Deep Sea Conway Family Wines - Paso Robles Merlot 2011
Another selection from a wine brand seeking identity, or failing to capitalize on its heritage?
Another commentary on my study and observations on wine branding. Traveling for business this week provided the opportunity to stop in a wine shop in a remote city. This always affords a chance to see different producers and labels that don't otherwise show up in our large metropolitan home market. Sometimes smaller producers can only fill the demands of a smaller market, or other reasons. So it was that I found Deep Sea Merlot and Deep Sea Chardonnay from Conway Family Wines in Santa Barbara.
We've seen this label in secondary and tertiary markets from time to time. The rarity of the label may be exacerbated by the fact that some of their labels are no longer being produced, so finds like this are anomalies of the tail of the distribution chain. In some cases these offerings may be Negociant labels, wherein they purchase fruit from growers, or even purchase excess wine from producers, and market them under their own private label (s).
I've written in these pages about the branding challenge faced by a Negociant, that of building affinity for a brand that is associated with terroir, or sense of place, for a particular wine, when the grapes are sourced from various anonymous growers that may change with each vintage.
How stark the contrast with Chateau Laroze, showcased in last week's blog, where the land has been in the family since 1610, producing from the same facility under the same label since 1885. Such is the extent of the difference between 'old world' and 'new world' producers' and their wines.
We have found Deep Sea wines including their Syrah and Cabernet but this was the first time seeing and experiencing their Merlot. I've written in these pages about this producer and those labels from the California Central Coast and one from Napa Valley. Generally, they have provided modest price, good price point QPR (Quality Price Ratio) wines.
Their negociant practice is broadcast in their testament, "We purchase fruit from noteworthy vineyards in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Monterey Counties, and the Napa Valley. We contract with specific blocks, and actively manage the individual vines in that area. We work with growers to formulate viticultural practices and the rows are farmed to our specifications."
But, they also have their own vineyards as indicted by their website, “As with our estate vineyards, we concentrate on quality rather than yield per acre, and we carefully hand pick the grapes when they reach the right balance of flavor, acidity and sugar."
According to the Conway Family Wines website, the Estate is the thirty-five hundred acre Rancho Arroyo Grande in the Central Coast region of California, thirteen miles from the Pacific Ocean, where the coastal range meets the mountains of the Los Padres National Forest.
When I search Cellartracker for Deep Sea Merlot, a pretty good indicator of the marketplace with over a half million collectors and a several million bottles featured, I find this producer, Deep Sea Paso Robles Merlot, as well as Deep Sea Rancho Arroyo Grande Vineyard Merlot, although only one vintage of each. As a consumer of these wines, do I presume one (the first) is a Negociant offering while the latter is Estate Bottled?
As their website indicates, "Deep Sea wines showcase the maritime influence on grapes grown in California’s coastal climate. The grapes for our wine are grown in vineyards close to the Pacific Ocean, (where)Vineyards along the California coastline are cooled by fog and ocean breezes."
So it is with Deep Sea, a collection of labels but a conundrum in branding. I say this because we also hold Deep Sea Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Of course, the Deep Sea reference to proximity to the Ocean and its effects work for the Central Coast, and would work for the Sonoma Coast, but are a paradox when associated with inland NapaValley.
This leads me to the branding question; if the Conway Family owns spectacular lands with estate vineyards with such a rich heritage, why not leverage such and establish the pedigree and branding associated with terroir for your wines?
The personality of family association is strong for branding and building brand affinity and loyalty. Look at the number of premier labels bearing the family or 'place' name.
Indeed, the Conway Family feature a wonderful photo of their beautiful extended family of seven siblings and offspring.
So Deep Sea, or Conway Family Wines, is Deep Sea Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon an oxymoron, an anomaly, or a step along the path to establishing an evolving, maturing branding strategy?
I see on their website the inaugural release of another label - Conway Santa Barbara County Cabernet Sauvignon. I will look forward to tasting their signature brand premium label release (s) and will watch their evolution with interest.
Meanwhile, we tasted the Deep Sea Paso Robles Merlot 2009
Dark ruby colored, medium full bodied, bright full aromatics project the flavors to come - full, somewhat forward black berry and black raspberry fruits with tones of cedar, a slight mustiness and hints of creosote and earthy leather on a moderate, soft tannin finish.
RM 86-87 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1847704
http://www.conwayfamilywines.com/
What is the real Deep Sea?
Another selection from a wine brand seeking identity, or failing to capitalize on its heritage?
We've seen this label in secondary and tertiary markets from time to time. The rarity of the label may be exacerbated by the fact that some of their labels are no longer being produced, so finds like this are anomalies of the tail of the distribution chain. In some cases these offerings may be Negociant labels, wherein they purchase fruit from growers, or even purchase excess wine from producers, and market them under their own private label (s).
I've written in these pages about the branding challenge faced by a Negociant, that of building affinity for a brand that is associated with terroir, or sense of place, for a particular wine, when the grapes are sourced from various anonymous growers that may change with each vintage.
How stark the contrast with Chateau Laroze, showcased in last week's blog, where the land has been in the family since 1610, producing from the same facility under the same label since 1885. Such is the extent of the difference between 'old world' and 'new world' producers' and their wines.
Their negociant practice is broadcast in their testament, "We purchase fruit from noteworthy vineyards in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Monterey Counties, and the Napa Valley. We contract with specific blocks, and actively manage the individual vines in that area. We work with growers to formulate viticultural practices and the rows are farmed to our specifications."
But, they also have their own vineyards as indicted by their website, “As with our estate vineyards, we concentrate on quality rather than yield per acre, and we carefully hand pick the grapes when they reach the right balance of flavor, acidity and sugar."
According to the Conway Family Wines website, the Estate is the thirty-five hundred acre Rancho Arroyo Grande in the Central Coast region of California, thirteen miles from the Pacific Ocean, where the coastal range meets the mountains of the Los Padres National Forest.
When I search Cellartracker for Deep Sea Merlot, a pretty good indicator of the marketplace with over a half million collectors and a several million bottles featured, I find this producer, Deep Sea Paso Robles Merlot, as well as Deep Sea Rancho Arroyo Grande Vineyard Merlot, although only one vintage of each. As a consumer of these wines, do I presume one (the first) is a Negociant offering while the latter is Estate Bottled?
As their website indicates, "Deep Sea wines showcase the maritime influence on grapes grown in California’s coastal climate. The grapes for our wine are grown in vineyards close to the Pacific Ocean, (where)Vineyards along the California coastline are cooled by fog and ocean breezes."
This leads me to the branding question; if the Conway Family owns spectacular lands with estate vineyards with such a rich heritage, why not leverage such and establish the pedigree and branding associated with terroir for your wines?
The personality of family association is strong for branding and building brand affinity and loyalty. Look at the number of premier labels bearing the family or 'place' name.
Indeed, the Conway Family feature a wonderful photo of their beautiful extended family of seven siblings and offspring.
So Deep Sea, or Conway Family Wines, is Deep Sea Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon an oxymoron, an anomaly, or a step along the path to establishing an evolving, maturing branding strategy?
I see on their website the inaugural release of another label - Conway Santa Barbara County Cabernet Sauvignon. I will look forward to tasting their signature brand premium label release (s) and will watch their evolution with interest.
Meanwhile, we tasted the Deep Sea Paso Robles Merlot 2009
Dark ruby colored, medium full bodied, bright full aromatics project the flavors to come - full, somewhat forward black berry and black raspberry fruits with tones of cedar, a slight mustiness and hints of creosote and earthy leather on a moderate, soft tannin finish.
RM 86-87 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1847704
http://www.conwayfamilywines.com/
What is the real Deep Sea?
Thanks for writing about us, and taking the time to think deeply about the very same questions we have pondered almost every day since we started making wine. The answers to some of your questions (why did we make a Napa Valley wine with a Deep Sea label when clearly Napa is farther inland) are nuanced-and the answers are sometimes based on decisions dictated by an urgent message from the cellar (this wine is ready to be bottled and therefore it needs a label quickly-and we can't afford to wait 6 weeks for TTB approval on a new label etc) or by unexpected industry regulations. For example, our estate label, Rancho Arroyo Grande, is both a historical place name (grapes were originally planted here in the 1880's) but it also contains the name of the AVA-Arroyo Grande. Therefore, should we wish to make any wine that was not grown and produced on the estate, we cannot legally bottle it under the Rancho Arroyo Grande label. Since we did not want to be limited to only producing wine with grapes from our property (Pinot Noir is one grape we do not grow, that we wished to produce) so we created the Deep Sea label. Deep Sea is a reference to our estate soil, comprised of 6 million yr old fossilized scallop and oyster shells, and also to the close proximity of the Pacific Ocean which positively effects many of the vineyards we work with. The Deep Sea label is not associated with a specific property, but with several properties that we work with on an ongoing basis to produce high quality wines that are representative of the region. Over the last 8 years, we have experimented with different vineyard sources and varietals, and have been able to dial into what we believe works the best for our wines. Deep Sea now specializes in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, though you will still see a few of our other wines from time to time-like the Merlot you found. So who is the real Deep Sea? It's who we've always been- a family owned winery, producing great wines from our home region-Santa Barbara and the Central Coast. We make several varietals, enough to keep our tasting room flight list interesting for locals and visitors, and we sell those wines to restaurants and bottle shops as well. The CONWAY label follows the same guidelines as Deep Sea, but the wines are hand-selected barrels and single vineyard offerings we made, that my family has determined to be the best of that vintage. Those wines get the CONWAY label, and if you enjoy the Deep Sea wines, Conway is worth a look-and definitely worth a taste! Cheers! - Gillian Conway :)
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