Its intriguing shape, specially designed to showcase organic wines, and vintages with strong character, makes it the perfect container for a product that is crafted for its balance, naturalness and excellence.
When Tablas Creek Vineyard announced it would release a box of wine for $95 and sell it though the wine club, people in the trade took note. If your least expensive wine is priced at $25 and a box contains four bottles, a box may not seem like the most viable option, despite the quality advantages for wines made for short-term consumption. The issue has always been consumer perception. Now, though, we’re seeing more small- to mid-sized wineries putting premium wine in alternative packages that appeal to a younger and wider audience. Some are quite good and have gained some traction. This month we look at Tablas Creek’s experiment with high-end boxes and delve into other ways wineries can appeal to a wider audience, including using NFTs, different types of marketing campaigns that drive ROI, and campaigns that are more focused on long-term brand building.
It’s hard to believe it’s June already. It may feel like we just wrapped up the 2022 harvest but the vines are growing quickly, and winemakers are already sampling vineyard blocks to assess maturity and crop load for 2023. Decisions made in the vineyard now affect wine style and quality. We often say that great wines are grown, not made. When it comes to quality and style, one of the most important winemaking decisions involves clone selection and matching the right clone to a given site. This month we learn about how some of the thinking around clones evolved, about how a couple of clones led to improved quality in Napa Valley, about trials measuring differences in anthocyanin levels and phenolics with certain clones, and about updates to a book informing growers and winemakers about the best clones for wine quality. Clone selection plays a role in disease management, too, and Dr. Marc Fuchs with Cornell University writes on his studies of virus-vector-grapevine interactions and implications for disease management strategies.
The way grape growers deal with pests and disease in the vineyard is evolving as well. The June issue features an introduction to biologicals, derived from natural materials, and discusses their growing use as an alternative to chemical treatments, the first in a series. Future articles will explain why there aren’t more bioherbicides, what’s in the pipeline, and how using biologicals can reduce the carbon footprint.
June 2023 • Volume XXX No. 6
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John Caldwell
Xavier Zamarripa
founder and owner, Caldwell Vineyard, “The World of Clones, Then and Now,” page 38
Co-founder and President, Vara Winery & Distillery, Albuquerque New Mexico, “VARA: A Collaborative Vision,” page 16
“To have the highest expression of what you are going to make, you need to provide your artisans with the best tools and materials.”
“I wanted the new clones to be certified virus-free and had to be certified true-to-type. Only plants from the ENTAV-INRA program in France were certified. There was no way to do it legally, except for going through the U.S. certification program that took seven years to complete.”
Brent Stone
COO and winemaker, King Estate, Eugene Oregon, “Oregon Sauvignon Blanc Enters the Flagship Fray,” page 22
principal category merchant of wine, Whole Foods Market, “The Promise and Challenge for Premium Wine in Alternative Packaging,” page 54
“You have a blank canvas because there aren’t a lot of expectations for what an Oregon Sauvignon Blanc should or shouldn’t be.”
“I think the cans that are really resonating with our consumers we’ll continue to carry, but the category is shrinking and kind of leveling out, which I think is probably healthy to be honest. “It’s pretty challenging to make canned wine and do it the right way.”
Tegan Passalacqua
winemaker, Turley Wine Cellars, Amador and Paso Robles California, “Old Vines Begin to Capture the Wine World’s Attention,” page 40
founder, Two Shepherds Wine, “The Promise and Challenge for Premium Wine in Alternative Packaging,” page 54
“The big wineries didn’t want [the Historic Vineyard Society] to happen. They like paying not so much for old-vine grapes.”
NEW TEXT TK
“We use labels to do very creative things that are all part of our lives. This is an important part if you want to sell to Millennials and Gen Z; authenticity is huge. They see through the bullshit.”
Amanda Barnes
author, The South American Wine Guide, “Old Vines Begin to Capture the Wine World’s Attention,” page 43
president and owner, Summit Wine and Spirits, “From ‘Lip to Glass’ to Virtual Tastings,” page 62
“Most of the producers in South America are paying at least double what they would for grapes from younger vines as a gesture and to try to retain these old vines.”
“Stores see a lift in sales of brands that have been demoed for weeks after the tasting ended, so it’s not just the bottles that we sell at the demos that matter—it’s the repeat sales from new customers who will be loyal to the brand for a long time.”
Herve Duteil
chief sustainability o icer for BNP Paribas Americas, parent company of Bank of the West, New York, NY, “Sustainability Meets Finance,” page 76
winemaker, Loveblock TEE, “Natural Alternatives to Sulfur,” page 22
“The TTB desk thought green tea was poured from a teapot into the tank. We then had to explain the process and supply documentation. Every time the response landed on a different desk, so we spun around for a while but eventually succeeded.”
Erica Landin-Löfving
chief sustainability o icer, Vintage Wine Estates, Santa Rosa, CA, “Sustainability Meets Finance,” page 76
“Sustainability is moving from storytelling to data.”
“We moved from financing the green [leaders] to financing the greening of the economy. We moved from niche to universal.”
Unscrewing
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Group of Willamette Valley Wineries Hire Fire Litigation Lawyers to Investigate Suing Pacific Power for Grape and Wine Losses from 2020 Fires
Duckhorn Increases Production Capacity, Acquires North Coast Winery and Vineyards
The Breakthru Beverage Group Closes Acquisition of Wine Warehouse
JPMorgan Chase Bank Assumes All Deposits of First Republic Bank
California FAIR Plan Commercial Coverage Limit Increased to $20 Million
Underground Cellar Abruptly Goes Under
Research suggests wines packaged in aluminum cans shouldn’t have a molecular level of SO2 above 4 mg/L.
Richard CareyBergin’s screen printing process allows your labels to survive any plunge. Bring us your bubbles, your whites, and your rosés!
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FIGURE 2: The electrochemical reaction of the wine in an aluminum can be expressed as shown here. Aluminum can liners are designed to prevent the direct contact of wine with aluminum. At this point, it appears H2S production is related to molecular SO2 concentration and its ability to penetrate the liner material.
FIGURE 3: There are three liners in common use today, but only two are tenable for use in wine packaging in cans. For many reasons, the BPA-NI should be the preferred liner, primarily because it is not an endocrine disruptor as is Bisphenol A (BPA).
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FIGURE 8: Acrylic coating hydrogen sulfide (H2S) as a function of storage time (one, two, four or eight months) for 10 commercial wines packaged in replicate (n=3 per time point for each wine; error bars represent one standard deviation). 2
FIGURE 10: Linear regressions of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) formation during long-term storage in BPA epoxy-lined cans (average of four and eight months) versus either accelerated aging in the presence of BPA epoxy-lined coupons (top panel) or bare aluminum coupons (bottom panel).2
FIGURE 9A&B: Changes in dissolved aluminum (Δ[Al]) in cans lined in BPA-NI epoxy versus BPA epoxy across all storage time points (one, two four and eight months and wines. 9B: (Δ[Al]) versus hydrogen sulfide (H2S) (µg/L) for cans lined with BPA epoxy across all storage time points. Each point represents an average of three can replicates. 2
References
1. Personal communication with Matthew Sheehan, March 14-16. 2023.
2. Montgomery, A., R. B. Allison, J.M. Goddard and G. L. Sacks. (2023). “Hydrogen Sulfide Formation in Canned Wines under Long-Term and Accelerated Conditions.” American Journal of Enology and Viticulture January 2023. [Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. License MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).]
3. Allison, R.B., G.L. Sacks, L. Maslov-Bandic, A.H.. Montgomery and J. Goddard. (2020). “The Chemistry of Canned Wines.” Appellation Cornell Research Focus 2020- 1. [Copyright: © 2020 by the authors. License MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative
FIGURE 11: Linear regressions of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) formation in model wine solutions as a function of molecular SO2 (calculated at 20°C), pH and free SO2 for spiked wines stored under accelerated aging conditions (three days at 50°C with BPA epoxy-coated coupons). 2
Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/).]
4. Allison, R. B., A. Montgomery and G. L. Sacks. (September 2021) “Analysis of Free Hydrogen Sulfide in Wines Using Gas Detection Tubes.” Catalyst: Discovery into Practice. 2021.21003; published ahead of print September 09, 2021; DOI: 10.5344/ catalyst.2021.21003. [Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. License MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).]
to inhibit unwanted microbes on grapes and juices. It can also replace the use of sulfur to prevent microbial activity.
“You can’t have something more natural than this,” Chauffour said. “Every microorganism can be a bio-protector. The idea was to have something that is already present on grapes, does not inhibit the natural process of fermentation, does not produce any off-aromas—such as VA or acetate, and inhibits unwanted microbes.”
“Reducing sulfur dioxide in winemaking is becoming a common concern for winemakers,” said Eglantine Chauffour, director of enology at Bucher Vaslin North America (BVNA) and product manager for Lamothe Abiet. “Consumers have been asking for more and more vegan, allergen-free and natural wines. As a winemaker, we need to adapt to this demand, starting with reducing sulfur dioxide.”
Consequently, about six years ago, the company developed Excellence® B-Nature®. The product is comprised of 100% Metschnikowia pulcherrima, a non-Saccharomyces, non-fermenting yeast. Winemakers use it, as bio-protection,
In addition to reducing the use of SO2 in grapes, Excellence B-Nature can also increase aromatic complexity, and it falls within current Organic and NOP (National Organic Program) regulations, plus many winemakers report that it’s easy to use. It can either be sprinkled on dry or hydrated and sprayed at 50 grams per ton on fruit and machinery throughout harvest, fruit processing, pressing and fermentation.
In 2019, Lamothe Abiet introduced Excellence B-Nature to the United States. That year, Padigan Wines—formerly 2 Hawk Vineyard and Winery—in Medford, Ore., trialed it.
“We built this winery in 2016 and made a decision, at that time, to try to set it up for all-wild yeast fermentations,” said winemaker Kiley Evans. “We’ve never used an SO2 at the de-stemmer.”
The winery produces 4,500 cases annually, with another 1,500 to 1,800 cases as custom-crush.
“I was just trying to see if there was something else we could do to help the fermentation process along a little bit,” Evans recalled. “Not that we were having
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During the 2020 wildfire harvest, Evans applied Excellence B-Nature to his Malbec, Tempranillo, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. During the trials, he tracked data for grapes with and without B-Nature and discovered no discernible differences in fermentation length, stuck fermentations or VA levels [see tables with trial information].
Following tastings, he thought the wine had a little more defined fruit quality.
“And so, from that point of view, that’s what turned the tables for me with that product,” Evans said.
Since 2021, Evans has employed Excellence B-Nature in his reds program and has used it intermittently for his Rosés of Grenache Noir. He doesn’t use it on his white wines because he doesn’t have any of the typical concerns B-Nature is designed to address in whites.
issues with it—I just wondered if we could be doing this a different way, a better way.”
Padigan’s crew directly sprinkles Excellence B-Nature on destemmed red grapes in open-top fermenters. After moving the tanks inside, workers blend in fermentation tannins then sprinkle more of the product, along with dry ice pellets, on top of the grapes for 48 to 72 hours. As temperatures naturally rise, fermentation kicks in about five to six days later.
The team also applies Excellence B-Nature and dry ice pellets to fruit slated for cold storage overnight. “Having B-Nature in there just gives us another layer of protection from unwanted microbial activity, potential oxidation and potential VA production—something that we and our clients find very valuable,” Evans pointed out.
He also likes the ease of application since he only has one full-time employee and four to five extra staff during the harvest season. “When it comes to being an easy-to-use product, [it] is absolutely a home run,” he said.
Developed about 14 years ago by Italian enological supplier Enologica Vason to treat botrytized grapes, Ti-Premium inactivates the laccase enzyme—which
can cause oxidative spoilage in grapes and wine when in proximity to oxygen— that is activated by the presence of Botrytis.
“Someone in the Gisborne area making fruit wine swears by it,” explained Crawford, who uses Ti-Premium in her sulfur-free Loveblock TEE Sauvignon Blanc. “We thought we’d give it a go: 300 cases wasn’t going to break the bank if it failed.”
Ti-Premium uses extracted tannins from high-grade oriental green teas, which serve as a natural oxidant to protect wine from spoilage. To obtain the tannins, picked tea leaves are steamed and immediately dried. They then undergo high-grade extraction, yielding commercially approved additives known as enological tannins or eno-tannins.
Crawford, who first trialed Ti-Premium in 2018, said it is important to know that tannins are a widely used and accepted additive in the winemaking process—now they are just being used for a different reason. Organic certification requires that sulfur levels remain below 100 ppm; Crawford already uses 50-60% less sulfur than conventional winemakers, and Ti-Premium promised no sulfur additives.
Crawford added Ti-Premium at each stage of the winemaking process that exposed the wine to oxygen, including harvest, crush, post-fermentation racking, filtration and bottling, and the results surprised her.
“We didn’t have enough, so that batch browned, but then the Ti-Premium kicked in, and it clarified the browning after about three months. When we took it out after about four months, it was clear,” Crawford said.
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She added that another unexpected benefit was improved organoleptic profiles.
“It’s truly flavor driven,” Crawford said. “I think it shows flavors of Sauvignon Blanc that we don’t usually see; mandarin, sweeter spice with its usual assertive swag of peach, herbs and citrus. The wine is also softer.”
Crawford also noticed muted or reduced green notes typical of traditional New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Other improvements included enhanced wine structure, color stabilization, depth of finish and aging capabilities.
Moving forward, she plans to conduct additional trials that compare sulfur dioxide, no sulfur dioxide and green tea applications to further verify findings.
Unsurprisingly, consumers liked the results, too. In 2022, Loveblock TEE produced 3,000 bottles. Japan, Singapore, Korea, the U.K., Canada and the U.S. proved to be the strongest markets. She said before the U.S., Japan was its biggest market since its consumers are curious and aren’t bound to traditional rules of thinking.
Importantly, Ti-Premium complies with all chemical, physical and hygienic features required for food and enological products, including the EU Food and Oenological Regulation, Australia New Zealand Food Regulatory Food Stan-dards Code, New Zealand Wine Standards and U.S. Wine Standards.
Ironically, despite compliance, export bureaucracy remains a challenge. “For instance, the TTB (United States Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) desk thought green tea was poured from a teapot into the tank,” laughed Crawford. “We then had to explain the process and supply documentation, every time the response landed on a different desk, so we spun around for a while but eventually succeeded.”
Savio Soares of Savio Soares Selections, a natural and Biodynamic importer in New York City, discovered winemaker Fernando Pavia in 2019.
“I met Fernando Paiva in the town of Amarante, Northern Portugal, where the Vinho Verde region borders with the Douro region,” Soares said. “For years, he was the first Portuguese producer to have Demeter [Biodynamic] certification on his wines.”
Paiva started producing wine after he retired from a career teaching high school. Now in his mid-70s, he and an assistant farm 3.5 hectares—about 8.65 acres—and produce nearly 10,000 bottles of wine annually. In 2014, he discovered a generations-old goat cheese-making family in the nearby village of Tràs-os-Montes who used ground chestnut flowers as a preservative.
“I found out that there are several regions of Portugal in which the locals carry on with their lives the same way they used to centuries ago,” Soares said. “Monastery life still has a very strong presence in Portugal, and I truly believe this is where this originates from. Just like in Burgundy, where the soil diversity (villages, 1er Cru and Grand Cru) was tested to confirm that the monks were correct by designating the differences of each site.”
Inspired by the cheesemaker, Paiva crafted 1,000 liters/264 gallons of Loureiro, an autochthonous varietal of Northern Portugal, using the same method. The results impressed him, so he continued adding dried chestnut flowers to his wines thereafter.
The wines also impressed Soares when they first met in 2019.
“I spent a day with him and had a chance to meet other locals who had vineyards and produced grapes to sell to the local cooperative,” Soares noted. “That
day had been the seed that has turned this little plant into this great new project called ‘Bojo Do Luar.’”
The project caught on with consumers quickly.
Sommelier Tina Morey of Crystal Palate Wine & Gourmet in Norfolk, Va. said there must be a compelling and educational reason to carry any wine.
“Bojo du Luar (Luar Rosa) has it all: a Savio Soares’ collaboration, Biodynamically made (and) ground chestnut flowers to naturally stabilize the wines. With its aromatic and juicy profile and a label boasting an explosion of blood moon color, it’s been a shop favorite.”
Bojo do Luar sources native grapes from parcels located near the Tâmega River, which features deep granitic soils and south-southwestern exposures. The area enjoys mostly cool spring months, followed by warm days and cool nights until harvest in September. This suits the grapes, all chosen for their naturally high acid, low pH and favorable blending profiles. Native varieties include reds: Bastardo, Borraçal, Espadeiro, Tinta Cão and Vinhão, and whites: Arinto, Avesso, Azal Branco and Loureiro.
Once harvested, the winery vinifies each grape variety in stainless steel and concrete vessels. As stabilizer, they mix 500 grams of ground chestnut flowers per ton of grapes prior to fermentation. Fermentation occurs naturally with wild yeast, and most ferments initiate quickly, though some may take up to four weeks to complete. After fermentation, élevage and blending, bottling is completed with a small addition (~10g/l) of sulfur dioxide.
Additionally, Bojo do Luar harvests its own chestnut flowers locally. The flowers start to fall in mid- to late-June. After harvesting, the flowers are ground into powder for use as a stabilizer during fermentation.
“We believe that when chestnut flower flour is added to the must or destemmed grapes immediately after being pressed/destemmed, it does, in fact, impact the fermentation by slowing down and keeping temperatures lower,” Soares said. Indeed, the process interests other food and beverage sectors, too. For example, the University of Bragança in Northeastern Portugal conducts studies on the properties and uses of the chestnut flower as a food preservative in other products.
Ultimately, a combination of consumer demand, winemaker curiosity and cultural traditions all contribute to strides in the use of natural, non-sulfur dioxide options. WBM
Bryan Avila
Bryan Avila is a formally trained enologist, seasoned commercial winemaker, ACUE Credentialed Educator and co-founder of the Vintners Institute. The Vintners Institute is a grassroots, next-gen e ort to bring wine industry producers and allies together, online and in-person, to innovate with nature, educate the workforce, and inspire good leaders. A freelance writer for Wine Business Monthly’s Winemaker Trials, Bryan would love to hear what you are doing in your vineyard and winery to overcome challenges, grow better grapes and make better wine. Contact: bryan@vintnersinstitute.com
As winemaker for Pezzi King and St. Anne’s Crossing wineries, Barrett has won seven sweepstakes awards, including at the most recent San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition for the 2020 Los Chamizal Malbec. He’s always had one foot in the lab, and another in the cellar. During his time working for Vinquiry, he learned the ins and outs of wine analysis while developing skills in fining and other winemaking products before taking the senior analyst position at Sonoma Wine Company, though he was quickly promoted to enologist. With his strong desire to make his own wines, he took the helm at Pezzi King with the 2008 harvest, producing multiple gold medal-winning wines from the start.
TRIAL OBJECTIVE:
What was the motivation to conduct this trial? Why were you interested in studying Surlì KPA?
Which grape variety did you experiment with and why?
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Describe how you set up this trial and what did you measure? How did the fermentation go?
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I added pH and TA measurements to my sensory evaluation. Separating the fermentations out would have been cool but, in the interest of conserving time during harvest, I decided not to have the two lots tracked separately. I figured, if the product addition caused a noticeable decline in the fermentation rate, it probably wouldn’t make the cut. Honestly though, the cellar crew didn’t even know I was running a trial. No news was good news in this case.
Did you have any reservations to the addition of the product?
Who else worked with you on this trial? What were the team’s initial hypotheses before beginning the experiment?
Did you encounter any difficulties during the trial? If so, how did you address these complications?
What was the outcome of the trial? Were the results as you predicted, or did anything unexpected occur?
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting it to work as well as it does. After all, when is the last time you heard a sales rep say, ‘Buy my products! They are sub-par and expensive.’? In general, products don’t always work as well as the sales reps say they will, so it’s always good to validate these claims at the small scale. Fortunately, having a barrel-fermented Chardonnay program makes it easy to run small-lot experiments.
What was your and your team’s impression of the resulting wines? Do you or they have a favorite?
Given the results of the trial, what is your opinion on Surlì KPA? Do you plan to conduct a follow-up trial to re-test these results? Is it something you plan to use more often moving forward? WBM
References:
1 www.ajevonline.org/content/early/2019/03/14/ajev.2019.18077
2 www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/9/1275
3 www.asev.org/abstract/potassium-polyaspartate-new-compound-tartrate-stabilizationwine
General reference about cold stabilization: www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/fs/fs-54-w.pdf
Lucie Morton is an independent viticulturist based in Virginia. She is an internationally recognized author, ampelographer, lecturer, consultant, research collaborator and, most recently, film producer (www.bonvoyagevitis.com). Her higher education took place in Europe while her practical education began as a vineyard manager on the family farm in Virginia, along the banks of the Potomac River.
When did you become convinced that French clones would be a positive addition to your vineyard?
This was a time when illegal “suitcase” importations from Europe were unfortunately rampant. Knowing you did not want to introduce diseased material but did want to know specific clonal identities, you believed the safest route was to bring in certified French stock from Canada.
What happened when you got caught at the border with the plants?
I seem to remember that at first you thought you had all 337 in Block 9, but then noticed one was different and eventually found a tag that said 15. In fact, the 15 had larger clusters and did not have Leafroll 2 (LR2), so people wanted that one. Didn’t they call it the Caldwell clone or something?
Your next move was to bring over material legally through USDA after quarantine became part of a licensing system with the French government. Why did you bring the material in through Robert Goodwin in Missouri?
I believe I recommended that you also bring in rootstocks, both for health and trueness to type. How did you choose which ones?
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John, you had your own nursery for a brief couple of years before selling it to Sun Ridge. Those plants which you and Tom Nemcik produced were terrific. The vines on the French rootstocks were not California-certified, and you said I was the only person who wanted, in fact insisted on them, in 2003 and 2004 when a number of my Mid-Atlantic clients were getting established. I have reported on how well these vines did years later, vis-a-vis red blotch, and all of them are successfully going into their third decade of production. What rootstocks have you found best for your site in Napa?
After all these decades of growing various clones and making wine at your vineyard, what have you learned about what you would do now if you had to start all over?
Do you think global warming affects the choices people should be looking at now versus in the past?
When did you write The Clone Book that is still available on your website?
Deborah, I understand that you are in charge of updating The Clone Book and have traveled abroad to get new information. What have you learned?
FIGURE 2
What have scientists told you about the role of virus in wine quality? It’s not a black and white issue for every virus; in fact, grapevines can host 70 or so viruses, the vast majority of which are asymptomatic.
How are you approaching the factors relating to wine quality?
JUNE 26–29, 2023
Napa Valley Marriott Napa, California USA
Climate Change Symposium
Part 2 – Enology June 27, 2023
Merit Award Presentation
Dr. Timothy Martinson, Cornell University, New York
ASEV Extension Distinction Award Presentation
Dr. Anna Katharine Mansfield, Cornell University, New York
Keynote Presentation
Mr. Michael Silacci, Opus One Winery, California
Honorary Research Lecturer
Dr. Vicente Ferreira, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR ENOLOGY AND VITICULTURE
To register, visit asev.org
As I understand it, in the U.S., there are over 20 disease agents that must be eliminated before a vine can be registered for commercial propagation: Arabis mosaic virus, asteroid mosaic, corky bark, fanleaf virus, fleck virus, leafroll-associated viruses (Type 1, 2, 2RG, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9), grapevine virus (A, B, D), rupestris stem pitting, Kober stem grooving, tomato ringspot virus, Phytoplasmas, Pierce’s Disease (Xylella fastidiosa). Are we overcleaning grapevines in the U.S.?
How do European clonal selection programs address current and future needs?
Outside of government-sponsored programs, are growers generally interested in fostering genetic diversity?
When will your clone guidebook become available?
Audeguin, Research Scientist at L’Institut Français de la Vigne et du Vin
1. Dong, Y. et al., “Dual domestications and origin of traits in grapevine evolution.” Science 379, 892–901 (2023).
2. Carvalho L, E. Gonçalves, S. Amâncio and A. Martins (2020) Selecting Aragonez genotypes able to outplay climate change-driven abiotic stress. Front Plant Sci. 11:599230. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.599230.
Websites
There are many resources on the Web that provide information on all types of grapevine cultivars, including the following:
•entav-inra.fr/en/plant-material/
•plantgrape.plantnet-project.org/en/cepages
•entav-inra.fr/en/news/
•calameo.com/read/0053898924ebbfb44a489
•entav-inra.fr/en/plant-material/
•fps.ucdavis.edu/fgrvarieties.cfm
•fps.ucdavis.edu/WebSitePDFs/Newsletters&Publications/ GrapeImptBrochure.pdf
•fps.ucdavis.edu/ucresourceslinks.cfm
•vignevin.com/en
FIGURES 3, 4 5
With
More Research Completed, Biopesticides, Biostimulants and Bionutrients Become More ReliablePam Marrone is the executive chair and co-founder of the Invasive Species Corporation. Pam Marrone
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8. Levin, A.D. and A.N. KC. 2020 Water deficits do not improve fruit quality in grapevine red blotch virus-infected grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.). Front Plant Sci. 11:1292, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.01292.
9. Oliver, J.E. and M. Fuchs. 2011 Tolerance and resistance to viruses and their vectors in Vitis spp: a virologist’s perspective of the literature. Am. J. Enol. & Vitic. 62:438-451.
10. Perrone, I., W. Chitarra, P. Boccacci and G. Gambino. 2017. Grapevine–virus–environment interactions: an intriguing puzzle to solve. New Phytologist 213:983–987.
11. Rienth, M, N. Vigneron, R.P. Walker, S.D. Castellarin, C. Sweetman, C.A. Burdidge, C. Bonghi, F. Famiani and P. Darriet. 2021 Modifications of grapevine berry composition induced by main viral and fungal pathogens in a climate change scenario. Front Plant Sci. 12:717223.
12. Vondras, A.M., L. Lerno, M. Massonnet, A. Minio, Am Rowhani, D. Liang, J. Garcia, D. Quiroz, R. Figueroa-Balderas, D. Golino, S.E. Ebeler, M. Al Rwahnih and D. Cantu. 2021 Rootstock influences the e ect of grapevine leafroll-associated viruses on berry development and metabolism via abscisic acid signaling. Mol Plant Pathol. 22:984-1005.
13. Whitfield, A.E., B.W. Falk and D. Rotenberg. 2015 Insect vector-mediated transmission of plant viruses. Virology 479-480:278-289.
References
1. Bolton, S.L. 2020. What every winegrower should know: viruses. Lodi Winegrape Commission. Pp. 138.
2. Chooi, K.M, D. Cohen and M.N. Person. 2016. Di erential distribution and titre of selected grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 genetic variants withing grapevine rootstocks. Arch. Virol 161:1371-1375.
3. Chooi, K.M, V.A. Bell, A.G. Blouin, D. Cohen, D. Mundy, W. Henshall and R.M. MacDiarmid. 2022 Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 genotype influences foliar symptom development in New Zealand vineyards. Viruses 14:1348.
4. Dewasne, C., S. Mary, G. Darrieutort, L. Audeguin, M. van Helden and C. van Leeuwen. 2019 Quantitative and qualitative impact of tomato black ring virus (TBRV) on Merlot and Cabernet Franc. OENO One 53:161-169.
5. Fuchs, M. 2020 Grapevine viruses: a multitude of diverse species with simple but overall poorly adopted management solutions in the vineyard. J. Plant Pathol. 102:643-653.
6. Jiao, B, X. Hao, Z. Liu, M. Liu, J. Wang L Liu, N. Liu, R. Song, J. Zhang, Y. Fang and Y. Xu. 2022 Engineering CRISP immune systems conferring GLRaV-3 resistance in grapevine. Horticulture Research 9:uhab023.
7. Komar, V., E. Vigne, G. Demangeat and M. Fuchs. 2007. Beneficial e ect of selective virus elimination on the performance of Vitis vinifera cv. Chardonnay. Am. J. Enol. & Vitic. 58:202-210.
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the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for their wine brand, they have probably heard about the authenticity bene ts associated with this technology: when a winery sells a wine with an NFT attached to it, all data associated with the purchase and history of this wine are recorded on the blockchain and cannot be altered. e bene ts of tracing and authenticity are attractive to producers whose wines are o en sold in auctions for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bidders want to know that the wine behind the label is true, and NFTs can con rm this authenticity to thwart counterfeiting e orts. However, producers have begun to uncover a multitude of other attractive perks of NFTs.
Dan Petroski, a Napa Valley-based winemaker and owner of Massican Wines, as well as one of the most outspoken proponents of the technology, knows his wine (white Mediterranean varietals priced at around $30 per bottle) isn’t the target of counterfeiting schemes. What he is concerned with, however, is building a community to grow his brand. This is where he uses NFTs, and even the metaverse, to his advantage.
Petroski has always been connected to his Massican community and frequently ventures into the field to meet with clients and industry professionals. For 70 days (about two and a half months) during the COVID-19 pandemic, he produced an Instagram story series called “Quarantini” where, at 6 p.m., he posted the cocktail or beverage he was enjoying for his Massican community.
“Quarantini” provided a fun and lighthearted means of connecting with his audience during strange and confusing times. This was just one of the ways that Petroski cultivated community during the pandemic, and from his efforts he saw massive success: Massican Sauvignon Blanc became a highly coveted cult classic and sold out within weeks, thanks to a viral TikTok trend. He sold more vermouth than ever before, gained more social media followers and, in turn, more customers. In his marketing emails during the pandemic, he stressed his desire to connect with his consumers, so much so that he even gave out his personal phone number.
For Petroski, utilizing NFTs and the metaverse to further expand this growing community seemed like a natural transition. Petroski dabbled with NFTs in 2021 and even released his own Massican app as part of the project. Now he’s working on launching a new NFT in collaboration with a digital artist who will design an Art Deco travel poster to sell as a digital collectible. If consumers buy this poster, they will receive free shipping for life. NFTs are not just about the flashy products that wineries can sell to attract new consumers. The blockchain, which can store all data associated with the wine, can also be used to archive information about the vineyards themselves.
Petroski is in the process of planting a new vineyard and plans to record the vineyard’s entire life history, from inception to bottling.
He said this record will include daily weather reports, documenting extreme heat, rainfall conditions and growing degree days, as well as all human and mechanical engagement, such as harvesting and hedging. He’ll follow the vineyard over the course of three to four years when it produces its first fruit and record everything that happens to that fruit.
When wine from this vineyard is bottled and corked, that will be the last metadata that go into this wine’s NFT. When someone buys the NFT attached to this bottle, they will have access to all the data associated with that wine’s production, For Petroski, he will be able to have quick and easy access to his past winemaking history: a win-win for the consumer and producer alike.
“I can do this with any vineyard right now, but I want to do this from the origin story,” Petroski said. “Start over again and record the origin story of this vineyard and take it to consumers hands when they do have an opportunity to open up that bottle of wine.”
Especially after the pandemic, consumers want to hear directly from the person making the products they consume or purchase, whether that be wine, food or even clothing. Using blockchain technology to record a bottle of wine’s history could be key for sales and marketing teams that are trying to appeal to younger consumers and attract new customers. It’s also a tool that winemaker and viticulture teams can use to analyze past vintage data and make important decisions as growing conditions continue to change.
Not every winemaker is as digitally native as Petroski or has the time or interest to research the nebulous world of NFTs, the blockchain and the metaverse— plus NFTs are a dicey business in an already risky wine industry.
David Garrett, founder of global NFT wine club Club dVIN, is focused on using NFTs to help wineries foster and nurture relationships with their consumers. While other NFT wine clubs on the market provide great platforms for authenticating, trading and investing in wine (users purchase an NFT attached to a bottle of wine, and the NFT gets traded around while the club holds onto the wine), Club dVIN is mainly focused on consumption: creating a long-lasting relationship between the producer and the consumer and making the global wine industry feel a little smaller.
Gillian Allen is a technically trained winemaker and graduate of the viticulture and enology program at UC Davis. Gillian worked in production at Cakebread Cellars, Napa Valley for three years and is now pursuing her master’s degree in luxury brand management of wine at the INSEEC School of Business in Paris, France. She created her blog, “The Younger Wine,” to combine her love of winemaking and writing, and encourage wine education and appreciation. She loves discussing all things wine and can be reached at gillianallen17@gmail.com.
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“We’re much more interested in when someone opens the bottle and shares it with their friends,” Garrett explained. “We want to capture that moment and the data, and then also put the winemaker in contact with that consumer at the moment of consumption. If you’re opening a bottle of wine, it was usually made by someone long ago in a place far away; you’re disconnected from that winemaker. What we want to do with our project is connect you to that winemaker at the moment of consumption. Not only you as the person that opened the bottle, but also the other people that you’re sharing that bottle with.”
For instance, someone purchases a bottle of wine through Club dVIN, and that wine has an NFT associated with it (the NFT here being the “digital twin”). If the consumer decides to open the bottle of wine to enjoy, its NFT then gets “burned” and can no longer be traded or sold. For Club dVIN members, the burned NFT then becomes a “Tasting Token” which is, according to Garrett, proof of experience after having tasted the wine.
“It’s a digital collectible, but instead of being attached to a bottle of wine, it’s attached to an experience,” Garrett said.
He added that being able to communicate and create a community around the owners of those digital collectibles provide an innovative way for wine brands, especially luxury wine brands, to start building relationships and even, to a certain extent, start building commercial relationships with its best customers.
Tasting Tokens then live in the club member’s Club dVIN portal, creating a highlight reel commemorates wines tasted, experiences enjoyed, and all of the data attached to those experiences—when, where and with whom the wine was drunk. This digital collectible also provides utility to the winemaker. The winery and winemaker receive the data which they can then use to better understand who is drinking their wines. It gives them the ability to be in contact with the consumer, to create community and even make alterations to their strategic marketing plans. Perhaps the biggest draw is that for the first time, winemakers can easily track who their biggest fans are by seeing how many Tasting Tokens of their wines people have racked up. For Garrett, this is the power of NFTs that he and his team are most interested in, and he has already seen a positive response from the winemakers with whom the club works
Garrett and his team are not only using the global reach of their NFT wine club to help wineries expand to new customers, but they are also using it to expand the wine industry itself.
The Bhutan Wine Company, founded by Master of Wine candidate and head of Deloitte’s Global Wine practice, Michael Juergens, was established a few years ago in partnership with the Bhutanese government and royal family.
The company’s mission is to develop the fine wine industry of this small country nestled in the Himalayas and celebrate its unique and prolific terroir. In an effort to commemorate this monumental inception of a new wine region, Club dVIN has partnered with The Bhutan Wine Company to create a oncein-a-lifetime trip for their members to be part of the inaugural Bhutan wine harvest in 2024.
When club members purchase the Bhutan trip NFT, they will have access to one of the select few coveted spots on the trip to embark on an adventure to Bhutan and assist with the very first harvest. The week-long trip will include time to explore Bhutan, dedicated work time in the vineyards, and a tasting of world-class wines and local cuisine prepared by Bhutanese chefs. Those on the trip will also get a chance to meet other Club dVIN members from around the world. NFT holders will also have access to the very first bottles of wine produced from that same harvest.
Perhaps the most enticing benefit of the NFT is that after the trip, the NFT is converted into an “allocation token.” This special token will provide the holder with the ability to purchase an allocation of The Bhutan Wine Company’s wine for an allotted number of years. This allocation token will be the only way to guarantee an allocation for the first few vintages.
It’s clear how new-wave, cult wine brands, such as Massican, can harness NFT technology to attract a new consumer; however, more traditional producers who have maintained reputations of quality for multiple generations may be more hesitant to pursue this type of technology. ere may be fear of losing the brand’s identity, or even its customers; however, in the case of Graham’s Port in Portugal, NFTs are a way to retain current customers while also catering to a new demographic.
Symington Family Estates in Portugal is one of the world’s leading Port and wine producers. One of its most important brands, Graham’s Port in the Douro Valley, has been crafting fine Ports since the 1800s with a world-renowned reputation. Harry Symington, fifth-generation family member and communications manager for Symington Family Estates, is ushering the brand into the new generation of Port consumption. The brand is dipping its toe into the NFT world with a pilot special release of its Port. Symington has seen that partially due to the growth in tourism to Portugal, there has been an emergence of a new, younger generation of Port drinkers who are focused on experience.
"We’re much more interested in when someone opens the bottle and shares it with their friends. We want to capture that moment and the data, and then also put the winemaker in contact with that consumer at the moment of consumption."
- DAVID GARRETT, CLUB DVIN
"If people are wondering, ‘How do I drink wine in the metaverse?’ it's the same way you drink wine on Zoom. You and I are both having a glass of wine, a cocktail or coffee, doing a ‘virtual tasting.’"
- DAN PETROSKI, MASSICAN WINES
“What we’re seeing, in terms of volume and value sales, is that people, particularly younger generations, might be drinking less frequently but drinking more premium,” Symington observed. “So, they are perhaps saving their money to buy something a little bit more special and then drinking in that moment something that’s a little bit more premium. This is fantastic for us because we have Ports that, whether they age in bottle as vintage Port or in cask as single harvest Tawny, we have the breadth of a portfolio to be able to offer these consumers special drinking experiences.”
For producers with such provenance, it can sometimes be a struggle to balance the brand’s heritage and history while also innovating to attract a new consumer. Symington knows that in general, they have two main consumer types: the traditional Port drinker and the new Port drinker.
“The more traditional Port drinker, which is not necessarily defined by their age as is by how and when they drink Port, associates it with certain occasions,” Symington said. “They might associate it with it being a winter drink, perhaps a little bit more of a formal occasion. Then you have the new generation of drinkers, which is defined by how they’ve been introduced to Port. They are having white Port and tonic, or they’re having chilled glasses of Tawny Port, which is a style that is a little bit more accessible., Our challenge is to speak to both of these audiences.”
One of the main draws of attaching an NFT to a wine purchase is that it opens up the potential to have a unique experience associated with the consumption of wine. Given that Port and experience go hand-in-hand, Symington Family Estates has released a limited-edition case of two rare bottles, one of Graham’s 1970, the year the Symington Family purchased Graham’s, and Graham’s 2020, to commemorate Graham’s 200th anniversary. This limited-edition case has an NFT associated with it which will provide the purchaser of the case with special Graham’s experiences.
“Attaching this NFT is a way for us to develop closer relationships with those that want to build relationships with us and for us to be able to reward them, either through experiences or through allocations of special releases,” Symington said. “Our contact with the consumer is when they come to visit us, so having an NFT-linked special release gives us another dimension to our relationship with consumers which, at the moment, beyond social media and people coming to physically visit us, is still pretty nascent.”
As with any technological innovation of this scale, there are always potential challenges. A doubt Harry Symington has is that individuals who purchase a bottle of Graham’s with an associated NFT and wish to resell the wine won’t do so on the proper NFT platforms. This would then defeat the whole purpose of producers being able to use NFTs to track a bottle’s lifecycle and all of the data associated with it.
“That’s my only doubt: if we’re interested in seeing the lifecycle of a bottle, particularly if we release a vintage port very young,” Symington said. “NFT providers will tell you that it’s down to the experiences that you attach. If it’s just an NFT-linked bottle of wine, yes, you have the provenance and the authenticity, but you don’t have the additional perks that come along with it, so that’s up to us to offer experiences that are genuinely appealing.”
In addition, many consumers are already wary of investing in a volatile currency, such as crypto, or they simply don’t know enough about it. To help tackle this issue, Club dVIN started an “NFT 101: Crash Course for Wine Lovers” series on its Instagram reels page, as well as on its YouTube channel.
There is also the question of whether the widespread use of NFTs in wine will make an already exclusive industry more exclusive. As seen in the art and fashion worlds, NFTs are often associated with luxury products that are not accessible to everyone. However, in the case of Dan Petroski, it’s clear that his usage of NFTs is not making Massican more exclusive—it’s making wine more accessible for everyone. Whether or not NFTs cater to the luxurious, the exclusivity side of the wine industry will be up to the producer and how they decide to use this technology to their advantage.
Taking the risk to experiment with NFTs may be worth it as they can be a powerful tool for winemakers to connect directly with their consumer like never before. Whether for or against using NFTs in the wine industry, the technology has at least stirred up a buzz and brought more awareness to the wine world, which is always a good thing, especially in a world where consumers have significantly more options for beverage consumption than ever before. NFTs will become more common in the wine industry, but it may be a long time before they replace the way we purchase and collect wine altogether. For now, it is an attractive supplement to the traditional methods of sales and marketing that will hopefully alleviate the problem of Millennials and Generation Z drinking less wine. WBM
“Our contact with the consumer is when they come to visit us, so having an NFT-linked special release gives us another dimension to our relationship with consumers which, at the moment, beyond social media and people coming to physically visit us, is still pretty nascent.”
- HARRY SYMINGTON, SYMINGTON FAMILY ESTATES
“Beyond the technology, we must leave room for magic, and that comes from the people doing the work. Working together as a team toward a common goal creates powerful energy.”
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Winery name and location: Dough Wines out of Sonoma County, Calif. is the first wine collaboration of the James Beard Foundation, and features food-friendly and future-friendly wines with ambitious purpose. MacRostie Winery was founded in 1987 in Healdsburg, Calif. and continues to produce cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Annual case production: 40,000 for Dough Wines; 45,000 cases for MacRostie Winery
Planted acres: About 100 acres
Career background: I have been working in the wine industry since 2007. Currently I am on the board of the Petaluma Gap Winegrowers Association and a mentor with the Bâtonnage Mentorship Program. I have participated in di erent viticulture, IPM groups, di erent science/lab associations, ASEV, and IQ. I have been an active part of the wine community throughout my career and have just started taking some leadership roles.
What has been your biggest professional challenge? My biggest professional challenge has been taking the time to think about my career in a big picture way. How can I continue to push myself intellectually and practically? How can I have a positive impact on others and the environment around me? What can I do every day to satisfy my own personal goals as well as company and societal goals? Finding the balance between these is important and keeping a healthy perspective and mindset is challenging.
Varieties that your winery is known for: Dough Wines: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon; MacRostie Winery: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
