Back and better than ever, BottleRock 2022 took over the Napa Valley Expo on Memorial Day weekend with more than 75 acts rocking the valley, including Metallica, P!nk, Twenty One Pilots, Luke Combs, Snoop Dog and more, alongside top chef and celebrity mashups on the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage. Beyond the beats, attendees found their bliss at The Spa by Biossance which featured a sparkle bar, Shampoo and Chardonnay, the Crystal Council and Paradise Barber, among many other respites of relaxation set to a rock beat background. Wine cabanas sported a myriad of vintners including Caymus Vineyards, Duckhorn, Stags’ Leap Winery, Flora Springs, and droves of others. Mustards Grill, La Toque, Ristorante Allegria, DiFillipo, and a bevy of food fixtures fed the crowd alongside newbies, including Charlie’s, Horn Barbecue and Christopher and Martina Kostow’s Loveski Deli, which recently opened in the Oxbow Public Market.
BottleRock continues to offer a boon to local businesses, according to Robert Eyler, professor of economics at Sonoma State University who notes, “BottleRock brings an infusion of spending to the local economy. The key to the economic impacts is the number of people who spend the night regionally and thus spend money on local businesses before and after the shows.”
Last year, pass holders were screened for vaccination and (or) negative COVID test results, in the 120,000-plus crowd who let the good times roll. This year, attendees rocked out without worry, masks off and entry requirements loose. As for attending mega-events in a pandemic relaxed world, I feel comfortable in saying, it’s great to be back!
Also in May, Ole Health celebrated 50 years of service with a weekend full of events that culminated with a Family Fiesta at CIA Copia, presented by Kaiser Permanente. Glasses were raised, music played, and tacos and tequila were toasted, in support of the organization, which provides health care to the hospitality and farmworkers who make Napa Valley sing.
Fully loaded
Beyond the feel-good buzz and totally unrelated, read on with care as I riff about the rise of wine by the glass prices. I realize this will incense many, yet I can remain quiet and unphased no more. Last month, was a social one and it felt great to be out and mingling like the good ole pre-pandemic days. My social circles took me to Yountville where much eating and imbibing ensued. As delightful as this was, I returned home, satiated but pocketbook poor. Few things shock this scribe, but when it’s hard to score a glass of red wine under $20 (and in some cases, upwards of $25), I can’t help but question the merits. Yes, there were exceptions to the steep wine rates, but not many. As I continued my research up and down the valley, I discovered that Yountville was not the only offender of said soaring prices.
While I understand that the pandemic has taken its toll and prices are sky high everywhere, I feel like that party line can only go so far, especially given recent data. Wine industry expert Jon Moramarco of bw166 and Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates reported that in 2020, California wineries saw a sales by volume increase to $240 million cases (up 1% from 2019), which is estimated at a retail value of $40 billion. Also in 2020, California wine sales reached 279.2 million cases, up 2%. Another equally enlightening missive, the 2022 State of the Wine Industry report produced by Rob McMillan, executive vice president of the Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division (SVB), revealed that 53% of polled respondents said that 2021 was one of the better or best years—ever, with 29% reporting that 2021 was, in fact, their business’s best year to date. With stats like that, I can’t help but wonder how wines by the glass prices have escalated to the degree that they have. I find myself turning to whites more often than not, on principle alone.
I realize the hefty price tags can in part be blamed on the toll the pandemic has welded on restaurants, that despite offering takeout and delivery, they were faced with plunging on-premise revenues throughout the pandemic. The industry, however, has been amid an upturn of late, so, I ask, where do we go from here? When I moved to Napa Valley in 2009, the average glass of red hovered in the $12 to $15 zone. If prices can double in a decade, what can we expect five to 10 years from now—$30 to $40 a glass, or even higher? While there is no denying that the hospitality industry took huge hits at the hand of the pandemic, so too did employees and valley dwellers endure layoffs, furloughs, rent hikes, pay cuts and unemployment. At times, it feels as if the average Napa Valley resident can no longer afford to eat and drink out, in the valley we call home. So, I pose this question to you my dedicated readers: how do we make the math work for businesses and locals alike?
