Things are getting busy in the grape and wine business. High-end wine sales are improving, and imports are struggling (with the exception of Australia—and even it’s suffering from oversupply). Wine ads from local supermarkets indicate wine is moving off the shelves, but there’s still some heavy discounting going on in the low- and mid-price ranges. Nonetheless, speakers at recent industry seminars are all very positive.
The bright side in the North Bay is that dollar volume continues to rise faster than wine volume when it comes to high-end wines. This seems to indicate people are drinking less but better. I’m not sure this is entirely positive, though; I’m still looking for indications that we’re developing new consumers. Another good sign is that tasting room sales are up, despite the less than desirable traveling weather during our wet spring.
Watching tasting room action is a fun experience. When things are busy, the personnel often act like tape recorders with stop and replay buttons. I’ve also seen, on several occasions, that when a party of four to six arrives when it’s busy, they’ll leave if they aren’t recognized within just a few minutes. The amount of attention a patron requires fluctuates widely. (I love to watch the guy from downtown Kansas City tell the tasting room person everything he thinks he knows about wine in less than a day. Can you fill his mouth with French bread and hope he gags?)
It’s a difficult problem to determine how much staff you should have available at any point in time. If action is slow, they may try to look busy and that would cost you money. On the other hand, during that busy time, that “unbusy” person will sell a couple of cases and probably pay his or her salary for the week.
OK, it’s time to see what burr under my saddle is hurting the worst. In talking with winery friends, I’ve discovered a lot of little things going on that are not all positive.
First, the acceptance of screw caps, boxed wines and one-serving-sized bottles are all getting some attention. I may have discovered the problem. They’re readily accepted in other civilized countries, so are we as civilized as we think or are we just trying to use our American arrogance?
Wilford Wong, a good friend and wine expert for BevMo, sees a significant increase in sales of wine in unconventional packaging. Plastic 187 ml. bottles have been met with some acceptance. Stone Cellars by Beringer is the current leader; it’s owned by Foster’s from Australia (which shouldn’t be a big surprise). You just need to forget your experiences with airline wines that you drink because that is all that’s available at 35,000 feet. Remember, there are three kinds of wine: Good wine, bad wine and free wine. Remembering that most of my readership flies first class, you might need to check with some of your friends to understand what the cattle class folks, like me, get to drink.
Second, three-liter packages have increased in sales by 42.5 percent. I think the reason might be that we’re doing our part to save energy—open once and you have two bottles.
Third, wineries are changing label designs more often than most people change underwear. The goal, I’m sure, is to make them eye-catching, appealing and classy. I can understand that, but as I look at all of these new labels, I have one major problem. Somewhere along the line, designers forgot the biggest buyers of high-end wines are baby boomers, and the older we get, the less we can see. Type size is a problem but so is shading on dark colors. A classic example is Stryker Sonoma—great wine with a virtually unreadable label—but there are certainly a gazillion more out there. So if you’re a designer, please remember: If your wines are going to be relegated to the bottom shelves, baby boomers can’t read that far away or stoop that low on a regular basis. We need bigger type and more contrast.
Fourth, I have a beef with public relations and public events. We’ve shown a tremendous ability to grow a small, civilized event and, after about five years or so, watch it catch on and become a monster. The Russian River Valley Winegrowers have done that with their Grape to Glass weekend. It’s suddenly so popular that it’s pissing more people off than making friends. Included in this is the complete chaos that took over Healdsburg during the March wineries open house. The problem is there are 18 wine and liquor outlets (but no place to buy anything else that might be useful) around the plaza, and everyone ends up wandering around town with a glass of wine. There are examples of this problem all over California. It’s definitely one of those double-edged swords, where we want lots of people—just not too many.
And my last one for the day (but I guarantee you’ll hear more from me about it): Has the Sonoma County wine and grape industry become complacent? If so, when will this complacency turn around and bite us in the groin? A couple of items, one high profile and one low profile, have brought this to my attention. I mentioned last month that our good (and much smarter than we are) buddies on the other side of the hill had their name threatened by Bronco Winery Company, which purchased a few labels that had the word Napa in their name but weren’t really from there.
The Napa Valley Grapegrowers Association realized these low-end wines (price-wise for sure and maybe quality-wise, depending on blending and bottling day) had the potential to give Napa a bad name, so they filed suit and won their case based on the truth in wine labeling statute that became law in 2000.
So is the Sonoma County name worth saving yet? The tip of the potential iceberg is already out there, with the sale of the Sonoma Creek label to a Sierra Foothills winery. Do you think they’ll buy a lot of grapes from this area to keep the name honest? Doubtful.
OK, my editor is going to cut my fingers off if I don’t stop. But I’ll come out with guns firing next month. Small hint: Why is Sonoma County starting to get its butt kicked in wine competitions? Remember your bottle a day.
Rich Thomas is professor emeritus, Director of Viticulture, at Santa Rosa Junior College. He is also a vineyard consultant in the North Coast. You can reach him at rthomas@northbaybiz.com.
