Archive for October, 2015

You are here: Home / Wine Industry News / Archive for October, 2015

Oct

Embracing Mexican Provenance, Partida Looks To Double Growth Rate

Comments Off

Upscale Tequila brand Partida has seen annual gains of 20%-30% in recent years while carving out a niche in the on-premise, which accounts for more than two-thirds of its sales. Founder Gary Shansby now aims to improve Partida’s off-premise share … Continue reading →

The post Embracing Mexican Provenance, Partida Looks To Double Growth Rate appeared first on Shanken News Daily. Read more

Oct

ABI And SABMiller Extend Talks To Finalize Merger Terms

Categories: News, Wine Industry News

Comments Off

AB InBev and SABMiller have been granted another week to iron out final terms of their proposed merger. Under U.K. takeover rules, after coming to an agreement in principle on October 13 on a deal that would see ABI acquire … Continue reading →

The post ABI And SABMiller Extend Talks To Finalize Merger Terms appeared first on Shanken News Daily. Read more

Oct

John Esposito Tapped As High West Chief Commercial Officer, Ruvo Joins Board

Categories: News, Wine Industry News

Comments Off

John Esposito has joined the executive team at Utah’s High West Distillery. Esposito, who has led such companies as Bacardi North America, Moet Hennessy USA and Schieffelin & Somerset during his 40-year drinks industry career, has been appointed as High … Continue reading →

The post John Esposito Tapped As High West Chief Commercial Officer, Ruvo Joins Board appeared first on Shanken News Daily. Read more

Oct

News Briefs for October 28, 2015

Categories: News, Wine Industry News

Comments Off

•Miami-based importer Bodega & Co. is launching a brut sparkling sangria under its Lolea brand in the U.S. market. Retailing at $14.99-$19.49 a 750-ml., Lolea N.3 is a brut-style offering made with white wine, green apple, cinnamon and elderberry flowers, … Continue reading →

The post News Briefs for October 28, 2015 appeared first on Shanken News Daily. Read more

Oct

Craft Brewing and Distilling News for October 28, 2015

Categories: News, Wine Industry News

Comments Off

•Brooklyn-based Sixpoint Brewery has partnered with Ireland’s Teeling Whiskey Company to release Bang Bang Dudley, a new collaborative brew. Billed as an Irish-style red ale, Bang Bang Dudley is matured in barrels that previously stored Bourbon and rum, and were … Continue reading →

The post Craft Brewing and Distilling News for October 28, 2015 appeared first on Shanken News Daily. Read more

Oct

Jameson Caskmates

Categories: Wine Industry News

Tags: news

Comments Off

Jameson Irish Whiskey now offers Jameson Caskmates. Read more

Oct

Picking A Side In the Napa Winery Fight

Categories: Wine Industry News

Comments Off

No it's not Monday when I normally post. I got inspired midweek from Tom Wark who wrote a piece yesterday in his Fermentation Daily Wine Blog entitled Critics of the Napa Valley Wine Industry are Losing Badly. It's a passionate opinion piece of the goings-on in Napa County politics which are overheated with rhetoric. (Rhetoric | rhet·o·ric ˈre-tə-rik: language that is intended to influence people and that may not be honest or reasonable.)

Anti-Wine or Anti-Change?

If you live and work in Napa County as I do, you see endless reports in the local papers of various people and organizations wanting to have their grapes and eat them too: meaning they love the money tourism brings to their valley to pay for services, they love looking at vines, they love the economic vitality of a growth business, and they particularly love their home values rising. But they also don't want the existing wine industry to expand, nor do they want new wineries or tourists.

The anti-winery discussion in the North Coast has thus far included a cartoon-like mix of NIMBYs, some growers and anti-change groups, each fanning the flames of public debate but for a variety of different end goals. These kinds of coalitions always end up deteriorating or creating the proverbial camel that was the horse designed by a committee. It's the nature of a coalition without a shared vision.

To understand why growers would want to publicly side with groups who are raising the cost of vineyard development and who are also interested in stopping vineyard development entirely would take a month to explain, but that is what's happening.

Here are some linked examples of the debate. Click on the articles and check out comments in the articles at the bottom They are like watching a B rated reality TV series with a train wreck for a backdrop:

Fact from Fiction

In August of this year, Sonoma State University shed a little light on the subject when they ran their own survey of locals to get a view on just how the community really felt about the wine business. That work was picked up in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and published in a piece titled: Sonoma State survey finds wide support for North Coast wine industry.

I was actually a little surprised by the results of the survey which can be seen in the above chart. It found that 88% of locals felt the Wine Business had a positive impact on the quality of life in their county. Wait! I thought John Q Public had the opposite view? Apparently not but wait, there's more:

94% said the wine industry contributes positively to the beauty and culture of wine regions.
78% feel the wine industry gives back to their communities
83% felt the wine industry created a positive image for their community while only 2% felt the opposite.

The chart that I found the most interesting was this one to the right, that shows the overwhelming majority of people in the Napa/Sonoma region felt the Wine Business both contributed positively to the rural character, and was considered part of the agricultural heritage of the region. That's not really the message that is being portrayed.

Rhetoric from Reality

As I mentioned straight off, the narrative that is being put forth by the naysayers with all the rhetoric surrounding the wine business would lead one to believe the chart from SSU might look flipped on it's head, but locals said otherwise.

What about the wine business itself? Does the industry buy what is being put forth? Turns out, I have a chart for that too:

We asked wineries to rate how they felt their communities felt about them, rating their beliefs on a scale from being vocally opposed on one end, up to being publicly supported on the other.

To the left is that chart which is part of the Annual Wine Conditions Survey (..... the survey is still open until Thursday night for late wineries who haven't participated yet [survey link].)

As of this moment 78% said they felt they were welcomed in their communities. These results are amazingly close to the results found in the Sonoma State University survey.

So back to Tom Warks post from the other day, "Critics of the Napa Valley Wine Industry are Losing Badly" ..... I would have to conclude locals and the wine business are aligned in their views and yes, the anti-winery messaging isn't really impacting beliefs in their communities as many might suppose.

Right from Wrong

Does that prove there is nothing for wineries and vineyards to do? Hardly.

I've had discussions with County Officials to hear their perspectives on the matter and at least some feel caught in a squeeze without much vocal support from the wine or grower side of the industry. The result of inaction is demonstrated in Napa and Sonoma County which are almost in a defacto freeze trying to get requested changes to permits. Virtually no new wineries are getting approved.

Vineyards or Hospitals

One of the consequences of the stalled permit process strangely is that contractors who have made a living on retrofitting and building new wineries are telling me the only building they have on their schedules for 2016 are gigantic luxury homes on the hillsides. That's the real oddity in this debate:

While you can stop a vineyard from being built by making it too expensive with EIRs and remediation, Constitutionally you can't stop a property owner from building a home on a legal parcel. So .... while we dabate whether a new winery should have 40 or 60 visitors a week, hospital sized homes are popping up left and right in the Napa and Sonoma hillsides like a chocolate chip cookie. But at least there are no vineyards being put in.

A Seat or a Side

So which side are you on? I am taking a seat on the side that protects the Valleys from wanton growth, deforestation of the hillsides, unfettered growth in new wineries, ruination of streams and habitat, and the destruction of the nature and character of the regions in which we live. We don't need every winery approved without planning for infrastructure. Surprised with that? Why be surprised? Shouldn't we all want to protect the resource that allows us to produce and sell our product?

That said, I am also on the side that wants to get clear information about the issues instead of spewing rhetoric spawning popular myths. Take for instance traffic problems ( .... its job growth more than tourism by the way). Once the reason is researched and properly supported with facts, I'll side with people to develop solutions to improve traffic flow. Two ideas: opening and closing tasting rooms at different times and incenting non-hospitality workers to work in towns instead of commuting to agricultural areas. Those ideas don't come out if the problem is defined simply as winery growth.

That’s not where we are though. We continue to allow false branding of the problems. This is going to cost us all in the final analysis without officials willing to ask tough and sensible questions, and winery owners willing to more consistently add their reasoned voice to the public dialogue.

## Annual Wine Survey ... the place where we get some of our industry information like the above is and Annual Wine Condition Survey. That closes Thursday night. About 500 have responded so far but if your winery hasn't yet participated, please do so. It will take about 12 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What Side are You On?

Please comment and join this site at the top right of this page for updates and new posts.

Sign in and offer your perspectives for the benefit of the community.

If you think this information and discussion is valuable, please share this post on your favorite social media platform.

Oct

More on Shifting Distributor Rankings

Categories: Wine Industry News

Comments Off

Following the news that Wirtz Beverage and Charmer Sunbelt Group are merging [see WSD 10-20-2015], and Southern Wine & Spirits and Glazer's may be partnering [see WSD 10-21-2015], your editors set out to reconfigure the Top 10 Distributors list with the assumption that the deals will come to fruition. Read more

Oct

Interview, Part 1: Bob Paulinski, BevMo’s Senior Vice President, Wine

Categories: News, Wine Industry News

Comments Off

One of the country’s largest beverage alcohol retailers, BevMo operates around 155 stores across California, Arizona and Washington, up from about 130 stores two years ago. The chain’s wine selection is particularly broad, running from entry-level offerings up through high-end Champagne retailing … Continue reading →

The post Interview, Part 1: Bob Paulinski, BevMo’s Senior Vice President, Wine appeared first on Shanken News Daily. Read more

Oct

Screaming Eagle Producer Bolsters The Hilt, Its Santa Barbara Label

Categories: News, Wine Industry News

Comments Off

The Hilt, sister winery to Jonata in Santa Barbara County, plans to launch new Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines under the Santa Rita Hills appellation. The first release will be the 2014 vintage, shipping in 2016 and 2017. Armand de … Continue reading →

The post Screaming Eagle Producer Bolsters The Hilt, Its Santa Barbara Label appeared first on Shanken News Daily. Read more