Wine Apps…Ouch!

We get quite a few emails from people who want us to take a look at their product with an eye towards reviewing it. Every few months or so among those offers is a plea for us to try a new mobile app. Invariably the dialogue goes one of two ways. If they are lucky Amy gets to the mailbox first and it goes like this:

Excited entrepreneur: I would love it if you would test and review my new mobile wine app!

Amy: Sure, just tell me where to download the Android version.

Less excited entrepreneur: It’s for the iPhone.

Amy: Oh, well we don’t review applications that are only available for iPhone. But feel free to let us know when it is also available for Android.

Then there are the poor bastards who have to deal with me:

Awards & Dollar Sense…Humm?

Does the Wine Spectator really care about your wine list?

Hilarious individuals have completely debunked this entire process and proven as such. This is obviously (partially) a moneymaking scam for Wine Spectator. Here is the math: If you employed 1 full time employee to read every submission during their 150 day submission period, it would add up to about 20 minutes per wine list assuming an 8 hr work day. Heck, double it. Lets say you have 2 full time employees, and you pay them each $50k per year. What would you need to bring in in order to justify that? Last year, they gave 2827 Awards for Excellence (1 glass#, 833 Best of Award of Excellence #2 Glasses) and 74 Grand Awards (3 Glasses#). It also costs $250 for every submission, regardless of what or if you win. So that makes $933,500 in revenue from this program. Yeah, that probably justifies 2 full-time employees #but I bet they use interns.

Is ‘Grand Cru’ a meaningful term in the US?

‘Grand Cru’ and the Use of Quality Terms in the United States

by Lindsey A. Zahn on November 7, 2011

Recently, I read an interesting article discussing the use of the term ‘Grand Cru’ by a United States winemaker. (See Much Ado About a Wine Marketing Designation.) The story reflects the use of the term ‘Grand Cru’ by Sea Smoke Cellars of Santa Barbara, California.  After receiving a review in 2008 from Wine Spectator writer James Laube that dubbed the winery as one of the “grand cru” properties in Santa Barbara,