For Farmers of Wine Grapes, the Pandemic Sows Doubts

But making wine is just as often a far more complicated scenario in which grape growing and wine production operate as separate entities.

Especially for younger winemakers who have not inherited vineyards or made a fortune in other businesses, buying vineyard land is often out of the question. Real estate prices are too high.

Instead, they buy grapes, investing in long-term relationships to assure a steady supply. Often, roles overlap. Winemakers may arrange to take over the management of a vineyard and farm it themselves, even though they don’t own it. And vineyard owners like Ms. Kraemer may make a little wine as a side business.

Her label is Yorba, which she mostly sells through a tasting room in Sutter Creek or through a wine club. But the tasting room had to close because of the pandemic. Right now, she said, she spends far too much time figuring out other ways to sell bottles.

“I much prefer being a farmer,” she said.

In the Applegate Valley of southern Oregon, Herb Quady also does some of everything. He owns a vineyard, sells grapes and makes wine under the label Quady North. His company, Applegate Vineyard Management, manages the farming at a number of small vineyards. He owns a custom-crush operation, Barrel 42, where clients can use equipment and the facility to make wine.

He has had discussions with his grape-buying customers and said that, with an exception or two, hardly anybody is proceeding with business as usual.

“Everybody wants to stay involved, but they’re cutting back some,” he said. “It makes sense to cut back if you are worried about cash. We all sort of do that, but it becomes a crisis when they all do that at once.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/dining/drinks/wine-farmers-coronavirus.html