Saturday, December 28, 2024

Paso Robles' Organic Fine Wine Wave: Big Companies–Treasury Wine Estate, Gallo, Riboli and O'Neill–All Buying Wineries with Certified Organic Vines


Something interesting is happening on California's Central Coast, and it seems to be passing under the radar of a lot of folks. We know that Big Wine companies are buying in the Paso region, a place where tourism and winemaking are "more affordable," which means less than in Napa or Sonoma or Sta. Rita Hills. (Proximity to rich consumers in big cities with high paying industries is a plus for those regions).

I recently visited this fall and found no $100+ tasting fees, but plenty of value prices ($25-$35) for tastings, though wine prices were not similarly value priced for the average wine lover, at $60-75+ for a nice estate red. 

Those tasting fees get people in the door. And then they buy. 

As Jason Haas of Tablas Creek pointed out in a 2023 blog post, only 15 percent of their customers pay the $25 tasting fee, as they either joined the wine club or bought two bottles of wine on their visit.

WHAT'S NEW: BIG WINE AND ORGANIC – BUT ONLY IN PASO

But here's what I noticed on my recent trip that I found most interesting: Big wine companies that have no organic holdings in other regions are investing in organic estate wineries in Paso Robles

Here's a timeline. 

2021 

Constellation acquired the three brand company, My Favorite Neighbor LLC, which included two lower price brands in addition to its swanky, all estate, luxury brand, Booker Vineyard, with its 62 acres of organic vines. The acreage was later expanded to a total of 89 acres with the purchase of a neighboring vineyard, which was just certified regenerative organic. 

(Constellation also owns Napa luxury super star Opus One, in Napa, which it certified organic in 2021. And it purchased the formerly all estate Lingua Franca in the Willamette Valley in 2022, the same year the estate became certified organic. The parent company vastly increased production using purchased grapes under its Avni label (which is predominantly not estate fruit).

2022 

Gallo bought the celebrated Denner Vineyards with its 130 acres of organic vines. 

Riboli Family bought Jada Vineyard with 55 acres of organic vines. (Jada is no longer all estate under the new management.)

2023 

Treasury Wine Estates bought DAOU for $1 billion. The estate has 300 acres certified organic in 2023.

2024 

Riboli owned San Simeon Wines certified 52 acres of organic vines (though it has not mentioned it on its website). 

O'Neill bought Robert Hall in 2016, and, in 2020, hired Caine Thompson (a veteran of organic and biodynamic viticulture and winemaking in New Zealand as well as at another O'Neill owned winery in Paso). The 130 acre estate was certified regenerative organic in 2024.

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DISCUSSION

This raises questions about how big corporate fine wine producers see wine trends. Paso attracts a younger crowd of new wine drinkers. Being organic is definitely a plus in this demographic. 

It also raises questions of how existing organic operations can educate bigger companies about how to manage vineyards with organic practices. On my trip this fall, I definitely heard about that transition on the ground as new corporate crews were now assigned to tend the vines in some wineries. A dramatic learning curve ensued. In addition, Robert Hall's been holding field days for the community several times a year to show the dramatic difference of conventional versus regenerative organic in a trial it's been running for four years. (I just wrote an in depth article about that trial for Grape and Wine magazine.)  Hopefully that bodes well for expanding U.S. organic vine acreage from just 4 percent statewide to something a lot bigger. In comparison, organic acreage for vines in France-Spain-Italy is 18 percent. 

Since growing conditions in Paso are ideal for organics, insiders say, will the region level up its organic game? Stay tuned. 

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Note: In 2022, I wrote about the acreage of existing certified organic producers and growers in the Central Coast. There you will see a tally of the region's largest growers and wineries with organic vines.

Coming soon: Halter Ranch, not owned by a major corporation, is on the verge of regenerative organic certification. Its 256 planted acres were first certified organic in 2016. 

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