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Was it just me or did the Marin Institute leave out any reference to or statistics from the Family Winemakers organization on the number of family owned wineries in California. Additionally, I didn't see any consumer input, asking us as consumers, how we might feel on the subject. Silly me, I thought our opinion might matter.

Hi Margie- I think neoprohibitionists are a hundred years behind the times and can be dismissed as a bunch of crackpots. Yes, there are big wineries that masquerade as mom and pop shops (remember "that little old winemaker--me?" in the 1960s?), but there are plenty of family owner wineries. I'd ignore these ignoramuses.

-Jeff Cox

What do I think? I know it ain't true. Sure, big alcohol, Diageo etc, are buying up wineries. But I personally know several small independent winemakers . . . some of whom make killer vino.

Roger Coryell

Hello Margie,

Fully right,

Put it also on Linkdin in the different discussion groups. same fight we have in France where for years the government is anti-alcohol, anti wine...what ever!

Send these messages also to the A.I.V. Academy International du Vin (headquarters Geneva, Swiss)

Mike Rijken

Wine Safari, 120 Av Josph Vernet 84810 Aubignan

Margie,

Not as eloquent as I would like but when I first read this on yesterdays new feeds I was explosive… this is the best I could with burning cheeks and red ears…

Can you set up a Facebook link for just your editorial part… I would be glad to post it in various places…

Regards,

John Skupny
Proprietor/Winemaker

Lang & Reed Wine Company
P.O. Box 662
St. Helena, CA 94574
http://langandreed.com

Having documented many on our video show, I recommend you view our "THE SOURCE" and "FINE WINERIES" VIDEOS to learn about these great and healthy family wineries

Cheers!

Roger Mills
www.TheWineryChannel.tv
1413 Kenneth Road #15
Glendale, CA 91201

I wrote them telling them that if they opposed the use of "Family Winery" by large multinational corps, why didn't they support those of us who are legitimately "family" wineries. I further told them I thought the 3-tier system was there not to provide order and stability in the marketplace but for middlemen to make money. Further, that direct sales to consumers is almost entirely generated by a request from the consumer. It should not have to pass thru a middleman who makes money by doing nothing. I also stated that the 3-tier system hindered the true small "family" wineries because the distributors were mostly interested in large accounts who did their own advertising and couldn't be bothered with small lots.

Bill Hanna
Muir's Legacy

Dear Margie,

I read the yesterday's press release. Too bad I am in Southern California right now, otherwise I'd attend the "rally" in San Francisco and heckle the bastards. What a load of tripe. And shameless lies. Somewhere in hell, Joseph Goebbels--he of the Big Lie--is smiling with glee.

Regards,
David Vergardi

I know some of the doctors involved in this “Insititute”. They have failed with a number of studies on aging and geriatric medicine in order to keep sucking grants from the Buck foundation and others. They have taken up the neo-dry baton to show that they are “doing something” and to garner attention, publicity and hopefully some more grants.

In my opinion, they deserve to be investigated by the authorities as to what they are doing with all their grant monies.

You may publish my opinions but please do not use my name as they will viciously retaliate.

(name withheld at request)

Hi Margie,

I not that for sure, many of the wineries are owned by parent company Constellation Brands the largest wine company in the world located right here in Rochester, New York . Most of the wineries in CA are under a company name such as Canandaigua wine or Centers wine company.

Jim Havalack

Thanks Margie, we’ll do!

Darcie Schmidt
Langtry Estate & Vineyards

Personally, I think some of the smaller wineries make the best wine. But then, I prefer wine from larger wineries to no wine. And, I agree with you, I don't need some nut job telling me what is good for me. I don't mean to put words in your mouth, but nut job is the only appropriate label I can think of for them.

Love your newsletter!

Dennis Jones

Hi Margie,

Apparently, they didn't do their homework. Southern California's Wine Country, Temecula is home to 20+ wineries, most of which are family owned and operated. We'll send them a bottle of wine!

Callaway Vineyard & Winery - Since 1969
"40 Years in the Making"

Krista M. Chaich
Event & Marketing Manager
32720 Rancho California Rd.
Temecula, CA 92591
www.callawaywinery.com

Fascinating stuff…I am in the middle of the article and it is amazing how things can be seen with a different eye. Like reading the NYTimes then switching to the Wall Street Journal!

Thanks,

Dawn L. Dolan

Wholesale Accounts Manager

*deLorimier Winery
*Jaxon Keys Winery
*Matrix Winery
*Mazzocco Winery
*Wilson Winery

A bunch of nonsense.

Mike Barrett

Pieta Creek Winery

I think you are right !

The Hulaman of Backroads Wine & Nature Adventures

Tom Bold

Of course, those wineries with the largest number of case sales will be owned, marketed and distributed by the global companies. By nature, smaller family owned wineries can't compete in sheer dollar and case volume. BUT, they should do a survey on taste, personal connection with communities and local following. Look at the entrepreneurial spirit and the collective benefit of self starters and small businesses.

AND - One out of eight wineries are NOT globally owned - if one were to just take the article's information and put the positive spin on their own research!!!

Later email:

Wow! I guess I don't know anything about the Marin Institute. It looks like they are against any kind of drinking, any small businesses that produce wine, any large corporations that do pay taxes into our cash strapped system. And, they don't really care if the economy sucks and it costs us even more to enjoy a bottle of wine with a home-made meal with our friends.

I wonder who they DO support?

Kathy Leonard

Aloha Margie,

Wow, what a revelation on their part! I hear the Taliban is looking for a few good men too. They sound like a perfect fit.

Chef James McDonald

I'o Restaurant, O'o Farm, pacific’O, 'Aina Gourmet Market, Feast at Lele

I have worked for two family-owned wineries, and with the exception of the newest winery in my region, they are all owned independently, or run by a family. This may be different in other parts of California, and Temecula is starting to have serious investor interest.

Big alcohol is out there for sure, but to call the family winery a myth is misleading and sensationalizing a good headline.

Crispin Courtenay

Margie –

I love your response to the “anti-alcohol superheros” at the Marin Institute. I for one, spend the majority of my time researching small, family-owned wineries in and around California in an effort to provide quality, hand-crafted wines to my customers – some are as small as producing as few as 50 cases – wines which will never be found in the large box stores!

Happy Holidays!

Linda Hunter
The Wine Closet
www.wineclosetinc.com

We are a small vineyard and winery. Just me and my wife. Started it from scratch in 1999 by buying some land, planting grapes and learning how to make wine. We are living the American dream! Live on the ranch with our dogs, horses and cat. Working 10-16 hours 7 days a week together – and we love it. Yes, we do exist!

Peter Work

ampelos cellars and vineyards

Thank you for the link to this report Margie, it was very enlightening. I think that this is a real issue that needs some rebuttal from the California family winegrowers. I am not currently affiliated with a winery right now, but I was previous employed at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, and know that they are a family owned and operated winery in California that has been run by the Wente family since 1883. I makes me sad to hear these “prohibitionists” make the California family winegrowers look like greedy “big alcohol.” Anyways….thank you again for sharing.

P.S. How funny is it that they can put a footnote for a reference to where they got the information on the servings of alcohol … “even though five ounces of wine contains the same amount of alcohol as 12 ounces of beer or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.1” ….which is pretty much common knowledge, and then go on to say that “Seven wine companies produce 82 percent of all wine sold in the U.S., and six of these are global corporations. Seven of the top ten wine companies (by U.S. sales) are also global corporations with wine, spirits, and beer brands integrated into their product portfolios.” With no references….hmmm……

Have a great weekend!

Teena Reitz
Event Manager
Johnnies Restaurant & Lounge

Hi Margie,

Bruce forwarded me your email. I sent the following response off to both the institute and the author.

I find your report saying that family wineries are a myth, a real slap in the face. While I know, there are a few big wineries in the industry that pretend to be "family" there are a number of little guys, like us, in this area.

We have a small, 8 to 10 thousand case winery, started by my husband's family (Mom, Dad, Brother and himself) 35 years ago. My husband and I now own it. Our middle son is the winemaker. We personally work every event year round, and I spend 40 to 50 hours per week personally working in the tasting room. Growing up, our three sons bottled and labeled wine, worked in the vineyard, installed irrigation, topped barrels, etc, as well as doing well enough in school to get into top, or near top tier, colleges. It gave them a strong work ethic and sense of ownership in the business. It also taught them to respect alcohol as something that is to be used responsibility and in moderation. The winery, along with a small scale mobile bottling line that my husband also owns and runs, employs about 9 full-time and 5 part-time tax paying Sonoma County citizens.

Maybe you should do a little deeper research next time.

Yvonne Kreck
Mill Creek Vineyards & Winery

Hello Margie,

LOVED the comment you sent around regarding the ‘California Family Winery Myth.’

That claim is the biggest load of horse poopie I’ve ever heard!! (coming in 2nd only to the “myth” about global warming.)

Last time I checked, wineries were just another form of farming, no different than livestock or produce. However, I don’t see any allegations heading in that direction.

What’s next? Are they going to claim that all of the family farmers in the mid west are secretly relatives of the Nabisco family empire?

It’s all really preposterous!

I am in full agreement with you… they could use a drink – or five.

Cheers ~

Tonya

Tonya M. Valdez
Director - Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival
PR & Special Events Director - Southern Wine & Spirits

Hi Margie,

I think the article has a great deal of merit and should clue people in to the smoke and mirrors marketing of the big conglomerates. Family wineries are real, of course, and anyone really into California wine knows many of them. The real issue is the how the big guys fool the masses into thinking that their brand is some Mom and Pop endeavor.

One of the best at this is the Gallo “Family”. While it’s true that they are a California wine family and they do have family connections and relationships that developed their business, they also manufacture stories that give the impression of a “family” operation without any relevance whatsoever of the wine itself. Take MacMurray Ranch for example. The back label talks about the history of a plot of land in Sonoma that includes ownership by Fred MacMurray and now how his daughter is involved in the project. What is doesn’t tell you is that there was never a grape grown there until the Gallo’s bought the land a few years ago. And now the MacMurray line boasts wines from Monterrey and elsewhere and who knows if anything is used from the original property.

The same sort of thing is done with the Frei Brothers brand Modavi, etc… Call me a romantic but I thought wine was about a sense of place. If we let these big companies (and you can’t argue with the facts that the top ten wine companies sell over 80% of the juice in this country) have their way, we’d have something called Napa from every county in the state.

I think this report should make those real family operations take notice and band together to promote real individual winemaking and expose the “posers” that are the multinational conglomerates. These big corporations that manufacture or buy up and homogenize their brands represent everything wrong about the wine industry. And because of their deep pockets they will be able to continue to influence the ignorant public unless someone teaches them differently.

Perhaps there should be a family winery association that has stricter guidelines about membership to ensure it won’t be controlled by those big “family” operations with alternative motives.

I just hope there are enough people out there that get what wine can be and will continue to get the word out that each plot of land is unique.

Cheers to you,

Randall Roberts
Atlanta, GA

Nice!

Cathy Reynolds

Walmart is the perfect analogy to the big liquor producers. Yes small Mom and Pops still exist, thank goodness, but in spite of Walmart. There are countless towns around the US that when Walmart moved in, most of the “Mom and Pops” closed down because they could not compete. Walmart then had the audacity to hire these people they put out of business at lower wages with fewer benefits and claim that they brought jobs to the communities. I’m not making this up, you can research it. Walmart went on to become the most sued company in the world because of its practices.

Similarly, the big wine/liquor companies tie up the resources at their distributors to a point where the sales team doesn’t have time to sell the smaller boutique wines in their portfolio. I see it first hand every day. Sales reps aren’t supposed to tell me but they do. I’ll ask, for example, how’s it going with (my small) “X” brand and they’ll very often say, “I haven’t had much time to show it because I have to first hit my numbers on (large company) “Y” brand first. So with only so many hours in the day and tricks up your sleeve, the little guy doesn’t even get placed on the shelf.

And why is that? Why can’t I get the attention you may ask? Or why can’t I just do it myself. MONEY, and the distributors that deal with these big guys aren’t shy about telling you either. If you don’t come to the table with extra money for promotions and incentives, you never get on the quota sheet at all. I tried to run a $10 a case incentive for a brand I brokered and was laughed at because Gallo was giving $500, $300, and $100 a quarter to top performers on their way to a trip to Miami. How many Mom and Pops can do that? Or Diageo will come in with volume deals so low that a retailer almost has to buy and then ties up floor space and available dollars so the little guys get squeezed right out. Yes this is business at its finest, just don’t tell me it’s a level playing field.

So I go back to my thought, maybe the little guys need to band together. Or pretty soon we’ll all be drinking schlock. The problem is that most wine drinkers won’t know it and the ones that do won’t be able to do anything about it.

Regards,

Randall Roberts

Margie, I met and know Tom Mudd from Cinnabar, and Randall Graham from Bonny Doon and Helen Turley and Paul Draper and Don Ferrari and Ted Lemon (Littoria) I could go on and on. Mr. Ferrarri I could have left out of that company because he is quite a substantial producer. Yet I met Ted Lemon when he was making two hundred cases of chardonnay and two hundred cases of pinot in a year. He charged me $200 a case and I would have bought it all had he let me. I was a beverage manager in Northern California for about twenty years. Let's hope it becomes big alcohol. This will put these people on the map.

Here is a little story you might appreciate. Tom Mudd (Cinnabar) was wear-housing wines for fellow Santa Cruz Mountains wine makers in the mid '90's when an earthquake destroyed 90%, of the stock he had in his caves, none of which, I believe was his. There is an oops factor that may need a lot of splanin' Lucy.

Keep the likes of Ted Lemon and Kathryn Kennedy and Helen Turley alive these are little more than waifs. There is an aspect of Johnny Appleseed mentality in Northern California un-financed by the likes of Seagrams or Hiram Walker or Southern Wine and Spirits. Long live the renegade wine-maker with holes in his or her shoes and just a few miles to the next vineyard. There are no missing artist for the oenophile, there are only those who have become disillusioned with the likes of Santa and elves and leprechauns.

How certainly far the naysayers could be from the truth.

Dann Reardon

I think Randall Roberts is on the right track by suggesting some alternate form of marketing to try and differentiate the conglomerates from the little guys.

The word Family has to much potential to be misconstrued and I suggest smaller producers adopt other words to describe their products.

It is time for consumers to realize that family is just another marketing word and does not mean what it used to.

Big does not mean bad nor small better - just different and it is up to consumers to choose who their dollars are going to support. This is true on a global basis too.

I had no idea this group existed and one of their board members is a local politico. Thanks for letting us know!

Lora Salfi
Director of Catering
Inn Marin

A related story you may have heard on NPR features an East Coast "wine educator". He draws parallels between the wine and fast food industries:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120846050

Here is the original story:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-03/how-wine-became-like-fast-food/full/

I agree that the paper is divisive. I think the Marine Institute lacked sensitivity concerning the tone and language they chose for the paper. But I can't say that I'm eager to write them an email. If you read the report and get beyond the catchphrases I think it bolsters the call for small family wineries such as ours and Mary Rocca's.

Matt Lamborn

Margie -

We have not met, but just thought I'd drop you a note to let you know we're reading your e-mails. Always interesting and sometimes provocative. Keep it rolling.

Ken Wornick, La Honda Winery, Santa Cruz Mountains
www.lahondawinery.com

Margie,

I have enjoyed many of your e-mails over the last year. I especially like your find on “100 things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do”. I have passed this along to many of my friends who have young adults entering the field, as will as couple of restaurateur friends of mine.

I am currently looking for a good limo service in the Sonoma County area for wine tasting and thought you might know a few. The group would be about 12 people. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Keep up the e-mails and congratulations on your selections.

Steve Ronchelli
estimator / project manager

JIM MURPHY & ASSOCIATES
464 Kenwood Court, Suite B • Santa Rosa, CA 95407

Margie,

This person (or persons) obviously hasn't ever visited any of the excellent wineries in the Sierra foothills.
I have some friends who recently moved there from the bay area, and we spent a weekend visiting some of those family run wineries.
They know several. It is a pleasure speaking with the owners/vintners about their passion for wine making, and tasting their wares!

Laurel Bellon

Hi Margie,

I hate to admit that I grew up somewhat in Marin County! At least it was in West Marin- sort of the anti-Marin in a way. :) I still have a grocery store there, although 95% of my time is spent on my FAMILY owned and run winery here in Napa Valley.

What will they think of next? I appreciate your post- especially the emails for the folks at the Marin Institute. I will definitely send off an email to them!

Mary Rocca

Sarah Mart is listed as the primary author of the Marin Institute report. I did some checking, and she is on LinkedIn. I've not met her, but see she's a 30-something woman with a lengthy background in public health.
Why not check out her profile and send her your thoughts? Or invite her to the blog discussion? I think it's important that both public health folks and industry folks communicate with one another. I saw the benefit of that during my employment at the ABC. We had a diverse group of stakeholders including both those perspectives who actually found common ground and developed statewide standards for responsible beverage service training in CA.

Lauren Tyson