How far do wineries routinely ship grapes to make wine???

[larry_schaffer]

Great points as usual, Brian.

I think this is one of those situations where there are a lot of ‘assumptions’ made by folks who have not done it or know of others who have. Bottom line is that with reefer trucks, a bit of SO2 perhaps, and maybe some dry ice, shipping grapes across state lines should not ‘decrease the potential quality’ of the wine made from them.

I would be more ‘suspect’ of grapes that were machine picked, though, for instance, since with this process, you end up with a lot more juice and that can lead to unwanted skin contact in the case of white wines or even the beginning stages of fermentation with either white or red.

Cheers.

[JeremyMullman]

Tasted an outstanding (and high-scoring) Shea Vineyard Pinot at Auteur in Sonoma a few months back. They trucked the grapes down overnight.

[Gray_G]

Tasted an outstanding (and high-scoring) Shea Vineyard Pinot at Auteur in Sonoma a few months back. They trucked the grapes down overnight.

9-10 hours by truck probably

interesting stuff

[M.Kaplan]

Sine Qua Non trucked Pinot grapes from Shea Vineyard to Ventura for many years.

[Adam_Frisch]

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.

This. I don’t know where the notion that grapes have to be crushed immediately after picking came from. I think it’s inter-confused with the fact that they should be crushed cold (which I agree with). So by picking them early in the morning when they’re cold, it makes sense to crush them straight away. But you could just as well leave them in a slightly cool place and crush them a day later. In fact, Sean Thackrey lets his grapes “rest” for 48hrs before he crushed his, as he found that to enhance flavors.

I pick my fruit early in the morning in NorCal/Sonoma/Lodi, then drive all day to bring them back to LA. The wind keeps them cool. We then put them in a chilled room overnight. They get crushed the day after, so about 30hrs after picking. Works well. Truck-based whole cluster pre-soak!

[Wes_Barton]

Note that many wineries have cold rooms. Peak season, they may have a day, or a few days, where some of the grapes can’t be processed. Of course they’d still assess if some should be prioritized over others. This also gives them some security in case of an equipment failure - something that will happen now and then.

When you bring in grapes, the goal is to get them to the winery cool. On the no frills side, you just time the pick earlier to account for further drive time. Even if it’s a warm drive, you have the thermal mass of the grapes protecting them, as well as the cooling on top from the drive. If the top layer of clusters does get warm, and you decide that’s a problem, you can pull them off. Then, dry ice and reefer trucks are options to consider.

With whites, some growers can press for you, so you could be bringing back juice in a reefer truck.

Distance will magnify the problems of problematic grapes, which would increase the necessity of rejecting them.

Even estate wineries aren’t going to grow the range of grapes the general public tends to expect, all at optimal quality. Shipping from a great site is much better making wine from a grape that wouldn’t do well at your site. You’ll see a lot of top wineries both buying and selling grapes. The best of their sourced grapes are the same quality as their own.

So, one advantage of an urban winery is the flexibility of seeking out the best source(s) for each type of grape you want to make. Of course, there’s the proximity to customers. There’s also proximity to where the owner actually lives, where the employees live, a much broader pool of potential employees and seasonal employees, equipment supply and support, and distribution services.

[Ramon_C]

Local NYC (Manhattan) winery called City Winery, yes we have a winery in our little island, claims to bring in grapes from California to make some of their wines.

[John_Morris]

During Prohibition, the Gallos shipped grapes east to home winemakers by train. They had the Gallo name on reefer cars.

[Adam_Frisch]

Even estate wineries aren’t going to grow the range of grapes the general public tends to expect, all at optimal quality. Shipping from a great site is much better making wine from a grape that wouldn’t do well at your site. You’ll see a lot of top wineries both buying and selling grapes. The best of their sourced grapes are the same quality as their own.

The Lodi and Contra Costa farmers I took from last year all sell grapes to fancy Napa Valley wineries to blend into their high priced Cabs. $10000/ton fruit vs. $ 1500/ton 1hr down the road. So, you know, terroir schmerroir…

I’m a little fuzzy on the percentage, but I think you can blend in 20% from another AVA without disclosing, right? Also, if you’re specifying from which vineyard you’re taking the grapes, you can take up to 5% from another vineyard without disclosing that, too. But I could be wrong on the percentages.

[Eric_Ifune]

Grange has fruit from all over South Australia. Other brands have fruit sent in across the continent.

[Frank_Drew]

Quite a few Virginia wines use CA grapes. The winemakers have told me that is to meet demand since they don’t have enough estate or other local grapes to meet the demand. In some cases, the wine are branded differently than the regular winery wines.

A Fauquier Co. winery told me that their Albariño is made with grapes from Washington state. (The server said grapes but perhaps it’s more likely that it was juice; in any case, they needn’t have bothered.)