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WINE: Some Napa cab grabbing $4,000 a ton

CHARDONNAY AND EVEN MERLOT IN SHORT SUPPLY; APPELLATION RULES ON HOLD?

Though the 2008 winegrape harvest entered a mid-September lull with cool weather after accelerating during a heat spike, pricing on major North Coast varieties remains red-hot because of early-season frost and heat damage plus lack of planting or removal of vines, according to grape brokers.

Napa cabernet sauvignon, which was selling last year in the $2,000-a-ton range for fruit without a multiyear contract, at harvest this year is going for the county average of about $4,000 a ton for reasonable quality grapes, according to Jeff Popick, a North Coast representative for the marketing group Allied Grape Growers. For proven vineyards, Napa cab is commanding $5,000 to $6,000 a ton, and Solano County cab growers are getting offers at $1,000 a ton, a turnaround from give-away prices in recent years.

“There’s no question that cab has bounced back,” he said, referring to a glut of cab and merlot grapes a few years ago.

Sonoma County chardonnay tonnage appears to be 15 percent below the rolling average, according to Brian Clements of Turrentine Brokerage. “We could have sold the chardonnay we had in Napa and Sonoma twice over,” he said.

It appears the brokerage’s prognostications for the past few years of coming shortages in not just chardonnay but also cab and merlot are coming to fruition. With regulatory pressure against further North Coast vineyard development and costs escalating for materials and land to do so, loss of merlot acreage and lack of planting of chardonnay and cab likely will continue strong demand for such varieties into 2009, independent of inclement weather.

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WTN Services, the Napa-based wine fulfillment arm of 1-800-Flowers.com, has converted 80 percent of its packaging from hard-to-recycle Styrofoam shock-absorbing filler to corrugated or pulp paper cartons.

Also the company in the past year has transitioned a quarter of its shipments from air freight delivery to second-day ground transportation. WTN has 82 percent of U.S. wine consumers accessible to direct shipments within two days of truck travel of distribution warehouses in Napa Valley and Albany, N.Y., according to Chris Edwards, vice president and general manager.

To make sure prized wine arrives in prime condition, WTN now offers consumers the option of adding radio-frequency identification, or RFID, tags to their shipments. For $20 a box, the postage-stamp-size sensor made by PakSense of Boise, Idaho, will indicate with green and yellow lights whether the package temperature was within programmed parameters.

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Ten months after shaking up North Coast wine trade groups with its proposal for a dramatic change in the way the names of appellations and subappellations are defined and controlled in conjunction with an application to create a Calistoga appellation, the U.S. Tax & Trade Board at press time had yet to carry proposed rules 77 and 78 forward to a final rule.

Rumors abound that the board is backing away from its proposal to force brand holders to choose whether to mention a subappellation, also called a nested appellation, on the label or the larger appellation that contains it but not both, as is allowed now. Another alarming proposed change to groups such as Napa Valley Vintners is allowing for “grandfathered” brand names within five years of an application for an American Viticultural Area.

Should the bureau continue toward a final version of the rules, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, said he would act to intervene, saying the rules are “not good for the wine community and would be misleading to consumers.”

“In case they do, I am working with Sen. Feinstein and members of the wine community on possible legislative remedies,” he said.

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San Francisco-based industry advocacy group Wine Institute released an updated version of the International Wine Industry Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol and Calculator, developed with New Zealand Winegrowers, South Africa’s Integrated Production of Wine program and the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia.

The calculator is used to gauge an operation’s “carbon footprint” and whether it must report equivalent emissions of carbon dioxide to the state starting next year as part of the implementation of Assembly Bill 32. Future plans for the calculator include accounting for viticultural activity and incorporating figures into the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing, which includes self-assessments of winery and vineyard operations.

Speaking of self-reporting, Honig Vineyard & Winery of Rutherford is touting its first “green report card” on operations. Aspects vintner Michael Honig thinks areas that “need improvement” are using environmentally friendly cleaning products, reducing truck traffic by consolidating shipments, planting drought-tolerant landscaping and encouraging employee carpooling.

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Viansa Winery & Italian Marketplace south of Sonoma is raising the visibility of its 2-year-old corporate team-building program centered around competitive wine-blending and label creation, according to Lori Harrison, director of hospitality.

Companies can bring in a group of 12 to 220 and for $65 a person create a scenario in which teams take three Viansa wines, blend them to their tastes, create brand names and design labels then have the blends and brands judged by Viansa’s winemaking team.

“Which would you rather do, hang off a tree or get a buzz at Viansa?” Ms. Harrison asked, comparing the program to outdoor adventure team-building.

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Internet shopping mall Amazon.com is preparing to launch a wine store and has been reaching out to North Coast vintners about participating. The Seattle-based retailer is lining up direct-shipping fulfillment specialist New Vine Logistics of American Canyon to store and ship North Coast orders to consumers.

Meanwhile, Pleasanton-based grocery giant Safeway has put its plan for an Internet wine store on hold, according to New Vine, which was to fulfill the orders.

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Upcoming informational meetings include a Direct-to-Consumer Export Seminar on Oct. 9 in Napa by FedEx and Wine Institute Regional Director of Emerging Markets Eric Pope and an Internet-telephone conference on direct shipping by ShipCompliant on Oct. 16.

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Wine People

Goelet Wine Estates, which owns Clos Du Val in Napa Valley plus three Australian wineries and one in France, promoted Debra Eagle of Sonoma to general manager, overseeing the tasting room, wholesale shipping and receiving, accounts receivable, accounting and other operations beside winemaking. She came to the winery in April as vice president of marketing and still handles that function. Her 15 years in the industry includes being director of marketing at Bond in Oakville and stints at Kenwood Vineyards in Sonoma Valley, Robert Mondavi’s Oakville winery and Sutter Home Winery in St. Helena.

Also new to Clos Du Val is Les Nakagiri, CPA, of Davis as controller. He has 17 years of experience in accounting and finance, including being controller at Far Niente winery in Oakville and Charles Krug winery in St. Helena.

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Submit items for this column to

Jeff Quackenbush at 707-521-4256, jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or fax 707-521-5292.

Wine People

Goelet Wine Estates, which owns Clos Du Val in Napa Valley plus three Australian wineries and one in France, promoted Debra Eagle of Sonoma to general manager, overseeing the tasting room, wholesale shipping and receiving, accounts receivable, accounting and other operations beside winemaking. She came to the winery in April as vice president of marketing and still handles that function. Her 15 years in the industry includes being director of marketing at Bond in Oakville and stints at Kenwood Vineyards in Sonoma Valley, Robert Mondavi’s Oakville winery and Sutter Home Winery in St. Helena.

Also new to Clos Du Val is Les Nakagiri, CPA, of Davis as controller. He has 17 years of experience in accounting and finance, including being controller at Far Niente winery in Oakville and Charles Krug winery in St. Helena.

•••

Submit items for this column to Jeff Quackenbush at 707-521-4256, jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or fax 707-521-5292.