"Bulk Wine"?

[Robin Garr]

It was my understanding that years ago when Ravenswood was purchased from it's original owners the simple Ravenwoods Zin was then changed and production increased by purchasing bulk juice.

Perhaps, Geo, but I also seem to recall that the sale caused Ravenswood's quality to fall off a cliff.

I think it did also. When we read the prospectus and noted that they were using bulk juice for their non vineyard specific wine we decided it was not an investment we cared to make. The single vineyard prices went up and IMHO the quality went down. It became the typical example of a big corporate operation with the quality going down and the price going up. Luckily we were able to taste the wine at a local tasting before we purchased our usual amount if Dickerson and others. For us now the Ravenwood wines are no more than a memory, the same with Acacia, Etude, and many others.

I am glad we have enough wine in my cellar to look forward to at my age so I don't have to pursue replacement wineries. When I come across a WS most of the CA wines they are now touting with their ratings are over priced newbies. Their ratings remind me of those of an old tired worn out restaurant critic who has become bored with continual good quality from the usual suspects and feels he has to pursue, write, praise something new regardless how foolish the product might be.

[Robin Garr]

... old tired worn out restaurant critic who has become bored with continual good quality from the usual suspects and feels he has to pursue, write, praise something new regardless how foolish the product might be.

A model that I try very hard not to grow into, Geo. Thanks for the colorful and painfully accurate imagery.

Geo wrote;
I think it did also. When we read the prospectus and noted that they were using bulk juice for their non-vineyard specific wine we decided it was not an investment we cared to make. The single vineyard prices went up and IMHO the quality went down. It became the typical example of a big corporate operation with the quality going down and the price going up.

As far as I know when Ravenswood vineyard first came into existence it “out-sourced” all its fruit, and Joel Paterson made “geek-y wines” (you don’t become “rich” just making “geek-y wines”). He was known as the “wandering winemaker”, moving his whole operation five times in five years. In the early and mid 80’s they came out with their Country and Vintner series wines, these wines were made for the masses (“affordable wines” made from fruit outsourced from all over California, not necessarily the wines Joel Paterson would drink himself). The success of Country and Vintner series wines gave Ravenswood Winery the ability to “settle down”. Before Joel Paterson became a multimillionaire (when he himself was more or less solely in charge) his single vineyard designated wines were produced to satisfy just one critic, himself. After the buyout the production of the Country and Vintner series more than doubled, for Ravenswood single vineyard designated wines, he is no longer the “single” critic that has to be satisfied.

Salute