Home | The St. Innocent Story | Winemaker Notes - May 2003
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Winemaker NotesI usually write newsletter columns discussing various details of winemaking and my approach to specific varietals. There is another part of my job that has nothing to do with winemaking problems. I vision the future. I'm not psychic, and I don't read Tarot cards. I just take time to think about the big picture. Then I make changes to adjust our direction as St. Innocent grows. There was a particularly important moment during my apprenticeship with Fred Arterberry. Fred gave me a very sage piece of advice: "Don't make a bottle of wine that you are unwilling to sell." On one level, I understood that to mean: "Don't make shitty wine", or at least wine that I did not like. On another, he meant "Understand how the wine market works and make positive choices to make wines you want to sell". I have sold a lot of cases of wine over the past 15 years. Fred's advice has had a significant impact on my winemaking and the evolution of St. Innocent. In the early years running St. Innocent was almost like a rollercoaster ride. Each vintage brought new challenges, yield problems, ripeness variations, new vineyard sites. I opened new markets as production increased and sold, sold, sold. It was more of a matter of holding on and enjoying the new experiences that the ride offered. We were successful, the economy was decent, there was minimal competition, and we grew like mad. About eight years ago, I looked at where St. Innocent was and began thinking of where I really wanted to be. We were crushing close to 100 tons of fruit per year, the same as our current production. About half of our wine volume was Pinot noir, a quarter was California clone Chardonnay, and the balance was Pinot gris and sparkling wine. I realized that I was making about as much wine as I could manage and still 'hand-make' our wines. I was unwilling to become a manager, and decided to stay at that production level. After a great deal of careful thought, I decided to revamp our product line. I was sick of making CA clone Chardonnay, and contracted with Seven Springs to tear out all our Chardonnay vines and replant a smaller block with the Dijon clones from France. Freedom Hill was willing to bud over some of their Chardonnay to Dijon-clones. Over the next four years, we went from producing 1400 cases of California clone Chardonnay to our present production of 400 cases of all Dijon clone Chardonnay. Over the next three years, we began buying Pinot blanc fruit from Freedom Hill, Pinot gris from Shea, and Pinot noir from Brickhouse. These were not cosmetic additions. I made a very conscious decision to buy only the best fruit I could get my hands on and make a major commitment to the Pinot family of grapes; Pinot noir, gris and blanc. It took six years to complete the changes outlined above. The overall quality of our wines increased. We added new distributors in new states, and prices rose. We were actually making a profit (rare in the wine business) and things we looking very good. I even took some time off. One result of the changes in our product line was the elimination of wines that I felt were less than top quality. I believe that my customers don't look to St. Innocent for average wines, they expect something special. I want to make beautiful wine, to capture the essence contained in fruit from a great vineyard, to make an ageable wine that will blow your socks off in 14 years, or to make the best wine in a particularly difficult vintage. Prices for top Oregon wines rose dramatically in the late 90's. We held the line and gained a reputation for making great wine at a fair price. I was honored when The Wine Advocate named me one of their Personalities of the Year, an award based partly on our quality/price relationship. In many ways, I felt that my vision for St. Innocent had been fulfilled. In the last year, the top end of the wine market collapsed. Very little high priced wine was being sold and wines less than $20, and especially wines less than $10, are selling like mad. Many distributors are still selling the same net dollars, but they are working much harder and having to sell a lot more cases at lower price points and smaller margins to keep sales up. Despite being seen as a good value, St. Innocent has not been shielded from the effects of the current economy. Well priced or not, wines over $30 are currently out of the price range for many people. I am in business to make great wine and I want my wines to be drunk. Not by collectors or point counters, but by regular people like me. (I am not sure that my friends would actually call me 'regular'.) So, I have decided to change our pricing and add a non-vineyard designated Pinot noir at a lower price point. Prices for the 2000 and 2001 Pinot noirs from Seven Springs, Freedom Hill and Anden Vineyards will now cost $30/bottle. If you buy a case, the case discount will reduce the price to $25/bottle. The 2000 and 2001 Brickhouse has been reduced from $40 to $34. If you bought 2001 Brickhouse futures, you will receive 7 bottles instead of six when the wine is released in September. Our first blended Pinot noir will be released in September for $16/bottle. I want to express my gratitude for those of you that appreciate, buy, and sell St. Innocent wines. As Fred said all those years ago, a winemaker without customers is not much of a winemaker. Thanks for being St. Innocent customers. Thanks, Mark Vlossak, winemaker |
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