Wineries Reduce; Artisans Produce

It is said that, "necessity is the mother of Invention". When the fall-out of the dot-com age took place in the late eighties, there was a rise in micro-niche tools, software and systems on the market. High-tech industries are not immune from the "Artisan" techie who has an idea and needs a job. That is basically how HP, Apple, and a plethora of organizations got their start.

The Wine Industry is no stranger to this push-pull event. In Chinese we say Chi-sao which, for lack of a more substantive explanation here, is the push pull one gives an adversary or sparring partner on the training floor. This chi-sao or tug of war effect is happening right now in the wine industry, world wide.

Down sizing from the storied slaughter of employees at Kendall-Jackson earlier in the year, to the Pernod-Ricard NZ cancellation of grape contracts in New Zealand, to rumored sales of vineyards and wineries in Australia, California, and pretty much everywhere wine is being produced world wide. There is an over-abundance of vineyards planted in the world and not an equal amount of large producers to take the grapes, so what's a grower to do?

Begin by stop worrying, the market has in the past and will in the future correct this imbalance with artisan. Home wine makers and "garagistes' will realize better prices this year and extended varieties, Wine makers that know the vineyards and are looking for their signature on a label, negotiants seeking to bottle second and third party labels, and growers themselves that may scream "screw-you" to the contractor that sent the cancellation letter, will ferment it themselves. This will make it all the more interesting for the consumer that is seeking variety and a new feel good story about David vs. Goliath. The biggest difference between the mega producer and the Artisan is the love affair with the wine and vineyard versus the profit%, (note I used the % sign here).

Accountants must answer to CFO's who in turn must answer to the investors and someone will loose their gig when the % drops in consecutive quarters. Artisans live like many of us, hand to mouth, paying as we go, making each effort the best they can for the love of the game. You can't put a cost/benefit formula to this, there isn't an investor to please other than the Artisan or cottage business, and most times, what is born from the fall-out, is a great story that the passionate wine consumer identifies with and then BOOM a new cult winery is born.

The event is really nothing new to the industry as it happened after the boutique winery explosion of the 1980's and as far back as the 1880's you can find evidence of consecutive season's of over-production, coupled by a bad economy and under-consumption causing the fallout of employees, landing on their feet in that niche vineyard they knew so well. It is what the health of the wine industry needs, and with time we may see some exceptional wines produced by talented winemakers writing yet another tale for generations to celebrate.