Where do the grapes really come from?

I find this rather intriguing and maybe some others will as well.

As I read notes its interesting to learn about producers who buy the grapes from vineyards to make and then bottle or they bottle but also sell the grapes.

The Girardin Montrachet is grapes bought from a “well known source” as its been said in some publications

Chartron Chevalier-Montrachet bottles and apparently is the source of Ramonet’s Chevalier ( I read it on the internet, it has to be true)

What other do you know of?

I know there’s NDA’s tied to these sales. I’m just looking for some general knowledge. If it was a particular region I would say its White Burgundy. If I didn’t say this I cant imagine how long the list would be.

Surely the practise of buying in grapes to make wine is widespread, negotiants in Bordeaux have been doing so for centuries.

One could (and they do) argue that one can buy the best grapes produced in each vintage, rather than have to use ones own grapes even in a poor harvest as Bordeaux Chateaux do.

Brands and Own Labels can keep the same labelling, advertising and brand loyalty while switching grape suppliers from year to year, either to get the quality required or to get cheaper price.

Some winemakers who own no vineyards do name the vineyard from where they purchased the grapes, such as Once & Future and Bedrock to name just two…

It’s as common as vineyards. The one thing you shouldn’t do so much is get caught up in what vineyard the grapes came from as opposed to who is making the wine from the grapes. Estates will generally vinify their best blocks and if they sell fruit it will be from the lesser blocks.

Just my $.02. We buy all of our fruit.

At Whistling Ridge, it’s a monopole for Goodfellow and a vineyard that is not for sale, but one that is extremely important to me. Buying fruit there for the past 16 years has been the best part of being in wine production.

At Fir Crest, we purchase two blocks and they are my preference for fruit from the vineyard. While the owner does make wine, it was a smaller amount and he and I preferred different parts of the vineyard.

At Durant, they farm 60 acres and only produced a few thousand cases. They sold some of the very best blocks because those are the blocks that were lucrative as farmers. While they take more fruit now, most of us working with the fruit still have the same blocks we have always had.

Temperance Hill has 22 wineries, many highly regarded, that buy fruit. I know that the two blocks I have are the two that mean the most to me. One, Pumphouse, is from old vines, and has the aspect and elevation I prefer. The other, beginning in 2021, is West Field and in my opinion it’s the best block in the vineyard.

The winery clients create a large amount of recognition for the vineyard. None of us are really in the business of being an estate wineries doormat.

Reiterating. There’s not always consensus as to what is the best block in any given vineyard and the larger the site the more likely there is to be diverging opinions. To each their own, in some cases anyway. We prefer to buy from sites that don’t make their own wines as well. There are exceptions. We buy from Durant as well but as Marcus has stated they used to make a lot less wine and even though they’ve stepped up their business model is entirely different than either of our 2 wineries. Generally we have been able to get what blocks we have wanted in the limited situations where an owner is also making fruit (although I do covet the old Wadensvil in Todd Hansen’s Lia Vineyard).

I think in Burgundy the buying and selling of grapes is a different animal for a large variety of reasons not the least of which is, well, different than economics and such.

I could tell you but I’d have to kill you… [rofl.gif]

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