Is it a beer? Is it a wine? Is wine that has been steeped with
hops considered wine? Is wort blended with lactic-bacteria-fermented Pinot Gris
and fermented with Saccharomyces and Brettanomyces still considered beer? Don’t
most winemakers do everything possible to avoid Brettanomyces? Maybe not
anymore. The new sensation in town is cross collaborations between vintners and
brewmasters. They’re experimenting with dry-hopping wines, wet-hopping wines or
fermenting beers on a variety of grapes.
Winemakers and brewers, as
well as their customers, enjoy these collaborations. Christine Park of Murphy
Goode Winery in Sonoma said, “It’s an adventure. A wine with lager tasting
notes and vice versa definitely caught the attention of wine and beer fans.
It’s a cool concept, and our consumers embraced it favorably.”
Charlie and Echo Winery
Charlie and Echo Winery
rests in San Diego’s Miralani Makers’ District. The makers in this district
produce beer, wine, cider, mead, sake and spirits. Once every month they host a
walkabout where people meander from business to business tasting the different
themed drinks of the particular month.
Charlie and Echo owner and
Winemaker, Eric Van Drunen, initially collaborated with Bill Lindsay and
Jonathan Barbarin of Thunderhawk Alements, an independent brewery in the
district, on “Project X.” The three successfully created a Chardonnay and Pinot
Grigio blend with Hallertau Blanc hops named after Van Drunen’s favorite song
lyrics. Sister Golden Hair Surprise, or S.G.H.S, reflects the color and sensory
experience of the wine. The second wine he created is called Citrasé, a rosé
blend of Grenache and Mataro with Citra hops. The name is a mashup of Citra and
Rosé.
With unique, on-trend
wines comes unique, on-trend packaging. “We’ve put these wines in cans which
seems apropos since they are the intersection of wine and beer,” Van Drunen
said.
For their part,
Thunderhawk Alements is quite proud of the product and hopes to do more
collaborations. “We not only learned how hops can complement wine in a
beautiful way; we are excited to see these unique wines become available to the
public. We look forward to more collaboration,” Barbarin, co-owner of
Thunderhawk Alements said.
Hops, Van Drunen said,
affect the wine in unexpected ways. “Hops help the wine retain the head that
one generally sees on a beer. It changes the color of the wine, changes the
aroma and has a very transformative mouth feel,” he said.
To ensure he has the
freshest product, Van Drunen makes a batch of wine every two weeks, since the
hop content drops around six months. He’s experimented quite a bit to get to
this point. “It has been a long journey creating these wines. I’ve tried a few
wines getting to this final product. I tried a sparkling sour red, which was
originally a good wine that went bad in the bottle. I’ve tried to dry-hop a red
wine, but it wasn’t as tasty as the Sauvignon Blanc,” Van Drunen said.
Boedecker Cellars & Little
Beast Brewing
Stewart Boedecker of
Boedecker Cellars in Portland, Oregon, collaborated with Charles Porter,
Founder and Brewmaster at Portland’s Little Beast Brewing, in creating two
mixed-culture beers fermented with wine grapes: Bière Gris and Radical Forces
Pinot Noir beer.
“We turned the art of wine
and beer making on its head a bit, and the result is quite beautiful. Stewart
came up with the idea of a lactic-bacteria-fermented Pinot Gris juice that we
then blended with our wort and fermented, as usual, with Saccharomyces and a
secondary with Brettanomyces. This aged in oak for six months,” said Porter.
“For this Bière Gris, Boedecker Cellars pressed their Pinot Gris grapes and put
it in a tote. Once the tote arrived at our brewery, we added our Lactobacillus
to sour the juice. This process is heralded in the making of tart and sour
beers but typically avoided in winemaking. Once soured, we added it to a beer
we made that day and co-fermented it all together.
“The Radical Forces Pinot
Noir beer was my creation. I wanted to mimic the character of a Pinot Noir but
also balance that with a big beer. Nice Pinot Noir attributes, toasted oak
barrel character, and a big, bold body from the beer and alcohol. For Radical
Forces was we employed a whole cluster fermentation with a pilsner malt base,”
Porter said. “The recipe was based on many years’ experience of mixed culture
brewing that I practice. The experimental part was taking Stewart’s concept and
blending it with our process. The collaboration was very fun and a new twist on
what we do. I love working with other producers and learn something new every
time.”
The unique brews have been
quite a draw for patrons. “Customers have been very intrigued by these beers.
They love the balance in them and notice that neither the beer nor wine
qualities overshadow one another,” Porter said.
As Porter continues to produce Radical Forces and perfect his
techniques, look for more collaborations in the future.
Murphy-Goode Winery
Murphy-Goode Winery has been crafting wine in the Alexander Valley of California since 1985. Second-generation winemaker Dave Ready Jr. said one of their central tenets is the belief in great wines and good times with family and friends. He’s kept this in mind as he followed his father’s example of creating well-crafted wines, most recently Bordeaux varieties and Zinfandels from Alexander Valley.
In 2016, Ready Jr.
collaborated with Aron Levin, Brewmaster at St. Florian’s Brewery in Windsor,
California, to craft a dry-hopped Sauvignon Blanc, and to brew a lager aged in
Sauvignon Blanc barrels.
“Hops bines and grapevines
have coexisted in Sonoma County since the 1850s. It seems winemakers have
always been big fans of beer, and vice versa. In the Murphy-Goode spirit of
celebrating the ‘Goode Life,’ we thought it would be unique to combine those
two areas of craftsmanship,” said Ready Jr. “Joining forces with someone as
passionate as Aron Levin, bringing that idea to life for our fans to enjoy, has
been a blast. The melding of hops and grape flavors provides balance and added
dimensions to our 2016 Dry-Hopped Sauvignon Blanc. We feel it appeals to both
wine and beer drinkers alike, and that was our goal.”
Ready Jr. isn’t currently collaborating on
any new hopped up wines, but he’s certainly not closing the door to it either.
“We don’t have any plans like this in the future, but we are always open to
possibilities and looking forward to innovation. We’re always open to new
opportunities and collaborations. Our goal from the start was to create
beverages that would appeal to both beer and wine fans, and I think we’ve done
just that,” he said.
Throughout 2018, the Trump administration’s implementation of
tariffs on several foreign goods, and the retaliatory tariffs that followed
suit have confused markets and worried many businesses. The alcohol
industry—wine, beer, spirits and those who support them—have all been affected
in some way by these tariffs, or expect to be in 2019 if they continue. With
the news on tariffs changing almost monthly, it can be hard to keep up, which
causes further insecurity for the industry.
Timeline of Events
Trade tensions began in
January 2018 when the Trump administration imposed tariffs on solar cells and
washing machines after a report stating that imports were hurting the domestic
U.S. market in those businesses.
On March 8, 2018,
President Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10
percent tariff on imported aluminum to take effect on March 23. At this time,
Canada and Mexico were granted an exemption pending talks to renegotiate NAFTA.
After threats from the EU to impose retaliatory tariffs, the administration
allowed exemptions for the EU, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, and Australia
through May 1, which would eventually extend to June 1.
On April 2, China imposed
tariffs ranging from 15-25 percent on various U.S. products, including fruit,
wine, whiskey, and other products totaling approximately 3 billion U.S.
dollars.
On June 1, exemptions from
the steel and aluminum tariffs ended for the EU, Canada and Mexico. Argentina
and Brazil struck deals with the Trump administration limiting the quantities
of steel and aluminum they ship to the U.S., while Australia negotiated for no
trade restrictions.
In retaliation, on June 22,
the EU imposed tariffs on $3.2 billion of U.S. products, including a 25 percent
tariff on Bourbon and whiskey. Then, on July 1, Canada also imposed retaliatory
tariffs on $12.8 billion in U.S. products including 25 percent on steel, and 10
percent on aluminum and whiskey. In addition, Mexico implemented a 25 percent
tariff on Tennessee whiskey.
After talks with China
failed in May, the first phase of the trade war occurs in mid-June, with the
Trump administration announcing it will enact a 25 percent tariff on $50
billion more in Chinese goods. Beijing retaliated, placing more tariffs on $50
billion in U.S. products.
In September, President
Trump announced another 10 percent tariff on $200 billion more in Chinese
products, that he planned to increase to 25 percent at the beginning of 2019.
These tariffs impacted manufacturers of fermentation tanks outside of the U.S.
On September 30, a
compromised was made between the U.S. and Canada for an updated NAFTA. Mexico
and the U.S. had already come to an agreement by this point, and so the new
agreement, called by the Trump administration the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement, or USMCA, would be signed by the three leaders at the end of
November. Mexican and Canadian governments were both hopeful that tariffs would
end before signing.
In November, President
Trump and President Xi Jinping of China both showed interest in coming to a
compromise, ending a tense few months of escalation.
On November 30, 2018,
President Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President
Enrique Peña Nieto signed the USMCA in Buenos Aires on the first day of the
G-20 summit in Buenos Aires without any agreement to end the tariffs. At the time
of publication, talks to alleviate tariffs with Mexico and Canada but implement
quotas are in progress, but no deal has been reached.
On December 2, 2018, at a
dinner between President Trump and President Xi, they agreed to a truce,
putting a stop to any further tariffs for 90 days to give the two countries
time to come to an agreement. At the time of publication, Robert Lighthizer is
leading negotiations, but no deal has yet been made.
Effects to the U.S. Wine, Beer, and Spirits Industries
Wine
China has been a growing
market for American wine for nearly 20 years. The market has increased almost
1200 percent since 2001 despite an already steep tax of 54 percent on imported
wine. China’s retaliatory tariffs threatened to stop that growth in its tracks
if the tariffs continue. After two rounds of tariffs on wine, the first in
April at 15 percent and the second in September at 10 percent, the current
taxes and tariffs for U.S. wine going into China is 79 percent. That percentage
is quite unsettling for winemakers who have a market stake in China,
particularly if no agreement is reached and the current truce ends.
Igor Sill, owner of Sill Family Vineyards, told The Grapevine Magazine in an email: “Yes, I’ve been very concerned over the latest exchanges between U.S. and China trade given that we are already being penalized with a 15 percent tariff. The newest retaliation from China to our steel and aluminum trade policies will add 25 percent to that existing tariff, essentially pricing me out of the China marketplace. It’s a real shame, frustration, and disappointment as we have nothing to do with manufacturing and construction materials, but yet are hit with this inability to compete in China’s luxury wine sector against other imported wines. I really pray that the trade dispute with China is resolved equitably and quickly. At $185 per bottle, my Chinese customer would need to pay some $275 per bottle to enjoy our wines. That would greatly reduce China sales for us.”
This reduction is particularly disappointing for Sill Family
Vineyards, winners of the China Spirits and Wine Associations’ 2018 Wine of the
Year for their 2015 Napa Atlas Peak Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as the coveted
Double Gold Medal for excellence.
“We’ve been focused on
sales and distribution to the China marketplace since 2014. It’s a huge market that appreciates the
quality of exceptional fine wines and, specifically, they have grown their
appreciation for Napa Cabernet Sauvignon by some 10-12 percent each year. When you have some 1.5 billion people in
China, those consumption numbers are more than substantial to someone like us—a
small, family producer of limited production, high-end wines, crafting a mere
800 cases of wine per year.”
Sill planned to increase
the percentage of his business in China from four percent to eight in 2018 and
with a 15-20 percent increase annually through 2023.
“These plans have since
changed,” said Sill. They now plan to refocus on the U.S. market, concentrating
on high-volume wine consuming states such as Texas, New York, New Jersey,
California, Illinois and Florida.
If the tariffs continue,
pushing Sill and other California wineries out of the Chinese market and back
into the U.S., it could cause problems for lesser known wines.
“If these California
wineries decide to curb sending that wine into China, the wine needs to be sold
somewhere, and it could come back here to the United States, which could lead
to more competition for shelf space and storage with other state wine
industries,” said Michael Kaiser, Vice President of trade group, Wine America.
However, Kaiser said,
despite the high tariffs that threaten to increase, even more, it doesn’t
appear other California wineries are following Sill out of China.
“The exports to China from
the U.S. are up 18 percent this year so far. It’s still increasing. I think it
was the number fifth-highest market last year for U.S. wine. About $80 million
worth of U.S. wine was sent into China last year. So, it doesn’t appear that
the tariffs are compelling people not to export their wine to China. I think
that it shows how valuable a market it is that people are willing to pay these
new tariffs on their wine going into that market,” said Kaiser.
That doesn’t mean that there
hasn’t been an effect, said Kaiser. The impact will be more apparent after the
new year. “It’s hard to really quantify because [the tariffs] haven’t really
been around that long, but we’ll have to look and see what it’s like in January
and February when we have the numbers for the year,” he said.
Beer
For many in the brewing
industry, what should have been a banner year of expansion and growth ended up
as something much different. In December 2017, Congress lowered the federal
excise tax from $7/barrel on the first 60,000 barrels for domestic brewers
producing less than two million barrels annually, to $3.50/barrel. For imports
and domestic brewers producing over two million barrels annually, barrel costs
were reduced from $18/barrel to $16/barrel on the first six million barrels.
The tax cut opened up staffing and expansion opportunities that excited many
brewers.
“Then a few months later,
unfortunately, the Trump administration imposed a 10 percent tariff on
aluminum, which raised costs for brewers,” said Jim McGreevy, President and CEO
of The Beer Institute, the oldest beer trade organization in the U.S.
“We’re seeing an impact to
the industry and brewers big and small. We estimate that the tariffs are a $347
million tax on beer. I told you about that tax relief we received in
December—that was roughly $130 million of tax relief for beer. So, we received
$130 million tax relief in December, and in March we received a $347 million
tax increase. This is definitely affecting the industry as a whole.”
The tariff on imported
aluminum contributed to the rising prices of cans – in a time when more
breweries than ever are embracing use of 12 and 20 ounces cans, as well as the
to-go style “crowler.” The extra cost can severely affect the bottom line.
“Aluminum is the single
biggest input cost for beer brewers. Of the 6,000 or more breweries in this
country, you see more and more distributing their beer, and you see more and
more putting their beer in aluminum cans and aluminum bottles. So this is a major
input cost for beer brewers, big and small. That 10 percent tariff affected
beer brewers because a large portion of aluminum used to put beer in comes from
outside the country,” said McGreevy.
It doesn’t seem to matter
where or how a brewer buys their aluminum either.
“One large brewer
announced a few months ago that this was a $40 million cost to them every year.
We’ve had small brewers who are members of ours—even small brewers who are not
members of the Beer Institute—tell us that their aluminum costs are going up,
even if they get their aluminum from a broker. This is affecting the price of
aluminum up and down the chain, no matter how you get the aluminum, whether you
have long-standing contracts with aluminum providers, or you’re a smaller brewer,
and you’re getting your aluminum from a broker,” said McGreevy.
Bourbon and Other Spirits
The U.S. Bourbon industry
is hit hardest in the EU where retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent threaten to
stifle what has been, over the last few years, a booming industry. Eric
Gregory, President of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, a non-profit trade
association founded in 1880, told The Grapevine Magazine that Kentucky Bourbon
is an $8.5 billion industry with the state, employing 17,500 Kentuckians with a
payroll of over $800 million. Bourbon distillers contribute $815 million each
year in local, state, and federal taxes, with much of their local and state
taxes going to fund education.
According to Gregory,
Bourbon has remained relatively safe thanks to the foresight of larger
distillers. “So far, and I say that with a word of caution, we have not had
that much of a dramatic impact. The reason is mainly two-fold: a lot of the
smaller craft distilleries really haven’t gotten into the export market
yet—they’re barely able to produce enough product just for the regional market
at best. The bigger distilleries that have the global distribution network and
who are expanding at rapid rates, mainly to meet that global demand, most of
them had the ability to stockpile product overseas before the tariffs hit. From
every indication I’ve been told, that is carrying them through until about the
first of the year,” said Gregory.
However, after the
stockpile dwindles, prices will likely go up, and Gregory said that will likely
keep Bourbon from continuing its uptick as a serious contender on the world
stage.
“I don’t think you can
find a better example of free and fair trade than Kentucky Bourbon in the last
20 years. We have grown exponentially. In 1999, just a couple years after the
tariffs, NAFTA and the free trade pact with the EU took effect, as a state we
only produced 455,000 barrels of bourbon. Last year we produced 1.7 million
barrels of bourbon. Much of that is going to the global exports. [We’ve been
able to] put ourselves on a level playing field with our friends in the Scotch
industry and other great whiskey markets. We’ve been able to convert drinkers
to Kentucky Bourbon, and if we have a problem with competing on the shelves and
prices, then we can lose some of those converts who might look at what they
used to drink, and it’s less expensive, and they’ll start drinking that again.
At that point, if we’ve lost them, we might have lost them for a generation,”
Gregory said.
Bourbon distillers can
choose to absorb the cost of the tariffs, which hurts the local economy as a
whole. “That’s less money and profits coming back to your companies, which
means less investment in Kentucky, fewer jobs, and we don’t like that either,”
said Gregory. “In Kentucky, with Bourbon being such an economic driver, both
from jobs to tourism, we are just now starting to ratchet up production and
tourism opportunities, and it’s really like throwing a wet blanket on a booming
industry.”
What worries Gregory the
most, is the long-term effects that the tariffs may have within the Bourbon
industry and on Kentucky. “Worst case scenario, you get to a price war, where
there’s an abundance of Bourbon on the market, and that drops down prices, and
that significantly harms our smaller craft distillers. They’re just now trying
to survive in this market,” he said. “Even worse, worst-case scenario, if
distillers start to produce less Kentucky Bourbon, which has a dramatic ripple
effect across the Kentucky economy, and not only means fewer jobs and less
investment, but we are the only place in the world that taxes aging barrels of
spirits. So if you’re enjoying an 18-year-old bottle of Kentucky Bourbon, it’s
been taxed 18 times, and the great majority of that tax revenue goes back to
fund local schools. If for whatever reason we get to the point where we’re
producing less, then, it can ultimately hurt education and other public health
and safety programs here in Kentucky.”
Other spirit producers
have lost contracts, been forced to lower price points in other countries, and
had to adjust future growth projections due to the tariffs, American Craft
Spirits Association Executive Director Margie Lehrman told The Grapevine Magazine.
“I’ve had distillers tell
me that they had contracts on their desk ready to be signed for export to
China, for instance, and those contracts got ripped up. It’s just simply off
the table,” she said. “I’ve had other distillers tell me that they had actual
product on freight going over to Great Britain, where they were told by the
importer, ‘If you want us to off-load your freight, your price point has to
drop down to this.’ I had one distiller tell me they had estimated over 30
percent of their business [would go to] export sales and because of the
tariffs, they needed to knock that down to 15 percent, which is really
significant for these small businesses.”
Suppliers
Some industry suppliers
who manufacture their equipment anywhere other than the U.S. were hit by the
second round of tariffs in September. This tariff affects manufacturers of
stainless steel fermentation tanks, such as William Cover’s company, Fermenters
Choice Stainless Ltd. They import stainless steel fermentation and storage tanks
for wineries, brewing and industrial purposes;
manufacturing their tanks in China, and then shipping them to the U.S.
and Canada. Because of this, their fermentation tanks were hit with a 10
percent tariff in September, and, if the talks between the U.S. and China fall
through, could increase to 25 percent in early March 2019. Cover only recently
expanded into the U.S. in 2017. Previously he’d serviced only Canada.
Cover told The Grapevine Magazine that right now he cannot compete with American made tanks, but he
believes that once stocks of pre-tariff steel deplete and manufacturers begin
buying more expensive U.S. steel, he may see a swing back in his direction,
though, at a higher price.
“There are also tariffs on
imported stainless steel–the raw stock used by U.S. based tank manufacturers to
make tanks. So once their current inventory of stock and their costs and final
product cost is likely to increase as well. That should make my price competitive
again, although at a higher final cost to the winery and brewery than before,”
said Cover.
For now, Cover looks to
markets other than the U.S., a move he believes many other manufacturers will
make. “The products produced in countries like China now need to find another
market. There will likely be a reduction in their export price. I am now
expanding my business to South America – there are large wine producing regions
in Chile and Argentina. This is an example of the consequences of tariffs– other
countries will buy less expensive products, decrease their costs and increase
their market share. These new tariffs
will contribute to lower cost, foreign growth in the wine industry,” he said.
Imported brewing equipment
such as bright tanks have remained mostly unaffected by the tariffs but already
carried a four percent tax before the trade war.
Restaurants and Retailers
For restaurants and
retailers, the tariffs affect the bottom line when their alcohol
suppliers—breweries, wineries and distilleries—increase prices due to rising
production costs. Justin Shedelbower,
Communications Director at the American Beverage Institute, a trade
organization that represents restaurant chains that sell alcohol, told The
Grapevine Magazine what happens when these price hikes flow downward.
“For an industry such as
the beer industry, that uses a lot of aluminum, [the aluminum tariff] increases
the production cost significantly, which forces them to raise the price of
their products. That price increase rolls downhill to the consumer and
restaurant level,” said Shedelbower. “Once you get to the restaurant, it’s
higher priced beer. The restaurant has two choices. They can either keep their
prices the same and eat that extra cost, reducing their profit margins, or they
can increase the price they sell to their customers with, and that just ends up
reducing sales. If something costs more, people buy less of it.”
Reduced sales lead to
reduced profits, which may lead to canceling plans for future expansion or
cutting staff.
“Many of these restaurants
already have slim profit margins as it is. When profit margins are eaten away
further by either taking on the costs of these tariffs or just not selling as
much because the prices are higher, it just eats away at it further. So now
they don’t have this extra cash on hand, whether maybe they were planning on
expanding, so maybe now they can’t expand or hire the additional employees that
they needed. Or it can induce layoffs,” said Shedelbower.
A Possible Solution in the Works
With the signing of the
USMCA and the 90-day truce with China, it’s possible that the worst is over,
and the world will soon see a return to normal trade routines. Reactions to
these events are encouraging to both trade organizations and producers;
however, there is still plenty of work to do.
“We were pleased to see
there will be a pause in any tariffs for at least 90 days. We will continue to
let Congress know about our feelings on the tariffs. What it means, in the long
run, is anyone’s guess,” said WineAmerica’s Kaiser.
“The signing of the USMCA
is definitely a step in the right direction and will help alleviate tensions
between the three countries. However, the tariffs on imported steel and
aluminum still remain—an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. The
U.S. imposed tariffs, and the subsequent retaliatory trade penalties continue
to threaten the hospitality and alcohol industries with higher operation and
production costs, as well as induce growing challenges for accessing foreign
markets,” ABI’s Shedelbower told us.
“We hope lawmakers require
the administration to end tariffs as a condition of support for the United
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. In our eyes, the deal is incomplete until the
administration eliminates all steel and aluminum tariffs,” The Beer Institute’s
McGreevy said.
Cover of Fermenter’s
Choice is happy about the truce, but he thinks a deal will take into account
the changes the tariffs made to the market. “It remains to be seen how long it
will take to remove them altogether. I don’t expect that to happen quickly as
the American companies that ramped up production of steel and other
commodities—reopening old plants, hiring new workers, etc., will lobby hard for
some time to recoup their investment. It’s not fair to them to remove the
tariffs so quickly—and a bad political move for Trump. I would expect the
second tariff to come off after a few months, but the first tariff could be a
year or longer.”
Igor Sill is relieved, not
only for himself but for the positive impact a deal could have on both the
Chinese and U.S. financial markets. “China’s financial market has been severely
depressed since Trump announced his policy’s intention, and of course, we’ve
seen Wall Street’s, and the global stock markets drop as well. With today’s
“truce” announcement I sense that wiser minds will prevail and an equitable
resolution, i.e., no tariff, or considerably lower tariffs will salvage the
global economic markets and my ability to sell our wines into China. Overall,
I’m much more optimistic now.”
The Wine Scholar Guild (WSG) officially launched its Spanish Wine
Scholar™ (SWS) study & certification program on October 14th 2019.
Designed to become the
reference in Spanish wine education, the program was nearly two years in
development at the hands of the WSG Education team with SWS Education Director,
Rick Fisher, at the helm.
“The SWS program will give
students appreciation for how tradition and modernity perfectly coexist and why
Spain is one of the most exciting and enviable countries on the world wine
stage,” states Rick Fisher.
The Spanish Wine Scholar™ study program mirrors the
unparalleled level of detail and academic rigor offered by the acclaimed French
Wine Scholar™ & Italian Wine Scholar™ programs.
“Now covering all three major wine producing and exporting
countries in the world, the Wine Scholar Guild has become the world’s leading
provider of specialized certification programs” states Julien Camus, WSG
Founder and President.
The 315-page, full-color
SWS study manual represents today’s most comprehensive and up-to-date resource
and definitive reference book on the wines of Spain! It was written by Rick
Fisher with the collaboration of numerous Spanish Consejos Reguladores
(governing bodies) and copy-edited by Jonas Tofterup, MW, of Iberian Wine
Academy.
In recognition of the
exceptional depth and accuracy of the program, Wines from Spain (ICEX – Spain’s
Trade & Investment Government Agency) endorsed the program. Alfonso Janeiro
Diez, Head of Wines from Spain in Madrid states, “Wines from Spain is pleased
to have had the opportunity to witness and consult on the development of this
much needed and important Spanish Wine Scholar program since its
inception. The program offers a great
opportunity for those who want to widen their knowledge of the wines from
Spain.”
Designed for committed
students of wine, be they wine professionals or serious wine hobbyists, the SWS
program is offered in both distance-learning and classroom-learning format.
A pioneer in online wine
education with its first online study program launched in 2008, WSG has created
a wealth of e-learning resources to empower SWS students: online modules,
quizzes, learning games, flashcards, pronunciation exercises, etc.
Wine educators from WSG’s Approved Program Provider network –
currently 60+ wine schools in 26 countries – were trained as part of the SWS
pre-launch beginning in January 2019. Many of these educators are now preparing
to teach the SWS program this fall utilizing the teaching materials developed and
provided by WSG.
Among the 120 wine
educators in training, 40 have already passed the SWS exam and earned the
Spanish Wine Scholar title. 20 sessions are currently scheduled at partner
schools in the US, Canada, UK and Sweden.
About the Wine Scholar Guild: The Wine Scholar Guild (www.winescholarguild.org) provides specialized study & certification programs on the wines of France, Italy and Spain for the professional development of wine industry members and committed students of wine.
With the holiday season comes infinite ways to celebrate the fruit
of vineyards from coast-to-coast. Wineries and tasting rooms across the U.S.
count the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s to be amongst their busiest
and, in some cases, amongst their most profitable. Moreover, ancillary
businesses, including hotels, inns, restaurants and special events venues,
benefit from creative partnerships with local wineries during the holidays.
Walter Clore Wine & Culinary
Center
The Walter Clore Wine
& Culinary Center stays open year-round and features Washington wines in
its tasting room and during special events. The space was named for the man
whose years of scientific research established Washington state as the
second-largest premium wine producer in the country. According to the Center,
Washington’s wine industry contributes approximately $14.9 billion to the U.S.
economy and supports an estimated 27,000 jobs. Those numbers underscore why the
holidays are an important component of marketing the state’s wine producers and
grape growers.
The Clore Center showcases
Washington’s wine industry, as well as the science of enology, through a
combination of educational, experiential and entertainment activities. Its
holiday events kick off just before Thanksgiving, featuring established and
up-and-coming Yakima Valley wineries. On Saturdays throughout November and
December, several Yakima Valley winemakers will be pouring at the Center’s
“Meet the Makers” event with the pertinent theme, “Thanksgiving in Wine
Country.” In December, the Center will feature sparkling wines from
Washington’s Columbia Gorge.
The Center’s holiday
events will also include classes every Saturday in November and the first two
Saturdays in December, according to Deb Carter, the Clore Center’s Wine and
Culinary Program Director. That might, for example, include a cooking class
from a local master chef on how to pair local wines with farm-to-table meals
using local produce.
In addition to educational
classes, the venue rents out space during the holidays for corporate
gatherings, parties and other holiday-centered outings, many of which choose to
feature local wines.
Wineries, tasting rooms,
restaurants and others vested in promoting Yakima Valley wine during the
holidays are, at the same time, raising money for a charitable cause—fighting
hunger. “Thanksgiving in Wine Country,” will benefit Northwest Harvest and
kicks off during Thanksgiving weekend. The event also allows visitors to take
advantage of deals on wines and related products.
Milbrandt Vineyards
Other Yakima Valley
December events include Prosser, Washington-based Milbrandt Vineyards’ “Holiday
Flights and Bites,” featuring holiday wines and food pairings with live
entertainment.
“The holidays are key for
us because customers tend to purchase more of our higher tier wines like our
Reserves, especially if they are buying wine as gifts,” says Milbrandt
Vineyard’s Tasting Room Manager, Karen Ballew. “This holiday season is
particularly special because we will be releasing our ‘Bottle Your Charity’
Sparkling Rosé with the winning charity’s mission featured on the back of the
bottle. Direct donations from wine sales go to the charity.”
One of Millbrandt’s
holiday marketing strategies, says Ballew, is a play on words derived from a
holiday favorite, Twelve Days of Christmas. “We will be bringing back our 12
Days of Deals, an online campaign we ran during the holidays that was
incredibly successful the last couple of years. We will also be launching our
Cyber Monday campaign where customers can get up to 40% off certain cases of
wine.”
As for partnering with
local businesses, Ballew says Millbrandt favors specialty food shops, whose
treats pair well with Milbrandt wines. “We partner with a few local business,
most notably Jade’s British Girl Treats,” she says. “Jade’s is a local bakery/chocolate/sandwich
shop in Prosser. They just opened a few months ago in downtown. They handle
catering for our events and also cater our small plate menu that we offer in
the tasting room daily.
We also feature for sale a
small selection of Chukar Cherries that are specifically paired with some of
our wines. Another partnership is with Wine Country RV Park. We pour at their
evening tastings about once a month during their peak season. They promote our
events on their emails and on the TV in their retail shop.”
Tourism on the 45th Parallel
Hotels and inns tied to
wineries have a unique focus on the holidays. In Northern Michigan, wineries
and tasting rooms dot the landscape along the same 45th parallel as
Washington’s wine region. Among them is the internationally renowned Black Star
Farms, a family-owned enterprise known for, among other products, its signature
‘Pear in a Bottle’ wine.
Black Star Farms provides
a backdrop for holiday-inspired events, such as snowshoeing on its vast grounds
and cooking classes that teach guests how to pair wines with various cuisines.
Its most notable event, however, is the annual New Year’s Eve Wine Dinner, a
formal occasion featuring a multi-course meal paired with wines produced by
Black Star Farms. The event is popular enough that tickets go on sale beginning
in early fall. Sherri Campbell Fenton, whose parents, Kerm and Sallie Campbell,
established Black Star Farms in 1998, is managing proprietor. She told The
Grapevine Magazine that the holidays are, indeed, big business.
“The holidays are a key
time for Black Star Farms, for both holiday wine sales and the hospitality side
of our business,” says Campbell Fenton. “Obviously, wine sales are strong for
gifting and parties. We have a luxurious 10 room inn on our 160-acre property,
which is a favorite for guests as a quiet, romantic escape, especially during
the winter when blanketed in snow. We also host holiday corporate wine paired
dinners as well as private or family gatherings. Holidays are a strong time for
these. Many times, gift certificates are purchased for wine sales or inn stays
during the holidays, as a gift of Black Star Farms is a very special one for
anybody.”
At Washington’s end of the
45th parallel, there’s the Hotel Maison, a landmark in downtown Yakima, listed
on the National Register of Historic Places. The hotel’s holiday offerings
include a package featuring Yakima’s annual “Sip, Stroll & Stay.” This
promotional event features a downtown stroll with food, entertainment, and, at
the end of the evening, an opportunity to overnight at the historic Maison,
built in 1911 by Yakima Freemasons. Guests receive their choice of a bottle of
wine, cider or beer delivered to their room. In addition to hosting wine
tastings with local sommeliers, Hotel Maison does its part to promote wineries
during Yakima Valley’s ‘Thanksgiving in Wine Country.’ They feature an
overnight package that includes a bottle of Yakima Valley wine and a gourmet
cheese board delivered to guests.
A quieter holiday respite
can be found at Washington’s Cozy Rose Inn, an acclaimed bed and breakfast
owned by husband and wife Mark and Jennie Jackson in Yakima Valley’s Grandview
area. The Jacksons have relied upon friendships with local wineries over the
past 27 years, which keeps guest referrals coming in both directions. Having a
great location, Mark Jackson says, goes a long way. “Guests come to the Valley
for the sunshine and wine. We’re just in a prime location, being in the middle
of Yakima Valley. They taste on their way down the Valley, stay here, eat dinner,
and the next morning, they’re off to Red Mountain and Prosser Wineries.”
In addition to its
chef-inspired gourmet breakfast, during the holidays the Cozy Rose Inn offers
guests staying at least two nights a candlelit dinner for two, which includes a
bottle from one of the region’s wineries.
Holiday Food Pairing
Foodies looking for a
Southwestern flavor to pair with Washington wines during the holidays turn to
Los Hernandez Tamales, another family-owned business in Yakima Valley. They
tout an authentic family recipe, combining it with local, Washington state
ingredients, including the state’s bountiful asparagus crop. Rachel Wilburn,
whose father, Felipe Hernandez, started the business in 1990, says the holidays
are tremendously hectic for the Hernandez clan.
“Tamales are traditionally
a holiday season food. Christmas, in particular, is the busiest time for them.
We open early, and everyone gets tamales with or without an order. We usually
have 400 to 600 dozen in pre-orders, but we sell 1,000 dozens (12,000 single
tamales) by the end of the day, all made by hand.” Wilburn says that Los
Hernandez Tamales is also called upon all over Washington to participate in
events that pair their famous tamales with regional wines.
Gingerbread co-stars with
wines at Desert Wind Winery, which supports a local charity through its annual
“Gingerbread Build Off.” This holiday-themed event, held in November, draws
professional bakers from throughout the Yakima Valley region. Wine barrels serve as the background for
gingerbread creations large and small in a winery whose Southwestern style
architecture belies its Washington state location.
It’s not difficult to see
how the holidays bring out the best in wineries and related industries across
the United States. From charitable giving to savvy marketing, synergy builds
between businesses that understand the value of partnerships during the holiday
season.
Last July, Judit was invited to speak to a group of growers in
Pennsylvania. The presentation focused primarily on grapevine diseases caused
by bacteria, fungi, and viruses but at the group’s request pesticide drift was
also covered. Extension specialist
colleagues: Mike White (recently retired from Iowa State University), Tim
Martinson (Cornell University), and Bruce Bordelon (Purdue University) helped
by providing photos of herbicide injury in vineyards. However, according to the audience and what
was seen the next day at the vineyards, other more drastic symptoms are
observed in their vineyards, such as complete wilting of leaves in the vine and
rapid defoliation (see photos taken by Judit).
The Problem
So many times, throughout
our careers, plant pathologists are called to check out vineyards that have
“interesting” symptoms that do not necessarily fit with the symptoms caused by
the “usual suspects”. It seems like more
often than not, vineyards are affected by chemical products that were not
intended to be applied to the vines. The
effects of these unwanted chemicals can cause long term and often times
irreversible damage to grapevine (and other crop) plants. This article will have a different focus and
will cover pesticide drift, specifically the injury caused by herbicides in
vineyards.
Pesticide Drift
Pesticide drift is defined
as the movement of a pesticide to unintended areas from the site of
application. Pesticide drift can be
harmful to humans, animals, and plants.
Obviously, when a product is applied during a time of heavy winds, it is
expected that the product will be transported to another field in the direction
of prevailing winds. However, many
herbicides (especially the ester formulations of 2-4-D) are able to volatilize,
forming clouds that may be transported and ultimately land miles away from the
application site causing tremendous damage to the vineyard plants.
Herbicides are chemical
products that are used to control weeds in agriculture lands, lawns (e.g., golf
courses or homes), highways, etc. The
herbicides most commonly used are plant growth regulators (PGRs). While PGRs are used to kill weeds with broad
leaves, these chemicals have detrimental effects on important commercial
crops. The most common situation is when
herbicides applied in neighboring farms that grow row crops such as corn,
sorghum, or soybeans, are transported to a vineyard. The effect in the vineyard can go from
distorted leaves, shortened internodes, complete defoliation, to vine
death. Depending on the time in which
the injury occurs it can have severe effects on the quality of the grape fruit
to complete loss of production. The the
effect of herbicides in the grape clusters can be seen in Fig 1. Initially the herbicide damage may be observed
in one or two of the berries in a cluster.
But later, the damaged fruit becomes susceptible to infection by
secondary saprophytic organisms that ultimately deteriorate the whole cluster.
The damage caused by PGRs
can be long lasting and in some cases the only solution is to replace the
affected vines with new plants.
Unfortunately, vineyards may suffer more than one drift incident during
its lifespan resulting in an uneven vineyard consisting of vines of different
ages and sizes. The diverse size of
vines creates a challenge to the grower as each plant must be managed
differently due to their nutrition and water requirements, not to mention that
younger vines are more susceptible to herbicide injury.
When damage caused by an
herbicide is noticed in the vineyard, growers must act quickly to determine the
injury’s cause. In all instances, damage
must be documented with photos. In
addition, physical samples must be submitted to a lab to determine which pesticide
is the culprit of the injury. Since
there are many different possible chemicals that can cause similar symptoms,
the grower needs to have some knowledge as to what chemical is suspected as the
laboratory needs to perform specific tests to confirm the presence. A common problem is that chemicals can move
a long distance, hence not always easy to determine where the drift
originated. However, if the grower,
knows the origin of the herbicide (saw spraying activity in a nearby farm),
s/he could attempt to ask the farmer to follow label directions to avoid drift
or to use a less volatile product. If
the activity continues in spite of the request, the only viable solution may be
to take legal action against the perpetrators.
Although the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) requires all pesticides to be registered, through the
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FINRA), regulation of
pesticide application is generally the responsibility of each individual
state’s department of agriculture or environmental agency. Naturally, each state’s approach has been
tailored to the unique requirements and circumstances of its jurisdiction,
resulting in a broad spectrum of regulatory frameworks. Accordingly, the strategy for taking legal
action in the event of pesticide drift will depend greatly upon the state in
which the damage occurred. However, the
following are some of the most common legal theories under which these cases
may be brought.
Negligence
A legal claim for
negligence occurs when four conditions are satisfied. Someone owes a duty of care, that person
breaches their duty of care, another person or their property is damaged, and
the breach of duty is the cause of that damage.
It is generally accepted that someone applying pesticides owes a duty of
care in their application methods.
Further, demonstrating that a neighboring crop or property was damaged
is fairly easy. The difficulty in these
claims is proving that the applicator breached the duty of care and that the breach
was the “proximate” cause of the damage.
Whether there is a breach
of duty depends, in part, on the extent of the drift. Nearly all pesticide applications involve
some amount of drift. The applicator is
only negligent if the pesticide is used under conditions or in a way that
exceeds normal drift.
There are many ways in
which a pesticide applicator may breach their duty of care. Commercial pesticides, such as 2,4-D, come
with instructions specifically designed to minimize the risk of drift. For example, 2,4-D instructions say not to
apply the chemical when the wind is stronger than 15 miles per hour. There are also instructions relating to
concentration, droplet size, temperature, and suitable equipment. Further, state and local jurisdictions often
have regulatory requirements involving crop buffer zones or setbacks. Failure to abide by these instructions and
regulations would likely be considered a breach of the duty of care.
Other actions may not be
as clear. For example, in an aerial
application of pesticide, the higher the altitude at the time of chemical
release, the greater the risk of drift.
How high is too high in a given case will depend on many factors,
including; the type of chemical, the form of the chemical, the equipment used,
the wind speed, the topography of the land, etc.
To prevail on a negligence
claim, you must prove not only the breach of duty, but that the breach caused
the injuries to your land. This may be
especially difficult if there are multiple land-owners surrounding your
property and each of them uses the same or similar pesticides. How do you know which one caused your
damage? Some successful claims have
included testimonial evidence that aerial application was made across property
lines and that visual pesticide residue or odors were detected on the damaged
property after observing application on the neighboring property.
Res Ipsa Loquitor
There are some
circumstances in which the damage itself is sufficient evidence of
negligence. In these cases, there is a
legal doctrine known as res ipsa loquitor (Latin for “the thing speaks for
itself”) that applies. Essentially, the
argument is that some events do not ordinarily happen in the absence of
negligence. So, for example, if a crop
duster suddenly drops its entire load of pesticide on a property 10 miles away
from the intended target, that is sufficient proof that the pilot was negligent
in operating and/or maintaining the equipment.
Strict Liability
Some products or
activities are so inherently dangerous that even when exercising great care,
injury is likely to occur. The classic
example is owning a tiger. It doesn’t
matter how strong a cage you use to hold the tiger, how much training you have
in working with tigers, or what precautions you use to ensure your is
restrained. If your tiger escapes and
bites someone, you will be liable, because tigers are inherently
dangerous.
Many states have
specifically found that pesticide application is NOT inherently dangerous,
meaning that strict liability does not apply.
There is one 1961 case, however, where a court disagreed. In Young v. Darter, the Oklahoma Supreme
Court held that application of 2,4-D was inherently dangerous and found the
applicator strictly liable for damage to his neighbor’s cotton crop. It is worth noting that both cotton and grape
vines are highly susceptible to damage from 2,4-D.
Trespass
Most people understand
that if a person enters their land without permission, they are guilty of
trespassing. Some jurisdictions,
however, have also held that releases of chemical substances that settle on the
property of another can constitute a trespass.
For example, in 1959, the Oregon Supreme Court held in Martin v.
Reynolds Metals, Co. that the defendant’s release of fluoride gas that settled
on adjacent land, rendering it unfit for cattle grazing, was an actionable
trespass. Unlike a negligence claim,
actual damage to the subject property is not a required element in a trespass
claim, though lack of injury may dramatically restrict the amount of any
monetary recovery.
Nuisance
Whereas trespass law
addresses physical intrusion of pesticide particles onto the property of
another, nuisance law addresses the interference with the use and enjoyment of
the land that results from such an intrusion.
So, for example, if a pesticide drifts onto vineyard property in
detectable amounts, it may constitute a trespass, whether there was damage or
not. But, if the grapevines on the
property were damaged, it would interfere with the owner’s use and enjoyment of
the land, giving rise to a nuisance claim.
It is worth noting that at least one jurisdiction, Minnesota, has held
that pesticide drift can ONLY constitute a nuisance and not a trespass, because
the particles are not a “tangible” object that affects the owner’s exclusive
possession of the land.
Additional Issues
Two other points are worth
mentioning. First, before bringing suit
in a pesticide drift case, it is important to know who applied the pesticide. If the owner of the neighboring property or
one of his employees did it, then he is liable.
But, if it was applied by an independent contractor hired by the
neighbor, it may only be the contractor who is liable. In some cases, where the neighbor specifically
directed the contractor to use certain chemicals, or to spray them in a
particular manner, both the neighbor and the contractor may be liable. Second, there have been cases in which
pesticide drift has caused the damaged property to lose certification as an
“organic” farm. Some states, such as
Maryland, have databases of sensitive crops.
Owners should be sure to list their organic fields in these databases to
alert neighboring farms to exercise caution in pesticide application.
Judit Monis, Ph.D. is a California-based plant health consultant, provides specialized services to help growers, vineyard managers, and nursery personnel avoid the propagation and transmission of disease caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses in their vineyard blocks. Judit is fluent in Spanish and is available to consult in other important wine grape growing regions of the word. Please visit juditmonis.com for information or contact juditmonis@yahoo.com to request a consulting session at your vineyard.
Brian Kaider is a principal of KaiderLaw, an intellectual property law firm with extensive experience in the craft beverage industry. He has represented clients from the smallest of start-up breweries to Fortune 500 corporations in the navigation of regulatory requirements, drafting and negotiating contracts, prosecuting trademark and patent applications, and complex commercial litigation. bkaider@kaiderlaw.com, (240) 308-8032
A clean, transactional website that conveys a story, a consistent
and authentic social media presence, and thoughtful targeted emails are the
digital super group in your marketing arsenal. Although it seems every year
someone comes out and predicts the death of email, it is still the best direct
marketing tactic available to you. In the U.S., email usage has grown every
single year since 2012 and 91% of American internet users use email
(statista.com).
But, that thoughtful and
targeted part ain’t easy. After you find your audience and convince them to
subscribe, which is a challenge in itself, you then have to keep their
attention. (It takes an average of six to eight touch points to generate a
qualified sales lead. (Salesforce))
The WGM Client Email Project is Born
When we are working with
our client on their email-marketing efforts, many of our clients want to know
what others are doing. The internet is full of benchmarks and studies about
email marketing, but very little exists about wine-related content. Can we
assume that we are most analogous to a “Retail” category? Agricultural? Food
and beverage? We’re never sure.
So we started a project in January 2018 that entailed recording every email we sent for our clients: 3,089,124 emails across 1,697 campaigns for 43 clients over 21 months, to be exact. We removed administrative and club emails and checked for statistical significance and can confirm this is a large enough sample to be confident about the findings. Our goal was to compare our clients’ results to the posted industry benchmarks to see if they were a good judge of success. What we uncovered was interesting.
We are not the same!
Immediately, we saw that
our emails performed differently than the posted benchmarks. We had always used
Mailchimp’s “Retail” benchmarks for our marketing – but never knew if this was
a good comparison. It turns out that its’s not.
I’d like to say that the emails we create for our clients are so
creative and impactful that they perform 20% better than industry average, and
there might be some small truth there. But, it’s more likely that the wine
category, as a whole, gets better response than the average category. “Retail” is a broad category for any email
that is selling something from Amazon to Zappos. But our clients are selling
wine, which, in most people’s world, is a good thing and a welcome distraction
from their daily drivel. Our theory is that winery customers look forward to
news about their wineries, their favorite wines or upcoming events because it
is an enjoyable hobby they have chosen to learn about and follow, versus the
Sunday white sale at Macy’s which, may or may not be, relevant this week.
Getting Their Attention: Thoughts on Open Rates
The two best predictors of
whether an email will be opened is the subject line, and when the email is
sent. We wanted to isolate both of these variables. According to data from
Marketo, 41 characters–or 7 words–is reported to be the sweet spot for email
subject line length in 2019. We counted all the characters (including spaces)
in our campaigns and came out with an average of 42…so, we were pretty
confident about our test results.
But when we got into the data we were surprised. We couldn’t find any general statistical significance between open rate and the length of the subject line. (For you nerds out there, in our analysis, R2 =.04894 indicating that there is no linear relationship.) Put another way, if you have more, or less, characters in your subject line, we couldn’t say if your email is more, or less, likely to be opened. Length didn’t matter when looking at the emails in aggregate.
However, when we look at the type of email, we saw trending. We bucketed emails into groups of club emails, eCommerce or sales emails, event announcements and emails with just information or news. We then looked at the open rate of emails whose subject line were low (1-25), medium (26-50), high (51-75) and very high (over 75) character counts. What we found was club emails perform better with brief subject lines, whereas event and newsletters are more likely to be opened with a longer, more explanative subject line. The fact that eCommerce shows little difference between lengths of subject lines indicates that it is the message that matters – or, simply, what is the offer?
The frequently debated topic of which day to send emails was also
on our radar. Old-school folklore says Tuesdays are the best, but we should
know by now that mobile phones have changed the way we consume email. It is now
a 24-7 activity done on the bus, in line at the lunch counter, during weekends
and before bedtime. Also, most people use mail applications that merge personal
and work email together on their phone or they switch back and forth. So, it’s
no longer a world where we read our work emails at the office desk between 9-5
on weekdays, and our home emails at the weekend home computer. In fact, there
is substantial research indicating that a hobby topic like reading about wine
is most often enjoyed and acted upon during weekends. So, we had our doubts.
Looking at our clients’
data, the majority of the emails were sent on Thursday, and this coincided with
a peak in open rate and click through rate. We surmised that for each client we
naturally started optimizing to the best send day, and it is definitively
Thursday. (Since they are all averages, the increased number of email campaigns
on Thursday shouldn’t necessarily mean that open and click through rates are
better, so we feel confident that mid-week is still the best time to send for
optimal performance.)
Keeping Their Attention: What About Frequency?
Then there is the question of frequency. Frequency is a complex mix of your unique databases’ relationship with your winery, and the quality of content you deliver to them. Some wineries may have developed a relationship that their customers tolerate several emails a week. Some only email twice a year. The only true way to tell your particular ideal frequency is to test and look at unsubscribe, open and click through rates.
The client pool for our data collection was wide and diverse. It included large, distributed mass-market brands, as well as small, allocation-only wines. It should be noted, generally, that the larger the winery, the more frequently they emailed their database. But, when we looked across all 43 clients, more than half of them are sending emails once or twice a month. Only 10% are sending weekly, and 9% are sending every 6 weeks or every 3 months. The 13% of wineries sending every 6 months are all on allocations.
But, the question becomes,
what is the optimal frequency for performance? Well the answer there is more is
not better, but there’s a catch. At first glance, the data suggests that every
six months gets you the best open and click through rate, but take into
consideration these communications are highly anticipated semi-annual release
allocations. For those of us that don’t have a line waiting around the block
for our wine, it appears somewhere around 4-5 weeks is the sweet spot. This is
also supported by the data and knowledge that segmentation and smaller lists
get better response. Remember – it’s not how often you send an email, but how
often any one person on your list receives one. So, your best bet is to spread
out your communication and don’t hit everyone all the time. Segment your lists
by their preference, location, or buying habits, and your frequency will
naturally drop.
Getting To The Sale
Not all of our email
campaigns were sales based (yours’ shouldn’t be either.) Some were event
invitations or newsletters, but we did pull out the eCommerce emails for sales
statistics. Klaviyo.com quoted the average conversion rate on 18,000 customers
across 13 industries during the full 2018 calendar year at .09%. We felt pretty
awesome at our. 48% average. But once again, take into account this is wine
versus kitty litter or whatever other offer ends up in your inbox. Our
consumers generally want to hear about our winery and order our wine because
they choose to enjoy it.
If you were to project out response, you can assume about $334 AOV and 7-8 orders on an average campaign.
Conclusion
So, what does this all
mean? Here are our take-aways:
1. Wine is a cheerful addition to the inbox, so set your goals higher than posted averages. Below is what we’re using for our winery benchmark performance moving forward.
2. Go ahead and use those long
subject lines and test emojis and other attention grabbers. But on sales
emails, keep the offer short and to the point.
3. Don’t feel stressed about
making a specific send day of the week. It is true that Thursdays are the best
day for email drops. But if you miss that, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays are
good, too.
4. While most of us send
emails every 2-4 weeks, it appears that spacing this out to every 4-6 weeks
would be beneficial. Rather than cutting back on good content, try segmenting
communications to who might best respond to the message.
5. Smaller lists perform
better. Always. Get out of the habit of sending every message to everyone on
your list. Its more work to segment, but it’s worth it.
We were pleased with the
results of this inaugural benchmark, and will continue and broaden our study,
and continue reporting annual results.
We are curious – does this match with what you see in your own database? If you have comments, we’d love to hear them at service@wineglassmarketing.com.
Susan DeMatei is the President of WineGlass Marketing, a full-service direct marketing firm working within the wine industry in Napa, California. www.wineglassmarketing.com
Weather conditions and natural disasters occasionally take a toll
on vineyards and other agricultural production systems. Due to climate change
and prolonged drought, the frequency and severity of wildfires is expected to
increase. These risks highlight the need for winegrowers and winery owners to
be as prepared as possible to reduce risk.
Putting Your Plan Together
Many wineries may have already revisited their evacuation plans and filed them with their respective state agencies. Staying current of wildfire season developments can help enhance your ongoing planning and preparedness. Technology can also support your wildland fire planning and response. Additional planning resources by the American Red Cross is available at: www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/wildfire.html
Steps to Take Before a Wildland
Fire Event
• Take a close look at
your program’s communication protocol for evacuations. Everyone should have a
clear understanding of alarms that signal when you need to evacuate. Assign
specific accountabilities to staff so everyone works collectively to achieve a
positive outcome of protecting lives and property.
• Work with your regional
Forest Service to better understand emergency evacuation procedures in your
area.
• Coordinate with the
American Red Cross, FEMA, and other emergency agencies to give them the
locations of your evacuation sites. Invite your local fire department out as
part of a fire pre-incident plan. They should be provided a map of your
property, highlighting planned evacuation routes. They can also offer technical
assistance to support your plan.
• Prepare and post route
maps for each site, including alternate routes. With a large fire, you may need
to use “Plan B.”
• Consider forming a
cooperative agreement with another site to share resources and serve as an
evacuation site.
• Identify key equipment
to be evacuated, including computers and other vital records. As part of your
business continuity planning, programs should already have information backed
up and stored remotely. But, in case you don’t, practice removing this
equipment as part of your practice response.
• Stock an ample supply of
water and easily-prepared foods until rescue arrives.
Controlling Wildland Fire
Exposures
Wildland fires are one of the most catastrophic threats to
wineries. Protecting your structures
from ignition and fire damage is an important program objective second only to
an evacuation plan. Taking precautions ahead of time can help reduce the
exposure of a wildfire intrusion. There are a number of proactive measures a
winery can take to mitigate the property damage a wildland fire can cause.
To support a fire adaptive
community philosophy, the local fire department or authority having
jurisdiction for your program should require you to develop a landscape plan
for the property. It is wise to seek their advice and incorporate their
recommendations as you develop a plan specific to your location. You can learn
more about fire adaptive community planning at the Fire Adaptive Communities,
www.fireadapted.org
According to the NFPA 1144
– Reducing Structure Ignition Hazards from Wildland Fires, fire protection
plans should address four zones around a property.
What are the primary threats to property during a wildfire?
Research around property
destruction vs. property survival in wildfires point to embers and small flames
as the main way that the majority of properties ignite in wildfires. Embers are
burning pieces of airborne wood and/or vegetation that can be carried more than
a mile through the wind, they can cause spot fires and ignite structures,
debris and other objects.
There are methods for
property owners to prepare their structures to withstand ember attacks and
minimize the likelihood of flames or surface fire touching the structure or any
attachments. Experiments, models and post-fire studies have shown structures
ignite due to the condition of the structure and everything around it, up to
200’ from the foundation.
This is called the Home
Ignition Zone. (Or referred to in this document as the structure ignition
zone.)
What is the Structure Ignition Zone?
The concept of the
structure ignition zone was developed by retired USDA Forest Service fire
scientist Jack Cohen in the late 1990’s, following some breakthrough
experimental research into how structures ignite due to the effects of radiant
heat.
The structure ignition zone is divided into three zones;
immediate, intermediate and extended.
Immediate Zone
The structure and the area
0-5’ from the furthest attached exterior point of the structure; defined as a
non-combustible area. Science tells us this is the most important zone to take
immediate action on as it is the most vulnerable to embers.
START WITH THE STRUCTURES then move into the
landscaping section of the Immediate Zone.
• Clean roofs and gutters
of dead leaves, debris and pine needles that could catch embers.
• Replace or repair any
loose or missing shingles or roof tiles to prevent ember penetration.
• Reduce embers that could pass through vents in the eaves by installing
1/8” metal mesh screening.
• Clean debris from
exterior attic vents and install 1/8” metal mesh screening to reduce embers.
• Repair or replace
damaged or loose window screens and any broken windows. Screen or box-in areas
below patios and decks with wire mesh to prevent debris and combustible
materials from accumulating.
• Move any flammable
material away from wall exteriors – mulch, flammable plants, leaves and
needles, firewood piles – anything that can burn. Remove anything stored
underneath decks or porches. Intermediate Zone 5-30’ from the furthest exterior
point of the structure.
Landscaping/hardscaping – employing careful landscaping or creating
breaks that can help influence and decrease fire behavior
• Clear vegetation from
under large stationary propane tanks.
• Create fuel breaks with
driveways, walkways/paths, patios, and decks.
• Keep lawns and native
grasses mowed to a height of 4”.
• Remove ladder fuels (vegetation under trees) so a surface fire cannot
reach the crowns. Prune trees up to 6-10’ from the ground; for shorter trees do
not exceed 1/3 of the overall tree height.
• Space trees to have a
minimum of 18’ between crowns with the distance increasing with the percentage
of slope.
• Tree placement should be
planned to ensure the mature canopy is no closer than 10’ to the edge of the
structure.
• Tree and shrubs in this
zone should be limited to small clusters of a few each to break up the
continuity of the vegetation across the landscape. Extended Zone 30-100’, out
to 200’. Landscaping – the goal here is not to eliminate fire but to interrupt
fire’s path and keep flames smaller and on the ground.
• Dispose of heavy
accumulations of ground litter/debris.
• Remove dead plant and
tree material.
• Remove small conifers
growing between mature trees.
• Remove vegetation
adjacent to storage sheds or other outbuildings within this area.
• Trees 30 to 60’ from the
structure should have at least 12’ between canopy tops.
• Trees 60 to 100’ from
the structure should have at least 6’ between the canopy tops. If an evacuation
becomes evident
• If possible, identify
the location and direction of the fire event. Remain cognizant that this can
quickly change direction and speed.
• Clearly explain your
evacuation procedures to all that may be involved.
• Identify special medical
needs and gather emergency equipment and necessities, including trauma supplies
for ready access.
• Designate enough
vehicles to evacuate everyone safely. Reinforce safe driving practices with all
drivers.
• Equip staff with
emergency communications equipment (cell phones, walkie-talkies, whistles,
flares, colored smoke canisters, etc.). Ask your local jurisdiction authority
for suggestions.
• Load key equipment,
vital records, food, and water.
• Ask qualified associates
to disconnect and move LP gas tanks to a safer location, such as a gravel lot,
or follow the manufacturer’s instructions to empty the tanks.
• Warn firefighters of
underground fuel storage or LP gas tanks before you leave. Making your facility
fire resistant can help reduce property loss. However, keep in mind that these
steps should be done only by assigned staff in conjunction with an evacuation
and never require or allow staff to remain behind. Close and secure all doors
and windows once combustible materials have been moved away from these
openings.
• Wet down buildings and
roofs. There are commercial grade fire retardant products available that can
help support your efforts to protect your property. But do your research ahead
of time; and don’t let the application of these products reduce the priority of
evacuating.
• Have qualified personnel
cut down trees in the fire path, bulldoze a firebreak, and cut field grass as
short as possible.
• Remove brush and dry
vegetation near buildings.
Fire Evacuation – What you need to know
During wildfire season, you may be forced to evacuate in a hurry.
People are your first priority; to include guests, staff and firefighters. Most
fire evacuations provide at least a three-hour notice; but due to the scope of
your operation, you may need to do it sooner. Take proactive steps before and
during an evacuation to reduce anxiety and avoid injuries. Plan, prepare and
practice.
Filing claims
In the event your area
experiences a wildfire event, it is highly likely it will not only be monitored
by your insurance agent, in addition to your insurance company. Pre-loss
documentation, such as video recordings and pictures of buildings, business
personal property inventories, should be up to date and included as part of
your evacuation materials. Working with your agent is a great resource to
understand what might be necessary to help with documentation, if you should
need it.
Initially, when conceptualizing this article, we wanted to present
the feasibility, maintenance and costs of the Lyre trellising system.
However, research and
interviews revealed that while it was once a viable choice, evolving production
practices, reduced labor availability and other factors require growers to
think more strategically. For cost-saving efficiency in the fruit zone, vine
vigor and development of the finest product, growers need more modern trellis
innovation.
You know something interesting is about to
happen when you contact a subject matter expert about a story angle and he or
she says, “Um, that simply won’t work. Here’s why.” Uh oh…
What first piqued The Grapevine Magazine’s interest in the Lyre system was visiting
American-based vineyards and hearing growers share their enthusiasm for it.
Developed in the 1980s by Alain Corbonneau in the Bordeaux region of France,
the Lyre trellis trains vines to grow up, allowing more wind and sun into the
canopy for greater fruit yields and reduced mildew. It first entered into some
mainstream vineyards because of a disaster.
“The 1990s was a period of questioning canopy management and trellising. This was particularly evident in California, where (growers) were replanting after the AxR debacle,” said Richard Smart, author of Sunlight into Wine and world-renowned viticulturist specializing in canopy management, improving vineyard yield and nutrition management. The referenced debacle was AxR#1, or Aramon Rupestris Ganzin No. 1, a French-American cross rootstock devastated by the louse phylloxera.
“There was a lot of the Lyre trellis
installed in the Napa Valley and thereabouts at that time, probably more than
anywhere else in the world that I am aware of,” Smart said. At the time, high-yielding
growers in California, Oregon and Washington considered it a viable
alternative—as did some in Texas and, to a limited extent, Missouri, New York
and North Carolina. It’s a less-popular divided canopy choice where cold injury
is common because of the extensive cordon development required. However, that’s
not the only issue with it.
“There may be 6–to–12 foliage wires and two
fruiting wires. It’s, therefore, one of the more expensive trellis systems to
install,” Smart said. “And its popularity soon waned because of problems with
mechanization and subsequently, the effects of trunk disease—although this
system is less prone than single curtain vertical shoot positioning (VSP). I
hear mixed reports on the ease of mechanical harvesting, although it’s
relatively easy to mechanically pre-prune.”
So here’s one point where our story angle
turned: how does a single choice of trellis impact all other aspects of
production, labor and cost savings?
Labor+Mechanization=Different
Trellis Choices
“The top three trellis issues we’re asked to help with are labor savings, trellis systems that allow for more mechanization and stronger systems to hold the larger crop loads,” Jeff Miller told The Grapevine Magazine. Jeff Miller is COO of JSC Agricultural Supply, a division of Jim’s Supply based in Bakersfield, California. It manufactures trellising supplies, provides a full line of agricultural equipment and consults with growers about trellis systems and installation.
A term frequently mentioned in the industry
now is “no touch”: vineyards managed by mechanization and technology that
reduce reliance on human labor. In France, where agricultural labor receives
higher wages than in the United States, there’s an intense demand for advanced no-touch
technology. Growers in Australia, Italy and Spain are adapting, too. At the
2017 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, numerous panel experts—including Mark
Krstic of the Australian Wine Research Institute, Aaron Lange of Lange Twins
Family Winery and Vineyards in California, and Nick Pehle of Stone Hill Winery
in Missouri—detailed the hows and whys of no-touch operations for everything
from pruning and shoot thinning to leaf removal and harvest.
“This is the direction the industry is
heading,” Miller said. “It has to. With a shrinking workforce, more competition
for labor, changing overtime laws and increasing minimum wage, growers are
seeking solutions to limit the amount of labor needed in the vineyards.”
These essential points circled our story angle
back to trellis choices. Craig Macmillian is an ag specialist with Gold Ridge
Research Conservation District in Sebastopol, California, who works with
landowners to conserve, preserve and improve their properties. A former grower
and winemaker, he said it’s not easy or inexpensive to convert
horizontally-divided systems to vertical systems to allow for greater
mechanization.
“When I have seen people make a change, they
were redeveloping the vineyard,” he said. “While horizontal systems like the
Lyre are still excellent choices for high-vigor sites, you can’t pre-prune,
prune or harvest mechanically. Most machines are designed for vertical
trellises.”
He went on to say that because both sides of
the vine established on a horizontal structure require more touches, it takes
additional time to work a block. “So with whatever labor you have, it’s very
slow to get through a block. Doubling the amount of labor just isn’t practical.
Costs are going up, and growers are paying more per hour, but more importantly,
there simply aren’t enough people.”
Here’s where the angle of this particular
story could have easily jumped from the Lyre system and trellising in general
to necessary mechanization due to immigration and adverse effect wage issues.
In the United States, most farm labor comes from Mexico, but fewer people, in
general, want to be involved with such hands-on, backbreaking work. So, while
that topic is definitely an important feature to present another time, what’s
interesting and more on target in this story is how growers, educators and
manufacturers are innovating to accommodate where the industry is now and how
planning should evolve to address key challenges before they happen.
Consider
All Options for Now…and the
Future
To ensure the most healthy and productive
canopy, Smart encourages growers to consider their options down the line,
taking into consideration the overall operations of the vineyard.
“My general preference in today’s market of
constrained labor availability and cost is to use the vertically-divided Scott
Henry system for cane pruned vines, and the Smart-Dyson for spur pruned vines,”
Smart said. “The latter can be mechanically pre-pruned, and both
machine-harvest well.” Smart partnered with John Dyson, a California and New
York grower, to develop a split canopy system to improve yield and wine
quality. Industry experts rely on the system to provide better grape-foliage
balance.
Miller added that “as the grower works to
reduce their costs in the field, they’re moving towards a single bi-lateral
cordon system 60–66 inches high. The system allows for uniformity to help with
mechanization.”
To new vineyard owners, Macmillian recommends
installing the most basic trellis system possible at first. “Then put in a line
post that has the ability to have retrofits put on it, so you can put on catch
wires, additional catch wires, a crossbar, if that’s how you decide to go.
Build up to what your needs eventually will be.”
For ease of mechanized harvest, he referenced
a California grower who established a cross arm that was up to about 18” wide.
“While not horizontally divided, it was a way to capture the canopy without
having to move the wires, which is what a cross arm will enable someone to do.
It allows the canopy to be more open than with catch wires, but not flopping
completely.”
Macmillian also suggests people think about
mechanization right from the beginning. “I don’t see that there’s going to be
more labor in the future. In order to survive, vineyards are going to have to
become increasingly mechanized. This applies to small, medium and large
producers.”
What about the sense of
community pride when people are involved in pruning, harvest and crush? Many
vineyard owners rely on this assistance not only to provide a connection to
tradition and as great promotion but also to manage costs more effectively.
“If someone has a small enough vineyard—we’re
talking a couple of acres—and they have that kind of community of friends,
neighbors and relatives, hand labor is viable,” Macmillian told The Grapevine Magazine. “However, what I’ve found is most folks are excited to work for
a couple of hours, then it’s not fun anymore. So there’s not much acreage you
can cover that way. Now, in Europe, for example, domains—such as those in
Burgundy, which tend to be very small—have folks from the community who come
every year who pick at the end of the day, and that’s it. But we don’t have the
same kind of tradition as they do there. And even in Europe, [use of] immigrant
vineyard labor is increasing.”
He added that “if you have a high-vigor site,
a divided canopy trellis might initially be the right choice, but economically
and logistically, it may not be the right choice. Which means you’ll have to
deal with that vigor issue another way, and that’s the problem.”
Miller said JSC tries to develop products to
allow for a slight hybridization in operations, recognizing that while complete
trellis retrofitting might not be an option for existing growers—especially
those of a certain size—adapting technologies might bridge the gap.
“In early 2018, JSC partnered with ECO
Trellis out of New Zealand to add the ECO/ KLIMA suite of products to our
product line,” Miller said. “The KLIMA pruning machine is a cane pruning system
that reduces costs during the pruning process. We developed a cross arm that
can adapt any existing trellis system over to be compatible with the KLIMA
pruning machine. In addition, working with a grower on the Central Coast, we
developed an extension that can be added in the early years of a high-wire
system to help with the spur positions in the initial development of the
vineyard.”
University of Missouri Extension Services
offers a comprehensive article that provides great detail in preparing for
mechanized viticulture or preparing an existing vineyard for mechanization. It
advises producers to first “develop a working knowledge of the abilities,
limitations and requirements of currently available equipment.” Also included
in this analysis is the importance of site selection, vineyard design, cultivar
selection and trellising.
“At present, single curtain, cordon-trained
systems are the most conducive to full vineyard mechanization. Examples include
the high bilateral cordon, mid-wire cordon with VSP and the Smart-Dyson and
Ballerina systems. Of these, the former two are often preferred for their
simplicity in management, and selection of either should be based upon cultivar
growth and bearing habit, anticipated vine size and revenues and other site or
regionally-specific considerations.”
Basic touchstones for existing vineyards
include close examination of trunks and cordons, as well as the density of
canes and spurs; investigating the cost of repairing or retrofitting the
trellis; and reasons for sagging between posts, whether it’s due to falling end
assemblies, excessive line post spacing or inadequate tension prior to cordon
establishment. U of M Extension offers an extensive checklist for established
growers considering more mechanized operations.
The Columbia Gorge Wine Region is defined by the Columbia River
that cuts through the Cascade Mountain Range, as well as the Missoula Floods
that scoured the region 15,000 years ago. Within this compact 40-mile region
that includes Washington State and Oregon, lies the Columbia Gorge American
Viticulture Area (AVA), as well as a portion of the Columbia Valley AVA.
Lewis and Clark first made
the Gorge famous during their 1805 passage to the Pacific Ocean, when they
found this was the only sea-level passage through the Cascades. However, the
first signs of this region’s winemaking potential did not occur until the 1880s
when the Jewitt family, founders of the town of White Salmon in Washington
State, first planted American vines.
Soon other pioneer
families followed suit with some of their original vines still standing. Case
in point, during this time period, Italian stonemason Louis Comini planted
Zinfandel wines in a vineyard located in The Dalles, Oregon. In 1982, Lonnie
Wright, owner of the Pines 1852 Vineyard and Winery, rediscovered this now
abandoned vineyard and nursed the vineyard back to health. He continues to grow
grapes used for their Old Vine Zinfandel.
In the 1970s, other
contemporary pioneers began experimenting growing grapes on the south-facing
slopes of the Underwood Mountain in Washington State. Over the ensuing two
decades, well known wine makers began exploring the grapes of this region, and
the Columbia Gorge AVA was established formally in 2004.
A founding member of the Columbia Gorge AVA and co-founder of Syncline
Wine Cellars (Lyle, Washington), James Mantone made his first batch of
wine in 1999 at Syncline using Pinot Noir grown at Celilo Vineyard, one of the
oldest vineyards in Washington State. Early on, Mantone saw the potential of
this area for winemaking. He describes his pull to this area. “We were
attracted by the tortured topography, the jumbled soils, the varied aspects and
elevations of the hills, the influence of the Cascades cooling the nights, the
winds shaping vine photosynthesis, the marginal climate. Here was a place that
could reward the winemaker with intimate sites that have the potential to
produce grapes unique from neighboring sites.”
Rachael Horn, head wine maker and
owner of AniChe Cellars in Underwood, Washington, describes the
Columbia Gorge AVA as edgy, literally, and fringe in all kinds of ways. “We can
grow a variety of fruit in the Gorge, due to a banana belt micro marine-climate
while being surrounded by Continental climes.” She adds how these growing
conditions produce a high degree of acid in fruit. “This keeps our wines fresh
and less concentrated than nearby regions. Our diurnal difference is often 30
degrees or more, which facilitates the retention of native acids.”
While the Pacific
Northwest has become renowned for their juicy red wines, the diverse terroir of
this region can produce grapes of almost every varietal. In fact, the Columbia
Gorge AVA has the distinction of being one of the few wine growing areas in
Washington State where white grape planting exceeds red grape planting with
white grapes constituting about 64 percent of the total grape harvest.
The more western vineyards
possess a cool, marine influenced climate ideal for cool-weather loving white
varietals such as Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Chardonnay which
are known for their crisp acidity. This area also produces bold reds such as
Pinot Noir that grow well in this lush environment. Some of these western
vineyards such as AniChe Cellars can be dry-farmed, as the soil receives
upwards of 40 inches of precipitation annually, and does not require additional
irrigation.
Conversely, eastern
vineyards with their continental high desert climate replete with abundant
sunshine and just 10 inches of annual rainfall are perfect for growing
hot-weather Rhône and Bordeaux along with Italian varietals such as Zinfandel,
Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Barbera.
Steve Bickford, one of the owners of the
family-owned Mt. Hood Winery situated just outside the town of Hood
River, observes how the local weather informs the grapes they chose to grow at
their vineyard versus those grapes they decide to purchase from other AVAs.
”The west end is cooler,
wetter and with less overall heat units needed for ripening. So, we grow many
white wine grapes on the west end in Hood River, and a few reds; mostly Pinot
Noir. The east end of the AVA is drier and hotter, and conducive to the bigger
reds, like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah, So we buy some grapes from
our eastern friends.”
Even within a single
vineyard, one can find a vast array of wines. For example, Nate
Ready,
Farmer/Winemaker, for Hiyu Wine Farm near Hood River, Oregon,
opines how the different kind of microorganisms, plants, animals, and humans
living in a symbiotic system allow him to grow 107 grape varietals. He creates
12 complex field blends through practices such as grafting multiple varieties
on to one plant. Here Ready is inspired by natural mutations that happen over
time with an eye toward history. He notes, “Each planting is a field blend
based on a different moment in the European history of the grapevine.”
Ready chose to situate his
30-acre family farm about 22 miles from the summit of Mt. Hood because he
wanted to raise animals and garden in a way that resembles nature more than
agriculture. “It works for all kinds of grapes because its a diverse and happy
place to be a living, growing, being free of pesticides, herbicides, chemicals,
and unnecessary human intervention.”
Graham Markel launched
Buona Notte Wines, an Italian leaning winery, after working as an assistant
winemaker for Hiyu. While the Gorge is not as diverse as the Italian peninsula,
he finds places that grow different Italian varietals. Currently, Markel works
with seven different vineyards for the seven different varietals that he makes.
“Every vineyard is completely unique and seems to fit that varietal so well. I
get Sauvignon Blanc form the cliffs of Underwood and Sangiovese from the
rolling wheat fields just east of The Dalles. The two vineyards couldn’t be
more different, and are only about 40 miles apart.”
Luke Bradford, proprietor of Cor
Cellars
wanted to grow the kinds of grapes that would produce the wines he encountered
during his trips to Europe such as the wines of Boudreaux and the Mosel, as
well as the wines of central and southern Italy. “We wanted to be located in a
cooler climate region while still having access to the warmer climate grapes.”
Currently, their white wines are made using grapes grown in the Columbia Gorge
while they get the grapes for their red wines from the neighboring Horse Heaven
Hills AVA.
According to the Columbia
Gorge Winegrowers Association, fifty wineries reside in this region with 95% of
these boutique wineries producing 5,000 or fewer cases of wine each year. These
wineries gatherer their grapes from over ninety vineyards (1,300+ vineyard
acres planted) within this wine region, as well as surrounding AVAs with a
focus on sustainable and organic farming practices.
Given this boutique nature
of the Columbia Gorge AVA, an event such as the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire had a
very detrimental impact on that year’s harvest. In summer of 2019, neighboring
Phelps Creek Vineyards, Mt. Hood Winery
and Stave & Stone Wine Estates, launched National Forest Week to help
rebuild the hiking trails damaged in this fire. They released 8,376 bottles of
three Pinot Noirs made with grapes from this fiery vintage. Each bottle sold
generated $3 for the National Forest Foundation’s Eagle Creek Fire Restoration
Fund.
Moving forward, ventures
such as the Columbia Gorge Express enable tourists without a car to travel from
Portland, Oregon to Hood River to explore the town’s numerous tasting rooms,
along with three breweries (Ferment Brewing, Double Mountain Brewery and Pfriem
family breweries) and Hood River Distilling, home to brands such as Clear Creek
Distilling and McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt.
Also, the East Gorge Food
Trail worked with the Columbia Gorge Tourism Alliance to develop agrotourism
within the region by focusing on local businesses that source ingredients
within 150 miles. They chose to focus on the Eastern part of the Gorge this
area was not as well developed for tourism as areas such as the towns of Hood
River and Cascade Locks and areas like Mt. Hood. They designed a self-guided
tour covering Mosier (pop. 433) to The Dalles (pop. 13,631) or The Dalles to
Durfur (pop. 638). These tours encompass ten historic orchards and farms,
restaurants, and seven wineries (15 Mile Winery, Analemma Wines, Garnier Vineyards,
Idiot’s Grace Wines, Moody Tollbridge Winery, Sunshine Mill Winery, and Tierra
de Lobos Winery).
As they are at the
beginning stages of this project, they hope to continue knitting together the
stories that can connect people to the terroir and tastes of the Columbia Gorge
AVA.
Many winemakers overlook some of the practical control aspects of
minimizing Brettanomyces [Brett] growth in their wines. This article will address some of the items
and their circumstances that we should keep in mind while working with our
juices and wines. This article is more a
reflection of experience than one jammed with technical data. It is assumed the reader knows and is aware of
Brettanomyces. To better understand what
a Brett microbe might look like please see the author’s portrayal photograph. This is obviously humor ladies and gentleman
to set the stage.
Cleanliness
No doubt – the first
aspect of controlling Brett is cleanliness.
A dirty cellar with poor equipment hygiene will make keeping most
bacteria/yeast in the wines in check almost impossible to achieve. A sound, clean winery will be the assumed
premise of this article. Where you take your pomace after pressing should enter
your mind in respect to Brett. Insects
from the pomace pile may not just stay at the pomace pile and they may assist
in moving brett from the pomace pile to your open bin fermentation vessels or
other winemaking contact surfaces, etc
Chemistry
Most seasoned winemakers
realize certain pH levels and free sulfur dioxide levels have limiting affects
on many bacteria and spoilage yeasts.
This article will assume the winemaker has his/her finger on the pulse
of their wines’ chemistries and understands these chemistry relationships and
their influence on the wine. This
article is looking beyond the normal sound winemaking techniques one should
already have in place.
Temperature
Most wine bacteria grow
more rapidly at higher temperatures. If
a winemaker keeps their wines stored, after alcoholic and malolactic
fermentation, at or near 50 degrees F one will keep most damaging bacteria
greatly in check. It is the author’s
understanding Brettanomyces can grow in a free SO2 of 27 ppm when the ambient
temperature of the wine is 65 degrees F. The author has greatly used this
understanding as a winemaking tool.
Often the author will
speak with winery owners to negotiate this agreement: “If I can keep the cellar
very cold (near 50 degrees F) in the summer months I will trade off little to
no heat in the cellar during the winter.”
[This does exclude the lab area that should remain near 68 degrees F for
most proper lab functions] This is in
essence a wash financially, in most regions, but a great help to the
wines.
In practice, on the
average, what may happen is the winery may bottom out in the cold months at
40-45 F and near a short-term peak of 65 degrees F during the summer
months. This small upward spike in temp,
time wise, is minimal, given the colder months average, which most bacteria,
Brett included, have no to little chance to bloom. It is recommended one use this tool to his /
her advantage and the author will often use the colder months after harvest to
store his red wines at reasonably low free SO2 values to help soften and evolve
the wines during the early months of aging the wine. By the warmer months, one should bring the
free sulfur dioxide level up to that appropriate to combat undesirable
microbes. Try using temperature as your
primary tool and if you haven’t built your winery – don’t skimp on
cooling!
When using cold wine storage as your winemaking tool, keep in mind
more gases dissolve in cold liquids than warm liquids. This can be used to an advantage to soften or
“micro-ox” some wines but make sure not to exceed what a wine can handle. Also, understand a wine may evolve slower at
lower temperatures since most reactions also slow at lower temperatures. Wines are no exception to these rules of
science.
Racking Timely
Aging red wines on yeast
lees for an extended period of time can be a stylistic tool in a winemaker’s
tool box. Further note these lees may
contain unwanted spoilage yeast and microbes from the harvested fruit and/or
equipment used to harvest/process the fruit.
If a red wine is stored on its lees it may be more likely to have a
Brett bloom since most literature cites certain yeast/Brett populations are
greatly reduced by racking the wine off the yeast lees.
Research tests on these
lees may show active Brett populations that may not have bloomed, just after
the yeast alcoholic fermentation. If
there is any doubt as to the condition of the lees, rack early after
fermentation to reduce yeast/bacteria-starting loads.
Vacuum Storage
Many winemakers store and
age their cleanly racked red wines in barrel with solid silicone bungs tightly
inserted. Many new cellars have humidity
control to help prevent the “angel’s breath” loss of wine from the barrel. The same cellars may not be very cool
especially in caves since the author has noted some caves, on the west coast,
to be at between 62 and 65 degrees F without additional cooling. With additional cooling, one should allow the
humidity to drop to a level that evaporation does happen. Barrels, with a vacuum in them, are less
likely to develop spoilage issues due to a sound food science principal that
few to no bacteria/yeast can grow in a vacuum.
With normal topping of the
barrels, say every 4-6 weeks, one will keep most unwanted microbes in check, including
brettanomyces. [The author has no data whatsoever that Brett cannot grow in a
vacuum – only practical hands on data for this statement.]
Topping Barrels
As mentioned earlier
barrels may be a great aging vessel; yet, many are unclear as to when and how
to top. Topping barrels can be a
stylistic tool even down to the frequency of topping. In relationship to this article, make sure
the topping wine for your barrels is Brett free. One doesn’t want to make the wrong choice of
a Brett infected wine source and unknowingly spread that culture throughout the
winery spanning a number of barrels. The
author chooses to use similar wine known to be free from Brett of filtered
wine, to the proper micron level, that Brett should not be an issue. Topping, as mentioned in previous articles,
can be a major potential source of cross-contamination.
Filtrations
It is the authors
understanding that Brettanomyces yeast has a size range of near 0.80 to 1.1
microns. With this in mind, we can
understand better what size filtrations may be needed to reduce or eliminate
the potential of Brett.
Filtration can be done at
anytime during the wines life; but, if successful, with the storage and aging
of the wines in the cellar one may just consider the filtration at or near
bottling to be the safety net needed as a “just in case” measure.
Assuming all malic acid
and fermentable sugar have been depleted, one may consider a 0.8 or 0.65 micron
absolute pore size filtration. Care must
be taken to keep the pressure down during the filtration step to make sure
excess pressure doesn’t allow the yeast to formidably shoulder through the
filter media. In some cases, winemakers
and bottling lines have had to use a 0.65 micron rated filter since the 0.8
micron absolute filter can be difficult to obtain at writing of this article.
Summary
It should be clear to the
reader that beyond sound winemaking basics the best and less invasive control
of Brettanomyces in fine wine making is temperature. If winemakers don’t mind roughing it through
the winter months, for the sake of the wine, they will be greatly rewarded in
the summer months with a lavishly cool cellar.
It is highly recommended
we all do this in the honor of fine wine making! For the sake of your wine keep the cellar
cool and Brettanomyces should be of little to no concern in your clean wine
cellar!
References:
Amerine, M.A., Berg, H.W.,
Cruess,W.V. 1972. The Technology of Wine Making
Verbal discussion
with: Mr. Jacques Boissenot, Mr. Jacques
Recht, Mr. Joachim Hollerith, Mr. Chris Johnson and Mr. Pete Johns.
Short Course:
• Trade cooling in the
summer for limited heat in the winter in the cellar.
