Parker score boosts US Tesco venture March 26, 2008
Richard Woodard
A wine sold exclusively at Tesco's Fresh & Easy US retail venture has scooped 90 'Parker points' in a recent tasting in The Wine Advocate.
This is a timely boost for the UK supermarket chain's US venture, dubbed 'a disaster' by one analyst who suggested sales were as much as 70% below expectations four months after the first store opened.
The wine, Bodegas Palacio's Reflexion Rioja Reserva 2003, sells at US$9.99 and is one of more than 60 wines in the private label range sold at Fresh & Easy. The store also stocks more than 100 branded wines.
The ranking came in the February 2008 issue of The Wine Advocate – part of a tasting of more than 1,000 wines.
'To receive this accolade from The Wine Advocate is a tremendous endorsement for the wine,' said Fresh & Easy wine buyer Karen Fletcher.
Fresh & Easy is Tesco's first venture into the fiercely competitive US grocery market.
The company opened its first 'neighbourhood market' stores last autumn and is investing $2bn in the venture over the next five years.
To date, 59 stores have opened across southern California, Arizona and Nevada, with a total investment of some US$700m.
According to CNN, Tesco is aiming to open 200 Fresh & Easy outlets by February 2009, with projections suggesting that annual sales could hit US$4bn from 500 stores by 2011.
But Michael J Dennis, a senior research analyst with Minneapolis investment bank Piper Jaffray, described sales at the chain to date as 'a disaster'.
Based on interviews with suppliers, he said sales were running at about US$60,000 a week – 70% down on targeted weekly revenues of US$200,000.
Tesco said it was happy with the venture's progress to date, but would not release figures, saying it was 'too soon' to give a full assessment.
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Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone... wow, a wine with 90 'Parker points'. Well done to all concerned, not least Tesco's PR agency, even if I wasn't aware that Tesco's US retail venture had been dubbed 'a disaster'.
Hang on a minute: Parker doesn't cover Spain. A quick scan of the February issue of The Wine Advocate reveals that it was actually Jay Miller who reviewed the wine but this one comes so far down the list of 'more than 1000 wines' that there's not even a tasting note. In Dr. Jay's report called 'Spain: The Beat Goes On' (sic) he describes '345 Superb Bargains Under $20' and this Tesco exclusive didn't make the cut. Over 400 wines scored higher than 90 points in this tastingathon and 'only the most exceptional of those values have been described individually'.
More Miller Lite than Parker 90.
Gavin Quinney, Chateau Bauduc, Bordeaux, France
If what our respected freind Mons. Gavin Quinney is true, and I am sure it is..this ties with the comments we passed a few months back about wine critics becoming more and more a business then a guideline to consumers.
Most consumers are all very willing to learn and are eager to do this, but of course are highly influenced by notes or points from famous wine boffins! as they say " a little learning is a dangereous thing"...so when an "authority" expresses her/his views especially in the wine business, the average consumer will take that to be the gospel truth.
As I have already said in my previous corresondence, I have tried some wines highly recommended by these "authorities" and have been disappointed..but then maybe in 30years of passion and experience in the field I still cannot tell a good wine from another!
Victor Bonello, Malta
Speaking of Dr. Miller's Spain scoring style, methinks he has morphed the Decanter scoring scale with the Parker scale into the Miller scale. This scale seems to be 80-100 points. It also makes me wonder if he also works for Spain's Wine Promotion Authority.
C Wells, Atlanta, GA, USA
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