A flicker of glimmering hope shone through the dark, gloomy economic cloud looming over the world of wine today. While reading Josh Raynold’s annual report on the Cotes du Rhone region in the latest issue of Stephen Tanzer’s IWC, he affirmed that the 2007 vintage looks to be one of the better vintages from the region within the past 10 years.

This news could not have come at a better time for us as a company as the Cotes du Rhone wine we import, the 2005 Cuve Sabine, was finally delivered to the state of Utah for sale in the specialty wine stores. We’re very excited to now have this new wine available in Utah and hope you will enjoy it!

Along with the success of the 2007 vintage, the region has produced several other fantastic vintages in recent years, most notably the 2001 and 2005 vintages. The wines from Cotes du Rhone are very interesting, full of fresh fruit flavors, and are surprisingly affordable. The region is quite diverse and almost two different regions altogether, but whether you choose a wine from the Northern or Southern Rhone region, they very rarely disappoint.

Santé!

-Michael 

After a long chat today with Vitor Mendez of Vinixa, a Portuguese wine export company, I left the office today wondering how the PR Grisley Co. can cope with

 the financial crisis rocking the entire globe. I really started to dwell on this after reading an article from The Wine Spectator about how wine trends will start to change during these hard times, and how here in the US consumers will start to look towards domestic wines. This is obviously concerning for us as we only work with European wines, but with the continued popularity of wines from countries like Spain and Portugal, I assumed we would be able to weather the storm a little easier than some. However, as my friend Vitor mentioned earlier in the day, many producers are still not realizing the urgency that is sometimes needed in this business. He expressed his frustrations but kept a positive attitude because he loves his job and is willing and eager to show these producers what can be accomplished with a minimal amount of change.

Similarly, the fine folks at Catavino attended and conducted seminars at the 1st Wine Pleasures International Wine Tourism Conference & Workshop in Sitges, Spain to discuss and show the many producers several ways to help their wineries. With seminars on everything from blogging, social media outlets, wine tastings and tourism, as well as collaborations between wineries and their clients, restaurants, etc., the event was definitely an experience for all attendees. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the event, but several people who I have talked to that did attend left the conference with eyes wide open and with a very different mindset than when they entered. I hope that there will be many more of these conferences to come as the conference had a large impact on the way many European producers view how blogging among other things can be utilized to better their businesses.

After several years in the wine importing business, witnessing and experiencing its ups and downs, we have had the opportunity to learn and grow from the wine scandals, horrible exchange rates, and the explosion of fantastic wines from relatively unknown regions all over the world. To say the least, 2008 has been an interesting year being importers in the US.One of the most interesting and exciting things for us in 2008 was the growth and impact that wine bloggers had throughout the wine world this year. As a company that solely relied on advertising through trade shows, international expos, wine reviews and word of mouth, the potential doors that blogging has the ability unlock is staggering for us.Whether you are a producer such as Quevedo, an export consortium like Vinixa and Exba 7, or an internet personality like Gary Vaynerchuck, the potential to reach people is almost endless. Blogging allows anyone to post information about anything and we feel that is why it has really exploded within the wine world, where opinions and discussion make up a good part of the wine culture.

With all those aspects in the back of our minds, we decided we were losing out on too many opportunities to meet new contacts through social media such as Twitter, getting the wines we work with exposure through sites like Adegga, and building a much better internet presence by sharing our stories with you through a blog. We decided we would be foolish to wait any longer to start a blog for our company and lose out on the massive potential it carries with it.

That being said, we hope you check back regularly, sign up for our newsletter, and hopefully learn, laugh, and discover with us the many things that keep us doing what we are doing! As always we’re open to questions, advice and new ideas, so please share them with us!

Peter and Michael Grisley

With so many new beverages coming out what seems like monthly, alcoholic or not, it seems like producers are willing to take some risks and PR stunts when it comes to selling their product. Scantily clad ladies-CHECK! Pop stars who can’t sing-CHECK! Washed up old actors-CHECK! You get my point, but this latest trend I have seen might actually have a benefit. It’s along the same lines as the new Coors label with it’s heat sensitive technology, but instead of letting you know when to drink a beverage, it will let you know when not to. The company making this product is based out of the US, but I’m sure producers from all over the world have heard about this and have some interest in it, merely for the “wow’ factor. To my knowledge, this has never been used for wine, so it could have some great potential, especially within the US market. However, wine has been produced and sold for thousands of years without this technology, and if I’m not mistaken, it seems to have done just fine with out it. So, is this just a gimmick or is it a legitimate way of letting consumers know when their stash has gone south? With the continued growth of wine sales and the advancement of technology, I think we can expect more and more of the ideas, for the better or worse. In the end, I guess the deciding factor will be if it these ideas are actually beneficial, or will they they just be a fad?

With Rioja still the most well known region in Spain, it’s nice to see the magazines and reviewers turning back north. After spending much of the past years focused on the fantastic wines and regions exploding onto the US market from other areas of Spain, it’s comforting that they are once again focusing on the region that put Spanish wine on the map. A few months ago the dynamic duo from Catavino.net put up an impressive amount of wine reviews on their blog about Rioja, especially when you think that two people powered through all those wines. Dedication. Along with Catavino’s review recently, the International Wine Review just released their review on Rioja and also has an amazing list of wines from all over Rioja, from the classic styles to the more modern Rioja wines. Both will be great information sources for the novice to the aficionado, and highly recommend reading and searching each different review. Wines of note in both reviews, Bodegas Ondalan, Bodegas Medrano Irazu, Bodegas Miguel Angel Muro, Bodegas Ruiz de Vinaspre and Bodegas Santiago Ijalba.

As if we don’t have enough reasons to drink wine, it just made the number 2 spot in a recent survey of the top 10 healthiest beverages. In a list made up entirely of fruit juices, you know wine would have to be on there!! It even ranked above good old plain Concord grape juice. However, I feel I need to mention to take this all in moderation!! I hate to break the bad news, but getting as drunk as possible WILL NOT help in your never end quest for super powers, sorry! On the other hand, enjoying a glass of red wine everyday with a great dinner and surrounded by great friends WILL bring about great conversation and memories for years to come as you reap the benefits of the antioxidant properties of wine. Oh and the deliciousness of a fine Spanish Crianza with practically any type of food! So get out there, grab a bottle of your favorite red wine, whatever it may be, and get some friends together and enjoy!!!