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Can Boutique Wineries and Small Producers Compete?

(Picture- Courtesy of Russian Ridge)

Today it is pretty clear that beverage to customer business is stacked incredibly so, to the really big wine, brew and spirit industries. Their dominance in the industry leaves little room for so many of those passionate with their dreams and desire to produce quality wines, beer and other spirits. It can be a lot of work to scratch out a living doing what they love to do best.

Wineries and distilleries lovers that are affluent and savvy beverage lovers prefer the small boutique distilleries and wineries. Still it can be a challenge for the small producers to survive or thieve while carving out their quiet niche. In addition, with so many hats to be worn, it can be a real challenge to retain members to wine clubs with the huge influence of the giant beverage organizations and their advertising budgets. Some boutique and micro-breweries do very well, but many others just survive. With that we have seen a growing number of associations banding together to extend their reach to the customer. Most of us have participated with the associations via wine walks and passport arrangements that are scheduled during the year to get people into the tasting rooms of their member wineries or vineyards within the association. With the growing number of microbreweries similar efforts are underway as well.

Cynthia Cosco - Owner/Winemaker - Passaggio Wines

Judith Shultze – California Women in Wine - Windy Oaks

Judy Schultze interest in wine and winemaking goes back about 25 years, when she first lived in Chicago, but took numerous business and pleasure trips to Europe, and began learning about winemaking in France. The attraction to the world of wine continued when Judy and her husband Jim lived overseas, first Australia for five years, where they came to love Australian wines, particularly the small boutique wineries near where they lived in Melbourne; then England for two years, which enabled them to make frequent trips to the vineyards of France, Italy and Spain.

Judy and Jim Schultze are the sole proprietors of Windy Oaks Estate Vineyards and Winery. This pair is dedicated to making the finest wine possible combining the best of Burgundian tradition with recent advances in winemaking knowledge. The sole focus of this winery is on the two great varietals from Burgundy, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, grown in their own estate vineyards.

In the summer of 1994, Judy returned home to the central coast of California; in 1995, land adjacent to their property in Corralitos became available, and this is when Judy and her wine-loving partner began to think of growing grapes. The two of them started doing research as to which grapes were most suitable to their microclimate in the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation, and found that it was uniquely suited for pinot noir grapes. (Wine Spectator has identified the Santa Cruz Mountain appellation as the most underrated wine appellation in the world.)

Westbrook Wine Farm - O'Neal CA

California wine Tasting with Westbrook Wine Farm

Westbrook Wine Farm - Vineyard and Winery was conceived and created by Tammy Krause and California wine industry veteran, Ray Krause in 1995. After a ten year search for the heat summations, elevation, orientation, air drainage, soils, hydrology and market proximity, the O’Neals location at 1500 feet in elevation near Bass Lake and the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park was selected. Their selection and search has rewarded them well as the vineyard has proven appropriate for growing the seven of the eight approved red Bordeaux varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere. The 40 acre site was a challenge but the Krause's cleared the site for the vineyard and waterways were protected in cooperation with the USDA /NRCS fire fuel reduction and wildlife protection program.

New Clairvaux Winery - Vina, CA

New Clairvaux Vineyard Sign

In a tiny Northern California town called Vina, there's a winery that's definitely stands alone, a little off the beaten track. That likely because this area Tehama County is better known for olive groves and cattle ranches than grapes. Having been urged by more than one wine maker in the Shasta Cascade and in Tehama county to try New Clairvaux’s wines I recently made it a point to stop in on my way home from visiting my family in the Redding area. It was an interesting little detour jumping off Interstate 5 and over to Highway 99. I had not been on this part of 99 for some years. It was nice to drive past the orchards and ranches. I was looking forward to tasting the wines produced under the watchful eye of Aimee Sunseri who is the winemaker at New Clairvaux.

Spiriterra Vineyards - Muscadine Grape

Spiriterra Winery

Paul (died November 2019) and the vineyard was sold

Spiriterra is a small family-run wine producer based in the hills of the Vaca Mountain Range – with vineyards above Lake Hennessey. Husband and wife, Paul and Shirley Dean moved here in 1996 after they took a trip to California to specifically watch the “Big Game” between Stanford and Cal Berkeley (their daughter Ashley was at Stanford at the time. Ashley has since joined with here parents in the family business). During their visit, they drove up to the Napa Valley to do some wine tasting when Paul happened to glance at one of the real estate magazines sitting outside one of the grocery stores and Paul called up one of the agents who introduced him to a hillside property, by the end of that week the Dean’s had purchased 52 hillside acres. The Dean Family uprooted themselves from their long time home in Connecticut and moved to the Napa Valley permanently. Several acres of Cabernet Sauvignon were planted on-site at the time of their purchase – and for many years they sold the fruit until 2009 when they held back all of this varietal and made their first Cabernet wine.

Which word do wine lovers and wine professionals most often misspell?

Which word do wine lovers and wine professionals most often misspell?

That word is palate.

It is often spelled as palette

(a small wooden or plastic disc artist use for paints)

or

pallet

(a foundation, often made of wood, for stacking items).

Monterey Wine Country

Are you looking for great scenery, wonderful cuisine and lots of sites to see? Great tasting wines come with the territory and you are welcome to Monterey Wine Country. Monterey County produces complex, balanced and somewhat pampered wines. Whether you choose a classic Chardonnay or Riesling, an elegant Pinot Noir and Merlot, a rich Cabernet or a Syrah you will agree that Monterey Wine Country and her vintners have much to offer.

Monterey has nine unique winegrowing regions and some 85 vintners. You will also find nearly 30 tasting rooms that open to the public. When you make your way down the California Wine Trails, with Monterey as your destination, you will be able to enjoy some of California’s fine products of the vine as well as take in some of most beautiful scenery California has to offer. So enjoy a little mental journey to Monterey as your read of her wine trail other pleasures that await your arrival.

A bit of History – Two Hundred Years Ago Franciscan friars, in the Spanish mission of Soledad California, planted the first crop of wine grapes. Those vines withered and sadly, no trace remains today of what was to become more than 40,000 acres planted in vineyards.

Westbrook Wine Farm - Fait Accompli

What does fait accompli mean?

Moseley Family Cellars- Shasta Cascade

Moseley Family Cellars is a small, family-owned winery in Redding California. Mimi and Marty did not start out with tons of dollars in the bank when starting Moseley Family Cellars. However, Mimi and Marty Moseley had tons of passion and some experience in traveling around this planet for a few years and being involved with other ventures.

With encouragement from friends and family, Marty and Mimi have realized their dream to establish Moseley Family Cellars was born. This couple has eagerly established themselves in the Redding business community and shared their love of fine handcrafted wines. The result was a great wine experience.

The Moseley’s chose to search out the best grapes from top quality vineyards throughout California (Napa, Sonoma, Lodi and local vineyards) to create their sought-after wines. Purchasing grapes, as opposed to growing them allowed for the flexibility to craft Moseley Family Cellar wines exactly the way they wanted. In the winery, Marty and Mimi Moseley take top-quality grapes from the harvest to the crush and through fermentation, all the way through aging to bottling.

California Winery Directory