The investors did well.
Could be a few possibilities currently. There are several properties on the market or recently sold that could easily fit Jason’s tweet.
Oregon is in a drastic state of flux. And regardless of Jason’s sentiments, there is no shortage of new players.
that doesnt give me much hope for where the quantity/quality ratio is going at LF from here.
Same winemaking team is staying on. They are going to stop selling their fruit and bottle it. I don’t think there will be a drop in quality due to the increase in quantity, though time will tell. The only reason they didn’t make more is because they couldn’t sell it. Constellation solves that problem.
Also keep in mind Constellation has sold most of their plonk brands and has focused on higher end stuff over the past decade, give or take. They aren’t Gallo.
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This is a pretty common occurrence these days as wineries expand - and as was noted, getting ‘bigger’ does not necessarily mean that quality will decline. I guess time will tell . . .
From what I’ve tasted, they have a very good (fairly large) vineyard site and it’s in a good location. They also buy a little fruit, from high end vineyards. I wouldn’t worry about quality decline.
Edited to add: Large means 66 acres. They currently produce something like 12,000 cases including from a 5 acre lease of a vineyard block planted to chardonnay and a small amount of purchased fruit (eg, Pinot Noir from Mimi Casteel’s vineyard). I think they were already gradually increasing the amount of estate fruit used for their own production (first vintage was something like 2015), but it’s not as if it can increase a huge amount from here.
-Al
I think the sentiment coming from JL’s text and in the backrooms of wineries in the valley (and whatnot) is the ever-increasing corporatization that is being experienced here in Oregon. It’s a relatively new phenomenon and, especially, after decades of corporate interests that serve the wine industry (banks, big wineries, writers, etc.) looking down their noses and over their spectacles at “Oregon” it can be a little hard to take for those that have been around for, you know, awhile (says the gray haired guy). I am not saying it’s right or wrong, the feelings about Gallo, JFE, Constellation, etc. showing up here and grabbing a piece of the burgeoning landscape. I am sure folks on a wine board can understand why people would feel the way they feel. It’s not a very corporate industry up here and many folks have done it on a shoestring and with bailing wire and duct tape and because they truly loved the land and on and on and on.
I don’t really know what to say about it all. I definitely have the eye roll and the “here we go again” sort of thing. I think it easy from the outside to scoff at the patently (well, at least generally) absurd PR stuff that comes out of places that have been purchased but, then again, what the hell would you expect them to say? I also think it is hard to turn down lots and lots of cash for something that you created. Mike Etzel isn’t any different a person simply because Henriot dropped a pile of money on him. Shit, he’s blowing it on a crazy gorgeous University of Mike Etzel Winery down the street! I co-own a winery and there’s no heirs to this situation. Shit, more than a decade ago Bollinger expressed interest in buying PGC (that’s a story that takes some drinking to get out of me)! They ultimately ended up with Ponzi, of course.
I don’t think any (or many, anyway) winery works harder at preserving and displaying the history of the Oregon wine industry than we do. It’s practically the business model. But maybe because I am an emotionless drone I also get the fluid and ever-changing nature of the business world that is simply and obviously part of the Oregon winery world. If there wasn’t success here and further success to be HAD here then we wouldn’t have this issue to contend with at all. I am certain that this issue is actually a good and healthy thing for the landscape of Oregon wineries. At the ground level it doesn’t feel like that (and I grew up in Maine and I freaking KNOW what provincialism looks like) but what does the sale of LF mean to PGC or to Goodfellow or to Walter Scott or to Kelley Fox or to DDO? Nothing, really. My day isn’t any different today than it would have been if this didn’t happen. I am sure there are some folks that have to move out or can’t buy fruit or will have to sell fruit to someone else or some such inconvenience but those things are commonplace in the industry anyway. Shit happens. Kelley Fox had to move twice in three years. Marcus has had to move and change things at the place he moved to and so on. Shit happens.
Anyway, I think it’s good that people are talking about it. It means something. I like Larry and I like Thomas and I hope that this goes well for both of them. From the outside it probably either looks like a sweet deal or a total pain in the ass depending on what lens you are looking through. Hopefully this was all done with everyone being 100% on board and willing and not exposed in some sort of leveraged situation.
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well, maybe there is hope then! I have always liked these wines.