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Mr. Smith makes a sale: that’s why they call it the wine ‘business’

Kelly J. Hayes
Wine Ink
The 2014 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel is “zin-ply” amazing!

News came from the Great Northwest in mid-October that Washington winemaker Charles Smith had sold five brands from his eponymous company to Constellation Brands, one of the biggest wine companies on earth.

The sale price for the Kung Fu Girl Riesling, Eve Chardonnay, Boom Boom Syrah, Velvet Devil Merlot and Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon brands was a reported $120 million. In total the labels currently produce around 500,00 cases of wine each year with prices per bottle in the $12-$15 a bottle range. The sale will make Constellation the second largest supplier of Washington state wines behind Chateau Ste. Michelle. Smith will remain a consulting winemaker on the brands and keeps ownership of a number of his other wines including the K-Vintners.

It is not just a nice payday for Smith, but it is also a very green validation of the amazing work that he has accomplished in his relatively short and meteoric career in the wine business.



While it is easy to look at the zeros and think about how lucrative the wine industry can be, the story reminded me once again of just how much work — and how many people — it takes to make a successful wine brand.

THE BUSINESS OF WINE



Wine is a business of people. Some wear suits and work on computers while others wear dungarees and work with clippers.

From the very beginning, before a piece of property becomes a vineyard, before a building becomes a winery, there are financial transactions and contracts to be signed. Bankers, brokers, lenders and the lawyers are all a part of the process before a single shovel is turned. Once an owner takes title, architects, land planners, horticulturists and winemakers come up with designs and drawings and dreams.

And the real work begins after the vines are planted. Sorting equipment, fermentation tanks and barrels must be purchased and brought to the winery that has taken shape in the image of the architects’ drawings.

Someone needs to bend, weld and rivet the steel in those stainless tanks. Someone else grows the trees that are harvested and sent to a cooperage to be turned into vessels for aging the wine. And someone drives all that stuff to the winery. Of course, let’s not forget the middlemen. There are middlemen for everything.

Then consider the hard-working people who manage the vineyards throughout the year. They do the backbreaking work of clearing the brush from the steep hillsides, or tilling the valley floors so that the grapes can be planted and eventually harvested. They sort the grapes and keep the winemaking facilities beyond spotless. They are the heart and soul of nearly every bottle of wine that is made.

And of course there are the winemakers themselves. If a bottle of wine were a Hollywood film the winemaker would be the director. He or she must select the right grapes for the right sites, ensure that they are grown properly and picked at the perfect time.

They must make the final blending decisions and oversee the final edit, the aging. And don’t think for a minute that the devil is not in each and every detail.

CLOSING THE DEAL

Once the wine is made there are bottles to be bought, labels to be affixed and corks to be put in place. The labels are the product of designers who labor for ways to visually define the wine and make it attractive for buyers. The cork is harvested from trees, much of them found on generations-old farms in Portugal.

Finally the wine has to be sold. A network of distributors and representatives work with your wine shop and restaurant sommeliers to sell the wine and get it on the shelves or on the wine list so you can make a decision amongst which of the hundreds of wines offered you wish to buy.

“Let’s drink to the hard working people…let’s drink to the salt of the earth” a young Mick Jagger sang on the final cut from 1968’s “Beggars Banquet” album. It is a refrain that often comes to mind when I think about all of the hard-working people who are somehow involved in getting the liquid into my glass. How many people have a hand in some way, shape or form in turning the fruit of the vines into wine?

Congratulation to Mr. Smith, his partners, associates, employees and everyone who played a part in making his wines. After all, it ain’t easy.

Kelly J. Hayes lives in the soon-to-be-designated appellation of Old Snowmass, Colo., with his wife. He can be reached at malibukj@aol.com.


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