Wine Competitions are One Big Racket
If I ever wanted to make a lot of money in the wine industry, I know just
what I'd do. It wouldn't be starting a vineyard, or publishing a book, or
making my own wine, or marketing someone else's. No if I wanted to make a
pile of money, I'd simply organize a big wine competition.
Such competitions and their gold medals are good for one thing and one thing
only: making a pile of money for the people who organize them. I don't
believe the do a bit of good for the wine industry as a whole, no matter how
excited all those gold-medal-winning wineries are.
Now I'm a die-hard capitalist at heart. The folks that run these wine
competitions are doing their best to get along in the world just like
everyone else. I've got nothing against them personally. But I see the
endless parade (more and more are started every year) of wine competitions
as no better than those talent scouting scams you see in the paper, where
overly hopeful parents of young actresses and models-to-be get sucked into
paying "talent fees" for the chance to have their offspring "considered" for
representation by a talent agent that may not even exist, let alone have the
connections needed to turn someone into a star.
In other words: one big racket. Here's an excerpt from one such
competition's literature:
"NEW Competition! Look at the Super Star Pro Wine Buyers Lined Up to Judge
Your Greatest Wines! Get your wines tasted by top U.S. Professional Wine
Buyers from Andronico's Market, Dean and Deluca, IL Forniao Restaurant
Group, Playboy Mansion West.
$75 per entry Early Bird until August 16. SO DON'T WAIT. Enter Now.
More at
http://www.vinography.com/archives/2008/08/wine_competitions_are_one_big.html
No comments:
Post a Comment