History of the (exotic) wines of Brazil – part 2

How did it begin?

Believe it or not, Brazil has indeed a long tradition in wine making. Well, not too long if you compare to Old World countries, but we can say that any period larger than 100 years is long enough for a country that was ‘discovered’ in 1500.

In fact, the first winemaker in Brazil began producing wines in 1532. Brás Cubas used to bring grapes from Portugal and plant them in the then brand new land. This was even supported by the Portuguese Crown.

Unlike today – when the wine regions are mostly concentrated in the south –, the first vines were planted in the region of São Paulo (southwest), state that made fortunes by commercializing  wine.

However, during the 18^th Century, three important factors arisen to practically annihilate the young Brazilian wine industry.

 The first was that people found out that Brazil had the perfect weather and ‘terroir’ to produce sugar, what was much more valuable then wine. Therefore, vineyards started to be quickly replaced by sugar canes.

The second factor was that, due to the euphoria of the discovery of vast gold reserves in the states of Minas Gerais and Goiás the labor force that used worked in the farms moved to the work in the mines.

Lastly, to avoid competition with its own production, in 1785 Portugal forbidden manufacturing in Brazil.

Suddenly, the colony’s economy turned its back upon wine which became a luxury product, since its production got very short.

The game changer

In the 19^th Century, after proclaiming independence from Portugal, Brazilian Empire needed to occupy its regions, since there were some tense boundary disputes, especially in the south.

As the Brazilian population was too short, the government created politics to stimulate the immigration from abroad.

Therefore, a strong wave of immigration from Germany occurred. They established in the very south of Brazil, probably due to a smoother weather.

Pamphlet made by the Brazilian Empire to stimulate immigration

However, the real big wave of immigration, that lasted for ten years started around the 1860's, when many Italians came to Brazil to establish in the southern regions in exchange of some land given by the government.

Italian immigrants started to plant vines at the very first moment they got to Brazil

Is there anything popping your mind right now? Are you puzzling it out?

<<Italians + pieces of land + south regions>> 

You read above where the main wine regions in Brazil are located nowadays, did't you?

And guess where those Italians were from? Veneto, Lombardia, Trento, Sicily.

These Italians – and somehow the Germans – started to plant vineyards using the same technique of their mother land.

So, this is how the Brazilian wine production was reborn.

Let's see on next post how did it develop and how the industry is doing today.

History of the (exotic) wines of Brazil – part 1

Intro

During the last edition of ProWein a month ago, you could try out wines from all around the world.

The famous producer countries were there of course. The most interesting however was to try wines out of the famous circuit.

I had the opportunity to try wines from where I’d call the ‘Very Old World‘ – i.e. Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria – along with some from the ‘New New World’ – China, Czech Republic, Kosovo.

Some days ago a video below, entitled Exotic Wines at ProWein 2012, which was posted on the official website of the fair. Basically, it is a ‘discover’ of the wines from Brazil, China and Kosovo. Check it out.

I’m not going to lie: hearing that my country’s wines are exotic sounds awkward to me and, mostly, disappointing.

This made me wonder what people know about the wines that are made in Brazil? Also, do people know we have a certain tradition on winemaking, even though for centuries wine remained made by families only for self-consumption?

So, I’ve decided to make a series of posts to explain the actual situation and the history of wine in Brazil, which is under the world’s spotlights today.

Where is the wine marketing?

In a world where wine is losing market share for beer, spirits and even soft drinks, we can ask ourselves: where is the marketing of wine?

I guess the answer could be easily found if we trace a parallel with the beer market. It is indeed this comparison that can show us at least some reasons for such a difference in the performance of those two beverages.

Even though there are big holdings behind many famous labels we are used to (i.e. LVMH, Diageo, Pernod Ricard), which are companies with huge year incomes, the wine industry is too fragmented.

Whilst big beer companies (i.e. Inbev, Anheuser Bush) control around 60% of the beer market share worldwide, those wine holdings have only 3% of the wine market.

Samson and Goliath sharing the same spot

I’m not saying that LVMH cannot afford supporting a music festival or a 30-seconds advertisement during prime time.

In fact, what happens is that the brands that belong to those companies are usually luxury products. Therefore, announcing during the Super Bowl is not a part of their marketing strategy.

On the other hand, the majority of wineries works with low profit margins to spend money with marketing.

But all is not lost! A phenomenon happened to the wine sector: the web. More particularly, web 2.0. Today, all important discussions on the sector take place in the web. Thanks to ‘common people’, who usually aren’t professionals of the sector, but who share the passion, the wine has a strong presence in the internet.

It is unnecessary to say that today there is a huge number of blogs, tools, mobile apps and social networks dealing with or exclusively dedicated to wine. More than any other beverage.

The presence of wine in this virtual world is so huge that this year, Izmir, Turkey, will host the 5^th European Wine Bloggers Conference. The American version of this conference will be held in August, at Portland, USA. Not only bloggers, but professionals from all the industry go to these conferences.

This shows that wine has found its own way to make marketing, in a simple, cheaper way and made for who really matters: the consumer.

It is the consumer who makes free marketing for many winemakers whether posting reviews, articles or impressions about wines or wineries.

Wine geeks rule! The industry should thank them

For those reasons, many winemakers and other professionals involved in the supply chain have noticed the strength of internet in the sector. Especially new world producers, who built nice websites and are present in the social networks.

On the other hand, many of them come up short. For instance, did you ever visit the website of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti? Could you imagine it is so weak? Well, actually, I could…

Of course there are other smart ways for marketing wines already going on, but the web presence is a sign that wine has found its niche for marketing. Yes, you can still argue about the lack of marketing in the other medias, but this is a start that can’t be ignored, especially for a conservative sector.

Internet is definitely the most active channel for the wine marketing. There’s a problem with it though: on the web, the audience is free to choose whatever they want to see, unlike other media channels such as cinema, TV or radio. Thus, maybe the web mustn’t the best vehicle to conquer new consumers. But this is another story...

Back to the Future... of Gamay

“Gamay is on its peak!” – says Bernard Hudelot, a funny 70 year-old winemaker, full of energy.

Hudelot has founded the Château de Villars Fontaine. Nevertheless, it is located at Hautes-Côtes de Nuits , in Burgundy, despite of being called château. Villars Fontaine is actually the property which encompasses the Domaine de Montmain, where the wines are made.

According to Monsieur Hudelot – a former professor in the wine institute at the University of Burgundy – Gamay has peaks of quality from time to time, according to the Earth’s successive climate changes. It seems there is a perfect switch between Pinot Noir and Gamay – when one is on its peak, the other is on the bottom and vice-versa.

He believes that we are living in the era of Gamay. He has even prepared himself and printed out some document he furnishes to visitors and where he highlights with some confusing graphics where he tries to explain the phenomenon, even though these graphics only cover until the year of 1950.

The domaine has some peculiarities. They own 23 hectares, what represents almost three times the average size of estates in burgundy (8 hecatares). It is also one of a few places in Burgundy where there still exist vines of Gamay and Aligoté.

Also, the philosophy of the winery is that every wine has to be aged for very long and in new oak barrels – obviously, the newer the barrel is and the longer the wine stays in contact with it, the more it is going to pass oak smells and flavors.

The wine Gamay du Futur (Gamay of the future), a €35.00 bottle, Hudelot’s favorite ‘child’, the expression of his theory about this varietal, passes 36 months in contact with new oak.

Despite of Monsieur Hudelot’s beliefs, the final result is a wine with complete oaky aroma, with some little hints of fruits. In the palate, 100% oak flavors and tough tannins, coming from the wood.

Bernard Hudelot - "this is the era of Gamay!"

In fact, Gamay is a varietal that does not matches well with wood. In Beaujolais, the ‘habitat’ of Gamay, only the high quality wines have (a little) contact with oak.

However, they make lots of good wines there, such as the Clos du Château – white with good freshness, some creaminess and white fruits such as peach – or Les Genévrières – a red full of ripen fruits, well integrated oak and nice tannins. In fact, they should focus on that.

It is always interesting to find wines made according to a unique philosophy. The visit to Château Villars Fontaine is worth it. There are lots of good wines to be tasted, some good deals and, if you are lucky, you will meet Monsieur Hudelot, spreading his sympathy and joy.

Château de Villars Fontaine – Domaine de Montmain (http://www.domainedemontmain.fr/)

21700 Villars Fontaine. Phone +33 (30 80 62 31 94 – info@chateaudevillarsfontaine.fr

From Monday to Friday, from 8h30-12h / 13h30-18h (and Saturdays under reservations)

Wine's for no rookie

I don’t know why, but it is a common sense among wine professionals that wine bloggers should be responsible to educate the consumer.

The problem is those people forgot to arrange it with the bloggers.

According to what was heard recently at the European Wine Bloggers’ Conference (EWBC), in Franciacorta, italy, wine bloggers are not really in a mood to teach rookies, rather talking to other experts: “I just want to keep talking only to wine lovers in my blog, and not be forced to talk to laymen,” says the Brazilian wine teacher, Alexandra Corvo – followed by 30 seconds of applause during heated debate at the recent.

And Corvo is not alone in her position. It reflects a point of view commonly held among oenophiles but rarely expressed.

“Let bloggers spread their passion through the web and let marketers sell wine for those who don't love it as we do,” yelled somebody in the audience after Corvo’s statement.

People like Corvo, this shouting guy, and other bloggers and sommeliers, seem to reject the title of “wine opinion leaders”. By nature they are more passion driven than teaching driven.

But not everyone agrees. Others at the conference said the main challenge of wine professionals was to reach the average consumer. These consumers aren’t experts but they will consume wine and are easily persuaded by big names.

Dr. Damien Wilson, head of the MSc Wine Business program at the Burgundy School of Business, said bloggers and other industry people “should bear in mind that they have to attract people who can attract more people and so on”.

Dr. Damien Wilson attending to the workshops at EWBC -
"social media plays relevant role in the wine setor".

He said the wine industry needed this because consumption, mostly in countries that have a long tradition in wine, is decreasing year after year.

In the face of this trend, many so called opinion leaders do not want to take the responsibility of teaching people about wine.

In contrast, Wilson argued that opinion leaders played an important role in every sector of society. “They are not attracting consumers by talking to people at the top of the pyramid,” he said, referring to professionals in the sector.

It turns that lots of people are making due to bloggers efforts. In addition, lazy producers traditionally never worried about marketing, since they jumped on those people backs, expecting them to do all the work .

Well, the game is changing. Perhaps the wine industry has an arising enemy: lots of students and a lack of teachers.