Wine-Searcher
Bulk Wine Flounders in a Buyer’s Market
W. Blake Gray, writing for Wine-Searcher, reports from the International Bulk Wine and Spirits Show in San Francisco, and he opens with a detail that stops you cold. Ciatti grape broker and partner Steve Dorfman told the room that some California producers have given away premium Pinot Noir this summer purely to clear tank space. Not discounted it. Given it away. Dorfman’s framing was that pricing has gone to zero and buyers will still take it, because at a certain point an empty tank ahead of harvest is itself the valuable asset.
From the article:
I attended the same show last year and the desperation from wine producers in the audience was palpable. This year, it was different, but not because vintners are less desperate.
The wine industry’s contraction burst into the mainstream media this week. The New York Times ran a story with the headline “Sales Are So Low, California Wineries Are Burning Their Vineyards,” focusing on a major Pinot Noir grower in Monterey County. Beckstoffer Vineyards revealed to the Sacramento Bee that it has laid off 50 of its 65 workers, and will not farm nearly half of the acreage it owns.
“I believe that this industry is aggressively moving to a new model of doing business,” Blissett said. He said there will be two outcomes. “Mega businesses will do deals with mega distributors. All the smaller brands will either go out of business, or they’ll find a new home.”
Nobody was offering a new home. Moderator Sid Patel, CEO of Beverage Trade Network, asked the question everyone most wanted asked: “What are three categories you’re adding more of?” Nobody is adding more domestic wines.