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W i n e s & V i n e s J U LY 2 0 1 4 19 J U L Y N E W S © 2014 Key Technology, Inc. Want to produce a 100 point wine? Key's VitiSort ™ wine grape sorter provides an unprecedented level of quality control for winemakers - at an affordable price. • Produce consistent, high quality wine year after year • Up to 99.9% MOG removal - based on your criteria • Reduce sorting labor costs by up to 80% • Lowest cost grape sorter on the market Contact us today at 509.529.2161 to learn how VitiSort can help you put only fl awless grapes in your bottle. VitiSort ™ can make the difference. VitiSort ™ Optical Wine Grape Sorter www.key.net S t. Helena, Calif.—Starting in 2008 Sandy Block, the mas- ter of wine and vice presi- dent in charge of the beverage program at 36-location restaurant group Legal Seafoods, started to notice a shift away from wine. "Customers don't just want to eat and drink; they want to be entertained. And cocktails and draft beer are more enter- taining to them than wine," he said during a recent seminar hosted by wine clo- sure supplier Diam and its U.S. partner, G3 Enterprises. Block said the team at Legal Seafoods realized that they needed to put on a show and em- brace more social interactions between staff and customers. Some of the changes included custom-made cocktails and lively bars with "attractive, muscled bartenders with tattoos shaking cocktails like maracas and blend- ers whirling." It's an act that's hard for wine to compete with. The most entertaining wine (sparkling) has seen a 42% in- crease in popularity at Legal Sea- foods, according to Block, who shared information about other trends at the chain. Sauvignon Blanc is up 33%, while Chardon- nay is down 6% and Pinot Grigio is down 22%. Red wine varieties experiencing growth include Malbec (59%), Pinot Noir (31%) and Cabernet (22%). Merlot is down 44%, and Syrah/Shiraz is down 55%. Though wine producers and res- taurants dislike half bottles, Block says they are very popular with customers. He also said that wine on tap has received an indifferent response, a situation at odds with trends reported by some suppliers and wineries. Sunset magazine regularly sur- veys its 5 million readers, who drink more than 9 million glasses of West Coast wine and 1.7 mil- lion glasses of imports per week. The magazine's wine editor, Sara Schneider, said their prefer- ences include drinking Chardon- nay (21%), Cabernet Sauvignon (12%), Merlot (9%) and Pinot Grigio (8%). Unlike Block, she sees a signifi- cant trend to wine on tap. "It's almost de rigueur in new restau- rants," she said. —Paul Franson O liver, British Columbia— Ten wineries in British Columbia's southern Okan- agan Valley petitioned the British Columbia Wine Authority re- cently to create the province's first subappellation. Boundaries of the proposed Golden Mile Bench Designated Viticultural Area (DVA) are within the existing Okanagan Valley des- ignation, one of six geographical indications B.C. wineries are al- lowed to use. A number of vineyards also fall within the proposed area, potentially expanding the num- ber of wineries that may label their wines using the new geo- Wine Loses On-Premise Sales In Legal Seafood Restaurants Sandy Block Sara Schneider British Columbia Wineries Petition for Subappellation (Continued on page 20.)