It's a great time to be a buyer of wine and spirits, and a terrible time to be a seller. Some California producers have actually given away premium Pinot Noir this summer just to clear the tank space.
That shocking fact, courtesy of Ciatti grape broker and partner Steve Dorfman, kicked off the International Bulk Wine and Spirits Show (IBWSS) in San Francisco this week.
"You can give it away, and it will still be challenging," Dorfman said. "We've seen some low pricing that is down to zero, but (the buyer) will pick it up. At some point an empty tank for the next harvest becomes a valuable commodity. The wine in the tank may not have any value, but the tank itself is valuable."
The IBWSS is a trade event where alcohol producers try to connect with someone, anyone, to buy their booze: cruise ships, hotels, nightclubs, restaurants. Will someone please take this Pinot off our hands?
Commercial wine buyers said they want Sancerre and white Burgundy. Nobody seems to really want anything else.
I attended the same show last year and the desperation from wine producers in the audience was palpable. This year, it was different, but not because vintners are less desperate.
The wine industry's contraction burst into the mainstream media this week. The New York Times ran a story with the headline "Sales Are So Low, California Wineries Are Burning Their Vineyards," focusing on a major Pinot Noir grower in Monterey County. Beckstoffer Vineyards revealed to the Sacramento Bee that it has laid off 50 of its 65 workers, and will not farm nearly half of the acreage it owns.
Last year at IBWSS, I watched grape growers from around the state, and representatives of wineries from around the world, beg wine buyers for advice on how to get their wines into stores. This year there were fewer wine producers in the crowd. They may have given up, and given what I heard from the speakers, that may be sensible.
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