Was California’s Wine Revolution Just a Mirage? — A growing chorus of talented winemakers say that the economics of making wine in the state have turned the promise of the “New California” into a cautionary tale.
Was California’s Wine Revolution Just a Mirage? — A growing chorus of talented winemakers say that the economics of making wine in the state have turned the promise of the “New California” into a cautionary tale.
by Randomlynumbered
5 Comments
Obnoxious_liberal
It sounds like young winemakers should be going elsewhere, like Texas or the Finger Lakes. I’m sure they all want to be in Napa or other well-known areas, but those places are expensive.
wip30ut
sorry but i’m not paying a $20 or $30 premium just because a bottle is made in the Golden State. Wine isn’t like a farmer’s market bounty where local is better. It’s one thing if the wine-drinking public was paying a premium to support the “community” aspect of small winemakers. But these ppl don’t even farm the land their grapes are grown on, and just use custom crush facilities. This is a business venture for them, not a family legacy or a charity.
solojeff
There are a glut of grapes coming to the market. I’ve heard of numerous farmers in southernCalifornia and Lodi are planting fruit trees once contracts let up.
Napa is too full of itself right now and cashing in with all these outside investment groups and billionaire/celebrity vanity projects.
brks04
I had a tasting at Rasa vineyards in Washington. The owner did the tasting for us. He lived in San Fran in the early nineties tech boom. Went to Napa to buy vineyard land in the late ‘90’s early 2000’s. A lot of vineyards he went to in Napa at that time told him to look at Washington because the land in Napa was so expensive. That was 20 years ago. This is nothing new. As someone mentioned above, young winemakers need to find a cheaper alternative and then put that place on the map like Washington, Oregon, Paso, Fingerlakes, etc.
Cyrrus86
This is not simply a California problem. Guessing the people in finger lakes and Texas (lol) are struggling just as much if not worse. Vineyard land prices have skyrocketed since Covid along with shipping, labor, bottles, insurance, labels, corks, grapes, etc. meanwhile demand is down quite a bit due to inflationary factors and too many wineries. Tough time to be a winemaker.
5 Comments
It sounds like young winemakers should be going elsewhere, like Texas or the Finger Lakes. I’m sure they all want to be in Napa or other well-known areas, but those places are expensive.
sorry but i’m not paying a $20 or $30 premium just because a bottle is made in the Golden State. Wine isn’t like a farmer’s market bounty where local is better. It’s one thing if the wine-drinking public was paying a premium to support the “community” aspect of small winemakers. But these ppl don’t even farm the land their grapes are grown on, and just use custom crush facilities. This is a business venture for them, not a family legacy or a charity.
There are a glut of grapes coming to the market. I’ve heard of numerous farmers in southernCalifornia and Lodi are planting fruit trees once contracts let up.
Napa is too full of itself right now and cashing in with all these outside investment groups and billionaire/celebrity vanity projects.
I had a tasting at Rasa vineyards in Washington. The owner did the tasting for us. He lived in San Fran in the early nineties tech boom. Went to Napa to buy vineyard land in the late ‘90’s early 2000’s. A lot of vineyards he went to in Napa at that time told him to look at Washington because the land in Napa was so expensive. That was 20 years ago. This is nothing new. As someone mentioned above, young winemakers need to find a cheaper alternative and then put that place on the map like Washington, Oregon, Paso, Fingerlakes, etc.
This is not simply a California problem. Guessing the people in finger lakes and Texas (lol) are struggling just as much if not worse. Vineyard land prices have skyrocketed since Covid along with shipping, labor, bottles, insurance, labels, corks, grapes, etc. meanwhile demand is down quite a bit due to inflationary factors and too many wineries. Tough time to be a winemaker.