Imagine you are visiting and staying in the town of Sonoma, as many do. You take the drive up California Scenic Highway 12 through Sonoma Valley. You'll pass several landmark wineries like Chateau St. Jean, St. Francis, and Ledson. What you'll miss are smaller ones, often off the main road. The Sonoma Valley Small Wineries Collective would like to rectify that.
You'll find zillions of wines out there on the retail shelves, so how the heck do you decide what to buy? There are lots of things to consider, with most people it's price and variety, such as, you are looking for a $20 California Chardonnay. Some other ideas to help you pick the best bottle follow.
There are over 200 years of wine history in Sonoma County. I'll hit some highlights that helped get us where we are today.
The wine grape demand prior to harvest is one indicator of the health of the wine market. Most grapes are sold on contracts between the wine producers and the growers, either year-to-year or on multi-year contracts. This year shows a higher than normal quantity of unsold premium wine grapes.
Talking with people in wineries, who talk with other wineries, and seeing comments on social media lead me to believe the local wineries are hurting for customers. There just aren't as many people visiting. This doesn't necessarily mean revenue is similarly down, though it most likely is overall.
A more disturbing trend is that wine club membership is also down. This is a backbone of steady income for many wineries, without it, they have a hard time planning and forecasting for the next year.
What happened? Gossip follows. :)
Wine tasting isn't easy. Each wine touches multiple senses with multiple inputs. You can get sensory overload. These all get processed by different sections of the brain. Then you have to make sense of it all.
