Mike Veseth's Blog, page 39

David Ricardo to Donald Trump: Global Wine Trade and Its Discontents

[image error]When David Ricardo wanted to make the logic of his famous Theory of Comparative Advantage crystal clear he knew what example to choose: wine. It was obvious that Britain should import wine from Portugal in exchange for cloth rather than trying for vinous self-sufficiency. Any fool could see that!

Make Great Britain Great?

But wine wasn’t really the point of his example. He was more concerned about the Corn Laws, a set of trade barriers designed to choke off agricultural imports and promote hi...

Wine Business 101: Exploring America’s Largest Wine Industry Trade Show

[image error]Contributing editor Sue Veseth is fascinated by wine industry trade shows. She recently attended the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium trade show in Sacramento, California. Here is her report.

>>><<<

Making wine is not very stuff-intensive, right? Some grapes, a vessel for fermentation, maybe a couple of barrels, some bottles or jugs, closures — voilà!

But modern winemaking, even for small wineries and those making natural wines, can be very stuff-intensive. A good place to start looking at or shop...

<<<

Wine Tourism Grows Up: A Visit to Washington’s Chateau Ste Michelle

[image error]I am in Kennewick, Washington today and tomorrow to speak at the Washington Winegrowers Association 2018 Convention & Trade Show.  Tomorrow I’ll share some thoughts about wine premiumization in the “State of the Industry” session, but today’s focus is wine tourism. I’ll give a global perspective on wine tourism as part of a program on  “The Business Side of Your Tasting Room.”

Grape Expectations?

Increasingly the tasting room’s business is not just pouring samples, selling wine, and promoting...

Wine Tourism Challenge: Giving City Visitors a Taste of the Wine Country

The most famous explanation of international trade is David Ricardo’s Theory of Comparative Advantage. England can make both cloth and wine and so can Portugal, but they will both gain if England specializes in cloth and trades it for Portuguese wines on the basis of each country’s relative efficiency of production.

Divine Will?

There are other trade theories if you aren’t satisfied with Comparative Advantage. One of my favorites is what you might call the Divine Will theory of trade, which...

Around the World in Eighty Wines Wins Gourmand International Wine Book Prize

[image error]My new book Around the World in Eighty Wines has received the Gourmand International 2018 award for best U.S. book in the wine and spirits tourism category and will now compete for “Best in the World” with winners from other countries. The global gold, silver, and bronze medals will be announced this May at award ceremonies in Yantai, China.

The Gourmand International awards are important and I have been fortunate to be recognized in the past for best U.S. and bronze medal “world’s best” win...

Trickle Up Wine Economics and the Big Wine Market Squeeze of 2018

[image error]You’ve probably heard of “trickle down” economics. It’s the theory that if you give money to the rich it ends up benefiting those who are not so rich as the wealthy spend or invest their money and create incomes and jobs for others.

Trickle Up and Down

Trickle down economics is controversial. Not because it is crazy to think that the rich spend or invest their funds; the question is how much actually gets down to the bottom of the economic pyramid? Mega-rich Scrooge McDuck, my favorite childh...

Mother Nature Strikes Back: The Big Wine Market Squeeze of 2018

[image error]

I’m busy getting ready for the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, which takes place in Sacramento later this month. It is the biggest wine industry meeting and trade show in North America, with over 14,000 attendees expected for the event’s three-day run from January 23 to 25.

Sacramento Dreaming

There’s a lot to see and do at the Unified. The trade show itself is fantastic, with the full range of wine industry goods and services — from tractors to raptors to bottles and corks to finance and in...

Wine Economist World Tour 2018 Update

[image error]Happy New Year to all. The Wine Economist World Tour is back on the road in 2018. I’m looking forward to speaking at regional wine industry meetings in Washington, Idaho, and Colorado, plus the big national meeting in Sacramento.

Here are World Tour stops for January and February 2018.

January 2018

The World Tour comes to Grand Junction, Colorado where I will be speaking at the VinCO Conference & Trade Show January 15-18. I’ll be giving three talks: “Secrets of the World’s Most Respected Win...

Field Notes from a Visit to Madeira: The Island Where Old Barrels Go to be Reborn

[image error]

Madeira is a Portuguese island off the coast of Morocco, a short 80 minute flight from Lisbon. When it was discovered in 1419 it was uninhabited, but now a quarter-million residents plus hundreds of thousands of tourists fill the island.

Madeira is famous for soccer (the Funchal airport is named for native son and Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo), its beaches, gardens, and mountains, too, which rise more than 1500 meters above sea level. And wine, of course.

I had been vaguely aware of...

The Wine Economist Guide to 2017 Wine Books to Give and to Read Yourself, Too

[image error]

The holidays are a great time to give someone you know a book and an even better time to sit down (with a glass of wine) and read one yourself. Wine books are especially welcome this time of year because, well, they are wine books, so how can they not be interesting and fun?

Here are the books we’ve reviewed at The Wine Economist this year. Any of them would make a great gift to that special person. All of them are good reads and worthy of your attention.

>>><<<

Caro Feely, Glass Half Full: The...

<<<