Winebits 738: Ste. Genevieve, Kirkland wine, Sutter Home

This week’s wine news: Texas’ Ste. Genevieve apparently declares bankruptcy, plus a look at Costco’s Kirkland private label and wine pioneer Sutter Home moves to wine cocktails

• Bankruptcy for Ste. Genevieve? Ste. Genevieve, one of the oldest wineries in Texas, has apparently filed for bankruptcy. The Austin Business Journal reports that Mesa Vineyards, the winery’s corporate parent, asked for voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Jan. 20. That typically means the company wants to pay off its creditors and wind up its business. If so, it will bring an end to one of the most important wineries in Texas history. The company started life in the mid-1980s, part of a plan by France’s Cordier Estates to turn Texas into a key winemaking region. If that never quite happened, Ste. Genevieve may have produced nearly one-half million cases of wine annually at its peak, ranking as one of the biggest wineries in the country around the turn of the century. Its alumni include Don Brady, today the winemaker at Paso Robles’ Robert Hall, and its legacy includes a lot of empty bottles at WC world headquarters.

• Costco and Kirkland: Remember Ballantrae wine? That’s what Costco called its wine before Kirkland, which revolutionized the way retailers offer private label products. This piece, from CNN, does a fine job of explaining how and why Costco made the switch – and why it sells so much wine under the Kirkland label. Kirkland means Costco, said one analyst, and that means consumers will buy Kirkland products – even wine – because they know and trust Costco.

• End of an era? Sutter Home, which made white zinfandel a key part of the U.S. wine boom, has a new tact: wine cocktails. Reports the North Bay Business Journal: “Sweet Tea, Peach Tea and Lemonade Wine Cocktails are the latest ‘brand expansion” for the producer, owned by the Trinchero family. As such, it may mark a significant change in the winery’s approach, given the continuing decline in white zinfandel sales over the past decade, as well as the slump in wine costing less than $9 a bottle.