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22 WINES&VINES April 2015 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS Divergan F – PVPP West Coast: 81 M Street Fresno, CA 93721 Tel: 559.485.2692 Midwest: 1401 Ware Street Waupaca, WI 54981 Tel: 715.258.5525 The Wine Lab TM : 640-D Airpark Road Napa, CA 94558 Tel: 707.224.7903 East Coast: 1165 Globe Avenue Mountainside, NJ 07092 Tel: 908.301.1811 The Revolutionaries Behind Wine's Visionaries Malolactic Bacteria, Non-Saccharomyces Yeasts Fermentation Nutrients Membrane Cartridge Filters, Laboratory Consumables OenoFoss - FTIR Analytical Instrumentation Filter Sheets, Lenticular Cartridges, Cellulose Pre-Coat Fibers Cross Flow Filters, RO Systems Liquid and Granular Enological Enzymes Oak-Mor ® / Oak Avantage ® Chips and Granular Oak www.gusmerwine.com sales@gusmerenterprises.com CO 2 Analytical Instrumentation Wine Hose & Spray Nozzles At Gusmer, we know the wine you create is just as unique as you are. Portable Ozone Systems H 2 S Preventing Saccharomyces Yeasts Lysozyme For over 90 years, Gusmer has ofered a full range of innovative enological tools that enable your creative expression through unique and interesting wines. Equipment, analytical instruments and processing aids brought to you from leading suppliers in the wine industry, all backed by strong Gusmer technical support. The options for expression have never been greater and the tools have never been better – so go ahead, be unique, express yourself. For more information, contact Gusmer today. L odi, Calif.—Michael David Winery of Lodi has implemented a successful, multi-parameter bonus-payment system for contract grapegrowers that has played a key role in helping the winery improve grape and wine quality, grow its brands and increase bottle prices. Mike Stroh, Michael David's director of mar- keting, described the grower bonus system at Lodi Grape Day on Feb. 3, telling the audience of Lodi appellation growers and wineries, "In Lodi as a region, everyone should be striving for higher bottle prices ($12 per bottle and higher), as the image of the region continues to grow." The winery works with 79 contract growers: 67 within the Lodi American Viticultural Area (AVA) and 12 just outside its boundaries. The winery crushed 12,000 tons in 2014 and pro- duced 140 separate lots of wine based on va- riety and vineyard site. Using the annual California Grape Crush Report for District 11 (Lodi) as a price starting point by varietal, Michael David adds a 15% premium per ton for all its contract growers over the previous year's crush price averages. In addition, growers can receive the following bonus payments: • Hand-harvest bonus of $50 per ton for grapes picked from trellised vines. • Sugar/Brix level bonus of $25 per ton for certain red varieties starting at 26.5° Brix and increasing incrementally by $25 for each 0.5° Brix to a maximum of $125 per ton at 28.5° Brix. Stroh said the desired wine style is better achieved with these Brix levels and also explained, "The higher prices also help compensate growers for yield losses related to berry dehydration." • Lodi Rules-certified sustainable acreage bonus of 7.7% of the grower's base tonnage payment. Michael David was the first win- ery to pay a sustainability bonus beginning in 2007 for grapes grown in acreage certi- fied by the Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing. • Quality lot bonus. Each vintage, one barrel of each grower lot is produced without blending and held for evaluation at an an- nual grower meeting. Each lot is tasted and evaluated by the contract growers and win- ery staff. The lot chosen best in the blind evaluation earns the grower an additional $250 per ton. —Ted Rieger Grower Bonuses for Sustainable Practices