Definitely people ship from CA to NY and elsewhere on the east coast. In fact, during Prohibition, that was very common and there are still plenty of guys doing it on their own in Brooklyn.
Elsewhere it really depends. In Europe it’s not uncommon to truck wines around because not everyone has a wine making facility on their property and one model was for a single producer to buy from many growers. That was particularly common in Spain. But there are rules regarding what you can call those wines, depending partly on whether they go from one appellation to another. Doesn’t mean the juice is bad or anything, just that it didn’t comply with some regulation.
And they ship from Spain to France and from Algeria to France and from Argentina to California and from Argentina to New York. I think the farthest though, is, or was, Australia to CA.
Bonny Doon did make some Pinot’s from Oregon fruit in the mid 80’s. I believe one of his sources was Temperance Hill Vineyard. I don’t know if he shipped grapes or juice.
Girard winery in the same time frame made an OR pinot but had the grapes crushed in OR and tanked down to the winery to (complete?) ferment(ation).
Another angle on this: Many of the large Champagne houses are not willing to transport grapes to their main winery facility even though they buy from all over the region. The main reason in addition to retaining freshness is that they are making white wine from black/red grapes (in addition to Chard of course) and don’t want long skin contact. So they transport in boxes with holes so any juice that does come out drains, but this transport is short to various pressing facilities they have or use. Then the juice is transported to the main facility for fermentation, etc.
I think they were started by the same people who did the Brooklyn operation.
It just strikes me as totally ridiculous to ship grapes across the country for something like this, it seems massively more costly/difficult and challenging in terms of wine quality than, you know, just shipping some bottles of wine.
I guess winemaking is considered a magic ingredient for attracting young professionals to hang around your restaurant. I walk by their place all the time as it is near the DC baseball stadium. It’s huge and in an expensive neighborhood, they got a lot of capital to do this.
Friend of mine that vacations regularly on Nantucket told me today, unprompted, that a Nantucket brewery is now in the wine business, making wine from CA and OR grapes shipped to the island, where it is made. I have no facts, just hearsay.
As to quality, yes, yuck might apply. But have to say…I think it was Hopewell Valley vineyards and some friends coerced me to go to listen to some music, and their Wine from CA grapes definitely was better than the local stuff, low hurdle.
I stand by this for NAPA VALLEY ULTRA-PREMIUM FRUIT. It does not need to go very far to a winery that will turn the fruit into NAPA VALLEY ULTRA-PREMIUM WINE.
Stating an irrelevant point twice really doesn’t make the point any better. We know your situation in NAPA VALLEY quite well. Look at the OP, sometimes it’s just better to stay on the sidelines and watch the game.
Oregon to California is not that far. I made Oregon Pinot with Au Bon Climat for ten years. Everything was fine and dandy until the vineyard got sold! Even if the grapes are not shipped in a reefer the wind keeps them cool. Everyone acts as though grapes have to be crushed ten minutes after picking. Wine grapes are fairly hardy, esp you are picking cool climate grapes at 22 brix. Argentina to Napa?..that’s far. I don’t know why they don t just ship bulk wine. Better story?? Why not South Africa??
Did anyone mention how Ken Bernards of Ancien made Morey St Denis one year? Tasted just like Morey St denis.
Your Bostonian elitist thoughts are well noted. Go ahead and throw shade on me and my rednecks from ‘flyover country’. We’re happy to harvest our own meat and animals. Go ahead and shop at whole foods and let someone else kill your food for you.
Sine qua non made Oregon Pinot for a few years. Lillian (in Oregon) makes one of the most distinctive and delicious white wines in the USA from California rousanne. She makes a Napa cab too. Grapes don’t turn into raisins quickly. Buy some at the grocery store and leave them on the counter and see how long before they shrivel. I don’t think grape taste significantly changes from off the vine to picked for a few days. The biggest problem with transportation is how big the bins are and the grapes getting crushed by their own weight. Thin skinned grapes are most at risk.
Shipping grapes isn’t an issue as long as you keep them cold (around 35 degrees). If you’re worried that they’ll get “bruised” or “beaten up”, remember that the first thing that happens at a winery is that the clusters get tossed into a crusher/destemmer… which beats the living shit out of them. Pinot that we’ve trucked down from Oregon in standard one ton macro bins looks just as pristine as the fruit that travels a few miles to our place. The main issue is that you don’t want the fruit (or juice) to start to ferment - which is why you keep it cold. From what we’ve seen, as well as what I’ve heard from folks like Adam Lee, there’s really no quality issue.
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