In a wine glut, consumers benefit

Can there be too much wine? And if there were, would that be a good thing?

The first answer in California this year is a strong yes. There's such a glut that crews have dropped clusters of grapes on the vineyard floors all season, thrown out others on sorting tables at the wineries and left more on the vine to rot.

Consumer demand dropped in the past year of tough times, leaving many wineries with too much inventory and less interest in buying much more this year. Yet the 2002 vintage was big on quantity and quality; supply also was boosted by growers hoping to cash in on the wine boom of the past decade.

A ton of chardonnay grapes that might have brought $2,000 last year fetched $400 to $500 on the spot market this fall.

That's not a good thing for some growers, especially in the Central Valley, where California's least desirable grapes grow and are sold in bulk.

Some will go under; others will tear out vineyards.

"Those who depend on the spot market are truly in jeopardy," said Nick Frey, director of the growers association in Sonoma.

But many growers in high-demand appellations such as Sonoma are protected by contracts that allow them to sell some of their crops at set prices to a specific winery. That practice will increase.

Still, the ocean of good wine available this year has to be good for consumers.

"Winemakers always tell you this year was the best ever, and I thought 2001 was, but this year it might be true," says Pat Henderson of Valley of the Moon winery. "I buy pinot blanc from five vineyards, and they're all so good, I don't want to leave any of them out."

If prices don't drop, the glut will mean better quality wine at every price.

"Some of that juice that didn't go into $20 bottles of wine will go into $8 to $12 bottles," Frey said.

Cheaper than that, generic "California chardonnay" blends may have enough Sonoma grapes to give more acid and crisper taste.

New labels will appear to take advantage of this reservoir of wine, and some will last.

"The last wine glut produced the fighting varietals," Henderson said, including the $5 cabernet and chardonnay bottled at Benziger's Glen Ellen.

That was not a bad thing, nor a small one.

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