My brother posted this question on MySpace blog to Peter, the owner of Organico, Britain's first and only dedicated wine shop:
Peter,
You claim to "reject more Organic wines than you buy". On what basis would an organic not qualify for your store(s)?
Congratulations on the store. Here's a toast to positive growth!
John
PETER'S RESPONSE:
"Good question, John.
When in the business of retailing and selling into the trade the principal question we ask is ‘do we think the public will buy it?’ Generally, also we have to like the wine as well, although we have to put aside personal taste. The choice is never left to just one of us.
Often, the wines we reject are at the lower end of the price range. We are constantly looking for lead in wines which can be used as a ‘wine by the glass’ in a café/bistro or wine bar and which therefore have an attractive price tag. This is a struggle.
The wines are out there but the majority are of a quality which would not encourage a new organic wine drinker to want another glass. This gets the ‘organic’ tag a bad reputation and could put an ‘organic aspirant’ off for good.We have the perception that some of these low quality wines are coming from modest sized producers of poorly made wines who think they can pass their product off to the public by getting it certified ‘organic’, thus giving a false impression of ‘quality’ to the public.
It is more than a perception that some larger producers of organic wines are not producing quality. In certain ‘terroir’ areas it is not easy to make good wine organically without a lot of care in the vineyard. Care which can be very difficult to give on a large scale. Conversley, in such countries as Chile and Argentina, where many of the standard growing problems don’t exist, excellent wines are being made on a pretty big scale.
We very rarely reject wines on quality when one moves up a notch in price, i.e. in the UK retailing on our shelves at £7.50 upwards.
Hope this helps..."
Peter
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4 comments:
Hi. Peter; if you’re looking for a good Organic to add to your collection, I just had one last night. It was a 2006 Les Béatines Rosé from Au en Provence. From speaking to the seller (I bought it at Borough Market in London), the winery is very small and has a very low yield. The rosé was a mix of Grenache and Syrah and was a lot better than I expected for a biodynamic, organically-grown wine. Not that I was sceptical about the quality, it was just a surprise. The wine had a nice fruity smells of spring nose and was the perfect antidote for the sudden dip in the weather.
Is that from Muriel Chatel of www.boroughwines.co.uk?
Peter,
Thanks again for the quick reply. You have acknowledged that "the majority (Organics) are of a quality which would not encourage a new organic wine drinker to want another glass".
In Jacob's defense, I get the impression that this is exactly what he was referring to as "lacking taste descriptors". Many people are simply left wondering why a more expensive organic wine wouldn't taste as good as a big box producer, like Yellow Tail.
Certainly, you must realize this creates a struggle, as you mentioned, to "turn" the public opinion around. I commend you on taking on this task head first!
Cheers!
John
Yes; this wine is from Muriel and it was very, very nice.
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