A Really Good and Bad Harvest, Grocery Mergers Would be Bad for Wine, Chicken Becomes Pizza and an Over Flowing Half a Glass and More in This Edition of Woody’s Whine
Writing from the edge of the Russian River in Sonoma County without AI
A Really Good and Really Bad 2023 Grape Harvest
There is a confounding conundrum facing the wine industries in California, Washington State and many other wine growing regions: there’s already too much wine in distributors warehouses and in winery cellars and sales are down for the second year in a row. Yet vintners are celebrating the California wine grape crush that came in at 3.6 million tons for 2023 with top varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc all up double-digits compared with the previous year and all were also well ahead of their five-year averages.
Great reason for celebration….oh not so fast.
Just cause you crushed nearly 3.7 million tons of wine grapes doesn’t tell the whole story because an estimated 400,000 or perhaps 500,000 tons of wine grapes may have gone unpicked, seriously as in left on the vine because nobody wanted them.
Jeff Bitter with the Allied Grape Growers recommended last month that California needs to remove a minimum of 50,000 acres of winegrapes to get supply better aligned with current demand and this month he’s even more specific saying that these regions need to make these removals:
- Lodi/Delta -15,000 acres – big Zinfandel producers
- Central Valley – 15,000 acres – generic brands
- Central Coast, Mendocino, and Lake Counties – 15,000 acres
- Sonoma/Napa – 5,000 acres
Stuart Spencer of the Lodi Winegrape Commission remarked further, “I’ve also been told privately by other leading industry professionals that we likely need to remove 100,000 acres of winegrapes statewide. One of the challenges is that new acreage coming online is much more productive than the acres being pulled. Several industry presentations over the past month highlight the many significant challenges confronting the wine sector. Notably, after three decades of growth U.S. wine shipments have experienced a consecutive two-year decline. Projections indicate that 2023 wine shipments may decrease by 2-4%.
Additionally, the rapid rise of production supplies and labor costs has driven up the cost of both farming and winemaking, reducing profitability all around. And under current market conditions, even finding a contract may be difficult. With current grape market prices being offered to growers, higher yields are necessary to maintain sustainable margins.
Wine Business Daily – Shanken News Daily
As I continue to suggest to readers and Greg Baise, this industry challenge should result in some dynamic pricing in both high and moderate range wines and some really nice blends as the industry works to revive the market according to people in the know.
Better Cheaper Wines
Todd Azevedo, a Ciatti Company partner who specializes in the bulk market, said that because of the price pressure on coastal fruit, much of it will end up in the sort of California AVA wines, generally under $20. Wineries can’t raise prices because of flat consumption, so the upshot is that these $20-and-under California wines should be better than usual in quality – MUCH better, in fact, because the quality of the vintage on the coasts appears to be excellent.
Keep your glass clean and a watchful eye open
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US Grocer Merger Could Mean Less Shelf Space for Wine
See news update below
The proposed Kroger-Albertson’s supermarket merger in the US could usher in significant changes in the way US grocers sell wine — a massive boost for private label SKUs (stock keeping units), for one; a reduction in the number of traditional wine SKUs for another; and even, perhaps, an increase in trendy, more celebrity-oriented products and localized, e-commerce wine marketplaces.
That’s because the two companies, and especially Kroger with its decades-long commitment to wine, are among the biggest wine retailers in the country. So anything the combined company does could reverberate up and down the grocery and wine supply chains.
“This would be about big changes in the wine industry,” says Phil Lempert, a supermarket consultant in Los Angeles, who sees the merger as an opportunity for the new company to bring innovation and change to the wine category.
“I think one of the reasons so many are opposed to this merger is that they see it resulting in less competition and higher prices, including wine,” says David Patterson, an associate partner in the CPG and Retail practice at North Carolina’s Clarkston Consulting. “The idea for the merger is to chase better margins and cut costs wherever they can, and many of their suppliers will be caught in the middle.”
“Less competition always leads to price increases.”
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Latest Development from 2/26/2024
FTC sues to block $24.6 billion Kroger-Albertsons merger
In a complaint filed in federal court, the FTC said the combination of the two largest US supermarket chains would unduly concentrate the market, despite a proposal by the companies to sell off stores to Piggly Wiggly chain owner C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. (apparently a very small company) The bipartisan group of states includes California and Wyoming.
The complaint alleges that the deal would harm consumers by eliminating competition on prices and quality, making the combined firm less likely to improve its services by offering flexible hours and pickup services. It also would give the grocers increased leverage over workers, slowing wage growth and worsening benefits, according to the complaint.
“This supermarket mega merger comes as American consumers have seen the cost of groceries rise steadily over the past few years,” said Henry Liu, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “Kroger’s acquisition of Albertsons would lead to additional grocery price hikes for everyday goods, further exacerbating the financial strain consumers across the country face today.”
Bloomberg News
Half a Glass
Gallo becomes…Gallo
E&J Gallo, the name none of us ever uses, has shortened its name to…wait for it…Gallo.
“Gallo” is a household name among consumers, and it’s how our distributors and customer partners know us,” said CMO Stephanie Gallo. “Our name has always been synonymous with wine, so this change simply opens the door for more people to appreciate that we are a leader in all categories of alcohol beverage.”
Gallo is the top wine marketer both in the U.S. and globally with worldwide volume of approximately 105 million cases, according to Impact Databank.
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Napa Auction Prices Fall
Tumbling prices at a Napa trade auction held in late February are a sobering sign for the US wine industry. The slowdown in wine sales has finally come to Napa Valley, in shocking and dramatic fashion with top bottle prices down 30%.
Napa Valley Vintners president and CEO Linda Reiff said: “I think that has to do with the times and the economy.” To the point two big name vintners were overheard bemoaning their difficulty in getting their distributors to take their wines in the past few months – in other words, they cannot even get their wines to stores and restaurants.
The bidding was for the 2022 vintage which is not considered a bad vintage but is also not as well-regarded as highly anticipated 2023 (even though there’s too much of it) Some buyers may have decided to save their money for next year.
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“King of Cheeses” Parmigiano Reggiano
It’s also one of Italy’s oldest: origins of Parmigiano Reggiano going back to the Middle Ages, when Benedictine and Cistercian monks in the Po Valley made a cow’s milk cheese that was suitable for long preservation.
In the seventeenth century, to distinguish Parmigiano from other products on the market, the Duke of Parma issued a deed that defined the places from which the cheese “of Parma” should come. The name Parmigiano Reggiano became official in 1954, and the production regulations specified under its Protected Designation of Origin status (PDO) are among the most stringent in Europe.
Once the wheels are formed they are submerged in a brine for about 20 days. They are then aged for a minimum of 12 months, at which point each wheel is inspected by an expert to determine if it is worthy of the Parmigiano Reggiano name.
Those that pass are graded and fire-branded with the official Parmigiano Reggiano Consorzio seal, and some go on to mature for 18, 24, 36, and occasionally many more months. Keep in mind that during that aging
process, every wheel must be tended to with periodic cleaning and flipping in a suitable environment for aging wheels of this size, which weigh an average of 88 pounds (they lose moisture—hence, weight—as they mature). This contributes to why older wheels generally cost more than younger ones.
At around 24 months of age, Parmigiano Reggiano is a harmonious balance of savory and sweet, with fruity notes of pineapple, and a moist yet grainy crystalline texture. The visible white spots in the paste, sometimes mistaken for salt grains, are actually crystals of an amino acid called tyrosine that impart a satisfying crunch. These are increasingly present as the cheese matures, and the consistency becomes grainier and crumblier. The flavor profiles of more mature cheeses are more intense and savory, with meaty umami notes.
The storied King of Cheeses continues to be a beloved ingredient and essential kitchen staple for Italians (and me) throughout the country, and highly coveted by cheese lovers around the globe.
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The Evolution of Traditional American Pizza
Pizza Master John Gutekanst says “Explaining what an American style pizza is to anyone is like showing them what an American looks like.”
Our largesse of meat, fish and vegetables mirrored the huge fertile landscape of this country. This is reflected in the number of toppings on an American pizza. More cheese, meat and dough tend to satisfy U.S. customers. The return of soldiers who had served in Italy in the 40s brought a new craving for Italian food and started the ball rolling for the different styling of American Pizza. (I find that most neighborhood pizza places in Chicago opened at the end of the 1940’s and early 50’s by families and I bet a returning service man)
The past 20 years have seen many chefs practicing traditional European pizza making in the United States and have upped American culinary mojo with pizza schools, demonstrations, media and social media putting this finesse on the fast track. This has also led to more innovative sauces, meats, cheeses and grains.
Pizza Today
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KFC Brings Us “Chizza” Their Interpretation of Pizza – When it’s Not
The “Chizza’ became available nationwide Feb. 26. Lucky for us. It features two 100% white meat Extra Crispy filets topped with marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni sold a la carte or as part of a combo
meal. It’s been on menus in various foreign countries since 2015.
KFC’s chief food innovation officer Vijay Sukumar called the offering a “basic idea of chicken as the base of a pizza.” The biggest difference is the cheese has to melt differently.
“How do we get that right cheese? It’s a unique process based on the filet coming through fresh, so it’s piping hot. Then how do we build it? It has to be pepperoni. What is a better topping in the U.S.? Pepperoni is what makes it distinct and that’s why we think this will clearly resonate with consumers,” he said.
KFC claims to have “barrowed” (my word) the sauce from its Pizza Hut brand. “We took some “learnings” (sic) from them.” Sukumar said.
What the team behind this amalgamation didn’t apparently recognize is that cheese on fried chicken is less a pizza and more a chicken parm continuing KFC’s tradition of treating chicken like bread, piling it with more meat and cheese.
CMO Nick Chavez said the product is going to allow the chain to “fire a new salvo” in the chicken wars. (Great now we’ll see chicken parm/pizza from Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s and Popeyes, gosh I hope not.)
“The strength of our international footprint is that it offers a test bed for tremendous food innovation,” he said. Sure make folks in Korea try chicken with pepperoni.
Nation’s Restaurant News
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That’s My Whine and I could be wrong…
This month’s recipes for Whipped Brie with Mushrooms on Crostini, and Quiches with Spinach and Cheese, are right here… Enjoy!
Woody Mosgers, cooks, custom caters, writes, drinks, matches wine and food and offers wine country tour information and planning in Santa Rosa Sonoma, CA.