The California Wine Industry’s Declining Sales: A Glimpse into the Changing Landscape.
The California wine business has been hit by a severe crisis, with sales plummeting compared to a year ago and an air of gloom enveloping the industry.
This is not ideal news for wine enthusiasts, except perhaps for those who appreciate fine wines and are on the lookout for potential bargains in stores in the coming months.
One well-known wine blogger, Tom Wark from Portland, has recently discussed the possibility of several wineries shutting down in California.
This is already happening, with a large production facility in Sebastopol (Sonoma County) closing its doors and selling off all equipment.
Mr.
Wark also predicts that some consumers will benefit from these changes, though prices for affordable wines are already low, so discounts on them may be minimal.
The most significant discounts, he says, can be expected for expensive wines ($50 a bottle and above.
Indeed, one high-end chardonnay and pinot noir producer in the Russian River Valley has slashed prices on some of its $70 wines to $29 on an internet sales platform.
Crises such as this have occurred regularly within the wine industry in the past.
They typically last for one or two years before things stabilize again.
A significant contributor to the current reluctance among consumers to purchase wine is a burgeoning movement of people striving to drink less alcohol, with some even abstaining from alcohol entirely.
There are those who argue that no amount of wine consumption is beneficial for anyone.
However, science has long shown that regular, daily consumption of a few ounces of wine can lead to a longer and healthier life.
This notion was highlighted in a “60 Minutes” episode in November 1991 called “The French Paradox,” which suggested that French citizens have lower incidences of heart disease than Americans, despite smoking more and consuming more fatty foods.
An October article from Meininger’s International discussed the Lifestyle, Diet, Wine, and Health Congress in Toledo, Spain, where Dr.
R.
Curtis Ellison, Director of the Institute on Lifestyle and Health at Boston University School of Medicine, spoke.
He addressed a criticized report from the World Health Organization in January that questioned the benefits of small amounts of wine, stating that numerous scientific studies over the past 50 years have shown that “moderate drinkers have significantly lower mortality.
Dr.
Ellison also noted that governments must address the consequences of alcohol abuse, leading them to be cautious when discussing potential health benefits of moderate amounts of wine.
He argued that “health policy should not be based on paternalism,” and some of the conclusions in the WHO report may have been derived from inaccurate statistical readings from various sources.
While I generally refrain from making conclusions about wine and its health effects, I believe the following list speaks for itself: ages at death for notable figures in the wine industry.
Napa winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff: 92 years old.
Sonoma County winemaker Louis Foppiano: 101 years old.
British wine author and collector Andre Simon: 92 years old.
British wine author and Bordeaux chateau manager Harry Waugh: 97 years old.
Mendocino winegrower Charlie Barra: 92 years old.
California winery owner Ernest Gallo: 97 years old.
Napa winery owner Robert Mondavi: 94 years old.
Los Angeles wine columnist and merchant Robert Lawrence Balzer: 99.5 years old.
Wine author Leon Adams: 90 years old.
Mendocino winemaker John Parducci: 96 years old.
British wine critic/auctioneer/author J.
Michael Broadbent: 92 years old.
Winemaker Brother Timothy Diener (The Christian Brothers): 94 years old.
Sonoma County grape grower Louis Pagani: 98 years old.
Portugal winemaker Baron Bodo von Bruemmer: 105 years old.
Napa winemaker Mike Grgich: 100 years old.
California wine merchant Jerry Draper is still working at the age of 100.