Montgomery County, Maryland Commissions It Own Wine Brand

A year ago, we reported on the wine super-store opened by Montgomery County, Maryland. Today, County Executive Doug Duncan announced the county's latest initiative to vertically integrate its wine business. Once again using its leverage as the only county in the nation with a monopoly on wine distribution, Montgomery County has approached mega-producer Constellation Wines to custom blend a wine to be sold under the county's proprietary label. Said Duncan, "We want to provide the citizens of our county the type of high quality wine they want and deserve while enhancing the county's revenue position."

Product Development Director Mel O'Lactic, recently promoted from his super-store management position, said that Constellation's recent acquisition of the Robert Mondavi Corporation made them a natural partner for this endeavor. "Looking at Mondavi's success in the joint venture with Baron Rothschild to produce Opus One, we realized the opportunity at hand." He further explained that they solicited Constellation to blend wines from two of its distinguished brands, Mondavi and Manischewitz, to produce a unique wine for the citizens of Montgomery County. "Our taste experts are confident that the Cabernet-Concord blend will appeal to this market and will challenge the super-Tuscans in the high-end range." The flavor profile will feature jammy fruit with a solid core of sweet tannins.

Assistant Labeling Specialists, Vito LaBrusca and Vinnie Ferra, explained that, internally, the wine is referred to as Monda-schewitz. "However, we are designing the market label with the designation Private Reserve - Montgomery County or PRMC." County officials seemed oblivious that, to local wino drinkers, PRMC already stands for People's Republic of Montgomery County.

Technology Report:

Aussies Rule the Waves

The Australian wine industry has been faced with the challenge of transporting its huge export sales overseas at a time when shipping costs are soaring. The ever-resourceful Aussies studied several alternatives before borrowing a solution from the fishing industry. A large commercial fishing vessel processes its catch at sea and by the time it reaches port, the product is fresh and ready for the consumer.

Using this approach, the Australian Wine Export Coalition (AWEC) commissioned a fleet of specialized tanker ships. Various compartments on the ships function as fermentation and storage tanks.

In this process, grapes in major wine-growing regions, like Barossa Valley, are crushed at a centralized facility and the juice is pumped via pipeline to a terminal at the nearest port. Within hours, on-loading is completed and the ship departs. Enroute to its destination, the juice is fermented on board and stored. After a leisurely cruise, the wine is ready for consumption when the ship reaches port and its cargo is off-loaded to a bottling plant. During off-loading, red wines are pumped through a series of wooden baffles to simulate barrel-aging.

AWEC spokesman, Malcolm Wallaby, touts that savings are achieved throughout the process by not transporting the bulky glass bottles and boxes. "For quality, the wines arrive with the freshness and intensity of a Beaujolais Nouveau." he proudly added.

Mr. Wallaby went on to explain that projects are underway to further streamline the distribution process. For high density destinations like New York City, there is a proposal to skip bottling altogether and use conduit to pipe the wine direct to a house-wine tap in each restaurant in the city.

The arrival of this week's supply of Yellow Tail chardonnay.