A lot of the acres of syrah that have been planted will soon be grafted over to a grape for which there is a demand.
And I’m not sure there is a lot Merlot in California that was planted in sites cold enough to be suitable for Pinot. Could be the case for super-low end grapes where site means nothing, but high end Pinot is pretty site dependent.
Indeed. I know Melville pulled Syrah in the SRH, as well as Santa Maria Valley, I believe. The grape of choice…hold it…hold it…hold it …yes, Chardonnay.
Eric, you are saying a lot of the SRH vineyards are converting from Syrah to Chardonnay?
I didn’t know that Chard vines were scarce out there.
Off the top of my head, I’m not aware of any others who have done this. But, IIRC a couple of years ago Melville chose to bud-over, re-graft, or yank Syrah from their Estate in Sta. Rita Hills and some acreage out in Cat Cyn in favor of Chard. Reason: some studies seemed to indicate there a trend toward a slow down in Syrah and a trend toward an increase in Chard.
Hopefully some growers/makers will correct me if I’m wrong but Chardonnay tends to be a cash cow grape that even if you don’t bottle it your self you can easily sell the fruit.
Chardonnay is hot right now. Several years back, talk of a glut moved a lot of acerage to Pinot, but Chardonnay vineyards are selling all fruit easily (around here anyways).
I’m hoping that non-oaked Chardonnay, or neutral-oaked Chardonnay becomes ‘hot’, too!
I’m sick of yellow oak juice
Try some from Oregon. Cool climate fruit handles the oak well and most of the producers are judicious. I’ve had some no-oak no-malo chardonnays that practically stripped the enamel off my teeth, however.
[quote="Bob Wood I’ve had some no-oak no-malo chardonnays that practically stripped the enamel off my teeth, however.[/quote]
Dude, that’d be Chablis. Well, tradional Chablis. LOVE that stuff!
Todd, no stats to back this up, but I think the pendulum is swinging the way of less buttery, oaky Chards - and other whites too. I think considering the increasing popularity of more food-friendly Pinot Grigio, Sauv Blanc, and Rhone whites there seems to be a move in this direction. Reds too are experiencing a shift, from what I’ve seen.
i think merlot is kind of like reality television. people love it, but they are sometimes afraid to admit it. personally, i like merlot, much as i do “the real housewives,” but i do wish there would be more complex expressions of it coming out of california. i suspect that one of the reasons might be because the best sites are being planted to cabernet instead.
So this thread got me geeking out on my favorite bedside reading ![[shrug.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/48636ebda2a440a43ad8d24c83be20ac20c53420.gif "shrug"){kind=small}
2007 California Grape Crush Report.
Totals tons crushed in California 2006 vs 2007. Increases in Chardonnay and Syrah, slight increase in Cabernet Sauvignon. Declines in Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. Of course, these numbers don’t tell anything about weather, acres coming online, etc.
Chardonnay - 549503 / 589664
Sauvignon Blanc - 110142 / 106120
Merlot - 333502 / 304078
Cabernet Sauvignon - 423508 / 425172
Pinot Noir - 105971 / 89519
Syrah 118241 / 126945
So it looks like more Syrah, right? But that’s California as a whole. Looking at just what I will call the premium wine grape producing regions below, in 2007 crush was 74517 tons of Pinot Noir versus 40598 tons of Syrah.
Tons Crushed / Average Price per ton
District 1 - Mendocino
Chardonnay - 18108 / $1064
Sauvignon Blanc - 3760 / $1020
Merlot - 6542 / $997
Cabernet Sauvignon - 9541 / $1257
Pinot Noir - 5966 / $2349
Syrah - 3106 / $1405
District 3 - Sonoma, Marin
Chardonnay - 58433 / $1869
Sauvignon Blanc - 10893 / $1491
Merlot - 21337 / $1452
Cabernet Sauvignon - 41550 / $2255
Pinot Noir - 29487 / $2826
Syrah - 7860 / $2232
District 4 - Napa
Chardonnay - 24232 / $2287
Sauvignon Blanc - 9849 / $1834
Merlot - 22773 / $2723
Cabernet Sauvignon - 58406/ $4299
Pinot Noir - 8750 / $2412
Syrah - 3468 / $2827
District 7 - Monterey, San Benito
Chardonnay - 77093 / $1105
Sauvignon Blanc - 6951 / $901
Merlot - 27109 / $946
Cabernet Sauvignon - 26458 / $928
Pinot Noir - 19581 / $1806
Syrah - 8880 / $976
District 8 - San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura
Chardonnay - 47917 / $1273
Sauvignon Blanc - 6284 / $901
Merlot - 20436 / $814
Cabernet Sauvignon - 46076 / $912
Pinot Noir - 10733 / $2918
Syrah - 17284 / $1163
Fascinating numbers Randy. Thanks a million. I didn’t expect Sauv Blnac to be that high as well as also expecting Chard to be greater.
Looks like the Central Valley was skewing things a bit.
Carneros saw a lot of merlot stripped for other varietals.
Many wine drinkers are now asking,imo, for less oaky wines. However, the raters for the larger wine mags, read WS/WA, still give all the points to the oak. This seems to be especially true with Sav Blanc. and WS. I’ve had winemakers tell me it will be a cold day in hell before they send in another unoaked SB for Mary Jo at WS to rape(not a mis sp). Likewise, some are saying they only send in the 100% malo, 100% new oak chards for ratings, even though their unoaked wines are beginning to sell better. The pro raters still give the higher points to oak and discount the lesser oaked. Harvey S at WS really gets caustic comments on this.
Probably destiny. I can think of better things than Merlot for Carneros.
This is sad. To use a newspaper analogy, they ought to be reporting the news, not trying to make it with an op-ed piece. Interesting. Could we be witnessing a change in habit for the consumer of NOT consulting the digests?
Sad but somehow not at all surprising.
Like others here merlot never really left for me. I have gravitated toward more Mountain merlots the past few years as they seem to be a lot more interesting than many others. The 10 cases in the cellar are dominated by labels like Pride, Switchback, Paloma, and Robert Foley. I will say my merlot consumption has declined somewhat over the past year or so as I heavily expanded into Cali pinot. Cab is stil by far the dominant varietal in my cellar and consumption, though.
It’s hilarious that sideways could have such a huge impact on the sales of Merlot bases wines [laughingneqw.gif] To me its one of the grearest varitals of all, and remember Bordeaux most expensive wine is called Petrus [big_boss.gif]
I always thought that Miles was referring to Cali merlots. Was I wrong?