As "Alt-beverages" gain the eyes of retailers, alternative industries also focus on merchandising characters - Credit: Secret Atlanta

Don't Look Now: Who's Outcompeting Wine?

May 11, 2026

🍷 Daily Wine Economic Update | May 11, 2026

by Nick Karavidas

🌞 Monday Good News for Today

Everything is shifting, and today’s encouragement is in the rebuild itself. Wine-Searcher has new ownership focused on U.S. growth, AI, and wine data. So, from wine brand data 'bank' information to Smoke exposure research being organized into practical tools for growers and wineries, wine information is growing more accessible and succinct (especially for the Wine Trader Tv users :)).

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📉 Market Demand | Case Goods, Bulk Wine, Grapes

Wine-Searcher changed hands today, and this is how consumers, retailers, importers, and wineries are interpreting price and availability of not only products but the data systems that monitor them. GLX U.S. Inc., owned by the Goudet family investment company Platin Sàrl, acquired Wine-Searcher with stated interest in U.S. growth, AI, and broader drinks data. Wine-Searcher says it lists 18 million offers from 35,000 stores in 130 countries, including 9 million offers from 10,000 U.S. stores, and generates 30 million retailer sales leads annually. That is not just media news. It is wine’s consumer discovery and pricing infrastructure being recapitalized.

Data is king....but data un-organized is chaos.

WineBusiness also carried the Wine-Searcher tariff relief story today, noting that wine sales are still dropping, but the rate of decline has slowed and looks like it may be leveling. The important detail is the slowing rate. The market is not recovered, but there is a difference between freefall and deceleration which is a critical distinction.

🧭 Motive Forces Behind the News Demand is now being shaped by data, search behavior, price visibility, and consumer discovery as much as by depletion reports. If Wine-Searcher becomes more aggressive in U.S. market intelligence, AI label tools, and retailer lead generation, it could influence how consumers find value, how retailers compete, and how wineries understand shelf pricing outside their own accounts.

🔑 Nick’s Takeaway This is the kind of story that looks quiet but matters and we all need to open our eyes and slow down to review. In a weak market, better pricing intelligence can help serious operators and expose weak ones. If the consumer can find every comparable bottle instantly, wineries need clearer identity, stronger value logic, and better control of their market story....not to mention reliable economic news

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🌎 Global Supply & Trade

Tariff relief is the global trade story with immediate wine relevance. Wine-Searcher reported today that courts continue striking down Trump tariff actions, including the worldwide 10% tariff, giving the wine and spirits trade rare relief while sales remain soft. That helps importers, restaurants, retailers, and consumers facing price pressure, but it also keeps foreign wine more competitive against U.S. domestic producers.

Australian agricultural exporters, including wine interests, are also watching possible tariff refunds after U.S. tariff rulings. Australian reporting says refunds may be available through a U.S. portal, although the actual benefit may flow unevenly depending on whether exporters, importers, or U.S. affiliates paid the duties.

Tariff refunds may signal a new sign of relief and invigorate trade. Credit: MSN.com

Wine Industry Insight’s May 11 feed also flagged broader international movement, including Wine-Searcher’s new ownership, French Loire property activity, and recent coverage of solar-panel vineyard investment in Cognac. Those are different stories, but they share a common thread: global wine regions are trying to protect economics through trade rulings, capital movement, data platforms, and alternative land-use value.

🧭 Motive Forces Behind the News Global wine is not only correcting through vineyard removals. It is correcting through tariff litigation, trade access, investor repositioning, land-use experimentation, export strategy, and data consolidation. California growers are living one version of the downturn, but foreign producers are using multiple levers to defend their position. Competition for US shelf will drive EU and US policy decisions.

🔑 Nick’s Takeaway Tariff relief is good for parts of the trade, but California growers should not read it as simple good news. Lower import friction may help restaurants and consumers, while also increasing competitive pressure from imported wine. Trade relief always has two sides: channel relief and domestic pricing pressure and domestic pricing pressure still cannot compete with EU Subsidies which are still growing and aggressive.

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🏷️ Policy & Labeling

Wine and Marijuana - Toe to Toe or Complimentary? Credit: marijuanamoment.net

The policy section today needs to move beyond only California bills. The White House released the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy on May 4, and that matters to wine-adjacent economics because intoxicating hemp policy is now being framed inside broader federal drug-control authority.

Cannabis Business Times reported that the Trump administration is claiming new legal authority to dismantle intoxicating hemp products under the November 2025 appropriations language, including products above 0.4 milligrams total THC per container. That November 2026 deadline remains a major uncertainty for THC beverages, and WSWA continues arguing for federal regulation modeled on alcohol rather than a ban.

Wine Institute’s cannabis policy principles are also directly relevant. Wine Institute says intoxicating cannabis and hemp products should be regulated equally, and that consumers should be prohibited from purchasing or consuming intoxicating cannabis or hemp products at licensed alcohol beverage premises. This is exactly the kind of institutional position that affects tasting rooms, event venues, alcohol licenses, and the future boundary between wine and hemp beverages.

California remains active as well. SB 917 continues moving after Senate passage and would expand certified farmers market access for non-estate wineries. AB 1585 remains the origin-labeling fight around “American” wine. AB 2991 is already operational, requiring electronic funds transfer payments between retailers and wholesalers.

🧭 Motive Forces Behind the News Policy is now shaping wine economics through four lanes at once: direct consumer access, origin protection, payment mechanics, and competitive beverage boundaries. The institutional players matter: White House ONDCP, WSWA, Wine Institute, CAWG, California ABC, state legislatures, and state alcohol regulators are all shaping where wine can sell, how it gets paid, what labels mean, and how new beverage categories are controlled.

🔑 Nick’s Takeaway This is why policy cannot be a single headline for all of us in the wine biz. A hemp rule can reshape a new competitor. A Wine Institute position can affect licensed premises. A farmers market bill can create a legal sales channel. An EFT rule can change cash discipline. These are not side issues but are part of the new operating rules of wine’s next market that are not likely to fade away as 'unimportant.

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🥃 Competitive Beverages & Corporate Strategy

What's the next wave of alternatives looking like? Your imagination only knows. Credit: Nick Karavidas

What's the next wave of alternatives looking like? Your imagination only knows. Credit: Nick Karavidas

Target’s THC beverage expansion deserves front placement in this section. TheStreet reported today that Target is expanding intoxicating hemp beverages into more than 300 stores across Florida, Texas, and Illinois, with 5 milligram THC beverages sold to 21+ customers in liquor store sections where allowed. BevNET previously reported the same expansion, and this now puts hemp-derived THC beverages into a national-retail conversation rather than a fringe beverage conversation.

Yacht Water should not have been missed. BevNET’s May 11 coverage of Lil Yachty’s Yacht Water shows why celebrity-backed RTD and flavored alcohol products belong in the Daily. The brand ties Atlanta music culture, brewing veterans, lifestyle identity, and ready-to-drink convenience into a product built for younger social occasions. That is direct competitive pressure against wine’s weaker recruitment of younger consumers.

As reported before, the RNDC fallout continues reshaping distribution with VinePair's reporting on May 6 that RNDC was shedding five additional markets, while Martignetti acquisition of RNDC’s national control-state business expecting to close this summer.

Breakthru is also moving into Kentucky and Indiana through RNDC joint-venture interests, expanding to 18 states if completed.

🧭 Motive Forces Behind the News The beverage field is being rebuilt around occasion, retail access, celebrity identity, distribution concentration, and regulatory uncertainty. THC beverages are entering major retail. RTDs are borrowing cultural credibility from music and entertainment. Distributors are absorbing territory from a collapsing national player. Wine is competing against a much broader system than a neighboring bottle on the shelf.

🔑 Nick’s Takeaway Wine has to stop underestimating occasion competitors and get ahead of it rather than chase the news. Yacht Water, Target THC beverages, BeatBox, NoLo, and retailer-backed beverage experimentation are all fighting for the same consumer attention wine needs. These products may not look like wine, but they compete with wine at the moment of choice. This pressure is going to be lasting pressure and wine needs to get back in the arena with a vengeance.

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🌱 Natural Resources & Adaptation

credit: winetraveler.com

The 2026 Smoke Summit is the main natural-resources item for wine economics today. Wine Industry Advisor reported that the West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force will host the summit on June 8, bringing researchers and industry experts together to share progress on wildfire smoke exposure and how that research is being applied to real vineyard and winery decisions. The practical focus includes interpreting lab results, understanding smoke markers, and making timely decisions.

The West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force itself is an important institutional resource. Its site compiles smoke exposure and wildfire resources from universities, government agencies, and industry groups for growers, winemakers, and others serving the wine industry.

Wine Industry Insight’s May 8 feed also flagged €4 million for first vines under solar panels in Cognac. That is a bigger idea than a single European project as it points more assertively toward agrivoltaics, where vineyard land may carry grape production, energy value, and climate-moderating benefits at the same time impacting investor value considerations.

🧭 Motive Forces Behind the News Natural-resource risk is becoming a technical decision environment especially in areas of Smoke exposure and the requirement for better lab interpretation. Wildfire planning requires real-time economic decisions and Agrivoltaics asks whether vineyard land can produce multiple forms of value. Growers and wineries are being asked to manage climate, risk, energy, land, insurance, and product quality together and this is driving a lot more than simply another new headline

🔑 Nick’s Takeaway Smoke exposure changes picking decisions, blending decisions, insurance decisions, contract decisions, consumer confidence, and litigation. It is now an annual consideration and impacts wine in more ways than many if not most other ag product commodities. When was the last time you heard of 'smoke taint' in almonds? It's making a difference in how decisions to stay in grapes or get out of them and it has nothing to do with 'bad press' or the shrinking consumer embrace of wine. Another part of wine's "Perfect Storm".

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📊 Health Policy Pressure

Is the future of wine and alternative beverage a basic 'modern ethics' utopia?

Is the future of wine and alternative beverage a basic 'modern ethics' utopia?

Ireland remains the most important alcohol-labeling precedent, but the story has become more complicated. WHO Europe originally framed Ireland as the first EU country to require comprehensive alcohol health labeling from 2026, including cancer warnings. EASL welcomed Ireland’s policy and urged other countries to follow.

But industry pushback changed timing. Movendi says Ireland delayed mandatory cancer warning labels from 2026 to 2028, while CEEV welcomed the deferral as good news for wine companies, arguing that unilateral alcohol warnings would impose costs and strain the EU single market.

The NGO lane remains active. World Cancer Research Fund urged Ireland to stay strong on alcohol warning labels, while Movendi continues treating Ireland as a global example for cancer-warning policy. PubMed Central also published a thematic analysis of alcohol-industry arguments around warning labels, showing that this is now an organized academic, NGO, policy, and industry battle.

🧭 Motive Forces Behind the News Health policy is not one institution. It is WHO, EASL, Movendi, cancer organizations, academic researchers, EU wine companies, national governments, and alcohol trade bodies fighting over label language, implementation dates, trade barriers, consumer perception, and public-health authority.

🔑 Nick’s Takeaway Wine needs to continue treating health policy as economic policy as it is direct and developing increase driving the costs of operating. Label language can change consumer sentiment, compliance cost, export access, retail confidence, and capital perception. The right answer for the wine industry is not denial but a disciplined wine-specific research, credible moderation, and a serious defense of context.

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📚 References

Wine-Searcher, Wine-Searcher Gets a New Owner, May 11, 2026, Tags: Wine Data, AI, Retail Search, GLX U.S. Inc. https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2026/05/wine-searcher-gets-a-new-owner

WineBusiness, Wine Industry Finally Gets Some Good News, May 11, 2026, Tags: Tariffs, Sales Decline, Retail Velocity https://www.winebusiness.com/news/link/317696

WineBusiness, Wine Industry News, May 11, 2026, Tags: Daily Wine Industry News https://www.winebusiness.com/news/

Wine Industry Insight, Daily News Feed, May 11, 2026, Tags: Wine-Searcher, Cognac Solar Vines, RNDC, RTD https://www.wineindustryinsight.com/

White House, 2026 National Drug Control Strategy Released, May 4, 2026, Tags: ONDCP, Federal Policy, Drug Strategy https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/05/2026-national-drug-control-strategy-released/

White House, Fact Sheet: 2026 National Drug Control Strategy, May 4, 2026, Tags: ONDCP, Federal Policy https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/05/2026-national-drug-control-strategy-fact-sheet/

Cannabis Business Times, Trump Administration Claims New Legal Authority to Dismantle Intoxicating Hemp Products, May 2026, Tags: Hemp THC, Federal Deadline, ONDCP https://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/hemp/news/15824298/trump-administration-claims-new-legal-authority-to-dismantle-intoxicating-hemp-products

Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, The Regulation of Intoxicating Hemp Beverages, Tags: Hemp Beverages, Alcohol Regulation, WSWA https://www.wswa.org/regulate-hemp

Wine Institute, Wine Institute’s Cannabis Policy Principles, Tags: Cannabis, Hemp, Licensed Premises, Alcohol Policy https://wineinstitute.org/our-work/policy/wine-institutes-cannabis-policy-principles/

KCBX, New Bill Could Mean More Wine for Sale at Farmers Markets, May 4, 2026, Tags: SB 917, Farmers Markets, Small Wineries https://www.kcbx.org/business-and-economy/2026-05-04/new-bill-could-mean-more-wine-for-sale-at-farmers-markets

California Association of Winegrape Growers, AB 1585: Truth in the American Label, Tags: AB 1585, American Wine, Labeling https://cawg.org/ab-1585/

California ABC, AB 2991 Guidance: Electronic Payments Between Retailers and Wholesalers, Apr. 7, 2025, Tags: AB 2991, EFT Payments, Alcohol Compliance https://www.abc.ca.gov/ab-2991-guidance-electronic-payments-between-retailers-and-wholesalers/

TheStreet, Target Quietly Expands THC Hemp Drinks Across Florida, Texas and Illinois, May 11, 2026, Tags: Target, Hemp THC, Retail https://www.thestreet.com/retail/target-quietly-expands-thc-hemp-drinks-across-florida-texas-and-illinois

BevNET, Target Expanding Hemp Beverage Sales to Florida, Texas, Illinois, May 2026, Tags: Target, Hemp Beverages, THC https://www.bevnet.com/news/2026/target-expanding-hemp-beverage-sales-to-fla-tex-ill/

BevNET, How Lil Yachty’s Yacht Water Is Building on Atlanta Music and Brewing Veterans, May 11, 2026, Tags: Yacht Water, Lil Yachty, RTD, Celebrity Beverage https://www.bevnet.com/

VinePair, Memo: RNDC to Shed Five More Markets as Firesale Continues, May 6, 2026, Tags: RNDC, Distribution, Selloff https://vinepair.com/booze-news/rndc-to-shed-five-additional-markets/

Martignetti Companies, Martignetti Companies to Acquire RNDC’s National Control State Business, May 2026, Tags: RNDC, Martignetti, Control States https://martignetti.com/blog/martignetti-companies-to-acquire-rndcs-national-control-state-business

The Spirits Business, Breakthru Enters Kentucky and Indiana with RNDC Deal, May 2026, Tags: Breakthru, RNDC, Kentucky, Indiana https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2026/05/breakthru-enters-ky-and-indiana-with-rndc-deal/

BevNET, Breakthru Beverage to Acquire RNDC’s Kentucky, Indiana Territories; More Transactions Incoming, May 6, 2026, Tags: Breakthru, RNDC, Distribution https://www.bevnet.com/spirits/2026/breakthru-beverage-to-acquire-rndcs-kentucky-indiana-territories-more-transactions-incoming/

Wine Industry Advisor, 2026 Smoke Summit: Equipping Growers and Wineries with the Latest Research and Tools on Wildfire Smoke, Apr. 30, 2026, Tags: Smoke Exposure, Wildfire, Research https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2026/04/30/2026-smoke-summit-equipping-growers-and-wineries-with-the-latest-research-and-tools-on-wildfire-smoke/

WineBusiness, 2026 Smoke Summit, May 1, 2026, Tags: Smoke Exposure, Vineyard Risk https://www.winebusiness.com/news/link/317394

American Vineyard Magazine, West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force Annual Smoke Summit, May 4, 2026, Tags: Smoke Exposure, WCSETF https://americanvineyardmagazine.com/tag/wildfire-smoke-exposure/

West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force, Smoke Exposure and Wildfire Resources, Tags: Smoke Exposure, Winegrapes, Wildfire https://www.wcsetf.org/

WHO Europe, Ireland Leads the Way as First EU Country to Introduce Comprehensive Health Labelling of Alcohol Products, May 26, 2023, Tags: Ireland, Alcohol Labels, WHO https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/26-05-2023-what-s-in-the-bottle--ireland-leads-the-way-as-the-first-country-in-the-eu-to-introduce-comprehensive-health-labelling-of-alcohol-products

EASL, EASL Welcomes Ireland’s Landmark Alcohol Labelling Policy, Jan. 29, 2025, Tags: EASL, Alcohol Labels, Ireland https://easl.eu/news/press-release-ireland-alcohol/

Movendi International, Alcohol Cancer Warnings Delayed: Ireland Prioritises Big Booze Interests Over People’s Health and Rights, Jul. 23, 2025, Tags: Movendi, Alcohol Labels, Ireland https://movendi.ngo/policy-updates/2025/07/23/alcohol-cancer-warnings-delayed-ireland-prioritises-big-booze-interests-over-peoples-health-and-rights/

Food Ingredients First, Ireland Defers Alcohol Labeling Law Amid Industry Relief and Public Health Criticism, Jul. 24, 2025, Tags: Ireland, Label Delay, Alcohol Policy https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/news/ireland-alcohol-labeling-delay-2028.html

CEEV, European Wine Companies Welcome Irish Deferral of Health Warning Labelling Rule, Jul. 23, 2025, Tags: EU Wine, Ireland, Labeling https://www.ceev.eu/news-and-events/something-was-wrong-from-the-beginning-european-wine-companies-welcome-irish-deferral-of-health-warning-labelling-rule

World Cancer Research Fund, We Call on Irish Government to Stay Strong on Alcohol Warning Labels, Jun. 19, 2025, Tags: WCRF, Alcohol Labels, Cancer https://www.wcrf.org/about-us/news-and-blogs/we-call-on-irish-government-to-stay-strong-on-alcohol-warning-labels/

PubMed Central, Labelling the Debate: A Thematic Analysis of Alcohol Industry Arguments Around Alcohol Health Warning Labels, 2025, Tags: Alcohol Labels, Research, Ireland https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12125837/

Wine Trader Tv is a publication of www.wine1news.com and The Wine Firm/Consulting Wine, Intl. Wine Trader Media

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Antidote for selfish wines

Love..is..an action?

How many times have you heard your spouse or loved one say these words,”Love is an Action”!? But isn’t it true? When words don’t match the actions, it is certainly a conflict you’ll ‘need’ to pay very close attention to, isn’t it?

We make decisions in our lives based on ‘contradictions’. If pepper doesn't compliment our ice cream as a ‘topping’, we choose chocolate syrup. If our skills at playing baseball ‘contradict’ the necessary skill-set of a ball player, then we make a decision to choose a different vocation. If you have a potential suitor who says “I love you and would do anything for you.” but never sacrifices time for you or can’t tell you the color your eyes, then you might want to reassess that relationship (FAST!).

Expressing love comes in many forms…….and this is my love language to you.

Would allowing that ‘impatient’ person into your lane soften a possible tense moment on the road? Well, would it!?

“The Antidote”
’Sharing tender thoughts with others;
’Willingness to withhold our own pain to comfort another;
’Waiting a moment to allow another car into our lane;
’Sending a gift anonymously;
’Passing a mirror without a glance.”

— The Narcissist by Nicholas Karavidas

Shock factor: Growing up with Lucille ball

‘Shock factor’ and other Lucille Ball Hollywood stunts have the ability to draw our attention fast but if dwelling too long on the ‘attention grabber’, we can easily be offended.

Some of my favorite memories were in the Hollywood Studios where my grandfather worked. A vivid memory is watching the filming of shows with Lucille Ball and my grandfather talking about having coffee with her when she was ‘on set’.

Lucille was famous for doing something “shocking” to get our attention…..and then the story would end with emotional relief as she reconciled with Ricky or her neighbors, Fred and Ethel.

In the 1960’s book, “The Psychology of Color”, an example of bright fuchsia fur coats in a retail storefront draws fast the consumer eye. Looking past the window decor into the store should meet us with warm inviting earth tones, otherwise our split-second psychology tends to offend our senses (say if all the others coats were bright primary colors like ‘canary yellow’).

Fleshing out this idea with ‘branding to raise awareness’ is a sensitivity exercise for a brand marketer.

When we combine ‘reason’ behind our brands and with it serious quality, it aligns our brand stories and helps to ensure that our businesses aren’t based on ‘gimmicks’ or simply capitalistic greed. The result: Enhancement of our capability to give ‘voice’ and social power to our products.

So, unless you live in a vacuum or an unchartered island in the South Pacific, your life is impacted by serious mental issues (whether directly in your family or personal life or daily news channel changing).

THE NARCISSIST ATTEMPTS TO RID THE WORLD OF SELFISH WINES!

“There’s nothing wrong with being anthropomorphic. That’s how we understand the world.”

— Natalie Jeremijenko ~ Associate Professor of Visual Arts, New York University

From Bugs Bunny, to Donald Duck, to Wile E. Cayote, anthropomorphism drives the way we think in modern culture.

The message

We can all relate to the topic of the brand, “The Narcissist”. The likelihood that each of your lives is impacted by an ‘over self-focused’ individual is very high. Sometimes we have a tendency to translate continuous selfish acts as ‘narcissism’ but the topic of this brand, true narcissistic personality disorder, has its roots in cultural philosophy that focuses much more on ‘self satisfaction’, ‘self-fulfillment’ and YouTube’s “Promote Yourself” mentality than in a self-sacrificing mode of life.

It wasn’t all that complicated to promote awareness of narcissism through whimsical descriptions of human character through anthropomorphic language. It was almost as though the challenges were greater in using common descriptions ‘translating’ the exact character attributes of this particular psychological disorder.

How to rid the world of “selfish wines”

The reason beyond the reason….beyond the reason.

I’m a winemaker, second to being a human being….one that would like to make a slight difference in the world…but a winemaker nonetheless.

My daily functions as a winemaker are to create character traits in the wines I produce by agonizing over details such as:

• Vineyard sourcing;

• Developing fluid relationships with the vineyard personnel;

• Balancing environment in the field to insure phenolic development and perfect timing for harvest;

• Insuring that the fruit grown in the Vineyards of Élever consider the balance of environment and health of the workers who labor daily to deliver great fruit;

• Using only the finest of natural fermentation products holding to Vegan, Non-GMO, and Gluten Free to include consumers with sensitivities and convictions;

• Managing the production of wine from pick to delivery to processing to finishing with the least intervention to ‘guide’ the fruit to a beautiful bottle of wine.

These are the goals of any conscientious winemaker. These should be the goals of any conscientious wine supplier…..period.

The Narcissist is sourced from 3 different vineyard regions in Paso Robles. Willow Creek, El Pomar, and San Miguel America Viticultural Areas are specifically the sub-AVA’s my fruit is grown in. I’ve been either overseeing, reviewing, and/or judging wines from Paso Robles for 30 years now and have discovered what I love about each of these areas. Acidic and overall phenolic concentration from Willow Creek Petit Verdot. Concentration and boldness in Cabernet Sauvignon from the El Pomar vineyard, and aromatic enrichment and ‘integrity’ in the Cabernet Franc from San Miguel.

The fruit is hand-harvested at varying ripeness between 24.8 to 25.5 brix and small open top 2-5 ton stainless and 1/2 ton macro-bins with hand-punch downs. No sulfur dioxide is used in the processing until fermentation and Malo-lactic fermentations are complete.

The wine is aged for 20-24 months in mostly French Oak barrels of mixed coopers with a few new American Oak barrels enhancing the berry and sweet aromatic fruit notes in the resultant wine.

This wine is filtered one time at the very end of processing in preparation for bottling with no fining or clarification agents used to clarify the wine for finishing. This allows for minimal filtration in the final prep for bottling and allows the wine to be very ‘giving’ as it ages, enhancing the overall aromatic and textural qualities. This wine qualifies as vegan.

“For evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”

— Edmond burke

“Storytelling” is the most powerful way to share an emotional thought or topic.

DRIVING the ‘Point’ home

If the idea of “The Narcissist” helps to encourage one person to ‘allow another car to move into your lane’ without throwing a fit (a suggestion on “The Antidote” back label description of The Narcissist), then one person will have reduced societal stress by ‘giving up their personal (and legal) right to be in that lane’.

The impact of writing this back label was fascinating to me. Every time someone tried to move into my lane with a bit of ‘narcissistic aggression’, all I could see were the words on that blasted back label! Every time I thought about sending my wife a note to tell her how much I loved her, there was another distraction of something “I” wanted to do to keep me from that action.

a “giving” Wine

“The Narcissist” is a product to be sold for profit. Profit, not being a dirty 4-letter word, is what drives economies. Healthy economies are more commonly ‘giving’ economies, and giving economies more often come to the aid of others when the need arises.

The Narcissist has ‘ingredients’. A recipe, if you will. One such ‘ingredient’ of “The Antidote” back label description is “Passing a mirror without a glance”. It raises awareness of our own desire to promote ourselves above all else. Loving ‘ourselves’ is a very good thing, but when we become the center of attention rather than servant leaders, sacrificing for those around us (especially those placed under our care) then our caring becomes more like a thin veil.

If you have ever had a family member or spouse or friend lose their lives young or suddenly, and you never took the opportunity to share with them how much they meant to you (even though they were living their lives in opposition to your desire), then you can relate to The Narcissist. Not just a gimmick to cash in on, but a way to say, ‘yes, I could have done better, I could have given or communicated with more sensitivity, and I’m resolved not to beat myself up over my mistakes but to grow in my efforts to strengthen relationships around me’.

“In the end, I created The Narcissist to combat my own selfishness and to help others combat theirs that there might be a more giving attitude around me, my family members, my children, my business partners, my community and yes, even my country.”

Old Vine Zinfandel generally promotes mental images of ‘free standing’ vines with no trellis system. Not so in this OVZ example in St. Helena, Napa Valley

“They’re gnarly. Crotchety. Less vigorous. Challenging to prune and harvest. And a little stingy with their production of grapes....”

— Cathy Huyghe, Wine Writer

So ‘older is better’?

What is it about Old Vine Zinfandel that garners attention of both aficionado and average consumer alike?

Could it be that there is still an appreciation for “old” (meaning ‘items of historic importance’ or ‘aged products connoting experience or refinement)?

It it that ‘technically speaking’, old vines (in general, not varietal specific) are ‘self-regulating’ in specific reference to both the reduced quantity of grapes produced as well as the quality, concentration or ‘nuance’ of the grapes they produce?

Finally, could it be that ‘old vines’ simple produce better or more flavorful or characteristic grapes resulting in the same or similar characters of wine?

Answer: Of course, a little of all and yes…yes….and YES!!

Nostalgia dovetailing with historic ranches in wine country California.

In my old ‘Cucamonga days’, the Zinfandels being produced out of California were either thin and light in color (‘white Zin’ had not come into play quite yet) or they were highly alcoholic and lacked balance, expressive fruit, judicious oak aging or a consistency of quality with relatively few producers in the ‘Zin’ game.

Rombauer was launched in that first vintage of mine (harvest 1980) and, although there were obviously producers of Zinfandel from vineyards of up to 80 years old at the time, the main crux of Zin production was more generic red wine blending and still a tremendous volume of ‘jug’ Zinfandel dominating the varietal’s shelf exposure.

It’s funny, but we must remember that it was very common to see Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon selling for less than $10 on the shelf (in fact, our winery tasting room sold Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in 1983 for $2.95/bottle!).

Cucamonga Peak in the background, this Southern California history bastion of Zinfandel (40,000 acres) is not home to less than 100 acres of total grapevines. This particular vineyard, ‘Lopez Ranch’, is home to the grapes for Carol Shelton’s ‘Monga Zin’.

But Zinfandel, I mean the really great Zin of our current era were not known but in very small circles.

In 1980, wines from Turley (founded 1993), Ravenswood (4 years old in 1980), Rombauer (who had not had a first vintage yet), and so many of the other greats like Peachy Canyon in Paso Robles, didn’t open their doors until 1988. Other standouts must be referenced before moving on as one can NOT engage in a California Zinfandel conversation without speaking of Ridge Vineyards, Seghesio, Chateau Montellena, Renwood, Heitz, Dutton Goldfield, Cline, Chappelet, Pedroncelli, Dry Creek, and Jessie’s Grove (who presents a marvelous representation of what 130 year old vines can produce from Lodi).

The reality is that “Old Vine Zinfandel” is a recent phenom, becoming an industry and consumer ‘sweetheart’ only over the last 35 years……..that’s young….in Old Vine Zin standards!

So is older better? Yes if the vines are cared for with great tenderness and detail. Yes if the vintner pays close attention to natures balance in the vineyard as ‘old vines’ have a tendency to be more susceptible to disease, draught, harsh environmental conditions such as heat waves, etc. Yes, if the grapes are grown in such a manner as to ‘ripen’ the fruit rather than simply ‘dehydrate’ the grape in a desire to gain high grape sugars for higher alcohol wines (still a challenge for some growers and inexperienced winemakers).

Caveat: Saying that ‘older is better’ should read more like, ‘older has a greater possibility of being better only considering the fact that older is self-regulating so ‘older’ vines are as vigorous where younger vines tend to be vigorous and produce larger quantities of lower quality……IF they are not managed is such a way to not over-produce.

Without the color in the photograph, it is impossible to know whether this is 2020 or 1921!

This simply means that instead of the vine regulating itself, the farmer must be the one ‘regulating’ what the young Zinfandel vine produces (involving cluster thinning, more aggressive management of irrigation [assuming not ‘dry-farmed’, another topic for later], and the time period of berry sizing between flowering and Veraison, is managed extremely well so as to not allow the berries to become large, producing lower phenolic concentration [i.e.: color, tannins, and other flavor and aromatic compounds]).

Some might even say that old vine Zinfandel is the ‘lazy winemaker’s’ route to successful Zinfandel production….the vines do the majority of the work with much less management than young vines demand (yup, just like our children).

What ‘old vine is….and is not’

Northern California, from Sonoma to Napa, Lodi to the Sierra Foothills, is the playground of the most sought after Old Vine Zin vineyards on earth.

In the early 1980’s, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF, now the TTB or Tax and Trade Bureau) began to review the term “Old Vine Zinfandel” as it became a ‘category’ of fine wine label marketing.

I remember my own though process that if I wanted to use that term I could expect either delays on my government label approval or a rejection of my application to get a new wine label approved for use (as all wine label terminology is highly regulated).

After what seemed to be years of debate, the issue slid into the background of the regulatory battles of ‘label law’ as there was not enough historic evidence to determine what exactly “old vine” meant. As an industry, we could not agree or determine what constituted “Old Vines”.

Although it was generally agreed that vines of greater than 25 years would be ‘softly’ considered old (in “grapevine years”) but that it would be up to the integrity of the producer themselves to determine what they would label as ‘old vine’.

Perfectly balanced, perfectly aged: the call to bring Old Vine Zinfandel into the modern age of winemaking

Many years later, in the early 2000’s, the issue came up again as Joel Peterson, known as the “Godfather of Zinfandel” helped to lead an attempt to better define what ‘old vine’ meant in regards to label regulations…..but that attempt fell by the wayside once more.

Most of us agreed (those of us in the ‘Old Vine Business’) that vines became ‘old’ after 25-50 years’ and that vineyards were more ‘ancient’ between 50-100. Rarely are there surviving vines older than 100 but there are several highly sought after small vineyard blocks in California touting over 100 (a few listed below at the end of this article).

One last mention; Old Vine is a term that is generally reserved for very specific vine age that should be no less than 25 years of grapevine age but in reality most expect vines of 50-75 years to consider it ‘truly’ old vine. Again, it does not mean that great Zinfandel cannot be produced from much younger vines but certainly we have witnessed an intense passion of flavor from the respect winemakers have for these ‘old trees’.

Is it the producer…or the vineyard?

Old Vine Zinfandel comes in a myriad of shapes and sizes, such as this Old Vine Zinfandel in the heart of the Lodi AVA on Peltier Ave.

Both……but….it is really the vineyard that makes this category of winemaking so seductive, so alluring, so mysterious and imaginative.

Vineyards such as Lodi’s Kirschenmann Vineyard (owned by Turley winemaker Tegan Passalacqua), Oakly, CA Evenghelo Vineyard produced by Morgan Twain-Peterson (Bedrock Wine Company), or 115 year-old Lytton Springs Vineyard by Ridge become ‘weather patterns unto themselves’ with an magnetic attraction rivaled by few vineyards in California, much less the world.

The gems from California’s ‘vineyard’ based productions of Old Vine Zinfandel lead the topic of wine excellence away from the producers, per se, into the specific vineyards established in history. Families such as the Saini’s of Dry Creek, Russian River McFadden Family Old Vine Zin planted in 1971 (just hitting the 50 year mark), or the Mauritson’s of Sonoma with over 150 years of passion (I’ve read Cameron Mauritson’s Thesis, ‘The Fruiting and Berry Chemistry Responses of Zinfandel Grapes to Cluster Thinning as a testament to the continuing passion of farming excellence in Old Vine Zinfandel).

There is something quite strikingly different about the Old Vine Zinfandel farmers and producers as they have a tendency to be, well, a little different. They tend to not be directed by whims of modern thought (regarding winemaking or farming other than they do hold fast to a technical desire to farm a vine into antiquity). They tend to be a little more reclusive (as growers), and definitely live lives of greater humility, not desiring as much notoriety in a broad sense.

Sunset walks in Northern California Old Vine Zin Country

My friend David Divine (who farmed one of the vineyards in my photographs of the Clements Hill/Dogtown area of Lodi for over 40 years), simply farmed the old vines planted in 1962 (I was 1 year old) without anyone but a few local coffee shop pals knowing who he was or the magnificent work he crafted each year in the head-trained old vine Zin he managed until 2018. This particular vineyard, now owned by Michael-David Winery of Lodi (of the famed ‘7-Deadly Zins’ acclaim), is one of the most meticulously farmed old vine Zinfandel vineyards in the state of California. A prize among prizes.

There is something about Old Vines…..yes, even mysterious and magical, as though ‘stars-align’ when vines (specifically Zinfandel) reach an age where the ‘bark’ of their trunk and arms splinter out phalanges of gnarled protrusions……there’s a chemistry that adjusts when the vine draws liquid through the xylem tissue of its inner workings that creates an intensity, triggering greater berry intentsity in the resultant wines…softer and more voluminous tannins in the finish…..a greater integration of oak barrel chemistry with the grapes phenolic composition.

Yes, mysterious and magical because many of the attributes associated with Old Vine Zinfandel production are unexplainable, that is, that no person scientifically has identified exactly the influences associated with wine produced from these ‘witnesses of the past’.

One of the most striking Old Vine Zinfandel vineyards I have photographed is in the Dogtown, Clements Hills area of the Lodi AVA. This vineyard, now owned by Michael-David Vineyards, is 160+ acres of pure nostalgic bliss!

What i really think about old vine zin

Looking back the 40 vintages of winemaking, my old Cucamonga roots shaped my ideas and gave me a deep appreciation for the challenges and rewards of growing and producing Old Vine Zinfandel.

20 years ago I moved to Northern California and all the while learned a deeper and greater love for the craft of Old Vine Zin…to the extent it became a major focus on my career.

In 2004, I drew on a napkin back a shape that would become a popular wine brand in the US. The 3 letters I drew on that shape, OVZ, I would later attempt to trademark for the company that managed only to find that I had missed the trademark by only 6 months for the acronym to ‘Old Vine Zinfandel’.

Fast forward, a little over a year ago, historic winery operator and Old Vine Zinfandel producer Erich Russel from Russel Family Vineyards (the owner of the trademark I lost the OVZ trademark to), reached out to ask if I would consider collaborating on an Old Vine Zinfandel with him.

Of course, my answer was ‘Hell Yeah!’ and the new design I reworked for Rabbit Ridge Zinfandel O.V.Z is the testament to the history of 2 California Old Vine Zin makers.

The first vintage of this work is represented in our prototype ‘micro’ production that can be found on the onemakerwins.com website and pictured here below.

It’s not Ridge Lytton Springs but for the $28 price tag, we’re very pleased to be dedicating a ‘new effort’ to an ‘old category’.

Listed below are a few of my favorite Old Vine Zinfandels from California…..for what it’s worth!

Unique and visually distinctive is the contrast between uniform rows and the gnarled, non-trellised arms of an Old Vine Zinfandel Vineyards

Nicholas Karavidas is owner and winemaker of Élever Vineyards & OneMaker Wines, Principal Consultant for Consulting Wine, Intl. and the Designer of Wine & Food Pairing tool “Flavor Shapes”. 2022 marks 41 vintages of wine production as a winemaker with the majority of his time designing and managing winery designs as well as vineyard and wine family business strategies. If you can’t find Nick analyzing wine, you will certainly find him analyzing his market, reading more on technical topics of wine & wine marketing, researching the impact of international trade on his craft, wandering around hard to access vineyard sites, and last but certainly not least, how to be a better father and husband to his wife Heather, his 6 children and 8 grandchildren.

Nick’s Picks

Green & Red - Napa Valley

Macchia - Lodi

Turley

Mauritson - Sonoma

Russel Family - Paso Robles