How is it possible that certain winemakers seemingly have a half dozen or more projects going simultaneously? How can they walk the vineyards, test the wine, conduct blending trials, etc. if they are responsible for 30+ different bottlings/year? Isn’t winemaking a time intensive endeavor? Are they just delegating?
To be clear, I am not intending to bash anyone. I genuinely don’t understand how it’s possible to have so many irons in the fire simultaneously.
I’ve wondered the same thing
It’s all about time management and having a good team of people working under you. There is a lot of work that can be delegated.
While not exactly Corey’s point, I think one can find this even with winemakers devoted to one single project when the number of wines being made is too high. It would be unfair to name names but when you see a winery with one winemaker and maybe an assistant making fourteen wines from twelve different varietals, its fair to assume that something has to give at some point. Harvest and crush become simply overwhelming.
Matt, I totally understand this, but when I winemaker is affiliated with a half a dozen labels, what exactly is he contributing to the project? At what point does he cease being the winemaker and is really just a consultant?
Again, I have no animus toward anyone, something just doesn’t seem right.
By no means do i know for sure, but I kinda think a winemaker who does a lot of labels as a CEO of a company…
How can Tim Cook do all that stuff with Apple - so many product lines, engineering, design, R&D, sales, product management, etc… Well he’s got people working for him…
Or maybe as a portfolio manager at an iBank… they got a bunch of analysts gathering and crunching data for them.
Same with a wine maker? people who walk the vines, who do chemistry tests, tastings, etc etc etc… and the wine maker does reviews, blending trials perhaps, and makes key decisions…
Another comparison could be executive chefs. How much cooking do a lot of them really do? Creative development, administration, and promotion/public relations surely takes the lion’s share of their time.
Guys like Roland, Ricardo Cotarella and Franco Bernabei have a LOT more than 6 or 8 wineries to tend to…
I know a winemaker and she once commented to me that there is real time and wine time. Meaning in winemaking things move slowly. I bet they have more time to do things than you think.
It’s a worthwhile question. Some people manage it by having wineries in Northern and Southern Hemispheres so they can work in one place when the other area is fallow.
Some just manage large portfolios well. In Germany, it’s not uncommon to make a large range of wines even at family operations; e.g., Schlossgut Diel (27 including Spatburgunder, red and white blends, dry Weissburgunders, Grauburgunders and Rieslings, plus 11 sweet Rieslings); Donnhoff (14 dry whites on the current list, including Grauburgunder, Weissburgunder, Weissburgunder and Riesling, plus 11 sweet Rieslings).
In Barolo, there are often long lists, too. Vietti makes 14 wines from five grapes. Giuseppe Mascarello produces 12.
In Burgundy, producers often have small plots and many bottings. For example, Robert Chevillon bottles 8 premier cru Nuits St. Georges reds plus a village wine, a Passetoutgrain (presumably with some gamay), a white from white pinot grapes and an Aligote.
And these are really father and son or father and daughter operations.
There are in fact 30 cloned Ricardo Cotarellas out there, but only I know where the original is kept mwahahaha ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
That’s only true once things have been pressed and are in barrel/tank.
By regulation there must be certain percentages of both Pinot Nor and Gammay in a red or rose labeled Bourgogne Passetoutgrains
From a wiki:
Bourgogne Passe-Tout-Grains must contain more that 30% Pinot noir, more than 15% Gamay, and the proportion of other allowable grapes (Chardonnay, Pinot blanc and Pinot gris) must be less than 15%. Historically the required percentages of Pinot Noir were 20% (1937-1943), 25% (1943-1947) and one third (1947-2009).
co-fermented, too…
I hadn’t realized that there was a minimum amount of gamay, too.
Nailed it.
From what I’ve understood, these “big names” only execute the big decisions, and are almost always the final decision makers of the final blend (which, effectively is the “made” wine).
You get some good people reporting into you, and have them run the day-to-day. Tell them when to harvest, how to harvest, chime in on the decisions, and be there for blending decisions. The better the team you build, the less hands on you need to be (i.e.; once someone competent and skilled has worked 3 harvests with you, they can make 98% of the decisions without consulting with you).
It’s just like a CEO. I’m sure they’re very hands on when each project starts, and as the years go, they teach the project how to walk mostly on it’s own, so to speak.
How can Tim Cook do all that stuff with Apple > - so many product lines, engineering, design, R&D, sales, product management, etc… Well he’s got people working for him…
and most of them live in China
Can we just rename this the TRB thread? My god though, good for him having his hand in so many projects. #jealous
Determine by the results if you think they may be stretched too thin. That is really what matters for consumers. But in reality, the wineries who use consultants are constantly evaluating their work and if they find that they aren’t getting what they think they are paying for, they will change.
Ask me right now, in the middle of harvest, and I’d tell you that every winemaker is stretched too thin.
Adam Lee
Siduri Wines
It must be tough to juggle the harvesting and the online demands … 