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WINE: $125,000 federal grant for sustainable wine program
ALSO: GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER’S LATEST BUDGET PROPOSALS WOULD HIKE WINE EXCISE TAX
By JEFF QUACKENBUSH
Santa Rosa Press Democrat (California)
November 17, 2008
The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, created by the San Francisco-based Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers to administer the Sustainable Winegrowing Program, received a $125,000 specialty crop block grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service to create a certification system for the effort.
The program started five years ago with the creation of the voluntary Code of Sustainable Winegrowing. Some environmental-protection advocates have called for third-party verification of compliance with the extensive best-management practices in the code. The alliance is currently drafting guidelines for certification.
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Gov. Schwarzenegger’s new proposal for $4.7 billion in additional state revenue to cover a gaping budget deficit includes an increase in alcoholic-beverage excise taxes. That tax would increase at the dawn of 2009 by a nickel per drink, which for wine would be a more than six-fold increase from the current rate of 20 cents per gallon. That would convert to an additional 25 cents per 750ml bottle. The proposed budget cuts and revenue sources require two-thirds approval by the Legislature.
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Two recent graduates from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are making the rounds of North Coast wine country to convince tasting room managers that they have developed the ultimate palate cleanser, which they’ve branded as SanTasti. Andrew Macaluso and Nicole Chamberlin, both 23, got venture financial and legal backing as first-place winners of the school’s Innovation Quest contest with their product.
The goal was to create a beverage that would help wine tasters and winemakers to avoid palate fatigue from tasting many tannic wines in a row and be able to move back and forth from red and white wines.
They wanted it to be virtually flavorless to avoid crossover into the next wine tasted and have similar acidity to wine to get tasters salivating. “We wanted something that worked better than water alone,” Mr. Macaluso said, noting they wanted to make a palate cleanser superior to sparkling water and crackers.
After upwards of 100 different formulas tried over one and a half years and development of a custom water carbonation unit, SanTasti Inc. produced its first 400 cases of 24 355-milliliter bottles in September, with plans for another 1,000 cases.
The entrepreneurs are testing the subtle soda waters, retailing currently for $3 a bottle, or 47 cents per 1-ounce pour, with local wine retailers such as Oakville Grocery and tasting rooms such as Francis Ford Coppola Presents Rosso & Bianco in Geyserville. They are testing markets for peppermint and “cinnamint” flavors with cigar smokers and coffee drinkers.
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Global cork supplier Amorim, which operates U.S. distributors Portocork America and Amorim Cork America both in Napa, has found significant buoyancy in its cork recycling campaign called ReCork America. The stoppers would find new life as natural linoleum flooring, gaskets or other products. Portugal-based Amorim has been marketing natural cork as a more environmentally friendly wine closure than aluminum screwcaps and plastic stoppers that have been topping a small but growing percentage of wines in the past 15 years because of wine-taint concerns.
As part of ReCork, Whole Foods Market has agreed to collect used natural cork stoppers at 25 Northern California stores for the next six months, and a number of local markets and restaurants also are collecting the corks.
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In a couple of recent examples of the nearly $73 million a year the wine business in Napa County gives to charity, the Napa Valley Vintners trade association announced that the 2008 Auction Napa Valley held in February raised $7.26 million for local organizations, and the proprietors of Rocca Family Vineyards in Napa have teamed up with the Mayo Clinic to provide medical care in the African country of Malawi.
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Napa Valley’s top agricultural activity before the 1960s was beef cattle ranching, and since then it’s been wine production. And on Nov. 4, 62 percent of the county’s voters passed Measure P ensuring ag lands will remain in agriculture until at least 2058.
The measure extends 1990’s Measure J, which created the system of protected agricultural, watershed and open space lands and was set to expire in 2020.
A public vote is required to change the use of the lands to anything other than ag or potentially affordable housing.
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Napa Valley winners this year of the Great Wine Capitals wine tourism competition are in the accommodations category, The Meritage Resort and Spa, Napa; wine tourism restaurants, Domaine Chandon, Yountville; architecture, parks and gardens, Rubicon Estate, Rutherford; art and culture, Robert Mondavi Winery, Oakville; innovative wine tourism experiences, The Hess Collection, Mt. Veeder; and wine tourism services, Viviani Destination Management, Napa.
The “capitals” are an alliance of eight well-known wine regions worldwide for the purpose of promoting wine tourism. The competition doesn’t include the other North Coast counties. Global winners in each category will be selected next year. Grghich Hills Estate in Rutherford won the global award for 2008 in the sustainable wine tourism practices category.
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Carneros Wine Alliance, a trade group for winegrape growers and vintners in the Los Carneros wine region that straddles southern Sonoma and Napa counties, now has a more visible base for marketing operations. The organization opened an office at 1040 Main St. in downtown Napa after rotating offices in each county over the past decade. The group notes that 152 wineries list the appellation name on their labels as the source of the fruit.
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Beer and wine giant Foster’s Group of Australia has delayed until early next year any plans for the Foster’s Wine Estates business, the world’s second-largest wine producer. The business unit makes the Rosemount and Penfolds brands from Down Under plus has nine wineries, a cooperage and a regional bottling facility in California. Beringer Vineyards from St. Helena is the largest U.S. brand.
Earlier this year Foster’s Group wrote down its wine assets, mainly based on increased costs from Australian operations.
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Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, will be the keynote speaker at the first Green Wine Summit set for Dec. 1 and 2 in Santa Rosa. The summit will have a trade show of sustainable wine-related products the first day. Rep. Thompson will speak at the summit the second day about the impact of the Nov. 4 election on the environment.
Also lined up to speak at the summit is Erin Fitzgerald, director of social and environmental innovation consulting for Dairy Management Inc., an Illinois-based dairy industry marketing group. She is set to talk about industrywide efforts to green the business and leave dairies with more green.
Then a panel is set to discuss sustainable wine production present and future. Panelists will be Allison Jordan of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, Karen Ross of the California Association of Winegrape Growers and Jeff Diott of Soquel-based SureHarvest, which helps farmers of various crops to prosper with sustainable methods.
Also, three in-depth sessions will focus on best green practices, the business side of green, the green consumer and green communications. To register, call 707-261-8716 or visit www.greenwinesummit.com.
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A-list consulting winemaker Kerry Damskey and his wine publicist wife, Daisy, opened his portfolio tasting room at 21001 Geyserville Ave. in the mid-Alexander Valley community of Geyserville. Called Terroirs Artisan Wines: Damskey & Company and featuring interior design by Myra Hoefer, the tasting room offers Mr. Damskey’s enological work for Godwin Family Wines, Hughes Famliy Wines, Palmeri Winery and Pena Ridge Winery.
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Submit items for this column to Jeff Quackenbush at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com, 707-521-4256 or fax 707-521-5292.
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