Harvest News : July 6th, 2010
Esteemed BV Customers and other winemakers:
The state of the U.S. economy has resulted in unpredictable buying patterns in many product areas. The lack of demand in higher priced wines has had a ripple effect on the price and availability of wine grapes. Like higher end wines, many of the grapes Brehm Vineyards contracted for and purchased in 2008 have remained in our inventory. For the last two years we have attempted to proceed with lowering prices on existing inventories and restricting the contracting for grapes in the future year. It has been deemed prudent to maintain our relationship as a representative for you, home winemakers, with some of the finest people and vineyards in the West. Sales of grapes to home winemakers does not bring an increase in the prestige and value to a vineyard that a vineyard designated wine, highly rated in the Wine Spectator or other review, would.
Two issues are different this year:
- White Salmon Vineyard is our own, an established vineyard producing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. The vines will produce fruit no matter what you or the economy does. B.V. and W.S.V. do and will have this fruit available for sale on a first come, first served basis.
- Brehm Vineyards cannot bet, predict as we have in the past, you will buy grapes that we have contracted for in 2010. It is incumbent on us during these abnormal times to only purchase and process grapes that you preorder.
To deal with these issues Brehm Vineyards will:
- Offer Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes grown by White Salmon Vineyards in less than pallet quantities (36 pails or 4 drums) as before. Full pallets and fresh grapes from the Northwest may be purchased directly from White Salmon Vineyard.
-Offer existing inventories at great prices as before.
-Offer an assortment of 2010 grapes that you may order - before the harvest. At our option, these 2010 grapes may not be inventoried or available for sale past harvest.
The following list and information are for grapes we have available now, and grapes available to you for the 2010 harvest.
All California grapes are available fresh at time of harvest at Petaluma, CA; all fresh Northwest grapes are available upon harvest at Underwood, WA at time of harvest. All frozen grapes are priced with one month's storage included; all further storage must be paid before pick-up or delivery.
Sale of Exisiting Grapes:
Inventories of frozen grapes and juice exist in Richmond, CA; Portland, OR; Chicago, IL; Pheladelphia, PA and New Haven, CT.
These Virtual Vineyards of frozen grapes were established to minimize transportation costs from the West Coast and make it easier for winemaking year round. It has been an experiment that has proven successful in part. We have found that different parts of North America have unique preferences for different styles of grapes for home winemaking. Some of this has to do with the availability of local grapes as well as local customs. In short, we are having a clearance sale of some of these grapes. Other grapes are on sale to finish a freezer lot that is depleted to a few pails.
All pails of grapes are guaranteed as to original quality. Please follow the easy procedure described in Receiving Your Grapes and How to Thaw Your Grapes on BV's web site under the heading Recommended Reading (in the left hand column).
