The Review - FOOD & DRINK - THE WINE PRESS Published: 27 September 2007
Hollywood star Dan Aykroyd has invested some of his movie millions in his own brand of wine
The new producers: let’s drink to their good wealth!
Expensive new labels are being created by wine-makers with money to splash out on their own carefully constructed brands
FEWER of us are drinking wine, but growing numbers of us are willing to pay more for the wine we buy. This appears to be the message of various recent studies into the wine-buying habits of the British public.
We, on the other hand, have always regarded wine buying as an exercise in financial prudence – an opportunity to buck the system – we have always aimed to drink well but to buy cheap. While others perused the stock market, or horse- racing form, we studied winemakers. Our objective: to identify exceptionally good wine, sold at a bargain price.
Talented and ambitious new wine-makers or owners, out to make a name for themselves, were usually a good bet.
In the past there were always some wines on the market produced by folks prepared to build their reputations over a period of years. They made above average wines and initially sold them cheap to build their brand and increase the price.
It was a slow and uncertain process and, for most cash-starved, small-scale-wine makers, it was usually the only way to succeed.
Lately a new breed of ambitious winery owners has emerged – retirees, beneficiaries of the wealth explosion that has inundated Anglo Saxon countries.
Old vineyards or even virgin land are purchased, local winemakers are hired and international consultants recruited.
From the beginning high prices are set for the wines, which are entered into wine competitions and exhibited at food fairs or even trade events organised by professional PR companies. It is expensive but it can be a fast track to success.
Initially, this phenomenon was mainly confined to California, but as the numbers have grown and the cost of buying suitable land in California has greatly increased, it has spread to other countries.
Retiree winery owners (mainly American and British) have been cropping up all over the place.
New Zealand is a big attraction – land is cheap and the country’s wine-making reputation high.
There, new wine-making regions are being developed by rich wannabe wine-makers.
Languedoc and Bergerac in southern France are other favourites. In the US too, new wine regions such as Oregon are being created by this army of wealthy, amateur winery owners.
Amateurs they may be, but shy they are not. Their wealth is often dwarfed by their arrogance – be it New Zealand or southern France, indigenous wine-makers are often dismissed as backward and ignorant.
However, the phenomenon of rich people buying wineries is nothing new.
It certainly existed in the 19th century when the wines of the Medoc were classified. Then vineyards owned by wealthy, often absentee landlords were given their own classification. It proved to be very popular. Cru Bourgeois stills appears on the labels of Medoc wines all over he world. The alternative Cru Artisan is largely confined to the locality.
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