tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76851952025-10-16T13:40:05.288-07:00Various ruminations and observations regarding the bizarre and otherwise incomprehensible happenings in the wine industry.St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.comBlogger580125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-75263777625973713902010-10-22T07:40:00.000-07:002010-10-22T07:40:10.623-07:00

No one will remember this harvest for the great weather, or the fantastic harvest conditions.Frankly, I don't know anyone in the wine industry who'll miss seeing this year when its gone. The wet weather we're starting to get right now will put the brakes on all but a few of the hardiest reds that were already close to picking. Everything else that could be picked should have been picked and in

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com4Russian River-Coastal, CA, USA38.501107548849639 -123.03588867187538.233001548849636 -123.502807671875 38.769213548849642 -122.568969671875tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-44940359738562420632010-09-22T07:25:00.000-07:002010-09-22T07:34:17.566-07:00

Well, today's a big day: Jupiter was in opposition yesterday and Uranus is in opposition today, then Jupiter moves into conjunction with Uranus today, then the Equinox occurs, then we have the full Harvest Moon in the sky (which frankly was spectacular in the near-full state this morning setting pale yellow-orange on the western hills of the Russian River valley....)! Good lord! Where do we begin

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-6050189208061795662010-09-20T07:08:00.000-07:002010-09-20T07:08:00.713-07:00

0.4" inches of rain fell here yesterday - which really isn't that much - but nothing good can come of it. It isn't uncommon to get a few showers starting in August and September (maybe one per month), and generally those are very weak with perhaps a half inch of rain total for the period Aug~Oct. This year has been very cool and the threat of molds & botrytis have been on the horizon for

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-88760621430850433032010-06-28T19:26:00.000-07:002010-06-28T19:26:42.247-07:00

There are several rumors circulating (with some very well informed parties providing me with confirming info just last evening) that there are more layoffs in the works for at least one major Sonoma County winery....Ready to guess which?one which has already had a few large rounds of layoffs in the past 18 months... and has scaled back (mothballed & consolidated) a few of its properties

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com6Russian River-Coastal, CA, USA38.5439652 -123.21385138.0069212 -124.147689 39.081009200000004 -122.28001300000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-7445094279370912512010-06-09T20:48:00.000-07:002010-06-09T20:48:19.868-07:00

Stu Smith of Smith-Madrone Vineyards & Winery in Napa has launched his own blog - dedicated to the exposure of Biodynamics as a hoax! Biodynamics is a Hoax From his June 1 post:"Welcome to “Biodynamics is a Hoax.”  I created this blog to offer an alternative view to Biodynamics and to engage the Biodynamic community in debate over the merits and efficacy of Biodynamic farming.  I

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com1Russian River-Coastal, CA, USA38.471367131848247 -123.0618896288797338.202571631848244 -123.52880862887973 38.74016263184825 -122.59497062887972tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-4150824612285384392010-05-05T06:32:00.000-07:002010-05-05T06:32:00.636-07:00

So I was having a conversation the other day with a new acquaintance, and the subject of conversation (wine, what else do I ever talk about?) turned to biodynamic community, and how this person felt that it was so perfectly non-interventionist! That got me to thinking: when is it NOT intervention to kill and sacrifice an animal in the hopes of having a better harvest? And all that they

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-9279257280066390242010-02-15T07:23:00.000-08:002010-02-15T08:41:25.470-08:00

GAYE LEBARON has her own set of recollections when she hears about the stimulus money that was supposedly set for use on the Napa Wine Train, and about how 20 years ago a group of Sonoma vintners hijacked the train (and later a bus full of tourists) and forced them to drink Sonoma County wines instead. But that's not the story I heard last week which reminded me of past weirdness here in wine

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com1Russian River-Coastal, CA, USA38.509901888627525 -122.9860839794855638.442739388627523 -123.10281347948556 38.577064388627527 -122.86935447948555tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-4468274204951732922010-01-07T07:25:00.000-08:002010-01-07T07:25:11.408-08:00

2009 was a really rough year for the wine industry.  While early indicators show that wine sales will be up (in volume and dollars) over 2009, the sales generated per case fell for nearly every domestic winery and imports suffered from trying to maintain already sensitive price points (thanks to the weak dollar).  Every winery owner or sales manager that I talk to tells a similar story:

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com23Russian River-Coastal, CA, USA38.500892588964618 -122.986450195312538.232209088964616 -123.4533691953125 38.769576088964619 -122.5195311953125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-51996268596190207502009-10-19T07:11:00.000-07:002009-10-19T07:37:54.109-07:00

Last week's storm has brought much needed rain at the expense of the remainder of the 2009 grape crop. Mind you the rain itself -all 5 1/2" of it- was not the worst part of the storm that moved through......the worst part has been a week of high humidity, and bunch rot compounding the problem.Most growers and wineries pushed hard through the previous weekend to get as much of the crop in as

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-22960447102244166102009-10-14T09:51:00.000-07:002009-10-14T10:00:34.616-07:00

...and its not over yet, thought here are only intermittent showers. Maybe another 1/4"~1/2" will fall before the skies break open to glorious sunshine...Inside today, getting caught up on weigh tags and general cellar work order tracking. It's not the end of the month yet, but may as well get working on the drudgery of the job. I'm not going out into any vineyards for a while.U2's "All I Want is

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-19523605631641723832009-10-13T07:26:00.000-07:002009-10-13T07:26:59.372-07:00

A little over an inch by the time I got up this morning. September was a charm - 12 days had high temps in the 90's (two days it hit 100+) and 18 days with fog, avg hi was 85°, avg low was 48°, with sunny afternoons making for perfect ripening conditions. I'm one of the lucky ones - I got my last fruit in the cellar early afternoon on Saturday. (I should qualify that, I brought in the last of

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com6Russian River-Coastal, California, USA38.5439652 -123.21385138.0069212 -124.147689 39.081009200000004 -122.28001300000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-74643783453968615932009-10-12T08:08:00.000-07:002009-10-12T08:08:03.570-07:00

"...The more we think we know about The greater the unknown We suspend our disbelief, And we are not alone... We sometimes catch a window, A glimpse of whats beyond Was it just imagination Stringing us along? More things than are dreamed about, Unseen and unexplained We suspend our disbelief, And we are entertained..." RUSH, Mystic Rhythms 1985 What, didn't anything front-page-worthy happen on

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com7Russian River-Coastal, California, USA38.472442299671158 -122.9547729296609838.203654799671156 -123.42169192966098 38.74122979967116 -122.48785392966097tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-85190991358721878532009-09-08T08:09:00.000-07:002009-09-08T08:09:16.098-07:00

There are many indicators that the recovery for the wine industry is NOT on the doorstep right now for some of the larger wineries. Normally, this time of year sees frantic bottling as wineries across the state try to get tanks emptied for use in the coming harvest. Not so this year....Several larger wineries have suspended bottling of their wines off and on over the past 8 months. This is due to

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com2Russian River-Coastal, California, USA38.5439652 -123.21385138.0069212 -124.147689 39.081009200000004 -122.28001300000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-44022692446932214612009-08-18T07:21:00.000-07:002009-08-18T07:21:45.174-07:00

I have been doing far too much traveling for brand promotion and sales these past few months. Sales are finally starting to creep upwards again though, so hopefully the recession is on the way out. Anyway, I was looking through a list of "Top Wines form Argentina" while on a flight back to California, and was somewhat amused to see Inglenook as the #3 brand (Chablis, same wine is in the #13 spot

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com14Russian River-Coastal, California, USA38.472442299671158 -122.9328002734109838.203654799671156 -123.39971927341098 38.74122979967116 -122.46588127341097tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-38287653693723289272009-06-26T08:01:00.000-07:002009-06-26T08:01:10.227-07:00

I can't believe that City Winery is already trying to make money off of the death of Michael Jackson. To wit, I have the latest email from them (7:46 PM last night - a scant 5~6 hours after MJ's passing):Granted they want to do this tonight, and they feel they have to work fast at it...but really, do we have to do this?I suggest we rename the event "City Winery's Tasteless Tasting", and the

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-61345546793341686982009-06-25T08:33:00.000-07:002009-06-25T08:33:56.075-07:00

Well, IT'S ABOUT TIME! Top wine industry insiders have labeled France (and Bordeaux in particular) as "dysfunctional".I've been saying that for years....maybe they don't read the Zinquisition? Highlights from the Vinexpo conference via Decanter.com:'Bordeaux should be selling everything,'says Tony Spawton, an associate professor for wine marketing at  University of South Australia.This

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com2Russian River-Coastal, California, USA38.467568085890882 -123.0455017089843838.333164085890878 -123.27896120898437 38.601972085890885 -122.81204220898438tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-66379802438488579532009-06-25T07:55:00.000-07:002009-06-25T08:35:29.300-07:00

I hear rumors flying about layoffs at Foster's Wine Estates...Two I can confirm, but the number & locations of the others are still amorphous...some reports are saying there may have been many more, but until I can get my sources to confirm where and when they are happening I don't have concrete info to pass along. I will update as soon as I can....It is interesting to note that Foster's was

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-70917027405340713162009-06-23T07:26:00.000-07:002009-06-23T07:26:21.417-07:00

“Our mission is fairly simple: we are essentially leading an effort to reopen Copia for the benefit of the community and preserve as many of Mondavi’s goals as we can, but in [a] sustainable way,” said John Salmon, a member of the Coalition to Preserve Copia, created about four months after the December bankruptcy announcement. [link to article here]So in this context I take it "sustainable" is

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com1Russian River-Coastal, California, USA38.476169432745472 -123.0509948730468838.341781432745471 -123.28445437304687 38.610557432745473 -122.81753537304688tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-56730634691702222642009-06-08T06:46:00.000-07:002009-06-08T06:46:00.933-07:00

Have you noticed how nobody "makes" anything anymore?Take a look at the picture of Heinz Ketchup, and pay particular attention to the "Grown Not Made*" slogan  below the tomato:Compare these two statements:      "Wine is made in the vineyard"      "Ketchup is grown, not made"Say, where in either of those statements is there room for the

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-91376734912385055152009-06-04T07:35:00.000-07:002009-06-04T07:35:00.886-07:00

I had the misfortune recently of having to sit through a few presentations on how wineries can use social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc. to further their own marketing ends. Maybe it was the sheer lack of data in the presentations, but frankly I don’t buy it and my read from the other attendees suggested that they felt the same way. I just don’t think that wineries will

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com5Russian River-Coastal, California, USA38.571933315980225 -123.139892499893938.437723815980227 -123.3733519998939 38.706142815980222 -122.90643299989391tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-75262252647216940962009-05-29T07:01:00.000-07:002009-05-29T07:01:25.066-07:00

After a few weeks of traveling to visit several key account markets (Sonoma County, San Diego, Phoenix), I have compiled some notes regarding what actual servers in restaurants have been experiencing. Note that none of this is scientific data or taken from scanner data reported by retail stores, rather from first-hand reports of day-to-day observations by servers.Overall, the concerns of the

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com5Russian River-Coastal, California, USA38.492294192361328 -123.01391601562538.223578692361329 -123.480835015625 38.761009692361327 -122.546997015625tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-65776260330351315742009-04-30T09:46:00.000-07:002009-04-30T09:46:46.070-07:00

Three Cheers for Steve Test, who joins the list of acclaimed winemakers to publicly renounce witchcraft, superstition, and other unproven practices on this site!I'll reprint his comment here, as it bears repetition well:"Stuart Smith recently wrote a great letter to the editor (of the Chronicle?) responding to the Dolan-Benziger school of non-stop BD promotion, practiced with nothing but

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com3Russian River-Coastal, California, USA38.511137662604078 -122.9987182421609838.242494162604075 -123.46563724216098 38.779781162604081 -122.53179924216097tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-29894606946851948602009-04-28T09:48:00.000-07:002009-04-28T09:48:20.021-07:00

Well, I did go to the "Why Biodynamic?" conversation at the Sonoma County Day School last Friday eve. Mrs Johnson and I both went, and though the proceeds were to benefit the Sonoma County Wine Library, I'm glad we each saved $5 by buying our tickets beforehand.I'll post some highlights in a moment, but I must say I was disappointed the Q&A section was so short that it only allowed for 3

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-91546188881811202492009-04-22T07:04:00.000-07:002009-04-22T07:05:34.986-07:00

From Eric Asimov's The Pour (New York Times):...[f]or Mr. Grahm, that means owning a vineyard, embracing biodynamic viticulture and farming without irrigation, as the best Old World vineyards are farmed. “Dry farming is absolutely crucial,” he said. “It’s more important than anything — biodynamics, schmiodynamics.”And... “I actively resorted to all manner of marketing tricks,” [Randall Graham]

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685195.post-18716309850987372142009-04-17T09:38:00.000-07:002009-04-17T09:38:00.595-07:00

 Huzzah! for Stuart Smith of Smith-Madrone Winery! I just got through reading his letter to the editors of the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, somewhat taking them to task for the nonsensical video of Mike Benziger on the PD site touting his Biodynamic philosophy. I've clipped the letter he wrote here, as well as provide the link for the PD letters for Fri April 17th...The best lines have to be..

St. Vinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518696933129642416noreply@blogger.com12