Winebits 812: Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, moral character, Rack & Riddle

This week’s wine news: Ste. Michelle cuts grape purchases 40 percent, plus Iowa and the morally pure and Rack & Riddle expands

• More bad news: Ste. Michelle Estates, which played a key role in establishing Washington state as an important wine region, will cut grape purchases by 40 percent over the next five years. Sean Sullivan at the Northwest Wine Report says the company – best known for its Chateau Ste. Michelle wines — has already started the process, which the winery terms as adjusting “our grape supply to better align with demand and enable us to focus on crafting the highest quality premium wines from Washington.” Talk about PR speak. This, short of a Big Wine producer closing, is about as bad it gets for the wine business. It means there are too many grapes given demand, and it’s time make less wine – lots less wine.

• Only in Iowa? We’ve spent much time over the years giggling at the states’ various liquor laws (yes, that means you, Utah), but this one is among the best. Iowa won’t give non-Iowa residents a permit to make wine unless they are of good “good moral character,” and only Iowa residents can be of good enough moral character to get the permit. The information comes from a lawsuit filed by an Oregon winery to get the permit, which would allow it to sell wine directly to Iowa retailers and bypassing a wholesaler. The story is a hoot, and the lawsuit would seem – from my perspective as someone who writes about this stuff – of having no chance.

• Big expansion: This would normally be little more than a blurb on a wine industry trade site, but it goes so much against the grain of what’s happening in wine that I thought I would mention it. Rack & Riddle, which makes sparkling wine (mostly private label for retailers) is expanding because the company thinks business is going to get better. It bought a major private label bubbly producer in Lodi, almost doubling its capacity. This seems o be more than the usual growth by consolidation or an attempt to add market share at the expense of another company. Rack & Riddle thinks there is increased demand for its products. I wonder what it knows that the rest of us don’t.

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