Super Bowl Sunday getting a little winey

It's almost Suds & Snacks Day, better known as Super Bowl Sunday. For the non-believers, SB XLIII (43) will be played this coming Sunday when the Arizona Cardinals take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Tampa Bay.

According to the folks at Nielsen, who measure everything from TV viewership to consumption of corn chips, mass merchandiser stores such as Wal-Mart recorded snack sales of $595 million in the two weeks leading up to last year’s game, up 5% from the previous year.

To wash down all that junk food, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the eighth-highest beer-selling day of the year, with 51.7 million cases sold last year. That's behind the No. 1 selling day, July 4th.

And where is most of the beer sold? In the city that hosts the game and in the two cities that are home to the participating teams.

Once past the beer gut .. er, glut ... wine is doing better with Super Bowl Sunday drinkers. According to Nielsen, NFL fans spent 14% more on wine in 2007 than in 2006, outpacing the U.S. wine growth overall by 14%.

Eatswise, potato chips topped the list with a sales volume of nearly $147 million, although that's a slight dropoff from the prior year while tortilla chips jumped 20% to come in No. 2 at $125.5 million.

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UK becomes world's top wine importer

It may not have the largest population, but the United Kingdom now ranks as the top wine importing nation in the world.

Imports topped 1.6 billion bottles in 2007, according to research by ther industry group Vinexpo. The top five suppliers to the UK in order of volume:

• Australia
• France
• United States
• Italy
• Spain

Wines imported from the U.S. increased by 34.5% between 2003 and 2007. France was the only country in the top five which saw a drop, Vinexpo said.

Despite the UK being a big importer, the per-capita amount of wine drunk is well behind that of France (58.8 litres), Italy (56.4 litres) and Switzerland (49.2 litres). The UK is 13th in the world.

The research also covered the sale of spirits in the UK, where vodka came out on top: 96 million bottles were sold in 2007. Consumption of vodka is expected to grow faster than any other spirit with a rise of 20% by 2012.

While overall spirit consumption rose to 336 million bottles in 2007 and is expected to grow by another 6% by 2012, the popularity of Scotch whisky dropped. Consumption fell by just over 11% from 2003 to 2007 and will continue falling by nearly 7% to 2012, the research predicted.

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Prominent LI winemaker Palmer dies

Bob Palmer died Friday at age 74 of a blood infection.

He founded Palmer Vineyards in Aquebogue, Long Island, in 1983, and built it into one of the most prominent wine labels from that sector of New York State.

Palmer, a past president of the Long Island Wine Council, had an extensive career in marketing and public relations before and after getting into the wine business.
His wife said he changed his surname from the original Prignano for business reasons because it was hard to spell.

[Click here for a full story from Newsday.com.]

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Concours Mondial de Bruxelles coming up

This year's Concours Mondial de Bruxelles will be held in Valencia, Spain, on April 25-27.

Registration now is open online, through March 2.

Since its creation in 1994, the Concours has billed itself the “wine world championship” with more than 6,000 participating products from four continents. As a whole, these samples represent 450 million marketed bottles. The jury of wine professionals is made up of people from 40 nationalities to ensure the diversity and the unique character of the event.

For a look at the results of last year's competition, held in Bordeaux, France, go here.

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Luxury list has a champagne topper

The Luxury Institute today released its annual Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) for the wine and spirits industry.

The results of the index compiled by the independent New York-based company "are utilized by consumer-centric luxury brand executives to independently monitor how target consumers truly rate their brands in terms of critical luxury metrics," according to the Institute announcement.

Rankings are derived from a survey of high net-worth consumers who rated more than 100 brands in 10 wine and spirits categories. The top-rated brands in each category are:

• Champagne and Sparkling Wine: Dom Perignon
• Cognac: Courvoisier
• Gin: Hendricks
• Liqueurs: Grand Marnier
• Rum: 10 Cane
• Scotch: Macallan
• Table Wines: Opus One
• Tequila: Patron
• Vodka: Grey Goose
• Whiskey: Woodford Reserve

A national sample of more than 1,200 wealthy American consumers was surveyed online by the Luxury Institute. The respondents had an average weighted income of $342,000 and an average weighted net-worth of $2.9 million. The LBSI asked them to rate the brands along four main "pillars" of brand stature:

1. Consistently superior quality.
2. Uniqueness and exclusivity.
3. Social status as a product consumed by people who are admired and respected.
4. Self enhancement, in that the brand makes the consumer "feel special" across all aspects of the customer experience.

In addition, the survey measures three critical "outcome" metrics, which are compared to the category LBSI:

1. Worthiness of a significant price premium.
2. Willingness to recommend brands to people they care about and why, or why not.
3. Brand preference as the brand most likely to be considered the next time a purchase is made.

"We've found that those brands committed to excellence are genuinely interested in where they stand in the mind of the high net-worth consumer," said Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute. "For the rest, we caution that this is not the time to 'fly blind' as the final verdict on whether, or not, you qualify as a luxury brand is that of the hard-core luxury consumer."

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California champagne cocktails for The Day

They're making it too easy for us drinks journalists.

I usually spend a lot of time searching for cocktail recipes to share with you; for example, in my monthly "What Will They Think of Next?" feature.

But with the imminent Presidential Inauguration, companies are scrambling over themselves to come up with special cocktail recipes for the occasion. I've already shared the wine lineup for an inaugural lunch menu ("California wines get presidential meal seal"), and one set of cocktails from Heaven Hill Distilleries ("Time for 'change, inaugural cocktail style".

Now, Korbel California Champagne is getting into the act with something in addition to a special inaugural bubbly it's supplying for the aforementioned luncheon. Here are a few inaugural-inspired champagne cocktails from Korbel.

STARS-AND-STRIPES

2 ounces Korbel Brut or Extra Dry
2 ounces Cranberry Juice

Pour Korbel into large champagne flute. Slowly stir in cranberry juice. Garnish with frozen cranberries.


PRESIDENTIAL PUNCH

3 ounces Korbel Brut or Extra Dry
2 ounces lemonade
1 ounce Blue Curaçao

In a tall glass, pour Korbel. Add lemonade, blue curaçao and ice.

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California wines get presidential meal seal

There are wineries in every state of the Union, but it appears only those from California will grace the table when Barack Obama, Joseph Biden and about 200 guests sit down for the traditional Inaugural Luncheon in the Capitol in Washington, DC, on Inaugural Day, Jan. 20.

The menu itself has been "designed to reflect the theme of the 2009 Inaugural ceremonies, 'A New Birth of Freedom,' which celebrates the bicentennial of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln," according to an announcement from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

Curious that no wines were selected from the state of Lincoln's birth (Kentucky) or principal residence (Illinois).

Can't get enough? The announcement further states:

"The menu, created by Design Cuisine, a catering company based in Arlington, Virginia, draws on historic ties to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Growing up in the frontier regions of Kentucky and Indiana, the 16th President favored simple foods including root vegetables and wild game. As his tastes matured, he became fond of stewed and scalloped oysters. For dessert or a snack, nothing pleased him more than a fresh apple or an apple cake."

The official menu:

First Course: Seafood stew, paired with Duckhorn Vineyards 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from the Napa Valley in California.

Second Course: A Brace of American Birds (pheasant and duck), served with sour cherry chutney and molasses sweet potatoes, paired with Goldeneye 2005 Pinot Noir from the Anderson Valley in California, the same company that produces Duckhorn.

Third Course: Apple cinnamon sponge cake and sweet cream glacé, paired with Korbel Natural "Special Inaugural Cuvée" from California.

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Christian Wolffer dies in swimming accident

Christian Wolffer (right), 70, a Long Island, NY, wine pioneer and owner of Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack, died New Year's Eve while swimming in Brazil.

The O Globo newspaper said Wolffer was swimming in Paraty, near Rio de Janeiro, while on vacation when a boat's propeller or propellers cut two deep wounds in his back. He was rescued by Brazilian actor Rodrigo Hilbert and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

His company Web site gives this background for the German-born entrepreneur:

"The quintessential entrepreneur, Hamburg-born Christian Wölffer is a master at managing an array of international enterprises. His career encompasses investment banking, venture capital, real estate, agriculture, and entertainment parks. In the wine realm, Wölffer Estate Vineyard is a labor of love and the realization of a lifelong dream.

"Wölffer’s career began in post-war Hamburg at age 17 as a trainee at a bank and then at an import/export company. He later moved to Mexico with the German chemical company BASF to manage their sales force, followed by a position with Intergráfica in Mexico managing sales throughout South America. Moving to Canada in 1971, he established a real estate brokerage and eventually segued into real estate development. He then moved to the U.S., to found Euro Investors, Inc., a venture capital company that finances a variety of enterprises in Hawaii and Florida. He now holds investments in Argentina, as well as throughout the U.S.A.

"This accomplished businessman is most at home at his Eastern Long Island retreat in the heart of the Hamptons. He purchased the land in 1978 as a 14-acre parcel with a farmhouse surrounded by potato fields. By 1987, Christian Wölffer had founded his vineyard near this very site.

"In 1997, Wölffer completed work on his state-of-the-art winery, unquestionably the most stylish on Long Island. The rustic, Tuscan-style building, with its warm ochre walls, is set on a rise overlooking the vineyards to the east and the gently rolling Hamptons landscape to the west. The winery and vineyards were renamed Wölffer EstateVineyard and a legacy in Long Island winemaking was born.

"Now 20 years later, Wölffer’s one-time weekend getaway on the East End’s South Shore embraces more than 170 acres and includes his acclaimed 55-acre Wölffer Estate Vineyard as well as his home, stables, and grazing land for his thoroughbreds. The 100-acre Wölffer Estate Stables, an extraordinary equestrian center used for schooling, breeding, year-round boarding and instruction, is an 80-stall facility with the largest indoor riding field on the East Coast. Wölffer Estate Vineyard & Stables is also one of the sponsors of the annual Hampton Classic Horse Show, a world-class equestrian event held in nearby Bridgehampton."

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Is NY's wine industry in trouble?

The recession that has forced several New York-only wine stores to close, put a crimp in expansion plans by some wineries because of the lack of investment capital, and Gov. David Patterson's threatened cutbacks on state assistance have combined to put the nation's third-largest wine industry in jeopardy.

New York trails only California and Oregon in total wine production. However, many of the several hundred wineries are small operations and need assistance in getting to market and getting the word out to consumers.

Patterson's proposed 2009-2010 state austerity budget calls for the elimination of funding for the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, the statewide trade association headquartered in Canandaigua. Its current budget is $3.8 million, but only $1 million of that comes from industry sources. The rest comes from the state.

NYSW&GF President Jim Trezise. above, ("NY's Trezise a man of integrity"), an indefatigable spokesman and activist on behlf of the state's wine industry, says, “If the governor’s proposal is adopted, the foundation’s programs and operations will cease in March, if not before.”

That would be a phenomenal blow to the industry. The NYSW&GF lobbies on behalf of the industry in Albany and Washington, DC, runs the prestigious annual New York Wine & Food Classic competition for wines produced in the state, provides advice and counseling for all areas of the industry, and prosyletizes for state wine producers worldwide.

[Go here for New York Times wine writer Howard G. Goldberg's summary of the situation.

[And, go here for the Seneca Lake Winery Association president's take on it.]

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