DAN'S WINE BLOG USA EDITION

Friday, September 29, 2023

Venerable #McLarenVale stalwart, #WirraWirra Wines, is about to hit the big time in the USA having recently signed a US distribution deal with the massive giant of the wine world, E & J Gallo Wines. Better stock up on good ol’ Church Block before it all zooms off to the USA. I can remember going to my local bottle shop/grocery store at South Turramurra (Sydney) in the mid-1980s and on special occasions trading up from the regular McWilliams Philip Hermitage or Wolf Blass Yellow Label to a bottle of Church Block – such a treat!!

IS IT OR ISN’T IT?: California company, GreenVenus, has successfully removed the gene in grapes which activates the oxidation enzyme in the grape juice. Their initial trials were with Colombard, but now that they have cracked the technology they should be able to do it for any grape variety, thus negating the need for winemakers to add sulphites to the must. This would ease/alleviate one of the main allergies that people have with wine. So the big question is: Is this GM (Genetic Modification)? Under the USDA (US Drug Administration), because no foreign DNA has been added to the original material, it is NOT GM. GreenVenus state that it is ‘Gene Editing’ and not ‘Gene Modification’. The real question is: Will other governments and the general populace and more specifically wine drinkers accept this as being acceptable rather than making it a GMO? Will GE become a “thing” in wine? It is obviously of benefit/cost reduction for the producer, but will there be any requirement for the producer to declare that they are using GE cultivars? How will the more environmentally aware/conscious wine drinkers react?I suspect that this will become a hot topic over the next few years. Probably even more contentious than the French planting “new” varieties on hallowed turf.

THE FUTURE LIES BEYOND THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD: In 2007 the world hit peak wine consumption, so for the last 16 years it has been slowly reducing. In some countries the trend is obvious, for example China today drinks less wine than they did in 2009 – just before the avalanche of imported wines (mainly Australian) hit. It was recently revealed that the average price of a bottle of Napa Valley (California) wine had reached US$108. Yowzers, that’s a lot of money, especially in the current wine environment! – Is it sustainable?In the US the shift has been much more subtle, yet in the longer term it does not augur that well for California. Firstly, those younger people who actually drink wine are much more skewed towards white wines so that today 46% of wine consumed is red with 44% white (up from 29% in 2010), whilst California with 6,000 out of the 11,000 wineries is predominantly focused on red wine and more specifically Cabernet Sauvignon , other non-traditional wine growing states such as Arizona and Texas are growing their wine sales quite rapidly and not just in their home state. Many of the wineries in these states are prepared to/happy to experiment with new emerging grape varieties, which attract new/younger wine drinkers rather than stick to the “same old, same old” varieties as most California wineries do. Then there is the burgeoning sales of Low/No alcohol wines. Again, other newer, young wine regions are leading the charge rather than the more conservative/staid California. Where things will end up for California winemakers is anybody’s guess, but probably with lower production and sales by 2030. The more progressive and ubber quality driven producers such as the sensational Ridge Vineyard and the eccentric Bonny Doon Vineyards will be AOK but one has to wonder about the more commercial mainstream producers.

Time will tell, and in the meantime, have a great week #chooseaustralianwine and when possible try #emergingvarieties

Cheers, Dan T.