Wine Trends in California - 2010

Wine Trends in California—2010

Few would dispute that California has been on the cutting edge of American wine since the 19th century. What happens in California influences the wine scene worldwide—even in France! So it’s informative to take note of what California wineries are doing. Each August the Family Winemakers of California holds its annual tasting in San Francisco. This year 340 wineries participated and poured for thousands of industry professionals and amateur wine lovers. Large-scale events like this reflect what California wineries have been focussing on. Here are some interesting details:

Established Varieties

Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel continue to be the most widely produced varieties in California. Syrah has now firmly established itself as a mainstream variety.

Struggling Varieties

A waning number of wineries are continuing to champion varieties that have so far failed to gain significant market share. Barbera, one of the most food-friendly red wines, was represented by only 14 of the 340 producers participating. Americans are still enamored with big, over-ripe, high alcohol, low tannin red wines. Riesling has never done especially well in California and only 23 wineries offered it, none of which measured up to Northwest quality standards. Pinot Blanc, a mutation of Pinot Noir, fails to compete with Chardonnay, which it closely resembles. Only 5 California wineries offered it. Yet if Chardonnay didn’t exist we would expect Pinot Blanc to take over its entire market share. This makes Pinot Blanc a very good value.

On the Decline

Sangiovese was seen as a rising star just a few years ago with scores of wineries getting on the bandwagon. It was represented by only 16 producers. Tempranillo did even worse with 12 examples. These varieties have yet to find that magic combination of variety/clone/and location in California. Chenin Blanc has almost vanished from the California wine scene despite a splendid AVA in Clarksburg that offers the best examples ever seen in California for prices as low as $12.

Rising Stars

Rising enthusiasm for Grenache (both red and white) and Rhône varieties is apparent. Grenache today is like Pinot Noir in the late 1980s: very promising but optimum clones and locations are yet to be established. Rhône blends, both red and white, are in the ascendency.