Dan Berger: On wine-buying trends

I attended a trade wine-tasting last week for 15 producers of wines from the Rioja district, one of Spain’s most prestigious and mature wine regions.

The red wines from Rioja, made largely from the Tempranillo grape, can be among the best red wines consumers can buy. Most do not have the aggressive tannins of other red wines, age nicely, and work well with food.

One great benefit of the wines is that of Rioja’s 650-plus wineries, few make wines with alcohols over 14%, an odious trend in many other areas of the wine world, where alcohols are running 15% and more, and which make for a hot, harsh taste.

Of the 80 or so wines available at the tasting, I found many that were superb. And I would tell you about them except for one problem: The wines are, for the most part, not imported to the United States. This tasting was of producers seeking representation.

Moreover, prices for many of the best wines were in the $20 to $30 range, and although that means they are well priced, it may still be too much for the current state of the wine market.

Wine Opinions, a research group, released a study of wine consumers and members of the U.S. wine trade last week that examined shifts in the wine market during the weak economy of the last year.

“The study confirms the trade-down trend and measures how it occurs as prices transition from $10 to over $20 a bottle,” said the report.

“Over one-third of consumers reported boosting purchases of wines costing from $6 to $15, while over 40% had cut back buying wines over $30 and were not buying wines costing over $50 at all.”

Christian Miller, Director of Research for Wine Opinions, said, “The financial effect is a key part, but not the whole story.”

Among imported wines selling for less than $20, the report showed that the greatest gains were for wines from Argentina, Chile and Spain. The implication was that sales of wines over $20 were slower.

I wish the Rioja producers well and hope to see their wines here. But the competition is already pretty strong, and consumer resistance may be a problem.

ON ANOTHER TOPIC, a column here recently on the problems with touring Wine Country during the harvest elicited this response from Rob Davis, longtime wine maker for Jordan in the Alexander Valley:

“Enjoyed your column regarding harvest visitors. Oh, so true! The most-used salutation during crush is, ‘I know you are really busy, but ... ’

“However, every once in a while a visitor stops by that is quite memorable. Back in 1999 I got a call about a stop-in visitor just when I was trying to finish up with a grape delivery. The timing was horrible; but then I thought, like you, ‘Why not put them to work?’”

“So I asked Rollie Fingers and his wife if he had time to help us work on the sorting belt. They loved it! And it was great to hear from a Hall of Fame pitcher how he would pitch to (Barry) Bonds, etc.

“Unfortunately, with OSHA requirements it is difficult to do that now, as we are required to document full safety training: lock out-tag out; confined space, respiratory safety, lifting procedures, first aid, CPR, etc.

“But what a fun day that turned out to be!”

Wine of the week: 2008 Chapoutier Belleruche Blanc, Côtes du Rhône ($13): White Côtes du Rhônes can be a delightful alternative dry wine to pair with seafood, and this light, crisp white is made from Grenache Blanc and two other local grapes. It has a delicate sour-apple and dried-spice aroma, and good acid for pairing with food.

Dan Berger lives in Sonoma County, where he publishes “Vintage Experiences,” a weekly wine newsletter. Write to him at danberger@rocketmail.com.