We have posted a new radio interview with the CEO of Yellow Tail John Casella.
Whether you think the wine is plunck, a marketing wonder or both the numbers don't lie - $350 Million (That's 8 million cases of wine) in US sales this year.
I hate the current market's "cheapening of everything" mentality (Yellow Tail, Walmart, lack of dress code and formality, etc), but from a business standpoint... more power to him. 8 million cases is very impressive.
Matt Kramer, by the way, had a great article in the Cali Cab issue about the latest rage of informality.
I hate the current market's "cheapening of everything" mentality (Yellow Tail, Walmart, lack of dress code and formality, etc), but from a business standpoint... more power to him. 8 million cases is very impressive.
Liquid, considering that YT basically started from nothing 6 or 8 years ago it's amazing what they've done as a business.
Even though the wines don't appeal to us on these boards they obvioulsy appeal to people completely unlike Miles in Sideways.
It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of modern medical thought. - P. G. Wodehouse
Posts: 3461 | Location: Brisbane, Qld, Australia | Registered: Jan 06, 2003
Well, you know, I had the chance to meet the “winemaker” for YT at my local grocery store a week ago Saturday and somehow I managed to pass on that.
___________________________________________________ It's good to try them young too and then let them age - James Suckling Infanticide can be very satisfying - Robert Parker I drink mine young to avoid disappointments - James Laube
Posts: 5024 | Location: Atlanta, GA | Registered: Jun 03, 2004
How has Yellow Tail "cheapened" anything? Wineries have been so stuck trying to appeal to the smallest audience (the people on these boards) that America is still not a wine drinking nation or wine culture and consumption abroad is dropping, even in wine cultures. Jess Jackson noticed this years ago and created a hugely successful wine from both the consumers' minds and from a business standpoint, and his properties win a hell of a lot of medals at international competitions. Yellow Tail is focusing on giving the consumer good quality, clean wines in non-traditional, whimsical packaging and at a price so that they can afford to indulge in what most see as a "luxury" on a daily basis. The wine industry wins, the growers win, the consumer wins. If that's "cheapening," the industry needs a hell of a lot more of it.
More to Kramer's point, I do find the arrogance of 20-something sommelieres who hate their customers and act as though they made the wine or something, to be a negative for the industry.
. . .and casual Fridays have to go!
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"Asking government to fix this crisis is like asking the arsonist to put out the fire." -Thomas Sowell
Posts: 4510 | Location: Dubai | Registered: Dec 20, 2002
Yellow Tail is focusing on giving the consumer good quality, clean wines in non-traditional, whimsical packaging and at a price so that they can afford to indulge in what most see as a "luxury" on a daily basis. The wine industry wins, the growers win, the consumer wins. If that's "cheapening," the industry needs a hell of a lot more of it.
I have no problem with this. I agree. Let the masses swill away. As long as it stays out of my house
Posts: 7341 | Location: Long Island, NY | Registered: Sep 27, 2003
Yellow tail,sliver oak....What do you see? That's right. These labels are very easy to remember and attractive. Sometimes, the design of labels can be more important than its quality because not so many people are very knowlegable like us. I guess we're special.
Yellow Tail is a good wine at a very low price. I do not like it but can see how many others do. It is not complex, only us wine geeks look for comlexity in a wine the rest of the world looks for something that tasts good.
pissing people off since 1971!
Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart
Posts: 3396 | Location: oklahoma city, usa | Registered: Aug 15, 2004
I think Yellow Tail is jammy swill, but as a consumer buying from Ontario's Government monopoly, it is hard not to be impressed by a wine that in 2 or 3 years came out of nowhere to blow past WB Yellow Label to become the top selling wine in the Province.
I think Ontario buys 350,000+ cases of the stuff annually.
"There's no substitute for pulling corks" Alexis Lichine
from a business standpoint they have helped the U.S. gain some ground on being more of a wine consuming nation. When you live in a locale that does not have much variety of wines that appeal to the masses (i.e. are cheap enough in price and lots of fruit forward) like I do, YT and the many other that have followed suite become appealing. In turn that opens the door for more wines to come in to a market like that, in turn improving the quality of wines drank, therefore helping the whole wine market.
and I have had YT shiraz and liked it so
Posts: 211 | Location: Indiana | Registered: Nov 12, 2003
Originally posted by zerwitt14: from a business standpoint they have helped the U.S. gain some ground on being more of a wine consuming nation. When you live in a locale that does not have much variety of wines that appeal to the masses (i.e. are cheap enough in price and lots of fruit forward) like I do, YT and the many other that have followed suite become appealing. In turn that opens the door for more wines to come in to a market like that, in turn improving the quality of wines drank, therefore helping the whole wine market.
and I have had YT shiraz and liked it so
Very good point. I am certain that there would be much fewer wine geeks today if it wasn't for wines like YT. It is a gradual progression for many of us and most start with WB, YT, Gallo White zin, etc.
"There's no substitute for pulling corks" Alexis Lichine
Actually, having YT and the like on shelves helps the more 'heads-up' wine consumers, in that the marketing strategies keep neophites from buying the 'good stuff', only to pour it down the drain.
I've had it before, didn't care for it, but kept a bottle in the medicine chest for when I'm out of Robitussin.
"Actually, it only takes one drink to get me loaded. Trouble is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth or fourteenth." -- George Burns
Posts: 3568 | Location: Alpharetta, GA | Registered: Nov 17, 2001
The answer is - invest in a wine company at that point!
Everyone posting is right, Pauly, Brian Clark etc etc, we have all started somewhere and few of us in the New World had parents who drank wine daily. On a more technical level CDR11 hit the nail on the head.
When I first went to Australia in 1966, no one drank wine except a very narrow section of society . If you took wine to a barbie ... well, most of the men there would keep their backs to the wall when you spoke to them. They took a slab (24) "tinnies" of beer. ... the wine consumption was 6 to 7 litres a head (and 540 litres of beer).
Then they introduced bag-in-the-box (a 4.5 litre gallon) which cost next to nothing and was more potable than Adelaide water (if only just). By 1975 it was socially acceptable to take wine to the barbie - as well as a six-pack (of course, as the temperatures are usually around the 100 deg F). ... by 1980 the consumption was 16 litres a head.
Today the consumption is 22 litres a head with bottled wine an every-day item on the dining tables of the middle-class and a cask is in the frig' of most working-class homes (as well as the conventional "slab").
Yellow tail, Jacobs Creek et al are light-years ahead of the 2$C that was available in 2002/3 in drinkability. It only took 10 years to double consumption levels - and wine was conscientiously promoted in conjunction with food - therefore it is seen as a "food" rather than as a beverage.
Originally posted by zerwitt14: from a business standpoint they have helped the U.S. gain some ground on being more of a wine consuming nation.
That's just laughable.
p.s. I for one don't care if the majority of populace drowns the sorrows in cheap wine or cheap brandy. Invest in it, make money at their expense and enjoy the dividends, but don't make it sound like the wine is actually any good. It's pure plonk.
...................................... When I think of a bad taco, I think of you - Tannic Bastard
I still need to listen to part 2 of Tanzer. I better get to it. Thanks for posting that your new interveiw is ready, Brian, If you have time you may want to post some TN's as well.
Originally posted by zerwitt14: from a business standpoint they have helped the U.S. gain some ground on being more of a wine consuming nation.
That's just laughable.
p.s. I for one don't care if the majority of populace drowns the sorrows in cheap wine or cheap brandy. Invest in it, make money at their expense and enjoy the dividends, but don't make it sound like the wine is actually any good. It's pure plonk.
Coolbronson, do YT market their wine as anything other than pure plonk? They're filling the niche in the wine industry that Hyundai fill in the car industry. It's a cheap basic product. They're not selling their product to you and me, they're selling it to Joe Shmoe who doesn't ordinarily drink wine, and they're doing a damn good job of it.
As Vinserve has pointed out there is good evidence from countries like Australia and New Zealand that wines like YT help open the market for wine to be more acceptable and create further demand for wine.
Don't criticise YT for not being Screagle or Mouton Rothschild, it's not aiming for those heights.
It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of modern medical thought. - P. G. Wodehouse
Posts: 3461 | Location: Brisbane, Qld, Australia | Registered: Jan 06, 2003
Pauly, when did I criticise YT for not being SE or Mouton? You must be confusing me with someone else.
My critique was specifically directed at zerwitt, not YT and every Aussie under the sun. It's his suggestion, and maybe vinserve's too, that plonk opens up doors for better wines I disagree with. I believe the opposite is true - bigger, buldozer type brands like YT cripple the little guy with clever marketing and as a result, over saturate marketplace with unbelievably appalling booze. What's the benefit of that? If you agree with me that YT is indeed an appalling beverage, aka plonk, than instead of defending your countrymen, you should be the one criticising them for producing so much garbage and flooding the entire planet with it. They can and should do better.
...................................... When I think of a bad taco, I think of you - Tannic Bastard
I think it's a great thing. It lets people start out on something cheap that they like....then that leads to wanting something better. At least thats what happened to me and alot of my friends. Because YT is only $4 a bottle we decided to buy one and try it.(We were huge Beer guys) To our supprise it was good...not great but good. That hooked us on wine. Now we are like everone here...wanting better and better wine. Will I drink YT now.....no because I know there are better wines out there for a little more money. But its a great starter wine that everyone can afford.
The evidence from Australia and NZ has been that these bulldozer brands do indeed lead to higher wine consumption, along with an increase in possibilities for the little guys. (simple study, compare wine consumption/head and the total number of wineries over the last 30 years)
I believe, but haven't been able to track down the links, that the UK has had a similar experience, with increasing wine consumption lead by the bulldozers and followed up by the quality producers.
I look at what they're doing as a business and I'm impressed. I look at what they're doing as winemakers and am not impressed. The wines they make are basically fault free with big bags of fruit, but if the people they are selling to want that where is the harm?
My comment about screagle and mouton was because of the implied elitism in your comment about YT being pure plonk, and the inherent criticism of the wine for being that.
It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of modern medical thought. - P. G. Wodehouse
Posts: 3461 | Location: Brisbane, Qld, Australia | Registered: Jan 06, 2003
Originally posted by Mharris335: At least thats what happened to me and alot of my friends. Because YT is only $4 a bottle we decided to buy one and try it.(We were huge Beer guys) To our supprise it was good...not great but good. That hooked us on wine.
Very touching story. So, what kind of wines do you drink now, mharris335? Can you tell us where your palate's preferences lie today?
...................................... When I think of a bad taco, I think of you - Tannic Bastard
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