Napa's Wine Selling Problem

Yesterdays' New York Times Dining section had an interesting article about Napa Valley wine sellers. It seems wineries are practically giving away their wine due to an overstock of them. In fact it's even gotten so bad that actual Cabernet grapes are being hawked roadside like home grown tomatoes and lettuce. Why is this happening?Why is the wine industry suffering so much?

The answer , of course is provided by an author whom I've mentioned numerous times here, Katrina Heron interviews various Napa valley vintners. It seems that the economic downturn has some shops throughout the US lax in their reordering. Mostly it's because the Valley only produces high end wine. Diversity to other markets should have been the key, with some well established vintners catering to tastes across the board. Another factor are the laws governing direct trade from wineries to shops. Surprisingly only ten states currently allow wineries to ship directly to retail outlets and restaurants A third reason is that wineries need separate licences from the states that they do business with/ Another has to do with many state embargoes that are the direct cause of poor business.

The bright side is that wineries are going online and can bring the best products to their customers. Another plus is that smaller vintners can easily go on such social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook,Some offer virtual wine tasting (this is worth looking into ) on the last enabling oenophiles to get a feel for the company and their products.This should provide a rise in sales for those smaller wineries.


Napa may be selling out by using the internet but it's the only path for them to take. If it increases more business then fine. It also enables them to get out their product to many different customers and widen their limits.This may be the best and possibly the only solution to a bad year. Otherwise we may be seeing a few vintners opening up Cabernet stands along Napa roads.