Fig wrote:
Absolutly, your analysis is adequately fitted to the situation. I believe as u that "sadly" (depending on which side we are positioned) the demand is steadily inscreasing
... It does me think about a specific MBA progam dedicated to wine market
Thanks to relocate gently the postion of wines produiced in California. So it's Napa Valley. I heard about these wines several time and as other things that interest me, I do not have the time to spend on
... Feel free to suggest me some of them: I really appreciate the "inner" view
Have u the chance to possess, what I call perhaps wrongly, a spefic "wine cellar" to preserve your wines? To be clearer, a room under your house remaing at correct, constant temperature by natural conditions?
(I must say it's a kind of dream for me
)
I do not have an underground cellar - few houses in California have them. I have actually recently moved all of my wines to off-site storage. There are lots of specialty wine storage places that are temperature and humidity controlled around here. A popular feature of many ultra-expensive houses in this area is a "wine cellar", but they wouldn't be natural conditions. Generally they would be temperature and climate controlled with very fancy accoutrements.
I have thought about pursuing a career in wine, but the reality is that many of the wines that capture the imagination are more like art than business. If you get an MBA and go into the wine industry (it is big here), it would probably be with a huge beverage conglomerate and you'd be in sales or logistics; something like that. UC Davis (not far from here) does have a world class Viticulture and Enology major, but I'm not really cut out to be a farmer, and really, I don't want to make my hobby my business.
If you'd like recommendations on some California wines, the choices are extensive. You mentioned earlier that you wanted to find a white wine; I would recommend Kistler and Kongsgaard. They will give the best white burgundies a run for their money. Unfortunately, it may be nearly impossible to find them.
More mainstream wines that you might be able to find in France would be Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (they won the 1976 Paris tasting and put Napa Valley on the Map, google or wikipedia it), Mondavi, Shafer or Caymus. Opus One is a joint venture between Mondavi and Mouton (yes the premier cru). Christian Moueix of Petrus runs Dominus in Napa Valley.
Calfornia wines are referenced by winery name, then varietal; for example you might look for a Mondavi Cabernet. I wanted to point this out because it's obviously different in France. Some wineries will produce and sell Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rhone varietals - Pride is a good example of this. They make Syrah, Viognier, Cabernet, Chardonnay and Merlot (among others). The trend in Napa Valley is ultra-small production wines made to the highest possible standards. These wines (Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, Colgin, among others) rival premier cru Bordeaux in terms of price and quality at this stage in their development, but are available in much smaller quantities, maybe 500-1000 cases a year.
There is a saying that no matter how or where you start collecting wine, everyone eventually winds up in Bordeaux or Burgundy as they get serious. I think that is really true.