I notice many ads appearance in wine industry newsletters that advertise bulk wines purchasable and often wondered why there is this classification of wine purchasable and who buys such wine. I see ads for a wad of California bulk wines too as some of these wine gross revenue from Oregon, Washington, and from East Coast wineries and vinerys. And with some frequency it is not unusual to see ads for wines gross revenue coming from many international wine regions.
Bulk wine is other aspect of the wine industry that is not understood by the casual wine consumer, but it is a major contributor to the growth of the wine industry. What is bulk wine and grapevines? This wine comes from surplus production at a wine maker that has not yet made it into the bottle and labeled. There is also a segment of the market where wineries and vinerys produce wine only for the bulk market. There are also brands that have no wine maker and depend on the bulk market to create their brand. Bulk grapevines, like wine, come from a wine maker's vinery or an independent vinery. These grapevines are sold by the ton at time of harvest; often a year in advance.
Bulk wine is of a acknowledged quality that is tasted by a buyer antecedent to the purchase. Brokers that sell wines without a home ne'er take possession of the wine, but still have licensing requirement from the Tax and Trade Bureau of the Department of the Treasury. Point being, bulk wine is a high-quality wine that has a pedigree-it has a acknowledged producer, acknowledged quality, historic characteristics and is easily sampled/tasted by the buyer.
With year over year growth in U.S. 2019 wine gross revenue of 2.8%, it would be easy to assume that all the wine produced would have a market based upon demand. Vineyard planted acreage in California is expected to be flat in 2019 versus 2019, with 15,000 new estate being planted; mostly in San Lois Obispo Coastal area. (Planted vinery acreage numbers are deceptive as there is acreage removed when vines are removed for replanting.) Even with changes in the wine market worldwide, the market for bulk wine and grapevines continue growing and the reasons for the growth are complex and many. So, the question that begs clarification/amplification is: What happens to surplus wine and grapevines?
Surplus wine can au fond be bought by anyone. There are many wine labels on the market that comes from surplus wines or even bulk grapevines. For example, somebody could buy the wine, have it delivered to a wine maker, work their blending magic on that wine, do the bottling and ship to a distributor.
Now you want to know how this bulk wine impacts you as a consumer. Let's assume you attend a eating house or a friend's home and you experience a wine you dead love, you go home and try to find the wine maker that produced the wine so you can buy it online or peradventur you want to docket a visit. To your surprise, you cannot find the wine maker. The wine you are excited about may have come from an accomplished vintner who bought bulk wines from which he blended/bottled/labeled that new favorite wine you just discovered. The bulk wine was most likely sold by a "bulk wine" agent, of which there are many. Many around the globe, only few in each country.
The largest global surplus wine and grapevine agent is The Ciatti Company in Northern California. They have been merchandising these wine and grapevines around the world for 46 years. "In an average day, we initiate or receive around 4,000 conversation about merchandising or buying bulk wines," says Steve Dorfman-Partner at Ciatti. "Mostly the bulk market is a business-to-business dealing that range from extremely large wineries with global brands, to start-up companies with a vision for a new brand." Home vintners are not the target market for bulk agents. For example, some of their wine dealings are for more than 10,000 gallons.
This type of wine business is different than the custom crush sphere of the wine business. Such wines comes from a wine maker that, generally, has produced a fermented product that may or may not be a varietal wine. Custom crush is mostly a process of acquiring grapevines, crush, fermenting and bottling wine to a specific specification by a specific client.
The surplus wine and grapevine business is the soft underbelly of the wine business. This business is large and doesn't just apply to a wine maker with surplus juice. There are wineries and vinerys that exist only for the exclusive production of bulk wine. Simply, there are vinerys (too as wineries) that only cater to a market that expects to buy bulk wine from which they label as their own brand. In the case of bulk grapevines, some wineries and wine brands forecast their necessarily for grapevines for their planned production for the next vintage. In the winter months, bulk grapevine agents are busy merchandising next year's harvest and/or beyond from vinery production. Some bulk grapevine buyers can even specify grapevines by clone; then bulk agents try to match marketers and buyers.
What is the process of acquiring bulk wines? Remember, this typle of wine is au fond a finished product.
· Phone call or e-mail starts the process. The buyer has a defined style of wine required for a specific label or for blending, or a varietal style. Some bulk wines may be noninheritable to test a new wine product construct being contemplated by a wine maker or private label.
· Then define the requirements relative to ABV, acidity, tannins, color, and aromas. Based on these specifics a bulk agent can select specific bulk wines to have sample wines shipped long for buyer analysis/tasting. Maybe there are requirements relative to a very specific source of the fruit/AVA.
· Customer/buyer tastings of the first sample might result in other options being sourced and new samples provided.
· Eventually it comes down to pricing. Bulk wine and grapevines are still a function of market condition. "Market conditions are a function of availability, quality, prestige of the first producer, trends in client preferences, and demand," says Dorfman. "Nomatter about the bulk wine business is a constant."
· After price is negotiated by the marketer and client, a Memorandum of Understanding is signed outlining terms, condition of the wine or fruit, shipping requirements and terms.
Now, the deal is done.
For their efforts, most bulk wine companies work on an established commission docket; generally established by country of origin. The commission is generally between 2 and 4% supported the country of origin.
As noted previously, it would be wrong to assume surpluses (grapevines or wine) are a result of over-production. It is entirely plausible that wineries or vinerys plan for excesses that can be sold to fund a small/limited private production or examination new wine ideas. Wineries that own their own vinerys often plan excess production for reasons of economies of scale for certain grapevines they need for established in-house labels.
And there are wineries and vinerys (not producing wine under their own label) that exist only to supply the negociant market, private label producers and wineries needing additive wines for their brands. Some of the largest wineries buy bulk wine because they did not produce enough for distended production or had issues with current supplies. The purchase of bulk wines seems to offer new and established vintners a low risk option. An example is Cameron Hughes Wines which started with an first small bulk purchase, then their growth accelerated in the following few years.
Ray Isle writing for Food & Wine explains the negociant as: first started in Burgundy, buying grapevines or finished wine from the region's myriad small estates, then blending, bottling and merchandising the wine under the négociant's name. Some of the best, and best-acknowledged, Burgundy producers are primarily négociants-including Jadot, Drouhin, and Bouchard Père & Fils.
As a rule of thumb, there is generally no such matter as a good or bad wine, only wines looking a fit. "At Ciatti we know that there is always going to be an application for all bulk varietals or bulk blends. Every vintner experiences issues in the production of their wines that can be resolved with an available bulk wine," said Dorfman. With 55% of their business being domestic and 45% international there seems to be a home for quality bulk wine someplace in the world.
On occasion, there can be multiplication when bulk wine doesn't sell someplace in the world. For those rare occasions, bulk wine can find a place as food grade acetum or distilled into brandy.
Although bulk wine is a business-to-business, bulk wine agents, will spend time developing potential new buyers that have a sound plan. The start of such a relationship always starts with some free advice--don't buy the wine first then start thinking about a sound business plan. "I have seen clients buy wine first then work on the merchandising plan, TTB requirements, labeling and so last start looking clients," comments Dorfman. The very first agendum is to know where and how you will sell your planned brand. Second, contact the TTB and start the licensing process and know the laws governing your business. While at the TTB you will find labeling requirements to be a very difficult process for the uninitiated. Designing a label can be a quasi-scientific and effortful process. Dorfman commented that he was aware of a group expecting to launch their own label inside few months of buying their wine. Four years later, they finally launched their new wine. The problem was that they bought the wine first without understanding state and Federal laws, labeling approvals and having reliable commitments from clients.
Wine is not as simple as crushing grapevines, turning juice to wine, putt wine in a bottle with a cork and delivering that wine to a retailer. The iterations and nuances in the wine industry are complex and convoluted and extremely controlled. Fortunately for the consumer we only see the industry when we drive through the vinerys of wine country.
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