Never cared for their sparking wine. Visited the winery a few years ago – it’s on a highway next to a truck stop (or was it an RV park/store?).
“Don’t cry for me…I’m already dead.” – Barney/Gruet
To me the Gruet wines have always been fine for the price, but not very exciting. The only thing that really set them apart and made them interesting was that they were using entirely New Mexico grapes. Now they don’t even have that…
+1.
Tom, thanks for the post.
Noticed today some new Gruets in a wine shop. It states in large type on the front of
the label “Proudly Produced in NewMexico”. But when you look on the back label, it says
in much smaller print “American” such&such a wine. Kind of a shyster move I think
for a once-proud name. They had a high-end red blend at $35…but I didn’t bite.
Tom
I have always liked them, and am not ready to write them off yet!
Still, does not sound “ideal”
I agree with teddemop. I have always liked several of their sparkling wines and I too am not ready to write them off. I am certainly not ready to prognosticate the future. Whether or not they are on a highway makes no difference. Ever been to Napa or Burgundy? Plenty of wineries in high traffic areas on busy roads and in the center of busy towns.
The thing is, 100% New Mexico grapes was a great selling point for these wines. When someone heard that, a buyer or consumer, and then tried the wine and it was decent, it was worth getting because it was something different. Now, with no regional designation, that selling point will be gone. Some unknown percentage of NM grapes, blended with grapes from other states, really doesn’t sound interesting. I think the new owner is making a bad business decision, expanding production and counting on brand equity that I doubt is as strong as they think it is to sell more volume in a new, generic category.
Precept Brands is doing the same thing with House Wines, the brand they bought from Charles Smith. The Mountain Merlot says bottled in Walla Walla but the “spec sheet” for that wine on their website lists the AVA as “American” and RS of 10grams/L. I doubt they’re trucking Merlot from Long Island. Central Valley CA would be my guess.
Yeah, they’re making it more like Apothic. I asked if they thought that was confusing since the wines weren’t off-dry to begin with and they’re changing the style of an existing brand, and the rep said something like “this is what people are buying these days.” They’ll lose some existing customers on that one. Maybe they’ll replace them with an even bigger customer base, maybe not. Chasing trends can only get you so far, and they’re at the tail end of the curve on this one. I see too many off-dry red blends emerging, and most are not gaining much traction. Trying to beat Gallo at their own game (not that they were first, but they’re the leader now) is not a smart business strategy.
That’s how I look at it.
Haven’t purchased Gruet sparklers for my own consumption in many years. Always “serviceable” but rarely more than “satisfactory”. I’ve recommended Gruet numerous times for friends looking for value and relative quality at the < $15 price point. Looks like a fall back is now required. Gloria Ferrer?
RT
That’s one of my favorites in that price range. There are some decent Cavas too, but the Ferrer is probably more widely available.
Scharffenberger from Mendocino. About $16, and good juice from a region actually known for producing good wine.
So I read this thread and thought; too bad. I really used to like Gruet as a QPR. We don’t get it here in Canada but I’ll grab some in the US occasionally. I was down in Buffalo earlier this week and saw some on the shelf. I didn’t see aforementioned “American Sparkling Wine” on the front label so I grabbed 3 of the Blanc de Noirs, figuring I might have bottles older than the partnership discussed above.
Got home and check the back label. “American Sparkling wine”. Darn. Opened one last night. Solidly a mediocre wine. Bubbles were coarse and aggressive. Inexpressive nose only showed notes of cheap processo mixed with cheap cava. No resemblance to Champagne IMO. Dosage felt a bit high (perceived to me as over 10g/l).
Not sure what to do with the remaining two bottles other than pour them at parties for non-winos. I hate doing that though because then I give people the impression that this is what good bubbly tastes like and then they force themselves to like it and you get the uncomfortable complements about how they like it, when you’re thinking: “This is crap.”
Chris. Champagne Cocktails to the rescue.
RT
Honestly, they did it because it has been a significant part of the playbook of large wine holding companies for a long time. Historically, once a brand was established, it took years for the goodwill and perception of the public to even consider that a once compelling wine was now a branded, mass-produced shadow of what it once was. In the meantime, the money rolls in.