DonRocks Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Just so you can make an informed choice ... click. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banco Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Just so you can make an informed choice ... click. Washington State Riesling and "moist smokeless tobacco" go together like trailer parks and crack hos. I am so proud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Washington State Riesling and "moist smokeless tobacco" go together like trailer parks and crack hos. I am so proud. Note also (from that same link) the full roster of wineries they own: Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Crest Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Conn Creek Red Diamond Snoqualmie Spring Valley Villa Mt Eden Erath Col Solare Northstar Villa Antinori Tormaresca Tignanello Antica Napa Valley Solaia Santa Cristina Haras di Pirque La Bracessca Montenisa Hawk Crest Fourteen Hands Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Palmes d'Or Domaine Ste Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.A.R. Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 And apparently 28.7% of SABMiller too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweaked Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Chateau Ste. Michelle and the other wineries were acquired by Altria when Altria bought US Tobacco. US Tobacco had owned the Chateau Ste. Michelle since 1974. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Slater Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Just so you can make an informed choice ... click. This has been my soapbox pet peeve for years. The average consumer knows none of this, and when wine writers casually work Ste. Michelle into their recommendations, you have to wonder who paid them to say that. Chateau Ste. Michelle alone controls over 5,000 acres of vineyard in Washington State and produces way over a million cases of wine a year. The wine business has been subject to corporate conglomerization just as the food business has by ConAgra/Archer Daniels Midland/Nestlé etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banco Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 This has been my soapbox pet peeve for years. The average consumer knows none of this, and when wine writers casually work Ste. Michelle into their recommendations, you have to wonder who paid them to say that. Chateau Ste. Michelle alone controls over 5,000 acres of vineyard in Washington State and produces way over a million cases of wine a year. The wine business has been subject to corporate conglomerization just as the food business has by ConAgra/Archer Daniels Midland/Nestlé etc. I suppose in some way it's similar to the huge insurance conglomerates, financial institutions and other MNCs that have had control over vast swathes of Bordeaux for decades. Ste Michelle is big, but it's also been around longer than just about anyone else in my home state. It's what first put Washington State wine on the map back when American wine was more or less equivalent to California wine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMM Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Am I alone in thinking that Chateau Ste. Michelle and Domaine Ste. Michelle produce reasonably good wines for the price? No matter who owns them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Didn't Coca Cola buy Sterling winery years ago, and then end up selling it back to the original owners? Or am I disremembering... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Didn't Coca Cola buy Sterling winery years ago, and then end up selling it back to the original owners? Or am I disremembering... FWIW, I saw "dismembering" and instantly thought of Lorena Bobbitt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banco Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Am I alone in thinking that Chateau Ste. Michelle and Domaine Ste. Michelle produce reasonably good wines for the price? No matter who owns them. Nope. All native prejudice aside, Columbia Crest ain't bad either. And last I tasted Nicolas Feuillatte was quite respectable. In fact there are many fairly good wines on this list, which is why I made the point about Bordeaux. Ownership only says so much, and perhaps very little in some cases [<--- pun] about quality. If the terroir and methods are good, who cares about ownership? (Unless they're old Nazis in Argentina or something else morally objectionable.) ETA: Is A Big Tobacco Company morally objectionable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waitman Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Chateau St. Michelle is perfectly fine bit of plonk for when you want something a with a little more class than Mad Dog but you don't feel like walking any further than the bodega around the corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Am I alone in thinking that Chateau Ste. Michelle and Domaine Ste. Michelle produce reasonably good wines for the price? No matter who owns them. No, you are not alone. They have partnered with Dr. Loosen to create "Saint M" Riesling, which you can get by the glass at Masa 14, and which Mrs. Waitman seemed to enjoy at my house. The Georgetown Safeway carries it. The sparkling Chateau Ste. Michelle was my defense against a neighbor who thought Cook's "champagne" was the only thing to drink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 FWIW, I saw "dismembering" and instantly thought of Lorena Bobbitt. I suggest meditating on the following affirmation: "I am a manly man. I am everything a woman could want." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithstg Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Didn't Coca Cola buy Sterling winery years ago, and then end up selling it back to the original owners? Or am I disremembering... Yes, but Coca-Cola did not sell back to the original owners, they sold to Seagram (now Diageo, as Vivendi<who bought Seagram/Universal> sold most of their wine/spirits holdings to Diageo in the early 2000s).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toogs Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I'm not sure what I am supposed to take away from the fact that they are owned by Altria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmm Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Altiria made a brief appearance in Hot Coffee as a US Chamber of Commerce member in the tort reform segment [go figure]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jparrott Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I'm not sure what I am supposed to take away from the fact that they are owned by Altria. The wines are fined using tobacco stems and Kraft Philadelphia brand cream cheese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe H Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 There is a lot of Washington state wine that is exceptional and not corporately owned. I would start with Bergevin Lane http://www.bergevinlane.com/ and continue to Cayuse and K Vintners. Bionic Frog is a serious cult wine and K Vintners Old Bones garnered 99 points from Parker. Both are appropriately priced for scores like this... Still, that's 99 points for a Washington state wine. Points aside it's still an incedible pour. Did I mention Quilceda Creek or Leonetti? My wife and I went to Walla Walla in the late '90's. There were seven or eight wineries total. Today there are approximately 150. I'd suggest this is the "hottest" wine region on earth with exceptional wine at every price level. The Bergevin Lane I note above will discount if you are willing to syndicate your neighbors and buy three or more cases. Their $28 cabernet can be had for $19 by the case and I will make the serious argument it drinks like anybody else's $50 wine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toogs Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 The wines are fined using tobacco stems and Kraft Philadelphia brand cream cheese. these are a few of my favorite things...when the dog bites... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinwiddie Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Joe, true there are many fine Washington wines that are not corporate owned. However, Don's original post, without saying so, implied that being corporate owned is a bad thing. Do I agree, probably, but then I don't normally drink those wines in the first place. However, as others have noted, these wines are fine for what they are, are easy to get, and are inexpensive. So they are exactly what 90+% of the wine buying public wants. More power to them, it leaves the other smaller productions wines to those of us who appreciate them and look for them. When a winery makes 700 cases of a wine, you aren't going to find it at Trader Joe's. Do you refuse to eat at a restaurant based on who their supplier is? Maybe yes, but for the vast majority of people, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Slater Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Many fine wineries are corporate owned. There is, however, a difference between a winery and a factory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DameEdna Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 By following the trail of corporate ownership, it can be shown the 3.7% of Don's thoughts on wine are actually written by advertising copywriters. This is actually a surprisingly low number, even less than the influence of the drip, drip, drip of wine opinion from the Robert Parker publicity stalactite directly above Don's head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I'm pretty nearly certain that Altria does not own Nicolas Feuillatte, which is a producers' cooperative. Sainte Michelle is the exclusive U.S. importer for their wines, but that's hardly the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banco Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 It must be extremely difficult for anyone in the wine trade to enjoy the basic but ample pleasure that the beverage has afforded mankind for centuries while having to keep track of all this shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPW Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 By following the trail of corporate ownership, it can be shown the 3.7% of Don's thoughts on wine are actually written by advertising copywriters. This is actually a surprisingly low number, even less than the influence of the drip, drip, drip of wine opinion from the Robert Parker publicity stalactite directly above Don's head. <like> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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