Just finishing up an insane 48 hours in Napa. Appointments, parties, in-depth studies, burritos, vineyard walks, Mosel Cabernet, a couple of MAJOR new discoveries that I will be writing up. And most importantly a sobering dose of the current reality. It is BAD, really BAD. I talked with ~30 winemakers and everyone is struggling, a few that would shock you.
Simply put demand is down (one top winery told me they are experiencing a 50% reduction in sales) and costs are spiraling out of control.
You can see and feel the stress. I heard of quiet layoffs, many long-term vineyard contracts that have been cancelled and some are not sure if they are going to make it.
Probably not a surprise to most here but it is sobering when you are on the ground.
Which brings me the reason for the post you would be surprised at how winemakers, almost everyone, lurks here. Most winemakers are extremely passionate and are not in it for the money. It really hurts them when they see a lot of the negativity here around the business side of wine. I just ask you all to when writing about things like shipping costs just remember the winemaker you are writing about is probably reading your post, is working seven days a week and is really struggling AND it truly does effect them.
I will be back with write-ups on a couple of really exciting new finds for me!
I am sure most will make it through but it is a very tough time. I just thought us wine lovers should try to be more compassionate given the current challenges.
IDK if it is too much, but perhaps quarterly mini berserker days could be implemented so our community can help those in need most? Just a thought. Smaller in size than the regular annual berserker day, but it gives wineries a quarterly chance to try and boost sales.
@Robert_Dentice, thanks for the post - it is scary out there, and I can only imagine how much more so in Napa specifically.
As far as those winemakers lurking, they should not take ‘offense’ at folks here discussing things in objective manners. Saying shipping is expensive is a fact - and winery owners can choose to do something about it by eating some of the costs. I know many small producers do not do their own shipping but instead farm it out to a third party shipper - who obviously charges them a fee to do so, therefore increasing overall shipping costs. These costs are then usually passed on to the consumer - making those shipping costs seem quite high. Each winery needs to do what is best for them - but if said costs seem ‘high’, I guess they shouldn’t be surprised, right?
I’ll be curious to hear about your new finds - and especially to see what their pricing strategies are in the current economic climate, which I’m assuming won’t change much in the near term.
And as far as mini-BD’s go, I’m all for them - any way to get our products into the hands of Berserkers, even at deep discounts, is a win for winemaker/owners like me.
One last thing - take a look at the Esther Mobley piece someone posted here today as well to get a better look by numbers at the wine industry . . .
I’ve kept buying from people who have kept prices reasonable and don’t have grapes from Beckstoffer. Looking forward to a new generation being able to buy land. It was a bubble made by people like Beckstoffer.
It’s not remotely just a Beckstoffer bubble. Wineries are hurting that have zero Napa fruit involved much less any Beckstoffer fruit. It’s not just the luxury wineries that are hurting.
Larry,
I recall seeing a claim that these 3rd parties have negotiated better shipping rates than an actual teeny tiny winery can. So that may keep the costs in line or less even with fulfillment fees tacked on. Thoughts?
They should be able to negotiate better rates due to volume, but that is offset by the fact that they charge wineries for ‘processing’ above and beyond the actual shipping charges. They are offering a ‘service’ which they expect to be compensated for and therefore the charges to the winery may be as much if not more than if a winery did it themselves, with the caveat that most wineries don’t want to or can’t do it themselves.
If you look at shipping charges from 10 different wineries from Napa or Sonoma, you’ll see shipping costs all over the place.
I’m not at all opposed to it, it’s just always the trick of timing, with harvest, winemaking, etc, this time of year is near impossible to plan, and we still have issues with a tiny portion of BerserkerDay sellers who haven’t shipped. I will likely do a NewbiePalooza again this year, and perhaps we combine the two? I was thinking Oct/Nov so not sure if that’s too late or what
There’s never a perfect time - but if the idea is to help us winemakers, we’ll take it any change we have, no? The challenge we are facing with much of the country is now rising temperatures - we can probably selectively still ship for another month or so - and longer for much of the west coast; if not, we need to wait until Sept/Oct.
And the real challenge - most wineries that take part are not active on here so you may not hear from them unless you aggressively chase them
One other thing to mention - the WB community is awesome, but no one says you need to wait for BD or ‘special offers’ to help smaller, family run wineries - most of us offer very reasonable pricing year round, and are willing to give special Berserker pricing if you ask.
