Beckstoffer, and the problematic transformation of California wine.

Unflattering article on the transformation of Napa Valley into an inland yacht squadron. Now the tide is receding.

fascinating article

Let me find my tiny violin…

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

I think it’s easy to paint Beckstoffer as the problem, but EVERYONE was willing to pay the prices he set. Call it the Dutch Tulip crash if you want to, but a lot of people wanted to make a splash, and he provided that. I like Andy (and his family) quite a bit. And yes, he’s a farmer.

A lot of people painted Rob McMillan as chicken little for years. I get that it’s hard to see the ship sinking when you can still see the horizon, but for those that said he was flat out wrong are about to wake up to a rude awakening. It wasn’t just COVID-19 too. The floor price for Napa Cabernet has been so high that it was bound to alienate new customers, and that’s what’s happening now.

Normally the Old Gray Lilith would issue a hit piece like this to destroy a person financially [and thereby allow the instigator of the piece to swoop in and purchase all the choicest assets for pennies on the shekel], but if Beckstoffer’s legalists dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s on those trusts, then it’s not clear how the party [or parties] behind the commissioning of this article would seize Beckstoffer’s acreage [they’d have to get the legislature & the courts involved in order to invalidate those trusts, which is certainly doable, but it would take a lot of time and a lot of money].

PS: The hired hitman who submitted the piece to the Old Gray Lilith failed to consult the WineBerserkers Manual of Style on “varietals” versus “cultivars”.
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varietals.png
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PPS: I wonder if Beckstoffer is smart enough to have commissioned the hit piece himself? Now that would be a stroke of business acumen which could legitimately qualify as genius.

Otherwise I’d be very worried that his kids might have commissioned it…

It’s grape juice

Hard to see that as a hit piece. I thought it was almost rosy given the pricing power he commands that effects the entire valley. It’s flagship fruit for the flagship viticultural area of California and the entire nation.

There is a lot of cynicism that can be thrown at this situation. It is a bubble of their own making though. It’s hard to shed tears for wineries charging those prices. Or for landowners willing to fuel that sort of hubris.

Personally I would hope popping the bubble would allow for more variety of wine-making from the region. I think the vast majority of the wine out of the region is made in a very safe, commercial, broadly sellable style. It would be nice to have more traditional wine-making come back to these supposed flagship vineyards so we can see if they really are places for great, age-able Cabs.

rolleyes

What’s the average price of bottles in your cellar?

Great post.

"the alarming convergence of two trends: higher and higher bottle prices at the premium end of the market, and millennial indifference . . .

Friggin millennials!

He believed that the local wine would only reach its potential if it was strategically elevated into a luxury product — scarce, expensive, vigilantly branded

I remember reading a quote from the owner of Ausone where he said that wine should be a luxury product.
"As Mr. Beckstoffer became a land baron among land barons, he also regularly enraged the winemakers at the top of Napa society, whom he dismisses as “blenders” and “media stars.” "

So he doesn’t really like wine, he wants it to be too costly for most people, he doesn’t respect the people who actually use his grapes, and he’s wondering if he’s going to lose some money? Hard to find any sympathy for him at all.

And on the other hand you have someone who seems shockingly oblivious

"Chuck Wagner, the founder of Caymus Vineyards, a prominent Napa winery, is one of many proponents of building up the region — more wineries, more hotels, more tourists. “People want to experience the beauty of the valley,” he said. “Andy is against additional business.” "

Exactly what he wants to do is precisely what will utterly destroy Napa.

I don’t think it’s a hit piece. I think it’s a fascinating piece describing two self-centered individuals who seem to think that they’re entitled to pursue their own visions at the expense of pretty much everyone else. Beckstoffer is advertising the fact that he’s strictly in it for the money and could give a shit about the wine or the customers and yet he feels that customers somehow have some kind of obligation to purchase his wine?

Glad I don’t own any.

When I first went to the Napa Valley in the late 1960s there were a couple of dozen wineries. The only descent place to stay was Silverado and the place to eat on Hwy 29 was Vern’s Copper Chimney. A lot has changed since then.

Interesting article. Maybe not a hit piece, but Andy doesn’t sound like anyone I’d want to hang with. And he, of course, would never deign to hang with me.
But we do learn that the uniformity of the size of rocks in the vnyd is an important factor.
Tom

It’s not at all a hit piece - it’s a story about the challenges faced by a business model that regards “premium grapes” as a luxury product.

Given the well known predilection of “millenniums” for more local and artisanal products and experiences, I’m not surprised they’re eschewing the output of a man who views winemakers (or even, to an extent, wine itself) as mostly irrelevant. Given his age, he’ll never have to change with the times. His kids, however, may well have to.

Agree it’s not a hit piece or even that unflattering. They make him out to be a shrewd, successful businessman who’s figured out how to get his way and wield his power to help create a Napa he want and piss off a bunch of people in the process. He’s not responsible for the rise in prices since the price for the grapes he sells is based on what the winery charges for the bottle. Winemakers have seemed will to pay the price since the grapes are consistently good and they can also charge a premium because it says Beckstoffer on the label. It’s a brand, yes. Is it worth paying extra for the brand? It is for me up to a price point. Will millennials pay those prices? I don’t know any millennials making enough money to buy $200+ bottles of wine. Our kids are on the late edge of millennial so are just hoping to get jobs but they appreciate wine and I would guess when they’re in their 40-50s they will enjoy premium wines if their budget allows it. Or they’ll just wait for me to croak and drink my leftovers :wink:

I am surprised that Andy is not aware of the generational theory of the drinks business. It boils down to, What ever my dad and his geezer friends are drinking, I am drinking something else. A variation on this is in the idea that Florida is where brands go to die. My generation-- baby boomer–drank wine in part because our parents drank cocktails.

I might add that when you keep pushing prices up, you have to find new customers. The Burgundians, the Bordelais, etc sell their wine all over the world. How many Napa producers sell much wine outside of North America?

The Milleniums are stuck with lousy job prospects and high student loan debt. No wonder they buy selzer water laced with vodka.

Victor, you are like the economist that predicted 10 of the last 5 recessions.

Ha, shelter water laced with vodka, pure luxury

I don’t know where you buy your hard seltzer, but in my local package shop, it’s laced with malt liquor

Beckstoffer is a man clearly not in touch with reality. Love what other people do with his grapes but as he has said all along, all he did was buy up what was the perceived best prices of land making the best grapes.

To me, he is just a landlord.

I saw it as more good than bad. I’d prefer Napa to remain farms than be developed and appreciate the AVA’s and protecting historic vineyards. Seems too big to be sustainably managed, and as such has too much of a focus on yields and chemical farming. I’m a “millennium” and my cellar make-up is very little Californian but some of that is Myriad from Beckstoffer grapes. Made me think of this: The Comprehensive Hypothetical Napa Classified Growth Lists (and what we might consider to be the current cult wines) - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers