 fires throughout the area, some are still uncontained. One in particular is very close to the winery, but at this time (8:30 am on Sunday morning) it has not threatened any structures.
Here is an account of how it all started by Kathleen Tebb, winemaker Stephen Tebb's wife and resident of Morgan Hill (they live about 5 miles from the winery). She sent this early evening yesterday, about 7pm.
"An incredible lightning storm triggered the 'Hummingbird Fire' today. Thankfully the winds were in our favor. Stephen and I still feel a strong desire to help out as volunteers even though we retired our firefighting gear in 2003. Here are some pictures taken around 5pm. There was a strong wildlands firefighting crew who ascended the terrain on the west-side of the vineyards and they received prompt back-up/support from a buldozer as well as an ariel team dropping retardant. It's 7:45pm now. The road is closed at Watsonville Rd and Santa Teresa. All we can see is from the driveway of our home -- plumes of black smoke along the ridge. We can also see a helicoptor has joined the efforts dropping water on the flames. We're hoping the winds die down and firefighters can contain this before long as we all know too well the damage that has faced so many families and firefighters in this region already and so early in the 'fire' season."
The first 5 pictures were taken at the winery yesterday afternoon. The last photo was taken at the intersection of Watsonville and Santa Teresa at 9pm.
The roads have been closed since late yesterday afternoon. Tom hiked in last night at about 2am and was able to report that the fire was on the ridge and didn't seem to be heading towards the winery. CordeValle had to evacuate last night (during a wedding).
Right now, the roads to the winery are closed. Bill, CLC's owner, got through and is at the winery right now. There is no immediate threat, but we are holding tight. The Tasting Room will be closed today. The fire departments are watching it burn as no structures are immediately threatened. They are very strapped for staff right now as there are so many fires, and have to focus on the biggest threats to people and structures.
To all our San Martin neighbors, you are in your thoughts. We hope your families and homes are safe. To the brave fire fighters, thank you so much for everything you do. I can't imagine that fighting a fire in 100 degree heat yesterday was very comfortable.
A few links to more news about the Hummingbird Fire:
On Tuesday, we had a company out to redo the blacktop on our parking lot and driveway. When the crew was about to drive away in their truck at the end of the day, we heard a meowing from inside the wheel well. Turns out there was a tiny kitten hiding in there...and she would not come out.
We tried for about an hour to lure it out. Finally, Tom (yes, the same Tom that scared Cheryl with the Coyote) was able to pull it out without hurting her. We all remarked that it was a very unique looking cat, with spots and a rimmed tail. Tom took it home and named it Cheyenne. He has spent the past two days trying to feed her and teach her to use a litter box. She is pretty shy, and had an interesting confrontation with Lola, Tom's Husky.
In talking about the kitten today Tom mentioned it was “so pretty, it almost has the markings of a bobcat." Needless to say, we looked up pictures of bobcat kittens online and it does indeed look exactly like a bobcat.
Check it out. This is pretty close to what little Cheyenne looks like.
We have the Animal Rescue people coming down tomorrow to check her out. I’m not sure Cheyenne will be with us much longer, but stay tuned tomorrow for pictures and a verdict on what species the kitten turns out to be...harmless housecat or ferocious bobcat. If she is a housecat, Tom will take her home and hopefully Lola will have a new friend--if they can get over their differences. If she is a bobcat, the Animal Rescue will take her and raise her. Once she is strong enough to make it on her own, they will release her.
Maybe she can come back to the winery and help bring down the ground squirrel population. That's it, Cheyenne can become a part of our Sustainable Agriculture program!
I think Tom wants to keep Cheyenne if she IS a bobcat.
I sit at a window...which on most days is a lovely experience. My view is the garden entry way , with beautiful flowers and lovely trees and CordeValle's pristine golf course in the near distance. I often have hummingbirds buzzing around as well, which is kind of surreal since hummingbirds are a cornerstone in Clos LaChance's branding.
Anyhow, I was typing away at one thing or another this morning, when this pops up in my window.
I screamed and yelled and jumped out of my chair. There are a ton of coyotes around here and my split second initial thought was that one had gone rabies mad and was trying to get in and eat me alive.
And then it suddenly became clear....
Tom Morrow, our funny-man maintenance supervisor was just getting a laugh. He got me. But that thing certainly looked real.
What is this crazy coyote statue for you ask? We have a large gaggle of wild turkeys that love to plop over our deer fencing into the vineyard. And once they are here, they gorge themselves on grapes.
This turkey "scarecrow" apparently works, so hopefully we will not have as many gobblers here this year eating our crop. And, this ugly coyote is actually part of Clos LaChance's commitment to sustainable agriculture...solving a pest problem without chemicals or other environmentally harmful pest eradication programs. For more about Clos LaChance's commitment to Sustainable Agriculture, please click here.
We have received a number of inquiries about our safety and well-being because of the Summit Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains (here's a link to a Santa Cruz Mountains Wine blog that has some winery related details on the fire). http://scmwine.blogspot.com/2008/05/fire.html
We are fine....and the concern is much appreciated. We are about 10 miles away, as the crow flies. The winds have settled down today, so hopefully the fire will not spread quite as much today.
We do have a number of vineyards that we purchase grapes from located fairly close to the fire--Erwin, Split Rail and Legan. We have calls into the owners to see if they are okay.
Thanks to the 500+ firefighters working hard to contain the fire.
A slight concern here that the heat could cause uneven set (once the grape buds are pollinated, the fruit begins to "set"). However, it is supposed to cool down tomorrow--so this short heat spike should cause little to no problems.
It's been awhile, so thought I would update my HUGE readership on what's been happening at the winery the last few weeks:
-Weather: It's been hot, then cold, then hot again. Now its getting cool. A typical Spring in the Northern Central Coast? Not really....its a little cooler then average. And just a few degrees makes such a difference when it comes to the f-word. FROST. We have received a lot of questions lately about frost damage. We had a tiny bit a few weeks ago in the Estate Vineyard's Grenache block--maybe 10%, which is usually fruit we drop anyway. So far, so good. Napa and Sonoma have not been so lucky, or so I have heard (Julie Nord, pictured in the Napa link, also consults for Clos LaChance).
-Wine Club Shipment: When boxes and bags are flying, that means its time for another Wine Club shipment. Wine Club Manager Cindy Flowers has been running around, processing orders, fulfilling shipments, threatening various staffers regarding inventory....However, the dust is starting to clear and the wines are getting into the hands of our valued members. We recently segmented the wine club into three-tiers (there is a theme with three tiers amongst our sales and marketing programs). If you haven't heard anything about the new levels of Wine Clubs offered, click here.
-Travel: Now that my kids are a little older, I have started traveling for business again. It's a really tough sales environment out there these days. The economy is awful, which makes restaurant dining and wine purchases even more of a luxury. All of all our distributors are hurting and cutting way back on their inventory. But my recent trip to Chicago was a good one. The accounts I visited were busy and seemed to be doing well. Fortunately, our Hummingbird Series Wines are priced right--especially for By The Glass in restaurants and for case stacks at finer retail shops. We are weathering the storm, but our sales team is working double-time to to hit numbers this year.
-New Wines: Rosé (dry), Viognier, Sauvignon Bland, Muscat....all new vintages. Available online and in the San Martin Tasting Room.
Had a little April Fool's Day fun with the Clos LaChance team this morning. However, it "may" become a problem with my sales channel later today.
A little background: when we get a good score or media write up on a wine, Sean from Benson Marketing Group (our long time PR agency) sends it out to the CLC team. So yesterday I typed this up and forced poor Sean into sending it out first thing this morning:
"Just wanted to give you the heads up that Clos LaChance 2004 SSS Meritage has received a score of 97 points in the April 15 issue of Wine Spectator, due on newsstands next week. This is a huge, huge score for the winery. In fact, this is the highest score I've seen for a US Cabernet Sauvignon blend that is not from Napa Valley. The review reads:
"A tour de force. Rich, opulent, powerful and very well-structured for a Meritage blend. This wine is packed with a lot of ripe, intense currant, spice, blackberry, earth and loam flavors framed by spicy, cedary oak. Ends with a firm wall of tannins, yet the berry and currant flavors push through. Best from 2009 through 2025. 680 cases made."
We'll send over the hard copy version once it's printed later this month.
Also, just a heads up (and I don't want you to get too excited in case it doesn't happen), but we received a call from an editorial assistant this morning and they are considering Stephen for a cover shot—albeit with some other winemakers as well—the story they are considering him for is “The Central Coast’s Hot Young Winemakers.” We trying to get more details on this photo shoot and will be back in touch with you soon.
Congrats to the entire winery team!"
My father immediately called Sean....and then called me. He was a little miffed at both of us. Stephen our winemaker comes into the office all puffed up with pride. It was a shame to have to bring him down (although I don't doubt that we will certainly get there some day...Stephen's wines are just getting better and better. The first vintage of our SSS Meritage got 92 points in Wine Enthusiast). Paige replies to the whole team with congrats.
And then the rug is pulled out from under me. Both my sales managers tell me they already sent the news out to our entire distributor network in hopes of selling the wine in.
Whoops. That's about 40 distributor contacts across the country that now think we got a 97 on our Meritage from the Spectator. A score like that would catapult our brand into cult status. Hopefully they will have a sense of humor about it when they discover the prank.
Or are my clever sales managers Kevin and Cher messing with me? Have the tables been turned and now I have been hit with a cruel April Fool's Day joke? Has the "messor" become the "messee?" I have to admit that I am a little worried.....so already the joke's on me.
Amber the Winery dog turned 10 last week. She was adopted from a former vineyard manager of Clos LaChance when she was just a runt puppy. Amber has made a number of signifigant contributions to Clos LaChance, including:
-Stealing food off desks, the table, out of trash cans.
-Barking at unfamiliar men that come in the front door. Although not at unfamilar women.
-Having serious gas issues when we are closed up in the conference room for a marathon staff meeting.
-Weaseling a treat after going potty outside. (Isn't that what dogs are supposed to do?)
-Licking faces.
For this we thank you Amber, and hold a party to celebrate your 10th birthday. You are becoming an old lady (70 years by my dog-year calculator), somewhat grumpy, especially with all the new dogs coming to visit. But we love you always.
The third vintage of Amber's Cuvee Sparkling Wine (Blanc de Blanc from the Santa Cruz Mountains) will be released later this year.
Amber the Winery dog turned 10 last week. She was adopted from a former vineyard manager of Clos LaChance when she was just a runt puppy. Amber has made a number of significant contributions to Clos LaChance, including:
-Stealing food off desks, the table, out of trash cans.
-Barking at unfamiliar men that come in the front door. Although not at unfamiliar women.
-Having serious gas issues when we are closed up in the conference room for a marathon staff meeting.
-Weaseling a treat after going potty outside. (Isn't that what dogs are supposed to do?)
-Licking faces.
For this we thank you Amber, and hold a party to celebrate your 10th birthday. You are becoming an old lady (70 years by my dog-year calculator), somewhat grumpy, especially with all the new dogs coming to visit. But we love you always.
The third vintage of Amber's Cuvee Sparkling Wine (Blanc de Blanc from the Santa CruzMountains) will be released later this year.
