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CO VER S T OR Y Rowan adds that he's already sold his 2011 wine at a better-than-average price. As a result, he's keeping his options open. "I don't ever intend to commit all my grapes to one form of sale or another. I'm looking for long-term contracts—both for my grapes and my wine. I think this is a viable option; it could be very attractive." He says that he thinks buying well- made wine from good sources would appeal to many wineries, too. "They don't have to have grower managers and other costs of sourcing the grapes, and they don't have to pay until closer to the time they can sell the wine." According to Rowan, most wineries get no benefit from identifying their vineyard sources. Beckstoffer makes bulk wine David Beckstoffer is a grapegrower who also has made wine. The president of Beckstoffer Vineyards says that his fam- ily's company, which has roughly 1,000 acres in each of Napa, Lake and Men- docino counties, has made bulk wine for four or five years. Beckstoffer makes Cabernet from Napa and Lake counties and Chardonnay from Mendocino. "We did it because we Better return than pricey bottles S elling bulk wine can prove even more lucrative than having your own brand. One small-scale grower who asked for anonymity because she also owns a wine brand told Wines & Vines, "We got more for our bulk wine than we could have selling it for $40 to $50 per bottle." She admitted that she started making wine when the market dropped a few years ago, both under the vineyard name and as bulk wine. But even though she has done well with the bulk wine of late, she intends to refocus on growing and selling grapes—at least for the next few years. Everyone expects grapes to be in great demand for a few years, then switch back to oversupply as growers overplant, as they always do. Other small growers were hesitant to talk about this practice, too. Some fear potential customers might think there's something wrong with their fruit if they can't sell it. Larger growers aren't so closemouthed. P.F. couldn't get the prices we wanted or even sell the fruit," he admits. "But we prefer to sell the fruit as grapes, not wine." He notes that the situation is fluid. "The bulk wine market has changed. There was a huge inventory and low prices a few years ago. Last year prices were up. We still prefer to sell grapes, but there's not as much difference in return now." Beckstoffer uses two primary custom wineries in California: the Coppola facility (once Chateau Souverain) in Geyserville and Mendocino Wine Co. in Ukiah. They use other wineries as needed and store the wine at Safe Harbor in Napa. They sell the wine themselves or use brokers. Beckstoffer says that a few years ago, his firm was a big player in bulk wine BORDEAUX places its trust in CADUS... In 2011 Bordeaux became one of our biggest markets 39 Grands Crus Classés already place their trust in us.... Why wouldn't you ? CADUS Honor your Terroir See ORIGINE Range Contact our Agent : Bouchard Cooperages - Tel. : 707-257-3582 - sales@bouchardcooperages.com - www.bouchardcooperages.com Tonnellerie Cadus - France - wwww.tonnelleriecadus.com PRESSE CADUS 19.36X12.38 UK.indd 2 Wines & Vines JUne 2012 23 21/03/12 13:44