IPOB to cease operations at the end of 2016

Did not see that coming. They definitely got a new dialogue going.

The pendulum doth swingeth.

Once you start making gin like Raj has, how can you be part of a group that’s about balance?

So is this a defeat, or are they going out on top?

This discussion about balance and wine’s place at the dinner table has become a common part of the conversation about California wine all over the world.”

Don’t recall this being much of a discussion topic at any of the tables I sat at.

When organizations like this fold up their tent and steal away into the night, they always reflect on the great successes they have achieved over
the yrs. No different w/ the IPoB folks in this case.
I had no quarrels w/ the IPoB crowd…though their choices of members seem a bit peculiar at times.
Thanks for the link, Joe.
Tom

Just read this and found it interesting indeed. Yep, I do believe they were successful in getting a broader audience to ‘take note’ of lower alcohol wines over the past few years - whether it be at their tastings or by getting great press coverage for the organization and its members.

It’ll be interesting to see if there is any ‘fallout’ from producers who gained greatly by being members - either by trying to recreate these tastings moving forward or something else.

Cheers.

I didn’t see it coming, but don’t find it surprising. Rajat Parr seems to have a lot of irons in the fire from a business perspective & it looks like their mission of exposing a different style & approach was accomplished.

NoNoNo, Larry. They made the very point that it was not about alcohol levels (though that was Raj’s initial focus) but about “balance”. Some of those IPoB
wines I had were not at all what I called in “balance”.
Tom

And some IPOB wines were not exactly low alcohol.

Can’t say that I’m too surprised by the announcement - it seemed like the event had run its course. But it was always an enjoyable tasting with a lot of high-quality producers.

Ken,

Interesting comments about ‘running its course’. Care to expand?

And yep, I KNOW it was NOT about alcohol levels per se . . .but then again, it WAS about alcohol levels :slight_smile:

Cheers!

I thought the fact that they did not have a San Francisco event this year (though they are now planning an SF finale this fall) said that they had already reached the people they wanted to reach, saturated that market so to speak, at least locally. So they’re essentially preaching to the converted by now and there’s not much to gain by continuing to do that. I’m guessing the same may have been true to some extent when they’ve taken their show on the road, and obviously those trips had to have cost the group a lot more to put on than the more local events.

I’ve been to all but the first SF tasting, and I think the “preaching to the converted” aspect was there just about from the start, but IPOB unquestionably drew a lot more attention to member wineries than most would have gotten without being part of the group - and in reality, wasn’t that the whole point of the exercise? People recognize producers that have been part of IPOB now. The provocative name of the group, the “Manifesto of Balance”, etc. - wasn’t that largely to gain notoriety and get people talking and writing about them? I’d say it worked.

Maybe IPOB will return in a few years, just ast HdR in Paso Robles returned this year after a four-year hiatus. A lot of people felt that HdR had run its course when they discontinued the event in 2012 - and I think a fair number thought it had done so several years before that. So it wouldn’t surprise me to see IPOB (or something similar to it) return at some point.

Thanks for the reply, Ken. The toughest thing with ANY business or organization is ‘staying relevant’, and unless you can expand your audience, or increase the offerings to said audience, you will challenged to do so.

This ‘challenge’ exists for all tastings, including the Rhones Rangers, whose board I sit on. We are always trying to find ways to expand our offerings and hopefully not only ‘service’ those who are familiar with the organization, but bring in new folks all of the time as well. It’s challenging - but quite rewarding at the same time.

Cheers.

I know that’s got to be a tough challenge, Larry. So often I see the same faces at wine events year after year, and we’re tasting the same wines from the same producers year after year - just new vintages. At some point that has to get old for both the participating wineries and the attendees.

Still bummed that I won’t be able to make it to Rhone Rangers next month - there’s enough variety at the tasting plus the interesting discussions at the seminars that it’s always enjoyable for me.

What? No “thank God they’re gone” posts yet? I am disappointed in you people.

Maybe Jasmine Hirsch got sick of traveling.

One thing worth noting is that it sounds like HdR will be holding its big Paso Robles event every two years rather than every year as it used to do - that should help keep things fresher. Similarly, the West of West event (for West Sonoma Coast vintners) will be alternating venues between Sebastopol and San Francisco each year. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the first WoW tasting in SF last week, but it would be interesting to hear how different the crowd there may have been compared to their “usual” crowd in Sebastopol.

I will be curious to see how HdR moves forward. I know that it really was exciting to see it back, but I’m not sure it achieved what they set out to do. Yep, there were lots of folks there, but I saw more ‘trade’ and other winemakers walking around than consumers most of the time.

As far as Rhone Rangers goes, we are aiming to do slightly ‘smaller’ tastings - the Golden Gate Club maxes us out at about 60 wineries versus the nearly 120 that we’ve had in the past at larger venues. We want to offer both trade and consumers a ‘more intimate’ experience rather than a ‘large hall’ one.

And in LA, we’ve actually moved to a larger facility, since we are seeing more and more interest in these varieties down there.

As far as WOW goes, you either bring folks to you or you go to where a lot of folks are - and I think WOW is smart. IIRC, they also did a tasting in the LA area, too

Cheers.

I use a metric that I call In Pursuit Of Drinkability. I decided I don’t want to risk calling it IPOD for short. To reach this measurement I sort by score, then filter for the alcohol levels in the top and bottom scores. I have yet to see anything but a wide distribution of ABV at both ends of the spectrum. The wines I review from a subset of IPOB members have always shown well.

Is balance really what you want to sell new customers on ? this whole balance thing is generally driven by the crusty oldsters who rejoice over the aroma of Cleopatras thong and piss covered east facing Bolivian crushed limestone in their 50 year old brown limp Bdx or Burg. New customers and casual wine drinkers do not want balance, they want exciting tasty wines at a good price they look for flavour not balance. I just dont see this as a valid business model.

I dont know this group and have no axe to grind, i did notice that i am not on any mail list for their members which is not a surprise.

In terms of Rhone Rangers i do think that wine people tend to be overly timid in their approach to selling, get out there and push the US wines as being better !!

Okay, I’ll bite.

Thank God they’re gone!!! IPOB was the PETA of the wine world!

Is that sufficient David? [wink.gif]