Winery & Vineyard Real Estate

What does the Napa and Sonoma real estate market for wineries and vineyards look like now, in mid-2024? Here's a little info from Vintroux, real estate agents for wineries and vineyards.

A Few Ways the Tasting Room Has Changed

There have been major changes in the way wine tasting rooms operate in the past few years. You might already know this if you've been wine tasting in a major U.S. region post-Pandemic. Even if it's been just two or three years, you'll find things settling in to a new norm.

Planning a Wine Country Trip

I've lived in Sonoma County since 1980 when the local wine country was just a baby. There weren't many wineries to visit back then and, yes, they were all free to taste. Even next door in Napa!

I've done lots of wine tasting, I've worked in tasting rooms, and I read posts in various wine groups about people looking for help in planning their trip.

Following are some pointers to setting up a successful trip. It's aimed at Northern California, but can be applied to other wine destinations.

California Wine on the Decline? Nope.

News spreads quickly on social media. One such story that came out of the SF Chronicle is that the California wine industry is dying. They noted declining foot traffic in Napa Valley, vineyards being yanked out, and unsold bulk wine on the open market.

Climate Whiplash is Keeping Grape Growers on Their Toes

Climate whiplash, it's enough to drive a farmer crazy. Growing premium wine grapes is especially hard hit because a slight variation in the elements of climate (temperatures, wind, sunshine, precipitation, humidity) can have a noticeable impact on the final product.

Climate whiplash is a term used to define the crazy, variable weather we're seeing in California and other places. It means extreme drought, extreme precipitation, extreme temperatures. That is, extreme variability in the weather.

You Should Drink Wine Because ...

You could drink a glass of wine, with potential benefits to you, or a glass of water, with bacteria and chlorine.  :)

NEWS: Foppiano Winery Acquired

Foppiano Winery, established by Giovanni Foppiano in 1896, has sold to a local wine company.

There have been public family squabbles for several years, even lawsuits. I guess this was the easy way out for them. Too bad.

The winery was purchased by the owners of Martin Ray Winery through an umbrella company, CMB Wines. No ideas who CMB is, except they are local. Martin Ray wines are found in retail stores selling it what you'd call the lower end of the premium wine market.

 

Napa vs. Sonoma, By the Numbers

Everybody loves a good comparison; Honda vs Toyota, California wine vs French, dogs vs cats. So let's take a look at Napa vs Sonoma. This isn't an opinion on which is best. It's statistical, so away we go number nerds!

What Segments of the Wine Market ARE Growing?

With all the doom and gloom around wine sales, and it's been way overstated IMO, where are the bright spots in the wine market?

Slow Summer for Wineries, Part 2

This is a followup to the A Slow Summer for Wineries post from a couple of days ago.

A just released article from a Silicon Valley Bank webinar via Wine-Searcher says, "Hey, guess what? Wine tasting traffic is way down in places that have substantially increased tasting fees!"

A Slow Summer for Wineries

  During The Grand Reopening after the Pandemic lockdown, it was glorious! People couldn't wait to get out of the house and spend that travel and recreation money they had saved up. They came to the wine country and threw money around. The "here, take my money!" days are over. This had to be expected.

Mass-Produced Industrial Wines

  Those high-volume wines you see everywhere, please don't buy them.