In the early 2000’s a winery called Sawyer sellers passed though my shop… loved it , bought it and sold the snot out of it. Years later after leaving the industry, I never saw the wine again until this week when a discount retailer sold the 2015 on an email special. I am going though CT and there is no information, it doesn’t look like it was sold by any other retailer in WSPro. Seems there are so many bottles that don’t get the light of day until they are in a bargain bin.
How is it a winery can produce a commodity like a napa wine and just “hold it” for years till it gets closed out?
4 Likes
They have supply, but no demand.
Could be a bank liquidation too.
1 Like
for a cab that should have been released 6 years ago? Im still not sure how this just sits for years and the winery doesn’t just fire sale it the next vintage
3 Likes
Artists (winemakers) aren’t always the most astute business people, some are. Most don’t understand art is worth what someone will pay for it, not the price they are asking.
11 Likes
There are all kinds of reasons wineries close up shop. I’ve been astounded at the rate I’ve seen wineries, many making excellent wine at the time, have closed in Washington since we moved here in 2008. The inventory at the “end” is often held in some sort of limbo state, for example if there is a death and an estate involved, I’ve seen that happen a few times actually, or there is some joint business that is split and the wine inventory is a pawn in the split, also seen that happen. Plenty of other reasons too that “good wine” doesn’t find a way to any market.
The other thing recently of course is the pandemic. Wineries moving wine a certain way in 2018, vintages 2014-16 maybe, sometimes came to an almost complete stop in 2019/2020. That ripple effect is still playing out in the marketplace. My biggest “score” during the pandemic was finding 2016 Graham’s vintage port at Grocery Outlet for $33. I bought out 3 Yakima GO stores… twice, as they only stocked 6 bottles at a time on their shelves.
6 Likes
It appears they’re still in business, as they have current releases (including a 2022) on their website.
It looks like they probably have a very small production. The list prices are not cheap ($65 to $115 for the cabs and cab blends) and they don’t seem to have any critics’ scores. 2009 is the last vintage showing on Wine Searcher. That leads me to suspect that they just sell direct unless stuff doesn’t sell.
They’re offering three 2017s on the website now, and they’re selling three vintages of their Meritage (2017, 18 and 19), and both the 18 and 19 cab, so plainly they aren’t selling out each vintage.
They have even more back vintages of the merlot:
Footnote: Here’s the background on the winery from its website:
3 Likes
wow, that was from 2012… wonder if the transaction failed to launch?
1 Like
The Sawyer sign on Highway 29 in Rutherford changed to Foley Johnson around 2012.
3 Likes
So I have a friend who is sort of in the situation. They are fairly affluent and without getting into more details own a very profitable enterprise. They wanted to be in the wine business. They hired a Wine maker that is fairly well known in Napa to make wine for them up in Washington. They made wine for a few years and I’ve had enough to know it’s decent wine. The one thing they didn’t anticipate was how hard it is to sell wine. They still have several hundred cases that they are storing in cold storage and trying to figure out how to get it sold . But they arent trying too hard. They got plenty of money and will eventually get around to doing something with it beyond gifting it and bringing a bottle to our Friday night dinners. They bring better wines they didn’t make to dinner also lol
9 Likes
This is somewhat common here in Napa.
4 Likes
There’s a lot of that going on.
I was at a party here in LA a year or so back, big house, affluent types. Host says “Oh, Adam, you should meet another winemaker who’s here”, so of course I get excited and start yammering with him. It’s in the middle of harvest and I’m kinda mentioning how little sleep there is to go around and how much work it can be, you know, confiding to a fellow exhausted winemaker I’m thinking. Instead his eyes glaze over and he’s like “…yeah, yeah it can be a lot of work, I guess”. Long story short, he makes wine at custom crush facility who do everything, including sourcing the fruit. He was in tech in SF.
And there’s nothing wrong with that, I should add. I still have a day job, too. And CC was how I got started as well.
But, you tend to see a lot of those types of winery brands in the $40-60 price bracket, because there is no way they can make a business in wine with a custom crush setup below that. Since a disproportionate amount of the purchasing price goes to the making of it, the unfortunate reality is that it can crowd out wines that are perhaps more worthy in that price segment.
Also, distributors hate that price segment. Not sure if it’s because there have been a bit too many vanity projects in that segment or because it’s a genuinely hard bracket to sell. I think a bit of everything.
10 Likes
So my friends, fit some of that, but not all of that. They have been drinking wine for a long time and wanted to do some thing of their own in the wine business. They know good wine and drink good wine. They are not fancy showy type people, though the wine does bear their family name. The winemaker is fairly well known in Napa, and makes wines not only that are very well received for others (think mid 90 scores from WA and WS), but also under his own personal label. I wouldn’t put him first tier winemakers but definitely in second. I think their involvement in the process is pretty much limited to consulting with him what they had in mind to make and perhaps participating in the blending.
I have no idea what the price was on them but I would have to think you pretty much nailed the price range. I think they made a few vintages and may have even had a small local tasting room set up where they used to live. I’ll have to ask them.
In the end I think this is part of the answer to how this happens. It happens a lot of different ways
5 Likes
If they sold in 2012 and the sign changed, then I wonder why the website is still up with recent vintages for sale.
Distributors dislike that price segment as national retail only supports national brands in those price segments and only a couple skus per retailer, the rest are DSD sales.
Literally every case you sell is multiple sample bottles pulled and door to door sales across on and off-premise. It could be a nice wine, but the effort vs. the profit isn’t a workable equation for a business when you are selling a full portfolio of wine and possibly spirits and/or beer or cider.
4 Likes
not to get off topic, but @Charles_Fuss can you share what discount outlet is selling this wine? and do you recommend it?
Wine Library - The 2015 was discounted on email for 29 bucks… but that doesn’t appear to be rutheford fruit. WL put a “Fake” price on the site for that bottling so buyers who got the email see the “value”. They have the 2014 (Rutheford) for 40 a bottle. I bought a couple and plan to try it this weekend. If it is good, I’ll report back. Based on the WL model, they likely will discount the 2014 at one point in the future and I want to get ready to pull the trigger if it is good.
This place also discounts the Conerstone 18 Oakville Station from time to time… If interested, I’ll post when that goes on deal.
1 Like
Awesome, thank you. So, to summarize:
-the 2015 bottling is $29 right now, but you don’t necessarily recommend since it is the less premium fruit
-2014 Rutherford is 40 now, you are going to have one and report back. This sounds great - would love to hear your evaluation.
-yes, definitely interested in your thoughts on the Cornerstone + when/if it comes up at a bargain
Thanks. I would never have known about these wines.
Custom crush? Sawyer sold the winery and vineyards but has a tasting room in Napa.
