Mike Veseth's Blog, page 23

Wine Book Review: Rescuing Roussillon’s Identity

Rosemary George MW, The Wines of Roussillon (The Infinite Ideas Classic Wine Library, 2021)

It’s not easy to write a book about a complicated wine region like Roussillon — a place with such varied terroir and interesting history. It is especially hard when the approach is personal and intimate. But it must be nearly impossible to do this when the necessary fieldwork is interrupted by a global pandemic.

And yet Elizabeth George MW has managed to do all of this and to do it really well in her newe...

Magical Mystery Box: Emerging China Wine Market Strategy

The Chinese economy is booming, recovering from the pandemic sooner and stronger than any other country, although the pace of recovery seems to have slowed. The wine economy in China is still struggling, however, with high inventory levels remaining due to last year’s lockdowns. Selling off the surplus stock without eroding price points and reputations is serious concern. Recently reports highlight creative solutions to the problem.

Doubling Down on China

Concha y Toro, the famous Chilean wine b...

We Are All Terroirists Now

The third section of my book Wine Wars, which is celebrating its 10th birthday this  year, is called “the Revenge of the Terroirists.” As I explained in last week’s Wine Economist column, Wine Wars argues that globalization pushes the wine market forward, which is great, but one market reaction to this “creative destruction” is rationalization, which can be both good and bad.

What’s to keep wine from going off the rails and becoming just another branded consumer good? Well, it could easily happe...

The New Wine Wars

We are celebrating  the tenth anniversary of the publication on my book Wine Wars here at Wine Economist world headquarters and I want to use this opportunity to reflect on how the wine world has changed since 2011. As I explained in last week’s column, Wine Wars is organized around a trio of strong forces that together (along with other factors, of course) shape the wine sector and many other industries, t00.  In very simple terms …

Globalization drives change. Commodification is a commercial ...

Wine Wars: Curses, Miracles, and Revenge

Wine Wars 2011: the first books arrive.

As I explained in last week’s Wine Economist column, this is the tenth anniversary of the publication of my first book on the wine business, Wine Wars. Although the catchy title (suggested by the smart marketing people at Rowman & Littlefield) gets your attention, it is the long subtitle that outlines the book’s argument. This is a story of “the Curse of the Blue Nun, the Miracle of Two Buck Chuck, and the Revenge of the Terroirists.”

Here is a quick sketc...

Ten Years of Wine Wars

2021 marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of my first book about the business of wine, Wine Wars: the Curse of the Blue Nun, the Miracle of Two Buck Chuck, and the Revenge of the Terroirists.

Wine Wars was written to encourage readers to consider how market forces help shape what’s in our collective wine glass. The  book received very positive reviews upon publication and it remains popular (and, people tell me, still relevant) today. Indeed, it still occasionally shows up on Amazon.co...

Back to the Future of Armenian Wine

The mission of Boston-based Storica Armenian Wines is to introduce U.S. consumers to the pleasures of Armenian wine and they seem to be off to a good start.

Just last week, for example, Wine Bible author Karen MacNeil‘s Instagram #TasteWithKaren webinar featured Vahe Keushguerian, founder of Keush wines, for a tasting of three of his Armenian traditional method sparkling wines. One of them, the Keush Origins, was our Open That Bottle Night 2021 wine. A delightful wine from an unexpected source, ...

Climate Change Risks: Reading Between the Wines

Climate change is a threat to the global wine industry — there is not much disagreement about this fact. But what are the specific risks to the wine product chain and what are wine businesses doing about them?

Climate Change Risk: Timely Idea?

This is a complicated question if only because the wine product chain has so many links that are vulnerable to climate change’s direct and indirect effects. One way to begin to answer the question, I proposed in last week’s Wine Economist column, is to foc...

Climate Change and the Wine Business

It is difficult to over-state the potential impact of climate change on the global wine sector. Recently, I was part of a panel on this topic. My task was to get a handle on how climate change is likely to impact the business side of wine. I developed an analytical framework to consider this question based on the concept of material risk. I wasn’t able to develop my ideas fully during the brief webinar, so I will do so in this space over the next two weeks.

Unpacking the Wine Product Chain

How w...

Memo to CNN: Searching for Italian Wine?

Dear CNN,

Sue and I have been watching the CNN original series “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.” Tucci visits six Italian regions, talks with the people, enjoys the food, and tells some stories. Maybe it is because of the pandemic, but there is something very satisfying about following Tucci on his journey. You might want to check it out.

Tucci starts his Giro d’Italia in Naples and then moves on to Rome, Bologna, Milan, Tuscany, and Sicily. The title suggests that he is “Searching for Ital...