Wine Press FINAL 10-14-10

February 1, 2014

 

             Unified is huge, drought is severe, Farm Bill is (kind of) done, Super Bowl is on, new Eastern wine book is out, and much more happening in wine country.

  

             Cheers!          

             Jim Trezise

Unified Symposium Delivers...Again

 

               Every year at this time the three-day Unified Wine & Grape Symposium takes place in Sacramento, by far the largest industry conference in the western hemisphere with more than 13,000 attendees from 31 countries, 668 trade show exhibitors, 18 trade associations pouring wine (including us!), and a total economic impact of $3.1 million, keeping Sacramento hotels, restaurants and bars overflowing.

               The series of seminars covers viticulture, enology, and marketing, but the annual highlight is the State of the Industry session which gives a view from 37,000 feet on what's happening in the grape and wine industry worldwide and how it affects us.  Nat DiBuduo of Allied Grape Growers and Jon Fredrikson of Gomberg Fredrikson are regulars, always with great presentations, and this year dthey were joined by moderator Francesca Schuler of BevMo (a major California retailer) and Mike Veseth, a well-known and highly entertaining wine economist from Washington State, both of whom added much to the discussion as well.

                The overall message from their combined presentations was that in today's wine world things are good but not great, and that innovation by wineries is needed more than ever to meet the challenges of globalization, changes in customer bases, and competition from craft beers, spirits, and ciders.

                 Nat's discussion on grape supply (which is essentially in balance for the foreseeable future) had a couple interesting perspectives relative to size: California now has about 645,000 acres of vineyards, or more than 21 times the roughly 30,000 in New York; and last year alone some 30-40 thousand acres of new vineyards were planted in the Golden State.  When people wonder why there are so many California wines on retail shelves compared with New York wines, well, there's a reason: production!

                  Jon provided some interesting insights, as always, including the status of the United States as the world's largest wine market for total consumption, but with a paltry 2.7 gallon per capita consumption rate (half of that in the United Kingdom), which on the bright side could mean more growth if we can ever overcome our Puritan heritage.  Last year, the federal Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) approved about 100,000 brand labels, reflecting how cluttered and competitive the market is that we all must compete in.  Another fascinating observation: The craft beer, spirits, and cider industries have all essentially copied much of the wine industry's marketing strategy in terms of emphasizing food pairings, having "beer sommeliers" and Rockstar Mixologists, and other techniques.

                 If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess we should feel flattered!

 

                 After all the day's seminars, we adjourned to the massive trade show floor for the Regional Wine Tasting where I, John Martini and two other folks from Anthony Road Winery poured some of New York's finest for a long line of consumers eager to taste the wines from the right coast.  As always, we had Finger Lakes Rieslings and Long Island Merlots, along with a broad assortment of other wines from other regions, including some wonderful red and white "Minnesota" varietals like Marquette and Brianna from the Thousand Islands region.  When we explained what they were, people almost invariably wanted to taste them--and really were impressed.

 

                 Coincidentally, on that same day wine writer Mike Dunne (who has judged at our New York Wine & Food Classic) had a huge article in the Sacramento Bee about Ravines Wine Cellars, and the fact that three of their Finger Lakes wines are now locally available at the unique Corti Brothers store which stocks unique food and beverage products from around the world.  A California colleague was not at all amused that New York wines were being featured during a California conference, and I said, Hey, why not?

 

                  Another highlight of the day was...rain!  As I mentioned last week, California is now suffering from the worst drought in over 100 years, the topic of so many conversations this week.  At a luncheon on the 15th floor of a hotel overlooking the Capitol, the speaker--right in the middle of his talk--shouted, "Look, it's raining!!"  And everybody applauded.  He eventually regained his train of thought and finished the speech.  Unfortunately, it was just a brief drizzle that did little to alleviate the drought emergency, but at least it provided a brief glimmer of hope.

 

                   Back east, it is still uncertain how much bud and vine damage will have been caused by the recent "polar vortex" events.  Our friends in Ohio appear to have simply lost their entire crop, with parts of Michigan reporting a similar catastrophe.  In New York, Cornell Cooperative Extension is working with growers to assess the damage, which at this point appears to vary by both location and grape variety, but we really won't know until later.

 

                    The California drought and eastern freezes are vivid reminders that, first and foremost, wine is farming.

 Farm Bill (Finally) Passes (Sort of)

           

              This week Congress took a major step toward adoption of a new, five-year Farm Bill which had been delayed for two years by partisan gridlock and some key contentious issues.  A House-Senate conference committee reached agreement on Monday and referred the proposal to their who chambers, with the House approving it on Wednesday and the Senate scheduled to consider (and presumably pass) it next week, sending it to the President for (presumably) approval.

               To be sure, the bill is far from perfect, but it provides some degree of stability for planning during the next several years with respect to crop insurance, research, and export promotion.  Certainly in years like this one, the importance of crop insurance is clear.  In addition, the Specialty Crop Research Initiative has provided funding for some very important projects over the years, while the Market Access Program has allowed New York and other American wine regions to explore various export markets.

                We thank and applaud Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, along with several members of the House on both sides of the aisle, for all their work in helping to shape a bill that will provide benefits to New York farmers and processors.

Wines of Eastern North America--Hudson Cattell

 

           There is probably no more passionate, dedicated, and thorough a chronicler of the eastern wine industry that Hudson Cattell, who for years was the co-publisher with Linda Jones McKee of Wine East and continues to contribute to it in the Wines & Vines context.  Now his book--"Wines of Eastern North America"--is out, and is a must read for anyone who wants to get the whole story in a highly readable way.

             The book's subtitle is "From Prohibition to the Present: A History and Desk Reference" (published by Cornell University Press), and Hudson does a masterful job of connecting so many dots--people, projects, products, places--into a historical mosaic that in the end fits together like a giant wine industry jigsaw puzzle.  I was most interested in learning about the New York grape and wine industry before my arrival in 1982, but the connections naturally took me to Maryland (Philip Wagner), Pennsylvania (Doug Moorehead), Canada and elsewhere.

               I've had the pleasure of knowing Hudson Cattell for decades, and have always respected his total devotion to accuracy, fairness, and education.  This book is a perfect reflection of those personal attributes.

 Free Run...

 

             Super Bowl looks like it won't get "weathered out", though it may be a bit chilly at game time in the early evening.  It is truly amazing how much hype goes into the lead-up for a week or more ahead of time, so we can just hope the actual game lives up to expectations.  But the big game is bringing big economic benefits to New York in the form of 230,000 out-of-state visitors, 1,500,000 visiting the Super Bowl Boulevard, and over $300,000,000 in economic activity, including $12,000,000 for hotel rooms alone!

             In addition to the New York wines listed last week, another winery in the festivities is Fox Run Vineyards.  I hope someone has also thought about how appropriate it would be to have New York bubbly as the celebration wine for the winning team.

 

              Bedell Cellars Taste Red received a 90 from Wine Spectator this week.  Florida State Fair International Wine Competition takes this weekend in Tampa, so you can expect a lot of New York Gold in next weekend's Wine Press, especially if the wines we taste tomorrow are as good as those today.

 

 

                 "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart."

                                                                   --Ecclesiastes

Quick Links 

 
Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter
Join our mailing list
Join Our Mailing List