Origins of No Cookie Cutter Wines

Over the last few years I have been showing different small production Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand. Two wines were from different regions in Marlborough, the Golden Mile and the Awatere Valley. Another the Waipara Valley near Canterbury. All have different approaches in the vineyard and winemaking to include blending of Semillion, another high density vineyard planting and yet another the subtle use of barrel fermenting. All are produced in small quantities of less than 3,000 cases.

In New Zealand, wines like this are the minority in terms of total litres produced and the majority in terms of number of producers. About 87% of all New Zealand wine producers make less than 25,000 cases per year. This means the majority of wines found outside of New Zealand are from the bigger players, this makes sense.

Here is an exchange that took place in London that highlights why much of New Zealand’s wine never leaves the country.

“I also met 2 charming Antipodeans from New Zealand who were working in Bristol to whom I apologised beforehand about part of my talk re the additives in cheap New Zealand wines.”

Their reply was “Please don’t apologise. It’s a well known fact back at home that the cheaper wines are produced for the masses and the locals won’t buy it – so we send it over to you!”  You can read the full article here.

For this reason, it was not uncommon to hear  the phrase “No Cookie Cutter Wines”  because most people had and still have not been exposed to this side of New Zealand wine. So I filed the comment away for future use. At the same time there were many comments about wines from many places all starting to taste the same and it made sense to use the comment for a greater purpose.

Here are few writers who have used the phrase Cookie Cutter Wines to describe this category of wine. Alice Feiring, Frank Prial, Howard Goldberg, Eric Asimov, a web search will find more.

Today, we have a simple site with some guest commentary about wine. The site is open to those who have a story to share. With today’s changing flow of wine information, this is one more place to both contribute and find new and delicious wines. We will also develop the regional themes in the image below.

Include Your Story

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Introducing No Cookie Cutter Wines

Two Choices for 2009

We can embrace the status quo and be like a frog that sits in a pot of water with the temperature rising to the boil and end it all. “Or, we can engage” and participate together online in the many Social Media opportunities.

You represent or produce unique wines, food or travel opportunities from around the world. I have a similar venture importing wines from New Zealand. We are beginning to develop an online community to generate conversational marketing about artisan food, wine and travel from around the world. Perhaps we can help one another.

We invite you to join us in the world of No Cookie Cutter Wines^TM

NO COOKIE CUTTER WINES^TM

The No Cookie Cutter Wine^TM community is geared to food, wine and travel insiders and consumers from around the world who “get it” about real people, real food, real wines from real places.

However you describe it, Social Media, Blogging or Web 2.0, it’s for real and happening in real time, right in front of us. We all have a choice to engage this new way of communicating or step aside and watch its evolution and influence.

We have made the decision to engage and share. And we invite you to join us in this community.

The platform enables contributors like yourself to post videos, images, blogs, news and commentary, at no cost. We’re creating a place for introducing, educating and attracting consumers to the food, travel, and most importantly, the wines from small, unique producers. The hidden gems, in other words.

Each region or country has a dedicated web site within the No Cookie Cutter Wines^TM community. For example, www.NewZealandFoodandWineTV.com will showcase conversations from New Zealand wineries, importers, artisan food producers, tourism boards and others. People like yourself will be the initial contributors, and the dialogue will continue as other professionals and consumers share their stories.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

If you have ideas and stories to share, we invite you to become part of our community. We’ll create a free account for you to begin publishing. Or if you prefer to have me post it directly, I’ll gladly do that and credit you as the source.

Attached you’ll find more information about No Cookie Cutter Wines^TM. We hope you’ll join us in spreading the word, about the world of handcrafted food and wine and travel to special destinations.

Please also feel free to send this along to others with a passion for the world of No Cookie Cutter Wines^TM. Our community has just begun and we welcome other like-minded individuals.

Join us today at http://www.No CookieCutterWines.com

Ron@NoCookieCutterWines.com