Ted, Your comprehensive series of articles have clearly informed all of us of the multitude of factors/behaviors leading to the current sad situation facing the Valley's farmers and wine makers. Each article is worthy of an MBA thesis. Thank you, Dan
Spot on. Thank you for getting it right and telling it straight.
Over the last year I have had conversations with several small hobby growers who can’t see the light clearly in front of them. They are kicking the can down the road on dreams things will return to what they were. They won’t.
Keep up your good work and thank you for opinions grounded in solid research.
These essays are outstanding and emphasize the importance of discipline, knowledge, and self-assessment; the Tragedy of the Commons effect is hard to ignore here. I was - and remain - a Lodi Zinfandel enthusiast, and I'd say these pressures are evident there, having started sooner. For me, it's not wine until the cork is pulled. Here's hoping that the future has plenty of pulled corks.
A sad but wonderfully informative article. Thanks.
I have a 500 bottle cellar and appreciate fine wine from around the world. Years ago I determined the cost/benefit, if you will, in Napa, didn’t exist when compared to other locations around the world & even compared to Sonoma County.
In concert with this, on the tourism front, when asked, I equate a visit to Napa with the experience of going to Disneyland. Be prepared to leave with empty pockets & questioning the value of your experience.
I fear for those who get hurt in this industrywide correction.
This could not be more spot on. The mind blowing reality is that dozens of new vineyard developments, most requiring removal of oak trees or conifers and encroaching on streams and water ways, are in the pipe line with the County each year. Hundreds of acres of natural landscape are lost to vines each year, in a time when we need healthy watersheds and functioning natural landscapes.
These vineyard projects are approved in house by planning staff not subject to the public hearing process. Rarely does a vineyard project garner much attention as the public notice is legally met but is realistically ineffective for public notification and input.
One recent project dubbed Le Colline by its Park City Utah land owner ( hard money business lender with a practice only permitted in Utah) comes to mind.
Edging just above the magnificent Linda Falls Land Trust Preserve, the applicant who's dream awakened in a Kendal Jackson tasting room, proposes to bulldoze, level and rip a magical watershed forest directly adjacent to the Preserve.
In the case of the Le Colline (and the notorious Walt Ranch), in a rare revolt of conservationists these projects' approvals were appealed to the Board of Supervisors. The Le Colline dream was temporarily squelched by the Board but a new revised projects sits on a county planners desk.
In the decades where every dreamer was cheered on by existing growers and industry organizations, where a General Plan said ' bring it on', the presence of monied dreamers is taking a very hard toll on families who have grown grapes for generations. Not everyone gets to play 'farmer' anymore.
A huge amount of damage across the valley in the last 30 years .All actually clear in aerial photography , but also in light pollution . A mixed land use ecology now a dictating monoculture
A great essay and insight on the gritty economics of Napa Valley farming . Easy to appreciate the accumulated distortion where real estate speculation ,and luxury pretension have led the lemmings to the edge of the cliff .
Management consultants exiting the driveway from a family business review exchange knowing glances summed sotto voce with a shibboleth from the very beginning of their profession, “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.”
Ted, Your comprehensive series of articles have clearly informed all of us of the multitude of factors/behaviors leading to the current sad situation facing the Valley's farmers and wine makers. Each article is worthy of an MBA thesis. Thank you, Dan
Spot on. Thank you for getting it right and telling it straight.
Over the last year I have had conversations with several small hobby growers who can’t see the light clearly in front of them. They are kicking the can down the road on dreams things will return to what they were. They won’t.
Keep up your good work and thank you for opinions grounded in solid research.
These essays are outstanding and emphasize the importance of discipline, knowledge, and self-assessment; the Tragedy of the Commons effect is hard to ignore here. I was - and remain - a Lodi Zinfandel enthusiast, and I'd say these pressures are evident there, having started sooner. For me, it's not wine until the cork is pulled. Here's hoping that the future has plenty of pulled corks.
A sad but wonderfully informative article. Thanks.
I have a 500 bottle cellar and appreciate fine wine from around the world. Years ago I determined the cost/benefit, if you will, in Napa, didn’t exist when compared to other locations around the world & even compared to Sonoma County.
In concert with this, on the tourism front, when asked, I equate a visit to Napa with the experience of going to Disneyland. Be prepared to leave with empty pockets & questioning the value of your experience.
I fear for those who get hurt in this industrywide correction.
My best regards,
Larry
This could not be more spot on. The mind blowing reality is that dozens of new vineyard developments, most requiring removal of oak trees or conifers and encroaching on streams and water ways, are in the pipe line with the County each year. Hundreds of acres of natural landscape are lost to vines each year, in a time when we need healthy watersheds and functioning natural landscapes.
These vineyard projects are approved in house by planning staff not subject to the public hearing process. Rarely does a vineyard project garner much attention as the public notice is legally met but is realistically ineffective for public notification and input.
One recent project dubbed Le Colline by its Park City Utah land owner ( hard money business lender with a practice only permitted in Utah) comes to mind.
Edging just above the magnificent Linda Falls Land Trust Preserve, the applicant who's dream awakened in a Kendal Jackson tasting room, proposes to bulldoze, level and rip a magical watershed forest directly adjacent to the Preserve.
In the case of the Le Colline (and the notorious Walt Ranch), in a rare revolt of conservationists these projects' approvals were appealed to the Board of Supervisors. The Le Colline dream was temporarily squelched by the Board but a new revised projects sits on a county planners desk.
In the decades where every dreamer was cheered on by existing growers and industry organizations, where a General Plan said ' bring it on', the presence of monied dreamers is taking a very hard toll on families who have grown grapes for generations. Not everyone gets to play 'farmer' anymore.
A huge amount of damage across the valley in the last 30 years .All actually clear in aerial photography , but also in light pollution . A mixed land use ecology now a dictating monoculture
Great stuff! Thank you.
A great essay and insight on the gritty economics of Napa Valley farming . Easy to appreciate the accumulated distortion where real estate speculation ,and luxury pretension have led the lemmings to the edge of the cliff .
Vineyard economics is a tough business right now, I appreciate the work that went into laying this out. Lots to chew on here.
Brilliant!
Ted, I thought you might add this as one of your layers in regard to ‘oversupply but empty tanks in the US’ ~ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-free-enterprise-killed-california-wine-nicholas-nick-karavidas-ezrfc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via
Management consultants exiting the driveway from a family business review exchange knowing glances summed sotto voce with a shibboleth from the very beginning of their profession, “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.”
Ouch!
Thank you for sharing your analysis. These are harsh lessons for a community that many of us felt was the closest to Eden on earth.