Micro-sized, owner-operated wineries

[Gifted Gourmet]

article from SF Gate

Wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr. tasted it a few years back and fell madly in love. "Thrilling," he called it. "Brawny, but impeccably pure."  For years, Parker and other critics have praised wines crafted around the world by the most talented "garagistes" -- a term coined to single out maverick micro- producers whose bare-bones operations mark them as determined solo practitioners in a rapidly consolidating wine industry where big is often mistaken for better.

Do you ever purchase and enjoy wines from these small producers?

If so, who do you enjoy the most?

Do they even advertise?

Do you agree that bigger is not often better?

Your opinions?

[Daniel Rogov]

The phenomenon of the "garagiste" is not at all a new one, literally millions of Europeans producing anywhere from 250 – 1000 bottles annually. What is relatively new is that many such places have appeared in the USA and Israel. One of the differences between the European and the American and Israeli scenes is that most Europeans produce these wines for their own consumption, to share with friends and family, perhaps to give to local village functions. In nearly every case the producers of these wines do not perceive them in any way as "a business" and their wine production is openly acknowledged as a hobby.

What I wrote in my guide to Israeli wines is equally true for the USA and other countries:

"In recent years, the country has seen a dramatic growth in boutique wineries, garagistes, micro-wineries and artisanal producers, each striving to produce world-class wines. Such wineries, producing anywhere from under a thousand to up to one hundred thousand bottles annually, can remain highly personalized affairs, the winemakers having full control over their vineyards, knowing precisely what wine is in what barrel at any given moment and what style they want their wines to reflect. The label of a boutique winery does not, however, guarantee quality. At the top end of the range, a handful of small wineries founded by competent, well-trained professionals are producing some of the very best wines in the country. At the bottom end are numerous wineries founded by hobbyists who produce wines that are barely acceptable"

Had I chosen to go a bit further, I might have even said (as I did in the review of one such winery) that "these wines are drinkable. The question is why anybody would want to drink them"

On the positive side, some of these mini-wineries are producing among the best wines in their countries. Indeed, five boutique wineries (the order of size – large wineries, medium wineries, boutique wineries, garagistes) appear on my list of Israel's 10 best wine producers. That list follows, the boutique wineries noted with an asterisk (*)

1. Golan Heights Winery (Katzrin, Yarden, Gamla, Golan)

2. Castel *

3. Flam *

4. Margalit *

5. Yatir *

6. Galil Mountain

7. Saslove *

8. Amphorae *

9. Recanati

10. Carmel

[Brad Ballinger]

It's hard to say who is a true garagiste and who is not. The term has come to mean something different than what it first meant.

If you travel in any wine region in the world, particularly in Europe, you will come across many people making wine out of their garage, or similar set up. In an overwhelming majority of these instances, the wine is sold locally and there isn't much distribution beyond that, except maybe in a wine shop or market the next town down the road.

The term gained more usage when certain small producers in Bordeaux started being noticed by Robert Parker and other critics. Of course, this didn't sit well with the large chateaux, and garagiste was used as a pejorative label. But those to whom the label applied wore it as a badge of honor, and soon it was fashionable to be one. Naturally, use of the term spread outside of Bordeaux.

Many of the producers in the linked article have been making wine for years and are hardly johnny-come-lately garagistes. What's next? Will the Family Wineries Tasting Room in Kenwood be renamed the Garagiste Tasting Room?

[Rebel Rose]

But those to whom the label applied wore it as a badge of honor, and soon it was fashionable to be one.

That is sooo French. And I mean that as a compliment. They are stubborn and proud.

I, of course, am fascinated by small producers, but I would find it very hard to narrow my favorites down to one. Most small producers do not have an advertising budget, nor is it effective to advertise, when national magazines have lead times extending out several months, and limited releases sell out quickly. (We bottled our Jimmy's Vineyard Syrah in mid-March and have only 6 cases left as of mid-June.) Macro-wineries can, with careful management, offer consistent quality and value, but because they source grapes from a huge geographical area, and because they must fulfill market expectations with a consistent (read: unchanging) style, they lose any individualism, and a sense of terroir and vintage.

Smaller wineries, with talent and careful management, can offer distinct bottlings, unfiltered and unfined wines, and wines with more character. There's more a sense of adventure in smaller bottlings. Which is why Dan and I both left paying jobs, regular hours, 401Ks and paid trips to Vail at macro-wineries to do what we're doing now.

This conversation reminds me that our operation really is in a garage. When we bought the property, this building, a Dunn barn, was used to store cars, paint cans, and tools. There were old gopher traps and antique firemen's gear hanging on the unfinished walls. Oil stains on the floor. We ripped one of Jack's work cabinets away from the wall, swung it around into the middle of the floor, and voila, a tasting bar. We should have kept the gopher traps.

[JohnL]

Parker's use of "garagiste" was originally applied to Bordeaux mostly St Emilion where a number of people were making wines outside the Chateau "system."

Some purchased grapes from Chateau estates and other properties and some used grapes from vinyards they owned.

yes- a lot of these operations are literally housed in garages.

In the end--large estate or maker or small--the proof is in the bottle (or glass)!