Archive for September, 2009

Smugglers put your hands up

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

According to this article in The Local recently http://www.thelocal.se/21938/20090908/ we all drank 30cl (almost 1/3 of a liter) of smuggled spirits in the first half of 2009 and smuggling accounts for 8% of all alcohol consumed in Sweden. This is twice as much as smuggled alcohol we consumed in the same period of 2008.

Only Sweden has a university research department called the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs (Sorab) at Stockholm University which is dedicated to providing the government independent research why the monopoly should exist and alcohol is bad. Their Christmas party must be a hoot!

Since I did not drink any smuggled booze at all and from a quick survey of my work colleagues and friends they didn’t either, the total volume consumed per person actually drinking the hooch must be pretty high. Clearly Sorab knows whose these smugglers are because each 6 months they report how much they drink. Apparently they have a list of 1500 people who represent Swedish drinking habits. Now these guys must have a pretty wet Christmas party!

Do they really know people who will honestly answer the question “how much smuggled alcohol did you consumer in the last 6 months?” It reminds me of reading an interview with sex researches who found it impossible to correlate the answers of men and women to the question “how often do you have sex?”. The men were getting it off at least double as often as women but researchers came to the conclusion that men, well, lied about more things than size.

After 53 years of a monopoly and all the associated propaganda, is this evidence for the success or continued failure of the monopoly? Perhaps Sorab has some independent answers.

Cheers to legal alcohol

Mark

Report abuse »

Tags: booze, smuggle, sorab
Posted in Mark | 4 comments »

Ban the bag

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

60% of all wine consumed in Sweden is from a plastic bag wrapped in a printed cardboard box. Convenient, easy to carry, great for picnics and the boat…even some people who enjoy high quality wine sprout these excuses for occasionally sucking their “wine” from a plastic bladder. As a child we thought it was fun to drink juice from plastic boxes and aluminiumised plastic bags but it got old when we got old. At least the juice as only 30cl, but 3L of the same drink is too much for me, even if it much BIB wine does taste like sweetened fruit juice.

BIB wine deteriorates as it ages. Swedish rules have an expiry date of around a year. Should we drink wine that gets worse over time, not better as all quality wine does?

There is a reluctance amongst consumers to open a bottle of wine during the week days because they feel forced to finish the bottle or waste it. Putting it in the fridge is the surest way to preserve the wine for several days, which is far better than carefully tearing around the perforated holes of a cardboard box. Whenever I am forced to open a BIB (we buy them to test taste them) the action of taking out the tap from the box reminds me of, well, taking a pee.

If 50+ year old women in Sweden are at health risk from plastic bag wine, read below the effects on Australia’s native people. The Australian Northern Territory Government has taken an even more drastic step to consider banning the bag. In the interests of community health, promotion of responsible drinking and policy of only selling quality products, Australian Wine Club has banned the bag. Click the link to read the whole story or an extract below.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26026044-421,00.html

Goon to be banned in Darwin under new proposal

AAP

September 04, 2009 04:20pm

Wine casks could be banned in Darwin under measures to reduce the level of drunken violence.

Cask wine could be banned in cities
Ban could lower level of drunken violence
‘Tipple of choice’ for many problem drinkers

CASK wine could be banned across the Top End, with the four litre bags of bargain booze blamed for aggravating problem drinking.

If the measures to curtail grog-fuelled violence and crime get the green light, Darwin could become the first capital city in Australia to blacklist goon bags.

“It may not be a panacea for alcohol problems but there’s enough information to suggest (restrictions are) worth considering,” Licensing Commission chairman Richard O’Sullivan said.

“These casks each contain 30 standard drinks.”

Mr O’Sullivan said the potential ban would apply to Darwin, Palmerston and rural areas.

Mr O’Sullivan referred to a recent Menzies School of Health report into drinking restrictions in the desert town of Alice Springs.

It found banning high volume, low cost products had some success.

On the back of evidence from places such as Katherine and the mining town of Nhulunbuy, where similar measures already exist, Mr O’Sullivan said it was common for problem drinkers to simply seek out alternatives.

Report abuse »

Tags: bag in box
Posted in Mark | No comments »

Hot on Malta

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Just got back from spending a few days in our office in Malta (we have our head office there because Swedish companies can not sell wine to Swedish consumers) and it is always nice to be there. Perched in the Med a cork throw away from Sicily, 300km from Libya (North Africa) and brimming over with history of Knights and chivalry from days gone by.

The APW people there are so hospitable and friendly, no doubt influenced by the 29 degrees weather they are still enjoying this late in the year. We ate extremely well and enjoyed several Maltese wines that were full bodied and well made if not a little over priced. But small countries (415,000 people) have it tough achieving low prices achieved through economies of scale.

Everyone was very proud to introduce me to their favourite local wine and I have now learned how to handle the sticky situation when someone says to you (or is it a trick question?) “your’e the expert, try the wine and tell me what you think…it’s my favourite wine!” I try it and say “yes, I can tell why you enjoy it.” Unless of course I really do like it and I explain why.

I can highly recommend having head office in Malta if you are looking to relocate !

cheers

Mark

Report abuse »

Tags: Malta
Posted in Mark | 1 comment »

SVD anti-alcohol series

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

The recent series of anti-alcohol articles in the national newspaper SVD provide two insightful messages about Sweden:

1. News in the recently relaunched SVD has been relegated to pages 30 and beyond while special interest articles and analysis pieces occupy the first sections of the paper. Is this the future of newspapers: We get our news online in real time and the next morning we sip our coffee reading the news explained to us by the learned scribes?

2. The cow boy and indian model is too easily used to explain complex subjects: cow boys – white hats = good. Indians – dark = bad, bank robber cow boys – black hats = bad too.

Alcohol when abused can be extremely harmful and almost every Swedish family has a story of a relative doomed by alcohol abuse. The depressing, scary series of articles in SVD have made a strong case for prohibition and educating our children to avoid alcohol or face an uncertain future of substance addiction.

Demonisation of legally available products has never in our western history proven to be a successful public education program. I read in The Economist recently about the incidence of teenage pregnancy in the USA. It it significantly higher in conservative Republican states amongst Evangelist Christian communities. The message of sex is bad, abstinence until you are married or you will be damned had the totally opposite affect. Tell a child not to touch the flame and you can guarantee they will put their hand in it!

Many things can be abused and can kill but we don’t ban them or demonise them: cars kills, motorbikes even more. At least there is no government monopoly on the sale (restriction of sale) on cars and petrol! But why?

Children are educated through example. See their parents swear off alcohol during the week but down a 3L bag in box wine on Friday night and the message to the children is conflicting, confusing and wrong. Set an example and de-mystify wine through moderate consumption (never abuse or over-consumption) and as part of a lifestyle of food and appreciation, the alcohol ceases to be the forbidden fruit consumed when the parents go out.

Why didn’t SVD follow the recent article on one man’s horrible life growing up with a weekend alcoholic mother with another on a family whose parents appreciated wine and passed it on to their children who most likely rebelled when they got older but less likely through alcohol abuse. I dare say they would argue that any positive articles on alcohol would only lead to criticism that they encourage alcohol consumption. Not that their pages are not brimming over with wine advertisements.

Moderation, appreciation, education by example and making us take responsibility for our actions. Simple lesson to be learned.

To encourage more Swedes to appreciate quality wine we are running a weekend long offer to deliver home free of charge to anyone in Sweden their wine ordered from www.australianwineclub.se so they can take the first steps away from bag-in-box over consumption to appreciation of quality wine in moderation.

Cheers

Mark

Report abuse »

Tags: SVD
Posted in Mark | 7 comments »

New tasting

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

All’s well that ends well! Walking into the office and seeing a row of 30 wines standing like soldiers waiting for inspection is a sure sign that at the end of the day Jimmy and James will be parading their new finds.

Today was one of those fine days when tooth enamel is sacrificed for the good of our members.

Australia, New Zealand and Bordeaux’s Medoc had turned out their finest examples. Jimmy couldn’t restrain his amusement when we selected our first real Barossa Cabernet and Shiraz. As you may know, I have a preference for restrained wines which are well balanced between fruit, acidity, tannins and alcohol levels – so as you would deduce, big jammy Barossa wines loved by R. Parker Jnr have not made it through the tasting panel up until now. Peter Walker, our man on the ground in Australia, has unearthed a superb producer that understands balance and unusually we enjoyed almost all their wines for both quality and value. James has them planned to arrive in early 2010 so at least I can claim we lasted 5 years without a Barossa wine in the range.

Tasmania and Marlborough have much in common despite the water and language that seperates them. Exquisite Pinot Noir, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris. Lina and Sarah were tasting with us today and Lina discovered her all time favourite Pinot Gris, suprisingly from New Zealand.

The 1998 & 2000 Medoc provided the final kick to the gums we did not need but both wines showed impressive bottle development and as long as one has access to a good decanter, are ready to drink now.

We punished and battered our lips, teeth and gums today but all for a good cause and all part of a hard day’s work at the wine club!

Cheers

Mark

Report abuse »

Posted in Mark | No comments »

Jottings

Monday, September 7th, 2009

A busy day today juggling communication channels. Here are some thoughts I have been pondering:

1. What is good customer service? Is 100% customer satisfaction achievable and is it a worthwhile goal?

2. We hit the milestone of 500 members of the Australian Wine Club facebook group. It is an effective communication tool to our FB-connected members. Is it?

Australian Wine Club on Facebook

3. Barack Obama has 2 131 344 people following him on Twitter and he follows 759 044 people. Does he really write and read all these Twits? Is this something we should do more for Australiain Wine Club, do people want to be communicated with in this way (we have 63 followers! You win Barack)?

4. We desperately need more wine advisors to work in our wine advisory centre, would be nice to have more space to house them too. Anyone in Stockholm who enjoys advising wine interested people on what good wines to drink check this out: Wine Advisor job vacancies

5. Lina has done a fantastic job on our new search function on the wine club website and the new home page. Clean, easy to use and we hope easier to communicate the key messages and events to our members. Australian Wine Club. Is it?

6. Ran across a new competitor online who was not following the alcohol import rules for private import. I emailed to advise them how to follow the rules and get properly registered. Seemed like the nice thing to do rather than wait for the tax authorities to nab them. Was it?

Te Whau Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 from NZ. Good to get the mind to spin at a few less rpm!

Cheers

Mark

Report abuse »

Tags: australian wine club, barack obama, Facebook, twitter, wine advisors
Posted in Mark | 2 comments »