Wine Made in Your Town

What do you think about this? Is this common these days?


It's not like driving though the hills of Tuscany. The view doesn't remotely resemble the one taken in while cruising down Rt 29 from Sonoma to Napa. The air isn't quite as fresh as that of the Barossa Valley.
Getting there requires bumper-to-bumper traffic and a parking spot next to {fill in the blank with something ugly to look at}. The wine however, is damn good.

Introducing the {fill in your town} Winery. Having traveled the world and studied the trends of the wine business, I will be the first to tell you that wines made in {your town} can be as good as those made any other place on the planet. The winery is located in {your town] and ships in flash frozen grapes from California. Flash freezing has become common practice these days as a way to keep skins from popping and starting the fermentation process early. It just so happens that this also allows for anyone to make wine just about anywhere.

The industry term is custom crush and it's a phenomenon that is cropping up all over the US; quality grapes delivered to your local winery ready to crush, ferment, barrel and blend to make quality wine.

We recently tasted through a number of their reds; a Merlot, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Bordeaux Blend, and a 'Super-Tuscan.

They are typified by a pretty heavy emphasis on extraction. The colors are opaque and intense, and there is plenty of oak influence although the concentration of the wines more than adequately absorbs the barrel. In short these are very big, modern style wines; all varietaly correct and very well made.

We decided to focus on the Super Tuscan and the Cabernet Sauvignon for the purpose of this email.

The Super Tuscan is Sangiovese dominated. The nose is mostly of black cherry and blackberries. The aromas deliver on the palate with the same dark fruits, but as it finishes Sangiovese's telltale red fruit acid perks up and provides a food-friendliness and balance. There is a degree of toast from the barrel that frames the wine even further. Very good. $18.39 net

The Cabernet Sauvignon is very rich and dense. It smells of crushed dark berries and vanilla, no doubt from the oak. This is a powerhouse. It is hard to believe this is made in {your town}. Intuitively I shouldn't be surprised knowing that the fruit undoubtedly comes from a very good, warm source, but really, {your town"? Big, dense black cherry and cassis fruit abound, the tannin is very ripe and the texture is supple. Very good as well. $18.39net

Aside from making and marketing very good wine themselves, {your town} Winery offers a service somewhat unique. If you have ever had aspirations of making your own wine, visit their 12,000 square foot facility just off {fill in the blank}(next to the mainstay, the {fill in the blank} Restaurant) and simply try your hand at it.

Their staff, based off of your preferences, will source the grapes you are looking for, sell you a barrel, and walk you through the wine making process in what they describe as a 'lively social setting', all on their premises.
There are a number of benefits to making your own wine or buying from a local source. There is a degree of savings as any sort of middle level distribution is cut out, but more importantly, you know how clean it is. {Your town} Winery uses no preservatives in their winemaking.

well...(pedant hat on) I would note that one doesn't really "cruise down Route 29 from Sonoma to Napa" Sonoma is west of Napa, not north.

But...if you buy the Fred Franzia argument that wine is JUST an industrial-agricultural product. Grapes can be shipped and processed willy-nilly all around the world, then I guess why not? 90% of people won't care.

Our local grapegrowers are getting into East Coast wine shipping in a big way-it's been a successful market for them. Custom crush and home winemaking are a hit in the urban east.

...I will be the first to tell you that wines made in {your town} can be as good as those made any other place on the planet...

Looks like a familiar quote.
I also frequent a wine forum devoted to wine makers and grape growers and many of the folks on that site use such grapes, not just from CA, but also Italy and Chile. I don't make these wines, as I prefer fresh, local grapes, but I've had few of these that I received in wine exchanges and some are excellent. Kit wines (made from juice concentrates) haven't wowed me, however.

Between 'flash frozen' grape concentrate and

They are typified by a pretty heavy emphasis on extraction. The colors are opaque and intense, and there is plenty of oak influence although the concentration of the wines more than adequately absorbs the barrel. In short these are very big, modern style wines; all varietaly correct and very well made.

No thank you. No, really. Thank you, but no.

Back.away.slowly and no one gets hurt.

And your baby's not very attractive either.

Crush wineries are opening all over the world these days, indeed from New York City to the Negev Dessert in Israel and most of the people making wines at those places are hobbyist winemakers who might not otherwise have access to grapes, the necessary equipment or a guiding hand to help them along the way. I'm all for making wine as a hobby and that regardless of whether it takes place in someone's home on the islands of Corfu or Manhattan. Alas, most hobbyist wines are not all that interesting and indeed some are pretty poor.

My own policy when invited to taste such wines is always to be polite and that is not a phoniness on my part because I am enjoying sitting with the hobbyist, enjoying his/her company, even enjoying the pride they take in their wine. And because of that I do not "judge" the wines.......the event and the company being more important. Simply stated, in such cases I am not a wine critic but a person who enjoys wines and other people who enjoy wines. If/when those people decide to sell their wines I have to put on another hat and then have no choice but to tell the truth....

As to flash-frozen grapes, perhaps best for making ice wine in the winery in regions not cold enough to support true ice-wine production Alas, flash freezing does cause physical (not chemical but physical) changes in the grapes and that does impact on the quality of the wine.

Just last week ago an exhibition was held in Israel of the wines of home winemakers. As I say, I'm all for such winemakers and think this is a truly great hobby. As to drinking their wines - well, that can be quite another story. And, as to writing about/reviewig such wines, even though one local Israeli magazine did just that it turns out that most of the wines scored about 80 points.........nice entry level wines perhaps but not of much interest to sophisticated wine drinkers......unless they happen to be friends of the guy/woman who made the wine.

As a small anecdote..during the year or so that I once stole on the island of Corfu, some of my very best hours were passed with Giovane, an Italian immigrant to Greece who made wine from "strawberry grapes". Great grapes on the table, horrific once in the bottle, but Giovane and his home-made sausages were both irresitible. Much fun. Thank heavens he never tried to sell his wine.....

Best
Rogov

Still...one has to wonder...is this trend really that much more suspect than other long term trends, especially in Napa Valley:

"Mr. Toomuchmoneyopolous, and his beautiful third wife Lovey, fell in love with the Napa Valley and its agrarian lifestyle. After ten years as visionary CEO of Ponzi Scheme Equities, Ltd, Mr. Toomuchmoneyopolous purchased five acres in the steep, rocky, hills above Oakville and set about recreating his dream wine. With the help of renowned vineyard manager Jose Sol Erosion and celebrity winemaker Cynthia Oakandextraction, he is now ready to offer Toomuch Oakville Reserve Cabernet. Be sure to get on his mailing list, because this wine will sell out at the introductory price of $250 per bottle!"

Of course, the wealthy Agrarian Utopians have been around since the foundation of true cities, so who can complain? I'm probably just jealous!

And I on the other hand have always thought how nice it might be to be thought of as "a gentleman farmer". Of course only in the most countrified regions of Tuscany, England or Provence and, onlly on the condition that my countrified home would be a chateau of at least 29 rooms (and including one staircase that led absolutely nowhere)

Best
Rogov

ships in flash frozen grapes from California

Nothing new here except the scale. I worked at a winery in the mid-west that was doing this in the early 1990's. Granted they had a vineyard contract and brought back the entire harvest after doing crush on site but concept is the same. Product quality was high. No reason why this can't work on a smaller scale.

Kit wines (made from juice concentrates) haven't wowed me, however

After shunning them for years, I made one from Wine Expert last fall. Jury is still out. Decided to try it after sampling the kit wine from the guy that runs the local supply shop and finding myself plesently surprised.

...As a small anecdote..during the year or so that I once stole on the island of Corfu, some of my very best hours were passed with Giovane, an Italian immigrant to Greece who made wine from "strawberry grapes". Great grapes on the table, horrific once in the bottle, but Giovane and his home-made sausages were both irresitible. Much fun. Thank heavens he never tried to sell his wine.....

Best
Rogov

What goes around, comes around. "Strawberry grapes" are also known as Fragola and Isabella. It is just this variety that I planted last week in honor of my new granddaughter, Isabella, with whom I am visiting right now in Washington State. I also brought a bottle of a Finger Lakes Rose of Isabella to toast my new granddaughter at Jo Ann Henderson's on Saturday. Here is an interesting link: http://morselsandmusings.blogspot.com/2 ... olino.html.

[Robin Garr]

I worked at a winery in the mid-west that was doing this in the early 1990's.

Some Indiana wineries have been doing something similar since the '80s or before. Um, maybe not flash-frozen, but crushed grapes shipped refrigerated.

As Robin and Brian said, nothing new, just the technology that's changed.

That's how many family enterprises in California survived Prohibition, by making either "Sacramental Wine" (apparently, there was a really major upsurge in people wanting to take the sacrament; don't know if the wafer business took a jump then), or by shipping bulk in railroad tanker cars to the Midwest and East Coast.

Of course, the grape concentrate was clearly labeled with the warning "Do Not Use This To Ferment and Make Wine", with easily available instructions on exactly how not to allow the juice to ferment and make wine just so there'd be no misunderstandings.

As Robin and Brian said, nothing new, just the technology that's changed.

I realize this is nothing new. I was curious if this is a new/popular way to market wine. I wonder if some company will do this in 20 US cities (with grapes from essentially the same source) so that they can sell Boston Wine Company Cabernet to people in Boston, Philadelphia Wine Company Cabernet to people in Philadelphia and Cleveland Wine Company Cabernet to people in Cleveland.

I am shocked gentlemen that I have not yet gotten any PMs about orders for the Toomuch Reserve Oakville cabernet yet!

More seriously, it is a growing market. There are actual conferences/conventions back east that link growers to potential buyers in eastern markets. We are even seeing increased plantings of wine grapes locally to serve this market and connections established by the local winegrowers group. They are quite excited about it.

I am shocked gentlemen that I have not yet gotten any PMs about orders for the Toomuch Reserve Oakville cabernet yet!

You forgot that the LouK Rutherford Cab is also selling for only $150.00 a bottle.

[Jenise]

I've got a case of cabernet made in Vancouver BC in my cellar made just this way. Don't know if the grapes were frozen or not, but the fruit was Napa fruit and Napa winemaker and sometimes Vancouver resident Ray Signorello kind of supervised our little project, so I can't imagine not being at least moderately happy with the result.

It is a matter of degree.

The basic question is how far can grapes travel from the vine to winery. One field, one mile, 5 miles, 100 miles, 1000 miles?

Wineries in Auckland, NZ North Island make wine from grapes trucked up via ferry from the South Island, wineries in California made wine from grapes brought from Chile, wineries in New York make wine from California grapes and so on...

The industry term is custom crush

Putting my version of what Brian called his "pedant hat", I believe what was described here is not really what the industry calls "custom crush". That term refers to what amounts to a winery available for hire. Winery A (which might not have a facility at all) hires winery B to make wine for it under contract. Winery A can specify various aspects of how winery B makes the wine, thus the "custom" part. Winery B is offering "custom crush" services. "Custom crush" doesn't really have anything to do with how where the fruit comes from or how it is shipped, frozen or otherwise.

It is a matter of degree.

The basic question is how far can grapes travel from the vine to winery. One field, one mile, 5 miles, 100 miles, 1000 miles?

Wineries in Auckland, NZ North Island make wine from grapes trucked up via ferry from the South Island, wineries in California made wine from grapes brought from Chile, wineries in New York make wine from California grapes and so on...

Probably depends on who you ask. The French hairy peasant "peanut butter-Brett" wine was probably made from grapes transported only a few feet by a stubborn, organically fed mule.

A GOOD long distance vinter probably transports the grapes only via Prius.

Here's the wine made in my town. Fruit sourced mostly from California; there's a chardonnay that's made from grapes actually grown on the estate. The sparkling wines, also made from locally grown grapes, are quite good, I think.

And here is the wine made in my town. Burnett Ridge has been bringing in fruit from California for over a decade now and making pretty nice wines from it. Also reasonably priced. It is available at the better retail shops in the area and appears on the wine lists of most of the upscale restaurants in town.

Chip Emmerich, the owner/winemaker, has a ranch house in the burbs with a 2 story detached garage. If he actually parked cars in it, the building would probably house at least a dozen vehicles, maybe twenty. But instead of cars, there are fermentation tanks, bottling line, and labeller.

Here's the wine made in my town. Fruit sourced mostly from California; there's a chardonnay that's made from grapes actually grown on the estate. The sparkling wines, also made from locally grown grapes, are quite good, I think.

Don't they also grow the riesling on the estate? And we thought the cab franc was pretty good.

Here's the wine made in my town. Fruit sourced mostly from California; there's a chardonnay that's made from grapes actually grown on the estate. The sparkling wines, also made from locally grown grapes, are quite good, I think.

Don't they also grow the riesling on the estate? And we thought the cab franc was pretty good.

I don't know about the riesling. Maybe they do. They do grow cab franc, but Bernard has been dissatisfied with it for the past several vintages. To the best of my knowledge, Biltmore's cab franc has been made with purchased fruit for the last five years.