Whether we’re considering leaf pullers, harvesters, sprayers or some other piece of machinery, good vineyard management starts with the right equipment. Properly matched vineyard equipment helps necessary tasks get completed on time, and are crucial to running and maintaining the efficient operation and growing conditions that lead to a successful harvest. Additionally, having the proper vineyard equipment available saves time and money by reducing the number of working hours while contributing to larger, more bountiful harvests and heartier crops.
However, the proper vineyard equipment,
(including the amount you’re willing to spend on them), can be subjective, so
it’s always recommended that you research and get the equipment that’s best
suited for your specific situation.
Labor
And Resource Saving Spray Systems
“The right equipment for your vineyard always comes down to your needs,” says Willie Hartman, President and owner of Oregon-based On Target Spray Systems, a manufacturer of next-generation electrostatic sprayers. “Your most used, and subsequently, most needed, vineyard equipment indicates how important the task is to you and your vineyard. So, in our case, we ask how important spraying is compared with the other tasks in your vineyard management process.”
The answer depends on the amount of time and
money spent on spraying throughout the production cycle. A significant issue
over the past couple of years, especially on the East Coast, has been the need
for more disease and pest control, and vineyards have increased their spraying
to combat these issues. Vineyard managers have been tasked with finding the
most efficient way to achieve consistently better coverage with the least cost.
On Target electrostatic sprayers can provide just that, leading to better
results than standard sprayers.
“Now, more than ever, it’s extremely important that you use a sprayer that provides complete overall coverage,” said Hartman. “It’s easier to control mildew early on when you’re able to apply spray coverage both over and under leaves while also wrapping around the vines themselves. When you spray with electrostatic sprayers, you’re using less water while saving time and money.
“A standard sprayer will typically use one hundred gallons per acre sprayed, whereas our electrostatic sprayers will only use twenty gallons over that same area. We can spray ten acres versus a standard sprayer’s two acres using the same two-hundred-gallon tank. That’s an opportunity to immediately reduce your tank fills by 80%. Add in the time lost because of return trips to refill the tanks, and you can see that valuable time can be recovered using electrostatic sprayers. Less overall material to spread means less time spent on the tractor, saving money on fuel and man-hours. By using less water, we concentrate our spray, resulting in less runoff, minimal drift, and improved chemistry coverage. This increased performance is especially important in having the ability to move away from systemic treatments and stay with contact treatments such as those needed in the organic farming industry.”
Along with the extended use available with
electrostatic sprayers, Hartman tells The Grapevine Magazine that it’s vital to
perform an exact application when spraying, so from their largest to smallest
sprayers, they all leave the shop with rate controllers.
“The most important maintenance issue for
sprayers is rinsing after use,” said Hartman. To make this as easy and
economical as possible, his sprayers all have onboard rinsing tanks that are
accessible with the flip of a switch. Additionally, all of the components
needed for droplet charging in electrostatic spraying are separately enclosed,
including liquid, air and the twelve-volt power source.
“And now, we’re making our sprayers smaller,
lighter and even more economical,” says Hartman. “This is great news for
smaller growers because our three-point trailered electrostatic sprayers can be
used with smaller tractors. A very popular model is our one-hundred-gallon
trailer that only requires 20 horsepower to operate. And when you use smaller,
less expensive tractors combined with smaller sprayer units, you get the
additional benefit of less ground compaction.”
Multi-Use Equipment For Efficiency And Cost Savings
Bill Reiss, owner of BDI Machinery Sales Inc., has seen it all. So he knows that there’s a lot that goes into the management of a vineyard, including the inherent belief that when it’s all said and done, it’s always the vineyard manager’s personal decision on how best to run their vineyard. Reiss doesn’t want to sell anything that won’t help the vineyard manager improve the land.
“It’s not just about the right equipment,
it’s about the equipment that’s available to you,” says Reiss. “The equipment
that you want may not be economically feasible if you are a small vineyard. You
won’t have the spending money to invest in a lot of specialty equipment, so
it’s imperative as a supplier to always be looking for time and labor-saving
ways to get things done. Some vineyard equipment may be good in one region but
not useful at all in another growing region. Most decisions are made based on
the timing of the growing and harvesting process. There may be tasks that
you’re willing to do by hand, but is that going to put you behind on other
critical tasks? Can you get it done on time? Are there better ways to get that
task done and stay on the critical timeline of your vineyard management?”
Reiss and BDI Machinery stay focused on tools
that have multiple, useful functions for vineyard owners. Their leaf pullers come
as attachments, hooked onto a frame that can be attached to a tractor.
“The latest trend in leaf pullers has been to
use the air impulse pruners,” says Reiss. “A controlled blast of air shatters
the leaves away from the plant. These have been around since the nineties, but
better technological developments have made them trendy now, especially on the
East Coast. Earlier models included a simple fan that used velocity to suck
leaves into an impeller blade to be chopped up, and the double drum leaf pullers,
still being sold and in use today.”
With additional attachments available that
can be attached to the same frame, a single tractor can now be used for hedge
clearing, pruning and suckling removal. Once these implements are hooked up to
a tractor with hydraulic capacity, they’re controlled with a joystick for
safety and comfort.
“Now you’re helping your clients have access
to more machinery at less cost,” says Reiss.
“They’re only having to buy the attachments that they need for their
specific vineyard process. This is good for immediate tasks, but also future
planning. Additional attachments can be purchased later on an as-needed basis,
knowing that they already own the base frame and tractor needed to use them.”
Reiss tells The Grapevine Magazine
that
rather than concentrating on one single piece of equipment, BDI is always on
the cutting edge of new technology regarding all vineyard machinery. They are
continually looking for new ways to be economically and environmentally
friendly while creating the ideal tool for grape growers and wineries.
Whether Large Or Small Operation, Grape Harvesters Save Money And Time
Jesse Willms, Operations Manager, and Duarte Oliveira, Sales and Customer Relations forLakeview Vineyard Equipment Inc., know the importance of keeping costs down in the vineyard. Anchored in this knowledge is the belief that every vineyard, no matter the size, should look to mechanical harvesting as a way to reduce labor costs and increase the quality of their harvest.
“Mechanical grape harvesters perform great
for all grape varietals,” says Willms. “Some adjustments need to be made
depending on the grape that is going to be harvested because each variety does
pick differently and at different stages of ripeness. With the correct setup,
modern harvesting machines can provide 100% picking rates and zero loss.
“With the increased potential of finding
quality used harvesters, as well as the many choices when buying new, there are
reasonable options for all sizes of wineries and growers to take advantage of
mechanical harvesting machines,” says Oliveira.
However, before choosing a grape harvester,
consideration has to be given to a vineyard’s unique set up and layout. There
are different machines to handle the different growing styles, including Geneva
Double Curtain, Smart-Dyson or Vertical Shoot Positioned. The terrain and
landscape slope of a vineyard will dictate the need for a two-wheel or
four-wheel-drive system. The correct choice of harvester for a vineyard will
also be determined by the width of the rows, as there are different sized
harvesters made for both wide and narrow spacing needs.
“Once the size of the grape harvester is
determined, look for a harvester with on-board destemming and sorting,” says
Willms. “On-board sorting equipment has evolved recently and continues to be a
focal point of the mechanical harvesting function. With on-board sorting, you
lower the amount of interaction between material other than grapes (MOG) and
recently harvested fruit. Just as importantly, the sticks, leaves and stems are
left in the vineyard to be worked back into the soil. Providing MOG free grapes
with low maceration is the goal, even in challenging post-frost or rotten fruit
conditions. Ultimately, with the ability to automatically remove the MOG, you
increase the ability to deliver your harvest in a more efficient and timely
manner.”
“Adding to their affordability and usefulness
factor, harvesters can often be used as over-the-row tractors as well, making
them functional for year-round use,” says Oliveira. “The picking head can be
removed from the tractor base of the machine and be replaced by different
attachments like a pre-pruner, leaf remover or multi-use sprayer.”
Oliveira tells The Grapevine Magazine that new developments have shown up in automatic steering and on-board yield mapping as well. The automatic steering is guided by a vineyard’s physical layout and landscape properties, while on-board yield mapping provides the grower with comparative, year-to-year data identifying the parts of the vineyard that are cropping heavier than others. Vineyard managers then use this information to make well-informed decisions about pruning, thinning and fertilizing for the following growing season.
Owning and running a harvester does require a bit of maintenance simply because of the number of moving parts involved, and since harvesting is a time-sensitive task, you don’t want to run the risk of breakdowns. Seasonal maintenance is always recommended, including belt and chain tightening, greasing all bearings and bushings, and annual maintenance of the on-board engine.
Grenache has the
distinction of being one of the world’s most widely planted wine grapes.
Addi-tionally, this versatile wine pairs very effectively with food. Grenache
wines have diverse levels of texture and depth with a slight spiciness that
work well with a wide range of braised, grilled and stewed meats, as well as
the milder styles of Asian cuisine.
As part of Feast Portland 2019, a regional
food and drink festival with international appeal, Hoke Harden, SWE Certified
Spirits Educator, offered an industry presentation into European Grena-che
wine. He focused on those wines that range in cost from $10 to $20. At this
reasonable price point, Harden describes the wines as “not wine you take home
and save, but wine you take home and drink.”
Although lower priced Grenache may not be the
sort of wine one ages in a cellar, these wines have a distinguished history
that belies their price tag. Carbon dating of seeds and leaves discov-ered at
archeological sites indicate Grenache was planted as early as 153 BCE. Most
likely, Gre-nache originated in the region of Spain now known as Aragon, where
it goes by the name Garna-cha. However, some have speculated the grape
originated in Sardinia, where the grape is called Cannonau.
As these vines flourish best in hot, sunny
and dry conditions, the Mediterranean climate proved to be ideal for growing
them. Grenache vines were then planted in Catalonia and then in places outside
of Spain that were under the Crown of Aragon, such as France, Corsica, Southern
Italy, Sicily, Croatia and Greece.
The old vines currently growing in the region
can be over one hundred years old. They tend to produce a finer and more
complex wine than Grenache produced in areas where the vines are much younger.
The grape comes primarily in three versions:
red—Grenache Noir, white—Grenache Blanc, and a version of white known as
Grenache Gris. The Grenache Noir is round and smooth with notes of prunes,
cherries and other red-pitted fruits. Conversely, Grenache Blanc has a
combination of floral, fruity and herbaceous notes and fresh aniseed licorice
flavors for a fleshy, mellow wine of medium intensity, a medium to high acidity
and high levels of alcohol. The Grenache Gris pro-duces pale rosés and
mineral-driven whites with copper hues and citrus notes that are fleshy, round
and elegant.
Additionally, there are two less common
Grenache grapes—the Lledoner Pelut (black) and Gar-nacha Peluda (hairy). The
Lledoner Pelut, which is a cousin to the Grenache Noir, is very similar but has
more structure and a bluer color. Garnacha Peluda, which gets its name from its
hairy leaves, has a lower alcohol content, medium acidity, aromas of red
fruits, and rapid oxidation.
From these varieties of grapes, winemakers
can produce a vast array of wines ranging from light- to full-bodied red or
white wines, as well as rosé wines, fortified wines, natural wines and
spar-kling wines. Each of these varieties is highly sensitive to the growing
conditions of a particular region. Depending on the soil, climate and
elevation, wines produced from these grapes can vary dramatically from one
appellation to another. For example, one appellation may yield full-bodied,
black-fruited wines, while a nearby region produces a more light-bodied wine
made with red fruits.
While Grenache can grow in a diverse range of
soils, the vines respond best to the schist, lime-stone and clay soils
abundantly found in Northeastern Spain and the Roussillon in southern France.
Here the grapes’ tight clusters make it a perfect choice for these hot and dry
soils. How-ever, the same tight grape clusters make Grenache prone to downy
mildew and bunch rot when grown in humid or rainy locations. Also, as the
grapes ripen relatively late, they work best in very warm regions.
Another positive attribute of these hardy and
vigorous Grenache vines is that they use less natu-ral resources than many
other vines. In fact, Grenache could be seen as the world’s most eco-friendly
and sustainable grape. As this grape adapts to arid weather conditions, it can
be grown using environmentally friendly vineyard practices. For instance, these
vines are not dependent on rainwater because their roots can delve deep into
subterranean water tables. In addition, the plant has a robust wooden frame
that is drought and disease resistant. Often Grenache is grown as a
free-standing bush with its strong, sturdy trunk able to survive in strong
winds. In consideration of all these attributes, in 2011, the World Climate
Change and Wine Conference with Kofi An-nan in Marbella, Spain recognized
Grenache as a product well prepared for climate change.
Currently, over 90 percent of Grenache grows
in Spain and France. The regions have been certi-fied in two European Union
quality schemes: PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) and PDO (Protected
Designation of Origin). The EU established these schemes in 2012 for agricultural
commodities to ensure that the products originated in this particular region.
Also, these schemes ensure that the product has been produced in accordance
with European agricultural production methods that focus on nutrition and
health, food safety, traceability, authenticity and labeling.
Five PDO vineyards in Spain specialize in the
Grenache grape variety: Somontano, Terra Alta, Cariñena, Calatayud, and Campo
de Borja. Within these regions exists 5,500 wine growers and 144 wineries, with
Grenache repenting about 40% of their vineyards. (Other varieties are
Tem-pranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah). Rosé and White Grenache is grown
in the Terra Alta PDO, while Red Grenache is the main variety grown in the
other four PDOs.
Roussillon in France houses 2,200 winemaker
families, 25 co-ops and 350 private cellars. The varied topography of this
region produces a wide variety of Grenache grapes that can create a range of
wine styles, including dry still wines and fortified sweet wines.
Most of the reviews about Grenache wines tend
to focus on blends such as the Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine blend from France’s
southern Rhône Valley. French winemakers discovered this va-riety in their
search for a grape that would add alcohol, body and fruity flavors to their
existing wines. Other noted blends made using Grenache can be found in
Gigondas, and in the Priorat reds produced in the Priorat county, situated in
the southwest of Catalonia in the province of Tar-ragona. Many of these wines tend
to carry a significantly higher price tag than the moderately priced wines
highlighted by Harden, with select bottles garnering a price as high as
$800.
Although the busy days of harvest are now behind us, there isn’t
much time for vineyard staff to sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of their
labor. Now begins the important task of pruning, and winter is the ideal time
to separate healthy wood from the dead and damaged. Whether you’ve just started
vineyard operations or have been running a vineyard for decades, it never hurts
to be reminded of the best dormant pruning practices and learn about emerging
technology to make this vineyard task easier.
The Purpose of Pruning
Dormant pruning is
critical to grape growing because it maintains the training system, allows
operators to select fruiting wood, and manipulates the quality of fruit
produced. It helps maintain vine form, regulates the position and number of
shoots on a vine, improves fruit quality, stabilizes production and improves
bud fruitfulness through careful bud placement and selection. Pruning is also
an opportunity to get control over weeds, identify vine diseases and address
pest concerns before they become significant issues.
When to Prune
As a general rule, dormant
pruning can be done anytime between leaf drop in the fall and bud break in the
spring. Vineyards around the country may start pruning right after Thanksgiving
into mid-December, but this tedious job usually extends through March. Some
vineyards wait until January to begin their dormant pruning because this is
when the canes become woody.
Jordan Lonborg,
viticulturist at Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles, California, told The Grapevine Magazine that his vineyard chooses when to prune largely based on weather.
“We typically start
pruning in January,” he said. “But the majority of pruning takes place in
February and March.”
Vineyards may postpone
pruning to assess cold injury better and adjust pruning levels to compensate
for losses. Double pruning is sometimes used to avoid spring frost injury.
However, the availability of labor in the winter months has a big impact on
when vineyards do their pruning as well.
“Pruning your grapes too
early in the season is a mistake that novices make that can result in no fruit
production,” Randy Killion, president of Zenport Industries in Sherwood, Oregon told The Grapevine Magazine. Zenport manufactures and markets professional and consumer
specialty horticulture tools and supplies for the lawn and garden, landscape,
irrigation and agriculture markets.
“If low temperatures and strong winds follow pruning, it’s very
possible that the pruned parts will freeze,” Killion said. “This will make you
lose all or part of your crop. Therefore, it’s recommended that pruning is
delayed until February.”
Types of Pruning
Cane pruning is most
commonly used for grape varieties that have low natural fruitfulness on the
basal buds. This type of pruning requires vineyards to replace the one-year-old
canes annually.
Spur pruning is most often used for high fruitfulness varieties and is relatively easy to do. This is the most popular method of pruning among vineyards today, particularly for grape varieties like Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Meanwhile, head training
is sometimes practiced by vineyards without trellising. While this practice is
economical, it’s important to watch for rot and mildew, as well as congested
canopies that can topple under their own weight.
“We spur prune the
majority of the vineyard because 65% of the vineyard is on trellis,” said
Lonborg. “Ten percent of the vineyard is cane pruned as well. A majority of the
cane pruning occurs on Syrah and Viognier due to their vigorous nature.”
Disease Identification and Weeding While Pruning
Grapevine diseases can
occur at any time of the year, but the winter season is a useful time to check
plants for abnormalities and take action. Some of the most common diseases that
grapevines experience are Pierce’s disease, phylloxera, downy mildew, powdery
mildew, gray mold, black rot and vine truck diseases such as Petri disease and
black measles.
While pruning, keep an eye
out for discolored lesions that are red, brown or black. Other signs of disease
are curling leaves, weak or short shoots, rapid wilting and shriveled leaves or
grape clusters. Also, look for grapes covered in a gray or tan powder or leaves
with yellow edges.
However, a visual
diagnosis may not be sufficient, and it may require laboratory analysis to
identify certain bacterial and fungal diseases correctly. To protect the
healthy plants in the vineyard, promptly remove diseased wood and either burn
it (if your area allows burning) or add it to the green waste bin to be hauled
away.
Pruning and weeding go
hand-in-hand around this time of year, and there are important factors to
consider when developing a vineyard weed control program for the dormant
months. Nicola Rinieri of Rinieri S.R.L. in Forlì, Italy, told The Grapevine Magazine that customers must think about the conditions and their most
common practices. For example, vineyards in the Northeast hill up the soil to
protect the vines, which requires specialized equipment. Rinieri provides
agricultural machinery for vineyard processing, pruning machines, offset
machines, in-and-out rotary tillers and cultivators.
Pruning Tools and Supplies
While the process of
pruning may seem simple enough, some specific tools and supplies help get the
job done right in the most efficient way possible. The most basic hand tools
needed for pruning are a few good pairs of pruning shears, loppers and saws.
Vineyards also use hand-held scales to measure pruning weights and ribbons,
garden tape or cloth strips to identify fruiting canes and renewal spurs.
There are pros and cons to
both manual and mechanical pruning, and decisions in this regard are often the
result of long-standing vineyard traditions.
“All of our vineyard is
manually pruned,” said Lonborg. “Maintaining the proper structure of the vine
is of the utmost importance when producing high-quality fruit.”
Rinieri said a common
mistake that vineyards make when doing mechanical pre-pruning is trying to use
a machine to do a job where it’s not appropriate in the vineyard.
“It is common to have the
wires not tighten enough so the machine can catch them or to have a cross arm
so wide that the machine cannot open enough to avoid them,” she said. “This was
happening many times in the past, but fortunately not as often lately.”
Amanda Van Hoorn, operations manager for INFACO USA in Livermore, California, told The Grapevine Magazine that the F3015 Electrocoup pruning shear with a patented safety system is popular among vineyards for pruning purposes. The history of INFACO dates back to 1984 when M. Daniel Delmas invented the world’s first electric shears. Today, INFACO offers a versatile and compatible product line that also includes an electrical tying device, electric olive harvester and battery-powered tools.
“No other company offers
the safety and versatility of the F3015 Electrocoup shear,” Van Hoorn said.
“Specifically, we offer a patented safety system that ensures workers won’t
injure their non-pruning hands. Users can also increase cutting capacity by
just changing the head on the shear. This means that vineyard managers can use
the same tool for cane pruning, converting vineyards and cutting out Eutypa.
The shear’s battery is also compatible with a variety of other INFACO tools for
vineyards, including an electric tie gun and suckering tool.”
Killion of Zenport Industries told The Grapevine Magazine about the wide selection of quality hand pruners, loppers and saws that Zenport offers, as well as the company’s series of battery-powered pruners. Popular Zenport products are the Zenport EP108 CORDLESS ePruner, a 0.5-inch cut battery-powered electric pruner, and the Zenport EP2-778 ePruner, a 1.25-inch cut battery-powered electric pruner.
“These two pruners are
immensely popular for vineyard use because of reduced fatigue upon workers,
dramatically increasing pruning efficiency and speed,” Killion said. “Both
pruners enable the user to prune for an entire day.”
Meanwhile, Rinieri offers
two types of machines for pruning, called CPL, and each type has four different
sizes based on cutting length. “It is important to find out if a vineyard is
cordon or guyot and then decide which length the customer needs,” Rinieri
said.
Rinieri also sells many
weeding tools, including Bio-Dynamic, TURBO with hoeing blade, plow kit and
Bio-Dynamic tools, and TURBO EVO with power harrow, disc hoeing units, mini
shredder plus the blade and plow. These units are available with single or
double side blades. Other offerings are the EL power harrow single-side, FS
tiller single-side, and EP heavy-duty power harrow – all PTO driven.
FELCO can also be counted on to help vineyards prepare for the winter season, and it has been producing high-quality pruning tools for 75 years. FELCO’s Ryan Amberg told The Grapevine Magazine about their newest tool, the FELCO 822, launched just this year.
“It maintains its
predecessor’s position as the most powerful electronic pruner on the market
with new features, such as HSS XPRO blades for increased longevity, smaller
multi-position power pack for ergonomics, and the first-of-its-kind
connectivity for future vineyard management applications,” Amberg said. “If you
are looking for a solution to carpal tunnel or a solution to a lack of labor,
the FELCOtronic can be a real solution this winter.”
Pruning Considerations and Tips
Proper pruning practices
come with time and wisdom collected over many winter seasons. Being prepared
and having a plan in place for dormant pruning is always a good idea, but it is
also necessary to be flexible in case weather, the labor supply, or other
factors throw a wrench in your plans.
Van Hoorn of INFACO USA
said that labor is a huge factor when planning for pruning and buying new
pruning tools.
“The labor crisis is here
to stay, and with it comes increased prices for every operation in the
vineyard,” she said. “Proper pruning is crucial to producing great grapes but
is one of the most labor-intensive tasks on the vineyard. The F3015 pruning shear
from INFACO has shown an average productivity increase for vineyards of 30% and
also increases the number of years workers can continue pruning. Powered
pruners have an inherent risk, though, and that’s why the F3015 pruning shear
features a patented safety system to protect workers’ non-pruning hands. There
is no doubt that this is becoming a must-have tool for vineyard managers who
need to find ways to use less labor and keep their best workers.”
Van Hoorn said vineyards
should, “Switch to an electric shear before the labor market chews you up and
spits you out!”
Killion of Zenport
reminded vineyard managers that pruning tools are used extensively, and
battery-powered pruners, in particular, need to be serviced periodically.
“Choose a manufacturer
that stocks replacement parts, like blades and bumpers,” Killion said. “For
electric pruners, it is imperative that a service center with quick turnaround
is available.”
Killion also said it is crucial to identify last year’s growth
because this is where the coming season’s fruit will form.
“The wood where the fruit
is produced on the last year’s growth will have a different color than the
older wood that can’t produce fruit,” Killion said. “You will usually be able
to identify the last year’s wood because of its reddish color.”
Rinieri of Rinieri S.R.L.
said that the main factors to consider are the size of the vineyard and row
width.
“When a vineyard is large
in size, it needs a quick machine, like Bio-Dynamic, TURBO or TURBO EVO,” she
said. “If it is small, it can use EL, FS or EP. Also, finding out what type of
work a vineyard wants to do is important because some machines can use
different working heads, like TURBO EVO and TURBO, with no power tools. The
width of the row is important because all machines have a range of widths in
which they can work.”
Amberg of FELCO said that
three things should come to mind when purchasing new tools: the application of
the product, the longevity of the product, and the ability to maintain the
product. Product application is vital for improving vineyard ergonomics, which
is why FELCO offers so many different hand pruner models.
“We believe ergonomics are
key in a high-stress pruning environment like the vineyard,” Amberg said. “A
tool should be bought, taking into consideration hand size, left or
right-handedness and average cut diameter. We make tools for all varieties of
these combinations.”
Regarding longevity,
Amberg said hand tools are the workhorse of a vineyard crew’s arsenal during
pruning season, which means they are put under a lot of stress and abuse.
“This is why we protect
our tools with military-grade aluminum handles, as well as our precise
manufacturing process that allows these tools to tolerate the stress of
intensive pruning without issue,” he said. “Look for tools that are built to
last and that you will not replace multiple times in a season.”
Amberg also pointed to
proper maintenance as a way to get more life out of your tools and extend your
return on investment.
“We build our tools so
that with just simple blade and spring changes, you can maintain your tool for
a lifetime,” Amberg said. “This means on any aluminum-handled FELCO, all parts
can be changed and replaced with ease, thanks to our precision machining. We produce
our tools out of an old watch factory in Switzerland, giving us the ability to
put tools back together hundreds of times without any give in the mechanics.”
However, it doesn’t matter
what tool you use if you start too early, said Longborg of Tablas Creek. “If
you have the ability to wait as long as possible, do so!” he said. “If you can
wait to prune until the vines start bleeding, you greatly reduce the risk of
Eutypa infection.”
A new project breaking ground this year in British Columbia’s
Okanagan Valley aims to bring together small-batch wine, beer, cider and spirit
producers to create Canada’s first “wine vil-lage.” Here visitors can explore
craft beverages and culinary delights created by up-and-coming craft beverage
producers.
District Wine Village
(DistrictWineVillage.com) will be surrounded by vineyards and will include
production facilities and consumer-facing tasting rooms for 16 producers, as
well as a 600-person entertainment and event center and on-site eateries.
Beverage producers will benefit from shared resources, such as a communal crush
pad.
According to spokesperson
Lindsay Kelm, by gathering so many craft beverage producers to-gether in one
place, the District Wine Village aims to create a tourism draw that is greater
than any new small-batch winery could create on its own.
“People are looking for
niche producers, artisans and craftspersons. It’s a trend that’s here to stay,
to support local,” Kelm said. “We’re building people up and giving them a
platform to share their story.”
The circular site is
designed in the shape of a wheel, with a partially covered pedestrian plaza and
partially covered event space at the hub, and the facilities for each producer
as the “spokes.”
Tasting rooms and event facilities will face the interior of the wheel, while delivery trucks can load and unload grapes, bottles or other material with the help of an on-site operational team directly into each facility through doors facing the perimeter. Producers who lease space in the village will also benefit from a streamlined licensing process, and co-operative marketing and PR.
Each of the 16 “pods” will
feature a fully-equipped production area complete with tanks, hoses and other
equipment, which will be leased to the craft beverage producer. Also included
in each space is a customer-facing tasting room and patio, which can be
designed and branded to suit each occupant. Pods will also include room for
barrel and case storage.
Kelm said the project aims
to be a launchpad for grape-growers or garagiste producers who have the passion
and skill to produce wine but lack the deep pockets needed to fund a
tradi-tional winery. Although Kelm said most spots are likely to be snapped up
by small wineries, she said other craft beverage producers also need these
kinds of spaces.
Land is expensive in the
Okanagan, Kelm said. To buy a small winery may cost between $1.5- to $3-million
at the low end. Because all the production equipment is leased to the
producers, the startup cost within the District Wine Village is much more
affordable than buying or building a dedicated space, she said.
Construction is
anticipated to begin in spring 2020. The first four to six pods will be ready by
fall 2020, and all 16 are expected to be completed by summer 2021.
The project was designed by Penticton’s Greyback Construction (http://www.greyback.com/), which was involved in building many other local wineries, including Painted Rock, Arrowleaf Cellars, Culmina, Wild Goose, Church + State, Nk’mip Cellars, Burrowing Owl and Black Hills.
In a press release announcing the project’s launch, Greyback
Construction General Manager, Matt Kenyon, said the project aims to create a
sense of community and connection among the site’s wineries, cideries,
breweries, distilleries and eateries as well as the broader region.
“We are really looking to
be a significant economic driver for our local communities and sup-port the
future growth of wine and culinary tourism in the South Okanagan,” Kenyon
said.
The District Wine Village
project is located in the small town of Oliver, in the South Okanagan, in the
heart of one of Canada’s most successful wine-producing regions. The town is
home to half of British Columbia’s vineyards and more than 40 wineries.
Although Oliver has a
year-round population of only 5,000 people, it swells with tourists in the
summer months. In the fall, the town’s population doubles during its annual
Fall Okanagan Wine Festival. The festival includes the Cask & Keg, a
brewery and distillery showcase, and the family-friendly Festival of the Grape
(http://oliverfestivalofthegrape.ca/), which features tastings from more than
50 British Columbia wineries alongside food trucks, children’s activities, and
costumed competitors in the annual Grape Stomp contest.
The town’s Half-Corked
Marathon (https://www.oliverosoyoos.com/half-corked-marathon/), a wine-soaked
fun run through scenic vineyards featuring wacky costumes, fine food,
wine-tasting and a who-cares-who-wins attitude, is another popular tourist
draw. Participants have a maximum of three and a half hours to complete the
route, which winds through as many area wineries as possible. The race is so
popular that registration is by lottery; spots in the 2020 race in May are
already all sold out. Organizers say over 8,000 people entered the lottery for
this year’s race, which was capped at 1,500 participants. Tickets are $185 and
include race entry, transportation to and from the start/finish lines, lunch,
wine and food tastings along the route, a swag bag and a bottle of the Half
Corked signature wine blend.
Approximately 84% of
British Columbia’s vineyard acreage is located in the Okanagan Valley,
according to the British Columbia Wine Institute (winebc.com), a non-profit
industry organiza-tion representing British Columbia wine producers. The 250-kilometer
valley includes four dis-tinctive sub-regions: Golden Mile Bench (located near
Oliver), Naramata Bench, Okanagan Falls and Skaha Beach. The area is warmer and
arider than California’s Napa Valley and gets almost two hours more sunlight
per day during the growing season.
Yet unlike California,
winter temperatures dip well below freezing. Area wineries began harvest-ing
frozen grapes for ice wine in late November when temperatures dropped to -8
degrees cel-sius (17.6 degrees Fahrenheit). According to the BC Wine Authority,
20 wineries registered to harvest ice wine grapes this winter, with
approximately 463 tons of grapes expected over 124 acres in the Okanagan
Valley, Similkameen Valley and the Shuswap region.
To qualify for the British
Columbia Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) certification, harvesting and pressing
of grapes for ice wine must occur in temperatures below -8 degrees Celsius.
Artificial refrigeration of grapes, juice, must or wine is prohibited.
The interior of British Columbia, which
includes the Okanagan area, is the only wine-growing region to regularly
experience the frigid temperatures required to produce ice wine.
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
