Vine Wise

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Dressed to Impress

Columnist

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Richard L. Thomas
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With the New Year nearly upon us, now’s a good time to reflect on the year that’s passed and the one coming. From a grape growing standpoint, 2008 isn’t one for the memory books. Mother Nature wasn’t exactly smiling when she handed out the weather menu. Most devastating were the spring frosts, followed by a couple of hot spells then a small rain event (or, actually, a non-event) that caused more heartburn that damage. Depending on your location, weather-related damage ranged from none (for a few lucky places) to a more than 50 percent loss. The Russian River appellation area was probably the hardest hit, but I guess that’s the price you pay when “the cool climate” is what accounts for the high quality of fruit produced.

An in-depth look at some of the damage reveals that, in many cases, the severity was increased by grower error. It’s great to have a sprinkler system in place for frost protection, but it isn’t so great if you don’t understand why and how it works. Without a long lecture, suffice it to say that, when the dew point is very low, you must start the system at a much higher air temperature rather than wait until it gets down to below 36 degrees. Starting at that low temperature with a low dew point only causes a greater drop in temperature as the water evaporates into the very dry air and then zap: popsicles in the vineyard. Not a good idea!

Was this all bad? Unless it was your vineyard, probably not, since we haven’t totally worked ourselves out the world of surplus. As usual, word from the wineries is that we’ll have another vintage of the century. Isn’t it wonderful how we can do that year after year after year? Even if we were to have come up short, there’s still plenty of bulk wine available from 2007—the very wine that was pulled off the market immediately after the infamous March 31 frost.

We may not have a surplus of wine after this year, but we do have a major surplus of wine labels. Not a day goes by without three or four or more new labels hitting the market. On the high end, new Pinot Noir producers are appearing faster than mushrooms after a warm October rain. Most are producing 1,000 cases or less, but they still stuff up the shelves and think they’re worth $40 per bottle just because there’s a limited supply. Remember, wine price is usually a function of availability—not always quality. Just look at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair results, and you’ll see 23 entries in the retail price up to $24.99 class, 25 entries in the retail class of $25 to $35 and 64 entries in the greater than $35 retail class. A look at the results of all classes proves price and award seldom ever coincide.

It’s interesting to note that, in the Chardonnay classes, there are more entries at less than $25 (81 entries) than in the greater than $25 category (50). Cabernets costing more than $35 were equal to those priced less than $35. There are a lot of expensive wines in the bronze category—not to berate a bronze medal, but it’s close to kissing your sister. Now go down the entire list of gold medals and see how many wineries are familiar to you. If you’re like me and a few others in the industry, our typical response is, “Who the hell are all of these people?” I guess one reason for the proliferation, besides ego, is—surprise—money.

At $40 per bottle and 500 cases gross, income is about $240,000. That might just leave a little bit of profit. Even paying $4,000 per ton, grapes cost $32,000. Maybe that’s why there are so many heavy, thick, environmentally unfriendly bottles out there: Costs don’t need to be watched too closely…and apparently the environment can go to hell as well. (Pinot Noir, in particular, uses fat bottles. I guess because it has to give the image of great quality when its retail price is $40 or more.) On a brighter note, Fetzer recently announced it’s switching to a lightweight glass bottle to further its already great environmentally friendly stance. You know, maybe I’m glad that a majority of these fat bottle producers won’t put Sonoma County on their label, since they don’t incriminate our beautiful county. Hopefully, the time will come when consumers will buy wine based on what’s in the bottle rather than on the label.

Now head into Trader Joe’s and other retail outlets that sell a large number of inexpensive wines. You’ll likely see several new labels almost daily. Want to make a quick buck? Design a label, get it approved by TTB (the federal agency that oversees the wine industry), buy some bulk wine, have it bottled and voila: you’re a wine merchant. Hint: The back label will say “Vinted and bottled by…,” and frequently Graton, Sebastopol or American Canyon will be listed as location; the price will be $5.99 or less.

So will the current state of the economy affect the wine industry? Opinions seem to vary greatly. High-end wines will probably be all right with tasting rooms, wine clubs, sales and the like adding to numbers, but high-end restaurant sales will undoubtedly suffer as discretionary money dries up. Less money equals fewer nights out. Curtailed expense accounts equal less big business dinners—and less big time wine sales as we try to impress our business associates.

Speaking of big time dollars, it was with great interest that I read about Joseph Phelps winery’s recent legal woes. (See the October 1, 2008 news item in the Press Democrat) Here I thought it was just another terrific small winery in the land of many. Little did I realize a $126 million lawsuit by two former partners would account for only a small part of the winery’s value? Even reduced to $24 million (after a $35 million payment in 2004) that’s a lot of change for a “small family winery.” Maybe these budding new wineries all over the North Coast have the right idea. Does this explain the proliferations of labels?

OK, off to your homework. And if you’re so inclined, try some of those big time Pinots and see if the wine inside matches the outer image. My guess is you’ll find a big variation in style (or should I say quality?) among them.