Most mornings I have my coffee and walk the vineyards around my house with my dog, a ten year-old Aussie Shepherd named “Bear”. This is as close a replacement I could find to what I’d rather be doing first thing in the morning which is paddling to a right point peeler in tropical waters. For me, this is the time to let the mind wander and enjoy the stillness in the air and take in that sweet smell of fresh soil still moistened by the morning dew. Today, as I was looking at the grapes about to ripen and thinking (ok, worrying a bit) about the fate of the wine business, it occurred to me that maybe it would do good to get on a little soap box and try to give you a little farmer perspective of where we are.
Like most businesses in a down economy, we in the wine business had to adapt to a new 
reality; the Pinot party is over and some emperors are wearing no clothes… Gone are those (not so healthy) days when hoards of new wine drinkers were chasing us to “please” allow them to buy our precious nectar of the gods. In my opinion, this is a good thing for us in the long term for it flushes those with unrealistic expectations of fame and glory out of the business, and makes it easier for those who are in it for love. In the past year, I have noticed that humility and common sense are making quite a comeback in the wine circles. There is nothing like hard times to bring people together.
As a grower and business owner, I can tell you (the consumer) that California wines are now mostly fairly priced (ok, some megalomaniacs are still out there…). They are also better than ever because many marginal vineyards have been ripped out. We have been forced to cut back on some of the excesses we took for granted and now deliver a better value with every bottle. But we now need your support more than ever.
When you go to most good restaurants these days, you often hear the staff talk with pride about the fact that local produce is used to make your meal. Here in California, we started many of the trends that support farmers who are growing our food locally, we believe that our heritage is important enough to preserve. You now can understand why I get irritated when I go to the grocery store and see a person wearing a ‘Slow Food” t shirt putting a $5 Argentinean Malbec in their shopping cart. I ask myself how come they don’t chose a local wine that may cost more because here, we actually pay the vineyard workers a living wage… It’s time for us to start voting with our dollars, in grocery stores, wine shops and mainly in restaurants.
So please, make you next purchase from us, your neighbors. Next time you are in a restaurant and see no California wine (and I mean California, not the stuff that was watered down with 25% Languedoc swill) ask to talk to the wine buyer and give them a piece of your mind. Understand that supporting your local winery helps preserve a heritage and make our local communities more diverse and therefore stronger. We will keep taking our dogs for walks in the vineyard and grow the best wines for your dollar, we promise.
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I love your blog! I certainly understand your position, although I am recently unemployed I had to cancel a few of my wine clubs in Paso Robles, Los Olivos. I still buy wine from vineyards that have specials or free shipping. Until I find another job then I will continue the ones I had to cancel. Our favorite wine shop was WineStyles in Seal Beach they had to close after 2 1/2 years and was nominated the Best Wine Shop in Orange County. My heart goes out to the owner because we thought he was doing well and we enjoyed going every month to pick up our wine and doing some wine tasting and wine dinners. My dream is a trip with my husband to Napa/Sonoma for wine tasting, their are so many wonderful wineries we want to visit there. Good luck to you. Continue the good work! Cheers!
Oded – great call on the “buy local” theme. We’re not just paying our vineyard workers a living wage, we’re employing our neighbors and supporting the livelihoods of all the people who support our business. Plus we’re paying taxes. After that we can start to talk about carbon footprints.
I really appreciate your thoughts on this topic and am very much in support. The real challenge to the buying local wine concept for those of us that consume wine with our meals is that the cost of CA wines are just so much higher than wines from Italy, South America, etc. We recently traveled to Spain and Portugal and were able to enjoy local wines with dinner (at restaurants) for a few euros. We also went to local quintas and purchased wines at very reasonable prices.
I have always struggled to understand the CA wine model where the most expensive place to buy the wines is at the winery. I would love it if we had some sort of “villages” wine program where simple wines that go well with local foods are available to those willing to buy at the winery. Perhaps with CA’s cost of business this is just not possible.
Oded,
Well put. There are plenty of reasonably priced well made wines within 50 miles of most people in California.
Drash
Longboard Team:
I am, as you well know I long time supporter of Longboard Vineyards to the extent that I lovingly abuse the local restaurant owners with question of where is your selection of Longboard Wines. Additionally I have made it a practice to bring a bottle from my own stock and share it with whoever is in the restaurant at the moment of my appearance. One such unexpected experience occurred when the owner of a local home cleaning company learned of my love affair with the sea, wine and longboard surfing. He sent me a CD of a local musician Pete Harris (now deceased) who had written a song called “Livin Long” (I will forward a copy to you). The song which speaks of a longboard lifestyle and the album which extols the virtues of appreciation for living simply, your community and its individual beauty speaks to the essence of what makes us strong as Americans. A love for family, community, and the prosperity that those qualities will bring when each and every person works to support the local economy with purchases from local business. So in addition to shopping with your economic brain engaged be mindful that sometimes paying a little more by shopping with local merchants can bring you a wealth much greater than mere savings.
As Peter Harris so serenely put it “Livin long livin right livin the longboard life”
All the Best
Bruce Duncan “Cheers” and it’s time to paddle out.
I get it! I’m a olive grower/EVOO producer that understands the frustration. I go to local restaurants to support them and realize they use local produce but imported oil. They need to get on board with supporting local farmers.