Merlot is being replaced with this popular grape variety....
🌟 Sorry for the delay since my last newsletter. It has been fairly hectic since New Years, travelling for our wine portfolio show and VinExpo Paris. I’ll try my very best to keep posting weekly. 🙋♀️ Hello to new followers - I hope this provides some *light* reading to keep you up to date with the latest happenings in wine.
🗞️ HEADLINES
UK wine supplier, Liberty Wines, reports UK on-trade wine sales still below pre-Covid levels, highlighting the impact Covid and the cost-of-living crisis has had on revenues. (Harper’s)
Emily Brighton MW, Christopher Martin MW, Robert Mathias MW, Dror Nativ MW, who are based in the UK, and Pietro Russo MW, based in Italy, are the latest to achieve the title of Master of Wine. The top countries where MWs are based around the world are Australia (26), Canada (10), France (18), Germany (10), New Zealand (15), the UK (208) , and the US (58).
👎 Merlot sales have tanked at bars and restaurants across the UK amid rising demand for lighter styles of red wine. Meanwhile, Beaujolais sales are going through the roof as Brits seek out lighter styles of red wine - Gamay sales are up by 35% since 2019 at high-end bars, hotels and restaurants, according to the report, which was compiled by wine supplier Liberty Wines. (Decanter)
🔎 FROM THE ARCHIVES
🍷🇺🇸 Wine and hospitality at The White House
Time Magazine reveals the “long and important role of wine in White House hospitality”. In summary, European wines are gradually replaced with those exclusively from America.
1700s: Guests at the White House are served fortified European wines (Port, Sherry, Madeira) as these wines could travel overseas without spoiling.
1780s: Thomas Jefferson serves as minister to France where he is introduced to wines from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Hungary.
Early 1900s: Jefferson, now president, purchases more than 20,000 bottles of fine European wine to serve at state dinner parties.
1840: President Martin Van Buren's expensive taste in champagne becomes a “political liability” during the temperance movement. Despite this, presidents continued to serve wine, recognising its diplomatic influence.
Post Civil War: In 1870, social dining peaks. On one occasion, President Grant's wine bill reached ⬇️⬇️⬇️ (scroll to the bottom for the answer)
1920: The Eighteenth Amendment bans alcohol sales in the US.
1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt pledges his support for repealing the Eighteenth Amendment.
Post WWII: Wine is increasingly used as a diplomatic tool. President Nixon selects a Californian sparkling wine for a significant toast during the opening of U.S.-China relations in 1972.
1974: Nixon was the final president to serve European wines at official dinners, with President Gerald R. Ford beginning a new tradition of exclusively serving American wines at White House events, aligning with his policy of promoting all things American.
#️⃣ NUMBER OF THE WEEK
$6 Billion
Total Wine & More revenues in 2023, making them the largest alcohol retailer in the U.S.
🌏 WORLDVIEW
🇯🇵 Underwater ageing in Tokyo
In late January, 500 bottles of European wine were submerged in stainless steel cages 20 metres deep off Amami-Oshima Island in Tokyo.
Underwater ageing is already practiced in different parts of the world due to consistent cool temperatures, high pressure, and low light, promoting conditions for healthy maturation.
🎧 QUOTED
Does anyone know how to sell wine? Adam and Zach discuss on VinePair.
“The majority of [the problem] starts with the wine brands themselves. If they’re not helping change the narrative as to how wine should be discussed and sold, then everybody else is just going to fall into the same old tropes. If the goal continues to be that we only go to a few different publications for scores and we we only do marketing through them and we only talk to that [type of] consumer, then the way everyone sells wine will be the same way they sold wine for the last 40 f*cking years and the other generations will find other things to drink because those are [the brands] that are figuring out how to sell to them…
This consumer wants you to talk to them about wine in the way they talk to you about whether they should drink a Daiquiri, a Martini or an Old Fashioned and if you can’t do that then you have a real problem”.
Listen here.
ANSWER
💸💸💸 President Grant’s bill reached over $44,000 in today’s currency!
Thanks for reading! :)