Another fantastic review of CDD Carmenere

In the June-July issue of Gourmet Traveller Wine the 2007 Casillero del Diablo Carmenere was reviewed under Best Buy Imports $25 and under:

"I tasted the full range of wines from this producer and was impressed by the value they offered. Concha y Toro's Carmenere, made from Chile's signature grape variety, was clearly best. This is a supremely elegant red with raspberry/blueberry fruit flavours supported by spicy oak and fine tannins. It oozes class.... a big jump above basic Chilean wine at a comparatively budget price"

We know the wine is good, but any press that can get more people onto a good thing is great.

By the way, looks like we'll be running out of the 2007 CDD Carmenere before the 2008 arrives in late August, so if you love the wine it might be worthwhile stocking up with a bottle or two to keep you going.

Where to next?

We've recently sold 42 cases of Casillero del Diablo (CDD) to Te Rapa New World (including 19 cases of Carmenere - yikes, they're going to clean us out of Carmenere!). It's great news because we have been knocking on their door for quite a while now. Credit has to go to Karen, our rep in the upper North Island.

Is CDD available in your neck of the woods? If you'd like it to be we can send you a sample to take to your local store, and a sample for you just to remind you what you've been missing out on. Please let us know.

I haven't received any photos (gee, you're a shy lot), so we're going to up it to a couple of bottles of CDD and a small gift. Again, a case for the most creative!

Photos

By the way, to make things easier, if you want to send the photo of you and your bottle of Casillero del Diablo from your mobile you can PXT it to me on 021 799 257.

Here's a quick video on the attraction of Casillero del Diablo:

Bob Campbell loves our Carmenere

For the second time Bob Campbell has included one of our Carmeneres in his list of Best Buy's Under $25 for Gourmet Traveller Wine.

Here's what he said about Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo Carmenere 2007:

90/100 (Four Stars) "This is a supremely elegant red with raspberry/blueberry fruit flavours supported by spicy oak and fine tannins. It offers fantastic value."

I got to thinking that making Carmenere a household name isn't exactly the objective. The truth is that only a small percentage of the total wine drinking public are really interested. Take out the people who only look for sub-$10 quaffers, those that don't want to step outside of their safety zone (and choose the labels that are drunk by others), those that only buy on special, and those that only drink NZ wine. Take out the posers, the wine snobs and the fiz-pop girlies.

There is a very interesting group left (and if you're reading this you're probably one of them): wine and food lovers with an open mind who are always looking for good value (aren't we all?), that predominantly base their decisions on the "wine experience" - how well it fits a food or mood, and how much they love a wine (for the price). What could this group be called?

We offer a lot to these people and we want to get/stay in touch and help them to love our wines. We already have one "ambassador" offering to take a sample to the owner of their local New World because they don't stock it and he thinks they should. It would make it easier for him to buy it, but he believes his friends (and others) should have the opportunity to buy it too.

We'd love you to help in this quest, as well - just let us know how we can help.

How do you make Carmenere a household name?

I've been trying to make Chilean wine a household name for nigh on 5 years. We've got some fantastic wines that can't be beaten on value - especially the Carmenere's - yet it always seems a struggle to get more people to "buy into" Chilean wine. I've used all the normal methods - send wine to wine writers, get them approved by Cuisine, in-store tastings, direct selling, Food Shows, Wine Clubs, Advertising, Trade Shows, our own shows, etc. Pretty much you name it, I've done it.

While we've grown, we've met plenty of obstacles. The biggest obstacle is people in the trade (ie. liquor buyers). I've heard "There's no demand for Chilean wine" and "Our Customers aren't ready for your wine yet" from two buyers who probably count for 25-30% of all the wine bought in NZ. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation. How can there be demand if there is no product available?

The real problem is perception. The mass market perceives Chilean wine to be cheap and not nearly as good as the wine we make in NZ (or get from Australia). Yet there are people who are a bit more open minded who try our wines at Food Shows, or at in-store tastings and really enjoy it. Some might even have signed up to our website emailing list. But in a world of over supply in a market not wanting to pay much more than $10 a bottle where do you go?

I've decided to have fun with the people who enjoy wine and life! I'm giving up on most of the traditional business methods. Let's try a social experiment together: Have fun with good wine! Contrary to what most respected wine writers and wineries tell us, the two are not mutually exclusive!

How can we have fun with (our) wine? Well, the brand we most work with has the advantage of having a very strong image (Casillero del Diablo - The Devil's Cellar). It's not a religious thing (for the story go here), but it is a strong theme that we can have a lot of fun with (narcisism).

So, to get thing's started I will send a bottle of Casillero del Diablo and a small gift to the first 10 people who send a photo of themselves in a store with a bottle of Casillero del Diablo and an employee of that store. The most creative photo (as judged by me) wins a case of wine.

Send your photos to warren@goldmedalwines.co.nz