| | Frank Answers for the PBS Reality Series "the
Winemakers".
These questions were presented to all casting call
contestants via email by the show producers Doc City. The answers to these
considered questions might be expressed on camera before the judges at the
Winemaker / Winemakers TV reality show casting call and audition. They may
or may not be asked by the casting call judges.
My Answers
1) Describe how you became interested in wine.
I became interested in wine through my father and my wife. She is an amateur chef in the Alice Waters style so we always eat a 'fresh and local' dinner each night with foods from the Sonoma County area. My father has been a home wine maker for 18 years and 4 years ago they both implored me to get an understanding of red wine which I had been allergic to in a younger part of my life.
It all started there. Three years ago I started home wine making and have been overwhelmed with praise for my vintages. I don't know a lot about how the "big boys" do it, but am anxious to see.
2) Describe your greatest wine moment (past or future).
My greatest wine moment will come when I take a gold medal in the State Fair as a home maker should I not win the $100,000 to start my own commercial label. If I do win... it would be to... (and I want to be reasonable...) win a gold medal at the Los Angeles County Fair and the California State Fair for the same vintage.
3) Using whatever resources are available to you (Internet, magazines etc.), describe the wines of Paso Robles, California.
Paso Robles has a wide spread of wine varietals because the region actually has a full range of growing temperatures. It accommodates varietals that need sun and hardy soil like Zin and Syrah while the near coast area is temperate enough to have Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc succeed. The wineries I've heard most about are Turley which I think sells on allocation only, the Fess Parker winery and Eschelon which made a great 2000 Syrah that I consider one of my best wine flavor experiences.
4) If you were launching your own wine label, what are some of the sales and marketing strategies you would develop to promote your wine?
A label starting out can do far more risky things than an established label and I would tend toward the controversial. I would use the internet extensively and emphasize "art in a bottle" while revealing how huge corporations are passing themselves off as 'boutique wineries'. I would build videos that were amusing and thoughtful enough to encourage them to be emailed between friends... like the taken apart Honda car kinetic video we all get a copy of every once in a while. Viral marketing!
The website would take orders and sell wine day one. The site would teach people how to make wine at home themselves and have video instructive aids. Only a few people will actually make wine but the egalitarianism of teaching anyone will add street credentials to the winery.
I would Venue-Value, Bottle-Value, and Eco-Value the product.
Venue Value would be to curb the over-pricing of wines on a restaurant wine list. Restaurant markups on wine specifically curb the publics interest in filling out their dining experience. Restaurants don't have to prepare it, or cook it but the margins are higher on the bottle than the plate. I might even print on the label a suggested retail ceiling price that is higher than a store but lower than a typical restaurant to curb restaurant behavior.
Bottle Value.. I would sell no smaller than a 1 liter bottle. All the costs of production and delivery are about exactly the same between a 750 and a 1 liter bottle. I would give the consumer the extra value. The label and web site would tell the buyer that we use a gravity flow winery, and certain other eccentric things to develop a cult.
Eco-Value..I would let the consumer know we buy "green tags" for our power consumption, green wind produced electricity. I would instruct them on the bottle to re-use or at least re-cycle the bottle, and have the label come off easily in warm water using a musilage based glue. I would devote a part of each label to promote important environmental concepts that are easy to implement and world changing.
I would have a contest using a unique number on a few corks that allowed an all expense paid trip (or $2000 in cash) to the winery. This would encourage restaurant sales since the server would 'keep' the cork, (as they always do). The winning numbers would be on the website to drive traffic to it which would allow us to make direct sales again to reciprocal states.
5) How can the wine industry do a better job selling wine to adult consumers?
The chief problem the wine industry has is the lack of a common language known by all of its customers. Each wine reviewer brings their own lingo to the task... like 'jammy' is Robert Parker lingo.
Twice a week the industry should buy 1 1/2 minutes of commercials in a Food Network 1/2 hour show calling the collective minutes "Wine Romance". I think the 6:30 PM showing Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meal would be an ideal time
Use 1/2 minute at the top of the hour (which is really 7 minutes into the show to tell the audience what "we" (plural possessive) will be reviewing next week and open a bottle of the wine we said we would be reviewing on last weeks show to breathe, pouring a glass that will be sampled, experienced and reviewed between minutes 25 and 26 of the half hour show. At minute 25 there is also cluster ads. Buy 1 minute in the cluster, do a close up of the glass to reveal the color and clarity, swirl it for the legs, have a professional describe the aroma, bouquet and then describe the flavor. Have the audience do the same. Tell the viewer what they should be expecting and in doing so give them a common vocabulary for the description. Remind them what the next wine they should buy for tasting should be, show them a bottle.
Do not let Corporate Wine America get their paws on the show. It will taint the credibility. Bottles can only come from wineries that make 10,000 cases or less and the bottle should retail for under $30
Having a shared first person experience will allow the population to learn collectively what a wine experience is and how to describe it. Over time the vocabulary would build nationally with the broad experience.
Have the 1 1/2 minute collective segment available for download as a video podcast, sell advertising at the titles and credits fleshing it out to 2 or 2 1/2 minutes.
The easier way might be to get the Food Network do this without the wine industry.
You will know it's been successful when it's parodied by the beer industry in a Super Bowl ad.
6) Why do you think some people are intimidated by wine?
I think most people are intimidated because they don't have a confident grip of the wine describing language enough to make them comfortable discussing wine. Take away someone's confidence or an opportunity at authority on a subject and they remain intimidated.
The solution is to make them comfortable with a language they know and can use effectively. Make wine an egalitarian subject by teaching the language through a large shared common experience.... like "Wine Romance" TV show/podcast.
Naturally wine is more pricey many times than beverage alternatives. Nobody wants to send $15 or more and then not like it when they drink it. Since most people don't live in wine country they can't go wine tasting for nominal fees. If only there were more wine bars or a wine education program on TV.
A day wine tasting, one person at a time will never yield a larger percentage of wine appreciators than exist now. That's the way it has always been done. It's time to do it differently.
7) What is your favorite grape variety and why?
Mine is Zinfandel. It's a varietal that has wall to wall flavor which can range from tart (with tannins) to a late harvest with sweet flavor and syrupy consistency. The variables are when and where the grapes are grown and picked... along with when fermentation and pressing occurred and then whether oaked or not and for how long. There is a lot of variety, and body to zinfandel so it never requires blending to build it into a full flavored wine.
8) Name five of the great wine producing regions of California.
Central Coast, Amador County, Sonoma County, Napa County and Mendocino County. My favorite appellations are Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley and the Carneros Area.
9) Name the five most popular grape varieties used in wine making.
In the United States I would say..Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel and at the moment I would put Syrah a very close sixth.
In other countries the list may vary. In Spain I would add Rioja, in Italy I would add Sangiovese and in Australia I would move Syrah (Shiraz) higher.
10) What makes you an ideal cast member of THE WINE MAKERS?
Wine is a subject that I am passionate about. Not as a snob, or someone that has a real formal education in wine appreciation (apart from my experience of what I like).
I have been a home wine maker for 3 years and have barrels cellar aging from last falls harvest at the moment. I would love to see a big winery close up at work.
My day job is a computer programmer that assists people with internet marketing. The internet has not been effectively used by the wine industry and I can bring a new set of tools to winery marketing.
I am an extrovert. I initiate and carry on conversations with anyone... so I can get along in a group. I also founded a business in my garage that organically grew to 52 employees so I also know how to lead a group toward a common goal.
As a cast member I would think of myself as an articulate, knowledgable professor type that is youthful and down to earth with real world experience that can be useful in a group setting. Every reality show needs a character like me.
I would like to win The Winemakers competition and bring my love of a good wine experience to the rest of the country.
Frank Walburg
May 2nd Casting Call in San Francisco
Call 707-544-4400
or
email me at repair0121@isickbay.com
with questions or to set up a repair.
HOURS:
Monday through Friday from 10am to 7pm, and Saturday & Sunday noon to 6pm.
I'm in Sonoma County... Northern California wine country,
Frank Walburg
Service Court
Santa Rosa, Ca 95403-3139
|
|
