Aussie expert forecasts changes
American wine-lovers are set in their ways, but Europeans have already adapted to new techniques.
By LAURA S. MEYN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- The No. 1 Australian wine in the world -- Jacob's Creek -- sent its top winemaker to the Youngstown area Monday as part of a U.S. tour that will take him from California to New York, and places in between. Philip Laffer made his only two Ohio stops in Youngtown and Cleveland -- the winery's top two markets in the state.
Why is Youngstown such a big market for Jacob's Creek? Laffer owes his company's success here to "great wines, great distributors, and great restaurateurs," and affably offers that it "could be that there's just a fair amount of discerning people" in the area.
His Youngstown trip was hosted by Ohio Wine & amp; Beverage Co., the brand's local distributor, which marked Laffer's visit with a wine dinner at Caffe Capri in Boardman, where local corporate wine buyers were treated to appetizers paired with Jacob's Creek's Sparkling Brut Cuvee, followed by a four-course dinner, each course paired with a different Jacob's Creek Reserve wine.
Perfect matches
Among the courses was a Pepper Crusted Lamb Chop with Saffron Risotto, paired with Jacob's Creek Reserve Shiraz (the 2003 vintage of this same wine was awarded 91 points by Wine Spectator--no small feat for a bottle that retails at a modest $13).
Paul Gause, vice president of Ohio Wine & amp; Beverage, calls Jacob's Creek "a staying brand" and indeed, Laffer works tirelessly to insure that it is. Laffer, who characterizes Jacob's Creek as "elegant" in its focus on pairing well with food, says that the winery challenges itself to make "each successive vintage more appealing than the previous one."
Another way Laffer has worked to push the winery toward increasing success is by introducing finer wines; while Jacob's Creek has a well-known line of entry-level bottles, it also has a growing Reserve line -- featured at Monday night's dinner -- and another line (called "Heritage") that's even another step above.
"Reserve appeals to regular Jacob's Creek drinkers for special occasions, or when they want to try another level," Laffer says. "We did the same thing with the sparkling wine -- it's affordable, but you're getting a much better bottle of wine."
Different outlook
It turns out that sparkling wine is a tougher sell than one would think; while the winery's Sparkling Brut Cuvee is a great value at $9.99, sparkling wines in the US are seen as being only for special occasions -- which means sales are relatively low. "In Australia, if you're having a glass of wine, people will open sparkling -- to just sit around and have a glass -- it has become just a normal thing there," Laffer says. "That has not happened in the U.S. yet. Hopefully that will change."
This fall, the winery will release a sparkling rose that just might help -- it's made from the same Chardonnay-Pinot Noir blend, but the juice is left in contact with the skins longer, which adds a pale pink color and extra flavor that Laffer characterizes as "strawberry."
Another tough sell in the U.S.? Screw-top caps. While most of the Jacob's Creek wines sold stateside still have corks, the winery is moving toward using more screw-top caps to better preserve the wine's quality.
"All corks impart character of one sort or another -- woodiness you're not looking for in wine," says Laffer. "Up to 25-30 percent is adversely affected. It dulls the fruit."
The catch is that customers still associate screw-top caps with cheap wines. "The U.S. is one of the most difficult markets to convince people," says Laffer, adding that in Jacob's Creek's blind tastings, wines bottled with screw-top caps have consistently won over the same wines bottled with corks. "Europe is starting to change," he says. "It's a question of education."
Perhaps that's why the winery's Reserve Riesling -- among Laffer's favorites -- is the first to go to screw-top caps for U.S. distribution. He explains that starting on the higher-end bottles is the winery's way of trying to show consumers that screw-top caps aren't for cheap wines. (In fact, the screw-top caps cost the winery more to bottle.)