Irregular Update
Sydney Time
Copyright © Ric Einstein 2008
Welcome to this weeks Irregular Update. Unfortunately due to a slight
case of sticky fingers and an incorrect key, a small number of people did not
receive last week's edition. For those that didn't, it contained
Chapter Seven
of the 2006 South Australian Tour Diary.
Whilst on the subject of what was written last week, the
Heritage wine madness
continued. Some of the final prices paid for the wines that went to auction were
insane. In discussion with some readers, the conclusion I have come to
for these insane prices are possibly fourfold. It may be a case of the
purchasers thinking that because it was a wine investment company, all the wine
must be good. Add to that a little bit of knowledge being a dangerous thing; for
example knowing that Fox Creek is a respected winery and a 97 wine is 10 years old,
so it must be worth a fortune. Auction inexperience and errors; some people may
have thought they were getting a case, rather than the single bottle. Then there
is the cream on the cake. Australia's foremost and popular breakfast
announcer, Alan Jones endorsing the auction with live reads. Whatever the
reasons, in an odd twist of fate, the idea behind Heritage Wines may have not
been so stupid after all. Rather than planning to export the wine to the US to
make a killing, with some clever advertising, they may have been able to turn it
into a winning proposition by auctioning it through Grays. If this whole
thing wasn't so stupid, it would be funny.
This weeks article titled "From a Masters to a PhD in Marketing Incomprehensibility" charts the progress of what used to be one of the key Southcorp brands. It takes a special type of genius to damaged a well established brand, but Southcorp did it with admiral effect to the Rosemount label. Fosters, realising the potential of this brand, decided to try and resurrect it with a relaunch. What a job that have done with the relaunch; in the process, the iconic Balmoral brand could now possibly quality for a PhD from Harvard in Marketing Incomprehensibility. Read all about it here.
Another new, small Snippet titled, Chateau Furkin' Expensive H20 has been posted. If you think wine is an exclusive luxury and the prices can be over the top, you have to read this small snippet about water. I just shook my head, but others may find it "more to their taste."
Two new tasting notes have been added for unreleased wines. Roger Price from Marius has done it again. Two very well made wines that are both excellent value for money and should not be missed. This winery is rapidly becoming one of my favourite McLaren Vale producers. The tasting notes can be found here.
One of my regular readers and e-mail correspondence wrote to me explaining that the colour scheme of the Irregular Update was difficult for him to read. Unfortunately the free Web-based e-mail providers, like Hotmail and Yahoo, for some inexplicable reason, change the colour profile of these e-mails to their own unique colour combinations. Whilst I have tried to change the Irregular Update as much as possible to fit in with these formats, it is impossible to maintain consistency across all Web-based e-mail services and still maintain the look and feel of my newsletter. It is for this reason, that at the top of this e-mail, there is a link to my site which lays out the e-mail correctly, in an easy to read format.
The News section has been about average over the past week. Stories of possible interest include:
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Struggling winemaker bailing out by thimble
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Jancis Robinson: 'I hope 2006 fails'
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Frog Wine Terrorists - that's not Terriorists either
-
Boisset to launch range of wines in plastic bottles
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Wine is the new vodka for women alcoholics
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Wine Yarra Valley launched
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Rain boosts Hunter Valley wine makers
Those stories and more can be found here.
This weeks quote "It is indeed a fitting that we gather here today to pay tribute to Abraham Lincoln, who was born in a log cabin that he built with his own hands." -- Ronald Reagan.
Until next week: Cheers!
Ric
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