Scheid's Supersized Organic Plans: On Track to Becoming the Second Largest Organic Vineyard Owner in the U.S.

Heidi Scheid of Scheid Family Wines

This year, Scheid Family Wines in Monterey County made one of the biggest announcements in Central Coast wine history.

It is converting all 2,800 acres of its Monterey vines to organic certification. And it will be launching its own new organically grown estate wines in 2021, and Whole Foods will be selling them. This major leap forward gives consumers more than just Bonterra organic options on supermarket shelves.

The first wine released this year, and it's a Made with Organic Grapes rosé of Petite Sirah. The bee and flowers motifs on the label are in keeping with other organic brands who are offering more and more natural imagery to signal to consumers that the wines are organically grown. It's also a very feminine label, and that's who's buying rosé, rosé, rosé.

While Castoro Cellars has been the organic leader in the Central Coast with 1,422 acres (more organic acreage than Bonterra owns), Scheid is on track to become the biggest organic vineyard owner in the Central Coast by 2025.

At 2,807 acres, Scheid would also become the second largest organic vineyard owner in the country. 

Here is a map of its 12 vineyards spread across a 70 mile swath of the Salinas Valley. (Scheid announced it sold three of these on April 2, 2021, reducing its acreage from 4,000 to 2807 acres.)

For those who want to know who the biggest organic vineyard owner is, it is Fred Franzia (Mr. Two Buck Chuck) who converted 8,000 of his 40,000 acres of Central Valley vineyards to organic. His brand is Shaw Organic, which is sold exclusively at Trader Joe's. But there is lots more room in the market, as Bonterra's continued growth shows. That brand, which has been buying grapes more and more from locations outside of Mendocino County, reports growth between 10 and 20 percent (reports vary) in the last year.

As Fetzer Vineyards CEO Giancarlo said in August of 2020, the brand is seeing double digit growth in Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé, along with ongoing sales of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Scheid has already tapped into the no sugar wines category with its modern looking brand Sunny with a Chance of Flowers, which is competing as a lo-cal option, but the leap to organic is a far bigger step into the more health and eco-friendly category.

----------

I asked Scheid's PR representative for a chance to interview Heidi. Here is what they sent me in answer to my questions.

What Scheid brand will you be making the organically grown wines for?

Grandeur is our first brand that is made with organic grapes. The first vintage – 2020 – is a rosé from our organically certified White Flower Vineyard. It will be available at Whole Foods in June 2021. What is the price point for your organically grown wines?

Grandeur Rosé in Whole Foods will be available at an SRP of $16.99. Will you be selling grapes or using all of the organic grapes in your own brand/s?

It is our plan to use all of our organic grapes in our own brands.

How will your winemaking change in response to making certified wines (Made with Organic Grapes)?

The grapes were hand-picked and whole-cluster pressed hours after harvesting and fermented on select yeast at cool temperatures in stainless steel to retain the bright fruit esters and floral aromas.

After a month-long fermentation, the wine was aged in stainless steel for 2 months. In keeping with the rules for using the ‘made with organic grapes’ designation, the wine is produced from 100% organic grapes which are certified by Monterey County Certified Organic and sulfites are below 100 ppm.

See tasting note here.

Note that the back label provides a calorie count, 
as does Scheid's Sunny with a Chance of Flowers brand
(but the Sunny label - a non-organic, no sugar brand -
puts the 85 calories labeling on the front)

Do you have any strategic distribution partners who are committed to supporting your national rollout?

Whole Foods is committed to our national roll-out. We will be launching our inaugural 2020 vintage of Grandeur in their stores.

What other steps will you take to support eco-friendlier practices - i.e. lighter bottle, etc.?

One of our core values is continuous improvement and supporting eco-friendlier practices, as well as equitable treatment of our employees and giving back to our community, is a big part of that.

A reflection of this mindset over the past decade are the third party certifications we have earned for our vineyards and winery, the installation of a wind turbine that powers 100% of our winery operations with renewable wind energy and also generates enough energy for 125 homes in the local community.

We are also adopting eco-friendly packaging for many of our brands, from using 100% recycled paper labels, to using glass that is made here in the USA, and lightweight bottle options when possible.

We will continue to take meaningful steps and embrace a culture of continuous improvement.