2009 ~ No. 10    

The Sopranos: The Tasting

For an article a couple of months ago, I spoke with Mark Gonsalves, a co-owner of Sopranos Wine. Though we weren’t discussing his product, samples were offered and something possessed me to say, “Sure!”

Bear in mind that I have an inherent bias against branded wines. There is the perception that they are little more than marketing gimmicks, created purely as a way to extend the brand.

So when a box arrived a few days later containing three bottles, I knew what I had to do.

Organize a blind tasting.

It’s not exactly the Cola Wars, but how else to really evaluate how The Sopranos wines stacked up against the competition?

An unbiased individual who wasn’t involved in the tasting baged and taged the wines. Seven people – ranging from wine connoisseurs to very occasional imbibers – were invited to taste.

Sipping, discussion and merriment ensued. And the wines? While they’re not going to knock anyone’s socks off, The Sopranos wines held their own against comparably priced counterparts, and were actually favored by a few of the attendees.

First up was Pinot Grigio, The Sopranos version ($12; all prices approximate retail) from Provincia di Pavia versus Cielo ($8) from Veneto, both cool white-wine regions in northern Italy. Five people preferred the Cielo, saying it was fuller and more aromatic. The two who liked The Sopranos wine best said it was fruity, crisp and “more interesting.”

The second matchup was a blend from Tuscany – The Sopranos Cabernet/Merlot/Sangiovese ($12) against Remola Cabernet/Sangiovese ($15). The preferred wine was the Remola, with most noting it was smoother and “less strong” with a “softer taste.”

Finally, The Sopranos Chianti Classico Riserva ($30) went up against the ever-popular Ruffino Chianti Classico Riserva ($25). Again, two tasters favored The Sopranos wine for its greater complexity, while the others favored Ruffino’s smoother feel on the palate.

Though the non-Sopranos wines were preferred by the majority, the results are not as bad as this seems to indicate. There was much back-and-forth tasting of the two wines - the liquid version of looking at the eye chart. (“Which is clearer, A or B?”)

And despite my husband’s fear that the wine would be undrinkable (“We need to have backup wine!” he insisted when he heard my plan), that just wasn’t the case. For most palates, the second wine was simply preferable to The Sopranos option.

Based on the responses, most tasters preferred the more straightforward flavors and textures of the other wines, suggesting that The Sopranos offers a certain level of complexity and finesse.

So while The Sopranos wines won’t stand up to Italy’s finest, they nontheless offer a fair wine at a fair price.

The Sopranos: The Marketing

The unveiling of the wines at the blind tasting caused the sort of gasps that come when the wily detective unveils the real killer. “I didn’t know The Sopranos had a wine!” one person exclaimed.

Then another friend cut to the heart of the matter: “I like the wine! I would not be embarrassed to order this in a restaurant!” she declared of the label’s pinot grigio.

Which is, of course, the biggest hurdle. “We quickly figured out that people would not take this wine seriously,” says Mark Gonsalves, a co-founder of The Sopranos label. It also didn’t take long to figure out their secret weapon: “a story to tell and recognizable cast members” to help tell it.

The company has leveraged this one-two punch by creating a series of events at casinos and wine stores that combine wine tasting with appearances by actors from the show, including Vincent Pastore, Vincent Curatola and John Ventimiglia, among others.

“Once people try it, they get it,” Gonsalves says of the wine. “We see that, when we do an event, people are exposed to the wine and they tell their friends. [As a result] we are getting more and more requests from distributors.”

The wine was the brainchild of James Costos, the HBO executive in charge of licensing, and David Chase, the show’s creator and a wine aficionado. “They were looking for [opportunities] that wouldn’t degrade the loyalty of the fan base,” Gonsalves explains. “Wine was such an integral part of the show – every Sunday, it was on Carmella’s table, at weddings, the scene where they stole the ’64 Lafite.” Along with cigars and cookbooks, “it made sense to do this as an extension of the brand.”

Once the decision was made, Gonsalves says, it was a matter of finding the right partners. “I’ll be honest,” he says. “We could have gone out, gotten some cheap juice then charged three times our price for a bottle. It would have been a lot cheaper and easier!”

Instead, they wanted to make a statement. “We interviewed over one hundred growers and winemakers [in Italy] before finding four we wanted to work with,” he says. They were selected for their history: all have been around for “a while,” as Gonsalves quaintly describes one family-owned estate that began growing vines in 1828!

Another of the growers is the second-largest vineyard owner in Tuscany (behind Ruffino), and the only private label wine they produce is The Sopranos; the rest of their production is sold primarily in Italy under their own label.

“These wineries and growers have a solid track record and good products,” says Gonsalves, important criteria for their selection. Growth was another issue. “We needed a producer that was scalable,” he says, citing the company’s goal to produce 150,000 cases of all eight varietals in the next year.

In addition to the three wines we tasted, The Sopranos wines include a Chianti, a pinot noir, a pinot grigio from Friuli, and a Chianti Classico. The company also is poised to launch a slightly sparkling wine crafted by one of the oldest Prosecco-producing families in Italy.

So does the aggressive growth mean the company is looking to cash in while the show is still relatively fresh? Not by a long shot. “Wine consumption in the US is increasing and reruns on A&E reach far greater numbers than The Sopranos did on HBO,” notes Gonsalves. “The upcoming movie will also keep The Sopranos on consumers’ minds.” (Fans take note: there is apparently sufficient material to keep the writers and producers busy for quite some time!)

The bottom line is familiarity. “What’s on the outside gets people to try what’s on the inside and that equals a repeat purchase,” says Gonsalves. “We are delivering good [wine] at a fair price. We hope people get that we’ve taken time with [the wine] and that, like the show on Sunday nights, The Sopranos wine will become part of their routine.”

Farmstead Wines

You’ve heard of Slow Food. But slow wine?

Anthony Nicalo, founder of Farmstead Wines, is filling a gap in the agrarian movement by focusing on wines that are made with the same “back to the land” principles as Slow Food.

“When the movement got started,” Anthony says of the slow foodies, “their ideas weren’t applied to wine. They were focused on what’s in the glass, but not how it got there.” The same fervor people give to buying locally grown vegetables should be applied to selecting wine in the store, he believes.

Sure, you say to yourself, it’s easy to say hi to the farmer at the market; I can’t go into a wine store and chat up the winemaker.

That’s where the Farmstead Wines label comes in. This certification appears on wines from small, family-owned estates that meet the organization’s requirements.

To find them, Anthony scouts out farmers that hew to the natural styles of growing and making wine. “We have very strict selection criteria,” he says of the wineries allowed to use the Farmstead Wines label. “No chemicals, pesticides or irrigation can be used in the vineyards. We extend our accreditation to the cellar – nothing artificial can be used, no heavy fining or filtration, no induced yeast.”

Anthony started Farmstead Wines after working as a chef in Chicago, Washington, DC, and Italy. In fact, he found his first winery by accident while on a culinary trip to Italy’s Piedmont region to learn charcuterie. “During my time there, I met Renato Fenocchio and realized he had the same principles [as a winemaker that] I had as a chef.”

One thing led to another and, when he moved to Canada in 2006, the timing was right to begin importing wine. “We only work with farmers we know personally,” Anthony says, noting that finding vintners that adhere to their standards can be a challenge. Word of mouth had spread, however, and winemakers are starting to find him.

Currently, Farmstead Wines works with eight vinaroons (an Anglicized version of the French vigneron, or farmer/winemaker) in France, Italy and Austria and is looking for new producers in such diverse areas as Spain, Italy, Washington and Oregon.

Though their vinaroons come from vastly different regions and grow very different grapes, Anthony identifies their common thread as a “commitment to the land and dedication to farming based on the desire to raise healthy plants.”

In many cases, this commitment extends back for several generations; other Farmstead Wines estates are returning to the traditional growing methods eschewed by a previous generation.

One reason these wines – which Anthony calls “the best I’ve ever tasted” – are typically harder to find lies in their size. Production is comparatively small (the largest is 100,000 bottles a year, the smallest a mere 3,000 bottles), so these estates have difficulty getting representation and build a brand. The Farmstead Wines label provides that branding while offering consumers an assurance of quality.

These wines are about experience as well – the experience of the vinaroons, of nature-made wine, of the simple pleasures that come from sharing a bottle with friends.

Farmstead Wines will be available online to US customers beginning the second week of October. They can also be found at restaurants and retail stores in Canada. I have not yet had the chance to try them, so look for the tasting report in an upcoming issue.