With approximately 475 wineries and more than 1,000 brands in Napa Valley, it’s hard to be wowed by wine tasting experiences, but this summer there’s a fresh entrant to the game at the JaM Cellars Ballroom, with Savor After Hours. Billed as a theatrical cabaret-style dance performance-meets wine tasting, guests will be entertained by Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy from “Dancing with the Stars,” and other special guests from Broadway and Hollywood, in between sips. Wines and performers will rotate regularly during the run of the show which is slated to go through Labor Day, and feature five different wines served to the tune of dance, music, magic and more. “This will be an incredibly riveting show for wine and theater enthusiasts wrapped into an evening showcasing the seductive flavors, textures and distinction of Napa Valley wines…where guests will be immersed in the action,” Maks said in a release. The show was created by Mark “Swany” Swanhart whose credits include choreographer, writer, director and producer for stage, film and television, including The Bachelor Live on Stage, Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil, Baz Luhrmann’s production of Puccini’s La Boheme and the 2020 Super Bowl.
Post pandemic busts and boons
While some endeavors like Savor are beaming in the spotlight, other theatrical spaces like the defunct Lincoln Theater in Yountville have closed or are operating at a deficit with scaled back performances, lower attendance and staffing challenges. The industry was already taxed pre-pandemic with the institution of Assembly Bill 5, which forced theater hands to make workers “employees” instead of independent contractors, further disrupting the bottom line. “The economics of nonprofit theaters in the U.S. has always been tenuous, and COVID really made it obvious how tenuous it is,” Lesley Currier, managing director of San Rafael-based Marin Shakespeare Company, said in the North Bay Business Journal.
The wine industry has slugged through its share of ups and downs over the past three years with some sectors still trenched in the COVID rubble, while others have clawed their way back.
Blanc sales have seen double digit growth over the past year, leading some producers to shift to North Coast, Solano and Lake counties to keep up with demand and combat escalating prices in Napa and Sonoma. According to the California Grape Crush report, Lake County saw a 71% jump in tonnage in 2022, while Sonoma and Napa tonnage was down 11.5% and 19.5%, respectively, from previous five-year averages. One could presume in part due to cost, as the same report revealed sauvignon blanc per/ton rates in Napa at $2,925, with Lake and Mendocino counties at $1,485 and $1,317. California wines have also seen significant growth in key export markets, with a 28% increase in Japan and 25% in Mexico according to a news release from the California Wine Institute.
While the direct-to-consumer market was hit at the height of the pandemic, 2022 brought a million-case sales bump—though with more than 11,546 wineries nationwide (up from 2,674 in 1999), and flat growth, the burning question remains: can the industry sustain the competition, or will cannibalism come into play, as the threat of inflation looms, and the spirits sector continues to gain market share.
Award winners
In some “winning” news, four wineries were awarded California Green Medal Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership awards for the advancement of sustainability practices and innovation. Treasury Americas was anointed with the “leadership” award for its sustainability efforts and goal of being 100% renewable electricity by 2024. The winery also forged partnerships with the Napa Resource Conservation District and North Coast Soil Health Hub, implemented biochar and compost studies, and demonstrated a commitment to the restoration of the Napa River. Additionally, Treasury removed vineyards to create setbacks and replanted thousands of native trees to capture carbon, support salmon spawning and enhance bird habitats.
Other recipients included Tablas Creek Vineyard, which was recognized with the “environment award” for its assistance to the Regenerative Organic Alliance to craft standards and become the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified winery. The winery also reduced its carbon footprint as a 100% solar-powered winery, used lightweight bottle glass, conserved water by steam-cleaning barrels, and captured wastewater for reuse in a wetland area that provides habitat for native species.
Cakebread Cellars won the “Community” award as an environmental leader and silver member of the IWCA (International Wineries for Climate Action), with proven commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion through ongoing DEI workshops, DEI-inspired events and the development of a harvest internship program that provides scholarships for BIPOC harvest interns.
With inventive tasting experiences at the ready, continued innovation toward a greener Napa Valley, and a drought season curtailed by a wet winter, the outlook for 2023 is looking up.
