Wine's Big Problem

Premium wine sales are down in the U.S. Premium generally meaning any wine over $20/bottle; luxury wines are over $50. Sales are down across most age groups except those over 60, and are really down for the youngest drinkers.

Sales boomed from the time of the French Paradox in the '90s until the Great Recession of '08-'09. With the recovery, sales increased, but not as rapidly as before. Early Covid saw a short uptick, then a dropoff more recently. Is it a temporary adjustment or a sign of things to come?

Local Wine News

  It's been quite the couple of weeks! News from Clos Pegase Winery, Heitz Cellars, and Gundlach Bundschu Winery. The big shocker is the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.

Sangiovese, An Italian in California

  Sangiovese (san-jo-vay-zee, or thereabouts) is the most-planted and the most well-known grapes from Italy. Chianti is at least 75% Sangiovese.

  You'll also find Sangiovese from Australia, France, Argentina, and the U.S. It grows best in warm, dry climates. This might be a reason it's become more popular in California, as it grows well in heat and low water conditions.

Some Family Wineries in Sonoma County

There are many family-owned and operated wineries in the county. Most are pretty small. I will not be able to find and list all of them; these I am familiar with.

Why should you and I support family owned and operated wineries? They will tend to care more about the land, what goes in a bottle that might have their name on it, about the local families that make a living from the wine business, and, of course, the money goes to a family trying to make a living rather than a string of corporate managers that don't know how to spell m̶e̶l̶l̶o̶  m̶a̶l̶o̶l̶a̶k̶  malolactic.  :)

There are large companies that own multiple wineries calling themselves family-run, and they're not lying, but it's not the same as a ma and pa operation. There are ones that continue to have the word family in their name even though they've sold the business to a company and no longer run it. There are millionaire or billionaire owners, usually absentee, that also don't count, because you don't see many of them on a tractor.

Are Family-Owned Wineries Disappearing?

It seems I'm reading about an old family winery going under every few weeks. How bad is it really?

Here are some facts found at jordanwiwnery.com, a Sonoma County family-run winery.

This Place is Special and They Will Be Missed

  You've most likely never heard of ACORN Winery, they're small, under 2,000 cases annually, and has been run by the same couple the whole time. They grow over 100 grape varieties on a certified historic vineyards of 32 acres, Alegria Vineyards. Wife Betsy says Bill never met a grape variety he didn't like. A few other lucky wineries occasionally get fruit from the Alegria Vyd. If you see a wine on a store shelf using Alegria grapes, buy it! 

  This place is not trendy. It's strictly old school.

Things to Ignore on a Wine Label

There can be a lot of info on a wine's label. Some has to be there, some is marketing related. There's nothing wrong with a winery touting their product. You just have to be able to separate the facts from the selling. Looking at American wine labels, here are things you may want to just ignore when shopping for a bottle or two.

This is a follow-up to the previous post on Wine Label Red Flags.

Red Flags on a Wine Label

  The labels on a bottle of wine can contain some good information. Some of it can be a warning, especially if you're shopping in the premium wine category. These are potential red flags, meaning you might want to gather more info on that wine or just pass it up for another. Most of this relates to American wine. Other countries have different rules.

Buying Varietals from Regions of Sonoma County

It can be a guessing game when buying a bottle of wine off the store shelf. One way to help you make a good selection is to understand that certain regions of Sonoma County specialize in certain varietals. Remember that any of these regions will grow multiple varieties of grapes, but they are known for certain ones because they do really well in that area.

Wine Rules You Should Break

Wine can be kind of snooty and mysterious, so if you're told or read that you should never do something, you may be likely to believe these so-called experts. Some wine rules you can break.

Before There Was Napa and Sonoma Wine

Napa and Sonoma are synonymous with California Wine Country. Before either of these was a twinkle in a winemaker's eye there were vineyards at the California Missions and then there was the Los Angeles wine country. The what?

Regenerative Agriculture

  On January 19th I published Types of Wines on the different farming and processing practices -- organic, biodynamic, natural, etc. Well, here's a new one (to me), and sounds like maybe the best of all. 

  I first heard about regenerative agriculture from a recent article in the Wine Spectator (possible paywall).