Interesting to see Pinot Noir go up and leap frog Merlot, that was a huge jump. Not so interesting to see Syrah go down. Hope those are vineyards that are being replanted. Could any of that also be due to the 17’ fires?
Not that surprising to see Syrah tonnage decrease - varietal Syrah bottlings have been a tough sell in the market for years and I think it has limited use as a blending component. Any effect on Syrah tonnage due to the 2017 fires would be negligible in relation to the state totals.
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Despite that “famous quote” from the movie Sideways, I believe Merlot is still a go-to wine for the masses.
The top zins from the best vineyards seem to be more popular than ever…Ridge, Turley, Bedrock, Scherrrer, etc…But as a category Zin seems to be losing ground. All the big brands have secondary brands with chardonnay, cab, sb and merlot…rarely a zin.
No, I never worked with Harold Olmo. I was his replacement when he retired from UC Davis. Although we both worked in grape genetics, my area of interest/expertise was different than his.
Had a chance to meet and drink wine with Patrick tonight. Really enjoyed visiting with him. Wish I had seen your post before hand or I would’ve asked him!
I did try his Mission from Somer’s vineyard. Wish I could’ve tried yours side by side with his. I perceived his version to be a touch more tannic and not quite as lithe.
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John,
My guess is that you are right with some exceptions. Many of the oldest vineyards in California are mostly Zinfandel (often a field blend). These vineyards have small yields. But, overall, my guess is you are right. Reason to find Zins made from the old vineyards.
When most of us think California wines, we think Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, etc. But, when you see these kind of overall numbers, think Central Valley and jug wines.
I was just visiting the Cali central coast. I spent four days tasting in Santa Barbara County and didn’t see a single zin offering. In Paso Robles, at the high end, zin seems to be disappearing and cab is creeping in. If we hadn’t stopped at Turley, I wouldn’t have tasted a single zin. Of course, there’s plenty of zin in Sonoma. And Amador is almost all zin.
Barbera’s position surprises me, I would have expected it to be even further down the list
I think Zin is having a slight comeback. No scientific proof for this, just anecdotal. One of my growers who in 2019 was begging me to take his Zin for a pittance, is now consistently selling out. He left a lot of fruit hanging in 2019 and 2020, but then last year I tried to add an extra ton late in the game and he was sold out. And for this year he could only allocate me about half as much as I took the year before. Great for Steve - he’s a great farmer/guy I’m happy he’s selling out again.
As for Syrah, Morgan was saying in one of those Bedrock podcasts that they’re not having any problems selling their Syrah and that demand seems to have increased. I can’t say I see the same on my much smaller scale - my single Syrah is slower to sell than many of the other reds.
I was surprised at both Rubired and Ruby Cabernet both exceeding grapes like Grenache and Cab Franc.
I know that a lot of Rubired goes into powder and jug wine, but didn’t know there was so much Ruby Cab, since I don’t know exactly what that goes into. It doesn’t have the color of Rubired and unless it’s an unnamed contributor to other wines, I wonder what it’s used for. Only one I’ve ever seen as a monovarietal was from a winery called Cardella. It wasn’t bad, not reminiscent of Cab, which makes sense as you don’t necessarily find obvious flavors and aromas of the parent, but their version had a slightly funky nose, some depth, and some acidity. It wasn’t particularly tannic. Reminded me of an old-school kind of bistro wine - not brilliant but not in the least offensive. For Cab Franc to be bringing up the rear like the chart shows, small amounts of it seem to show up all over.
Ruby Cabernet was created to produce big crops in warmer climates, like the Central Valley. My guess is that that’s where nearly all of it still is grown, and it is also most likely going into jug wines. In looking at the background, the intent was to produce a grape that had the characteristics of Cab Sauv but would be heat tolerant like its other parent, Carignane. My guess is that you are not seeing an increase in its plantings.
As far as Cab Franc goes, yep, there is not as much of it as the others, but that ‘small number’ is still pretty large and means that you will find it all over.
Cheers.
This is more a comment about me than an extrapolation to broad market trends, but I am enjoying how zin is fanning out and being showcased in a broader range of styles.
There are still plenty of the very ripe and oaky ones, but now you’re seeing it in a spectrum of ripeness/alcohol and oak, and interesting styles that are fresher and lighter on their feet. You can find good 13% alcohol zins now (I recently poured a blind flight of three – Clos Saron, Sky and Ladd – plus I had a Matthiasson in my cellar I could have included as well).
What percentage of Syrah is blended, say GSM, versus being a standalone varietal?
Good question, I’d like to know too. It seems like with the blend craze the last 15 years, probably a lot.
So I’ll be looking for a Tercero Ruby Cab!