I’ve been pondering this column topic for some time now, wondering if my thoughts have any merits. I know, many of you are saying they never do. But here goes anyway:
It’s been a couple months since the Harvest Fair wine judging was completed and, by now, the effects of winning a gold have long since disappeared. The actual numbers are somewhat mind-boggling, with more than 1,000 wines entered and 90 percent receiving awards. The 1,000 entries is really no surprise, since wineries and/or new labels are proliferating like mushrooms after a warm fall rain. Many of the small wineries, which include most of them, don’t enter very many competitions for various reasons.
Before continuing that theme, I think congratulations are in order for Stryker Sonoma winning 10 gold medals. First, I have already mentioned they make very good wines. But did they win because I congratulated them a couple months ago for adding Sonoma to their label? See, being proud of being from Sonoma County really has its benefits. Another small winery, Mayo, also did well with five gold medals, and Mazzocco Winery had six. A tip of the old wine glass is in order.
Maybe the next question is: Where have all the big guys gone? Obviously one of those big guys won the sweepstakes for its Chardonnay (Clos du Bois), but what about the others? Probably the biggest surprise has been the disappearance of Geyser Peak wines, that usually have multiple awards for the Best of Class, double gold and gold lists. (Only one Best of Class and one other gold for Sauvignon Blanc, a category it’s owned for several years.) We could analyze the results forever and still not really come to any meaningful conclusions.
One item that sticks out is how few previous sweepstakes winners are even mentioned now, because they no longer need the publicity. Matanzas Creek (pre Kendall-Jackson) and A. Rafanelli are two examples of wineries that were put on the map with sweepstakes wins at the Harvest Fair. I think all the county’s relatively new wineries know what winning the sweepstakes can do for future sales. Most people don’t remember silvers and bronzes, but Best of Class and certainly sweepstakes winners have a more lasting effect—hence the carrot for the new wineries.
The number of new wineries that have come on the landscape is amazing. It almost seems that anybody with more than 10 vines in his or her backyard is starting a winery. Some of the new wineries are, in fact, being started by old-time families that have another generation coming up and are planning for their future (such as Mauritsen and Rued in the Dry Creek Valley). Others may not admit it, but have been started as a place to get rid of the grapes they couldn’t sell. I’ll let you guess about who they are.
Starting a winery is as difficult as having quintuplets. Selling the wine is even worse than raising quintuplets. They’ve learned, however, that tasting rooms are cash cows—thus, their proliferation. Some are even opening a second tasting room in the downtown areas (Healdsburg has about 15 at last count, and Kenwood is really nothing but a bunch of tasting rooms).
Now that wineries have learned people will pay for tasting, the days of free tastings are rapidly disappearing—and cash registers are ringing. A few years ago, a winery could pour one bottle for tasting and sell about 15 bottles. I really don’t have a feel for what’s happening now. If any of you out there have some words to the wise, feel free to email me the information. Remember, the tasting room price is full retail, because there’s no middleman eating up 33 to 50 percent of it.
Now that a few months have passed, how many of you can name the sweepstakes winners and any of the double gold or gold medal winners? The only way you might remember is to read the shelf talker at your friendly retail store. What can you tell me about the winners at the recently conducted San Francisco Chronicle wine judging? Just checking to see if you’re paying attention. I might point out that many of the very small wineries that entered the local Harvest Fair haven’t entered too many other competitions, mainly because of cost. It really is like looking at a cost:benefit ratio. Even if you win, will it truly improve sales? In case you haven’t noticed (and if you’re not in the business, I can understand why you haven’t), the proliferation of wine competitions has been about as dramatic as that of wineries in this county.
One would certainly hope this very high number of medals would mean all of our Sonoma County wines are medal winners. I think these results illustrate what I’ve said in past columns: That one show doesn’t make a season, and therefore we need to see how many of these wines hold up in other competitions.
How do some wineries do well, year after year, while others are so inconsistent? Consistency isn’t luck, and the very first item is the fruit you start with. All good wines start in the vineyard, and it takes a sound working relationship between the grower and the winemaker to finesse the greatness out of the grapes. Every year is different, weather-wise, but the soils and genetics of the vines don’t change. Trellising (sun exposure on the fruit) and irrigation are the two most important management tools a grower has, and certainly pest control is important. All things being equal, weather or vintage is the major variable. Yet some wineries are very consistent and others aren’t. Why do Silver Oak, A. Rafanelli and other cult-followed wineries (in the eyes of their cults, anyway) always produce great wines? Maybe the winemakers tweak each year to produce a very similar wine to those from the previous years. Maybe the cult followers just think they’re great each year, since they just paid $50 to $75 per bottle. Knowing that, it would probably taste good to me also.
OK, rattle your memory and go out and buy a couple dozen of the golds and see if you agree with the judges. That can be your homework this time around. If you feel overwhelmed, just give me a call and I’ll help you out.
