I have some pretty good excuses why I haven't written in a while. Hmm, let's see...

No time? Too tired? More pressing projects? You get the picture. My plate is very full these days. But I love my new role and feel invigorated despite the long hours and constant frustrations of the wine business.

I know what you're thinking..."yea right, what frustrations?" Isn't it all about the bucolic, wine country lifestyle? On the outside, it might look like that. But the truth is despite the many wonderful aspects of the wine industry, it can be frustrating as hell.

Let me give you some examples. I just returned from Los Angeles where I participated in the Sonoma County Vintners "Sonoma in the City" events. These are a series of trade and consumer tastings intended to showcase the many wonderful wines of Sonoma County. As the flagship winery of the Dry Creek Valley, it was important for us to be there.

It felt a bit like Groundhog Day as I looked around the room and recognized vintners who have been doing this for just as long as me: Julie Pedroncelli, Michael Deloach, Joy Sterling, to name a few. We are the hard working descendents of pioneering family owned wineries that helped shape the California wine industry.  So here's where the frustrating part comes in. I can't tell you how many people came up to my tasting table and said they had never heard of Dry Creek Vineyard. Furthermore, they didn't know where we are located. Ahem, doesn't the name Dry Creek give any clue? With SO MANY new wineries in the county today, (let alone the world) it's easy to get lost in the shuffle if you aren't careful. And apparently, it doesn't much matter that we've been at it for 40 years.

Twenty four hours later the converse occurred.  Fussy wine buyers are fixated on the obscure and unknown. Suddenly, it can work against you if your winery actually has a reputation and a loyal brand following. I experienced this first hand as I made a presentation to a very important buyer for a series of popular LA restaurants. While he was very impressed with the quality of our wines, the fact that our wines are distributed nationally, have decades of successful vintages under their belt, and a trusted brand reputation, in his mind's eye--these are a deterrent for adding our wines to his wine list. We are simply too well known.

Go figure. One minute no one has heard of us, the next we're too popular. Talk about frustrating!

Happily I returned to my office with a big surprise on my desk. A 2 page spread in Wine Spectator featuring our Fume Blanc and Heritage Zinfandel in their "Best of the West Under $25" story. 

Oh yea baby, that sure feels good!

"Dry Who" my arse...

Working in the wine industry can be a pretty good gig sometimes.  I have been fortunate to dine at quite a few amazing restaurants.   I've met some wonderful people.  I've traveled to beautiful cities.  However, what really gets me thinking (and nostalgic) is when we taste through library wines.  I mean, really, what job allows you to spend from 3 pm to the end of the day on a rainy Wednesday drinking 25 year old Zinfandel while nibbling on charcuterie, all in the name of "research"?  Not many is the answer.

For the past several weeks, our staff has put together a library tasting of assorted Dry Creek Vineyard wines.  The purpose is twofold.  First, we want to evaluate the wines and see how they taste and if they are over the hill.  Secondly, we want to find out if we feel comfortable offering some of these wines in a re-release to our customers.  So far, the tastings have been fascinating.  I won't bore you with all of my notes but I thought it would be fun to at least share a few thoughts.

1981 Zinfandel - Love the nose!  The wine is still extremely appealing with a creamy tart texture and cherry laced nuances.  There's a hint of rosemary and herbs on the nose and the palate.  There's lots of acidity which probably had something to do with how well this wine has aged.  Great color.  For a 31-year old Zinfandel this wine is showing really well.

1986 Zinfandel - Awesome color with a big, earthy and gutsy nose.  Really nice tannins that are smooth and supple.  The fruit leans toward boysenberry and cherry with some earthy tones.  There are some leather components (not off putting) and is overall a wine that is supple and rich on the palate.  I think this is a wine we could certainly re-release.

1994 Petite Sirah - what a knockout wine!  This baby is still young and none of us could believe it.  The fruit is intense and layered with wonderful spice and pepper nuances.   There's an excellent plum and cherry berry fruit quality that is very appealing.  Amazing.

1991 Estate Bullock House Merlot - Fantastic! Still so youthful and rich with ripe cherry fruit.  There's no weediness or herbaceousness.  The tannins are smooth and supple and the wine is wonderfully balanced.   A 21-year old Merlot that has plenty left in the tank. (Note: This estate vineyard is directly across the street from the winery and has since been replanted to Malbec and Cabernet Franc.)

Of course, these were just a few of the wines that really impressed.  There were, of course, some wines that were not showing well. We lamented for a while on the 1986 vintage which, for us, was less than stellar.  I can't really recommend a DCV wine from that vintage.  Overall, however, I was so happy and impressed with how our wines were holding up.  Tasting these wines and looking at the labels, I reflected on all the memories - it's definitely a trip down memory lane.  From my days on the bottling line as a kid to my first sales trip in San Francisco until now, there's been a lot of mileage put on this old car.   But, what's great is that we keep improving.  Honestly, our wines have never been better.  Now that, I think, is something to toast about!

Alright, we'll admit it - we are a slightly competitive group at the winery.  And so, when we set out last Friday (February 24) for the annual Vineyard Pruning Championships sponsored by the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission we definitely had ideas about beating out our other competitors.  

The day began warm and friendly.  Coffee and donuts were served and the rules were provided to each team involved in the competition.   Really, there were two competitions happening - one for the "real" pruners - those hardworking guys who actually spend endless hours hand pruning vineyards all over Sonoma County.  Then there was the "other" competition - a friendly contest pitting appellations against each other with a winemaker and vineyard manager on each team.  Representing the Dry Creek Valley (and Dry Creek Vineyard) was Nova Perrill our Assistant Winemaker and Matt Vogensen our Vineyard Manager from Bevill Vineyard Management. 

As we walked out to the vineyard the friendly banter began about who was going to win and why.  It's not often we all come together for some spirited competition so everyone's juices were flowing and of course, ultimate bragging rights were on the line!   The agenda for each team was simple - prune two vines perfectly and do it in the fastest time possible.  Points are added (or subtracted) for how the vine is cut, if the correct spur is left and whether or not the canes are properly removed from the wire.  Only about 1/3 of the total score is based on how fast the teams completed the challenge. 

When the gun sounded, team Dry Creek feverishly started pruning.  Nova and Matt were the first to finish completing two vines in just less than 1 minute.  Just to give some perspective, a seasoned and skilled vineyard worker can prune that amount in half the time - pretty remarkable!

After the competition, lunch was served at the beautiful Shone Farm in the Russian River Valley.  Awards were distributed and ultimately, Nova and Matt were given first prize!  Check out the video to watch these champions work!

Sometimes I feel like I'm selling myself short. Like I'm compromising my standards to adapt to the changing whims of an increasingly competitive industry. Case in point: The use of screw caps instead of a traditional cork finish. When this trend first appeared on the wine scene, I thought you've got to be joking?? Who on earth would want to buy fine wine with a screw cap finish?  Even the avant garde trendsetter wineries, who were first on the scene with these alternative closures, seemed destined for failure. Early models were hard to open. They were sharp and tended to cut your hand if you weren't careful. But mostly they evoked memories of cheap low class jug wines drunk in back street alleys. On a personal level, I found the experience of a screw cap less than satisfying. I'm sorry but there's something missing from the sensory experience of opening wine when you simply twist your hand to the right, hear a slight "zzztt" sound, and presto magic, the bottle is open.

But as times change, so must I. And, so I've succumbed to the idea of screw caps in a big way. In fact it's so big that we just installed a shiny new Italian screw cap machine so we can start screw capping our Chenin Blanc, Fume Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc bottlings without the need to bring in a mobile bottling line.

You should know that this decision was not unanimous. In fact, my husband and I were polar opposites in our way of thinking. He felt strongly that distributors and the trade, particularly restaurants, would embrace our decision. I was convinced that the public, our loyal diehard Dry Creek fans, many of whom are very long term customers, would be put off by our decision. In the end, I lost the battle, so last year we started using screw caps on our 375ml bottles and now on the 750ml bottles of our major white wines as well. Do I like them? Not really. But they do have their distinct advantages.

The possibility for cork taint or "corkiness" is completely eliminated. There's no chance of being stuck without an opener if you find yourself on a desert island with only one bottle of wine left. And, they are generally a less expensive closure than the combination of a cork and capsule finish combined. Alas, we've gone and done it.

For now, I'm limiting our usage to our lively and refreshing white wines--what we refer to as "summertime in a bottle". I can't quite get behind the idea of a red wine in a screw cap yet, although the idea has been presented. For now, I'm sticking with tradition. And, the hope that there are others out there like me, who believe that the magic of wine includes the farming of the grapes, the appellation of origin, the artistry of winemaking, and the pulling of a little tan piece of bark, used for centuries around the world. 

I wear a lot of hats.  And I mean a lot. Sometimes it's marketing. Sometimes it's sales. Sometimes it's finance. Sometimes it's production planning. Sometimes, it's just providing a shoulder to lean on or a pat on the back. Keeping them all straight and changing them all day long is proving to be the biggest challenge of my new role as President.

One of the ones I enjoy most is sharing good news about our business. In this case, today it's with our staff. 

We are having our bi-annual company meeting to give everyone the low down on where we've been, where we're going and how we're getting there. We've been having these meetings a few times a year as a way to keep everyone fully abreast on the direction of the company. Even in a small business like ours, it's important to have these meetings. That way no one can claim they "didn't know!"

I'm happy to be doing it as we're in a good place right now. We have worked very hard, for a very long time, to improve our business. No stone has gone unturned, as we've "reinvented" our family winery for the future. Call it the "vision of the second generation", or simply the need to "leave our stamp on things". Whatever the case, Dry Creek Vineyard as a company and a producer of high quality, appellation driven, distinctive wines is radically different than it was 10 years ago.

We finished 2011 in good form--just 2% below our goal. Considering our new national sales partner, V2 Wine Group, wasn't up and running (fully staffed) until September, that's pretty good. On the consumer direct side, (tasting room, wine club and ecommerce) sales were up 11% over prior year. I can't tell you how rewarding it is to be able to brag about this. For years, we've wanted to grow this side of the business. Obviously, it's more profitable than through wholesale channels. But, it's actually a lot more rewarding which is why everyone is so pumped up about it around here. And truthfully, a healthy consumer direct business enhances sales through 3 tier channels, so our distributors should be happy about this.

I'll be sharing our goals for 2012, as well as what's on the horizon. We'll touch on sales, marketing, production, human resources, sustainability, etc. And, hopefully the staff will reciprocate by sharing their thoughts and ideas. I'm not one who needs to have things candy coated. I prefer honesty and feedback, just as long as it's not whining.

So, that's the hat I'm wearing today. Tomorrow, who knows...?

Press coverage continues to trickle in from the Screen Actors Guild Awards. That is always the acid test when we evaluate our involvement. Of course personally, what I really want to know is how many celebrities ran out and bought our wines as a result?? I mean does anyone actually run to the liquor store and proclaim, "I simply have to have that Dry Creek Vineyard wine!" Since I'll probably never know the answer, I was excited to see this segment produced for a TV show called California Life HD. It's a short clip, but it gives you a good perspective on our involvement. Enjoy! 

With all of the pomp and circumstance of the weekend, my time commitment has now turned into four days of build up to the Sunday night culmination.   One of the great opportunities for us to share our story with the media is actually on the Thursday before the show at the behind-the-scenes media day at the Shrine Auditorium.  This is quite a scene all to itself.

As I am part of the "talent" for the day, it is a long and rather grueling day full of flurries of activity and sometimes hours of boredom.  By the way, I am told this is typical of any Hollywood production - lots of waiting and waiting and waiting....  Anyway, media day can be a great opportunity for me to share my family story and wines with media who otherwise would not cover a winery.  Outlets such as Entertainment Tonight, news crews  and others are on hand to shoot b-roll and gather sound bites for their evening shows.  The whole thing is kind of surreal and really puts me out of my element in a lot of ways.  For one, I have to be really aggressive.  If you are a wall flower at these kinds of things, the press will march right by you and not give you a second look.   You have to confidently walk up to them and say who you are and why they should care.  This is not easy, trust me.  I've never been an overt self promoter so I really have to muster up some intestinal fortitude.  Another challenging aspect of the day is trying to involve myself in as many still photo shoots as possible.  Stills are an important way that the media conveys a story.  Once again, I have to elbow my way in to make sure that Dry Creek Vineyard wines are being well represented.  Ultimately, the entire media day is exhausting but well worth the time and a major perk for being the official wines of the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

As for the show, it airs this Sunday, January 29, 2012 and is televised live on TNT and TBS at 8 ET/5 PT.  I hope you all will be able to tune in to see Dry Creek Vineyard wines on national TV!

Can I still say that even though we're already 18 days into 2012?

I hope everyone reading this had a joyous and restful holiday season. For many of you, I know the holidays are probably anything but that. If you host family and friends, the pressure is on to show them that picture perfect Xmas that they probably never had in the first place. If you're running around from one house to the next, trying to make both sides of the family happy, oh boy-do I feel your pain. Or, if you are simply by yourself and find the holidays a subtle reminder of being alone, then I sympathize--although many of my friends would say, enjoy it!

For me, the holidays are always capped off by my wedding anniversary which occurs shortly after the New Year. Normally, we don't do a whole lot to mark the occasion. Who's up for it? By then, we're usually out of energy and out of money. However, this year was different as we are celebrating our 30^th anniversary. Yep, you heard that right, thirty. Not too many people can brag about such a milestone, especially when they've been working with their spouse for a good 2/3 of that time. So, we decided rather spontaneously to kick up our heels and do something unexpected and memorable.

Thanks to a promotional email I got from Windstar cruises, (yes, a marketer got suckered by marketing!) we booked a cruise through the Grenadine Islands on their small ship the Wind Spirit. Oh, what a glorious 7 days we had. Snorkeling, sightseeing, snoozing and just sailing along. Now, it's back to reality, and back to work.

2012 is a biggee for me. I'll be playing an important new role--one I've been gearing up for my whole life, judging by this picture. I am taking my husband's place as President of Dry Creek Vineyard while he takes a temporary sabbatical to fulfill some personal goals. Now don't go getting all alarmed, it's nothing like that. He's not sick and there's no mid-life crisis. On the contrary; the timing couldn't be better. After a decade of rebuilding our business from the ground up, he deserves time off and some much needed R and R. Besides, he's got a "honey do" list a mile long!

So, a very belated Happy New Year to all. Thank you for your readership, comments and support over the years. May 2012 bring an abundance of prosperity, peace, and promise- and plenty of delicious moments with Dry Creek Vineyard wines!

This will be my last post of the year. Like the grapevines that surround me, I need to go into dormancy mode!

The big bad wolf came up again. It's a sign of the changing times in this industry. Distributor consolidation.

30, 20, even 10 years ago, many of our U.S. distributors who market and distribute our wines were privately owned businesses. Some were like Pat Ellsworth at Vintage Wine Marketing. Pat was our distributor in Northern California throughout the 70s and 80s. It was through working with him and his people that I learned the fundamentals of wholesale wine sales to the trade. Eventually Pat got out of the business and we selected a larger more powerful distributor to take over the entire state for us. It happens to be Wine Warehouse and they happen to be an excellent distributor. Over the years, we've made similar changes throughout our distribution network. But, there were small pockets of hold outs...where the little guys still prevailed and, in those wholesalers, we formed long and lasting relationships. We're kindred spirits, those of us who have privately held family owned businesses. Duking it out with the big boy distributors of the world of wine.

I am frequently confronted with how vividly things have changed in this industry in recent years and never more so than in a recent meeting with our national sales partner, V2 Wine Group.  This talented group is charged with managing and ensuring sales execution at the distributor level.  It's no easy task and we are thrilled to have them on board.  That being said, as part of our review meeting and business planning for 2012, the sticky issue of distributor changes was brought to the table by V2.  Now, I'm not going to name any names here, but let's just say that V2 made some recommendations about where we should consider changing distributor partners.  The Husband and I were less than happy.  In one case in particular, we would be ending a 40 year relationship that dates back to when my father first founded the winery.  Ouch.

And really, this is the ugly truth of how things are these days.  V2 is right.   This particular distributor is too small to grow our business to the next level.  And yet, how can we walk away?  These people are like family.  Is business really just business, as they say?  Honestly, I'm torn and see both sides.  I wish it wasn't like this, but there is a cold reality to getting business done. 

I'm not sure what the outcome is going to be.  But sitting in this meeting, I was struck with just how much things have changed since the days of my Dad and hand shake deals.

It's that time of year again.  I know what you're thinking...the holidays. Wrong!  It's the dreaded season of budgeting.  While most people are enjoying this short week, looking forward to quality time with family and friends, I am knee deep in our annual fiscal planning for the winery.   Oh joy!  As someone who generally loves her job, the budgeting season is more like a painful trip to the dentist.  Endless meetings, haggling over this and that and presentations to our Board of Directors are pretty much how the budgeting process goes.  And while it's obvious this is not my cup of tea, I do appreciate the process and understand its importance to our business.

You see, 2012 is an especially important year for our family winery.  As the calendar turns to January 1, 2012, it will mark our 40^th year in business.  That means we have big plans that are going to require some significant marketing and sales investments.  In putting our budget together there are a lot of considerations - how much wine do we think we will sell?  What is our selling strategy?  How does our Direct-to-Consumer business look for next year?  All of these are key questions - after all, we don't have a money tree in our backyard from which we can pluck marketing dollars.  Everything needs to balance out and come together like a big puzzle.  It's a system of give and take, pros and cons, and ultimately doing what gives us the most bang for our buck.

So, I'm off again to yet another budget meeting.  There is light at the end of the tunnel though.  Come Thursday, I'm shutting down, grabbing a glass of Heritage Zinfandel and putting my feet up by the fire.  Even this wife, mother, marketer, business owner, and blogger needs some R&R!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

http://www.vinography.com/archives/2011/11/2009_dry_creek_vineyard_herita.html

What's special for me is that the article and accompanying review on our 2009 Heritage Zinfandel was completely unsolicited. It appeared out of nowhere. Yet, it tells the story of our early days along with our vision for the future in a way that makes me proud. And to my way of thinking, it's a sign that we're finally turning the corner and making a name for ourselves with a completely new audience. It sure is exciting to be on the radar screen of one of the most prolific and successful wine bloggers in America, Alder Yarrow of Vinography.

Thanks Alder. You just made my day and inspired me to write!

As Dry Creek Vineyard's Wine Club Administrator, this is a question I am asked at least two to three times a week. My usual response is: "It's going well, the grapes are coming in and the juice is happily fermenting in their respective tanks and barrels."  After answering the same way for several weeks, I exchanged my business attire and my comfortable climate controlled office for what I like to call my "grubby" clothes and the outside.

On Wednesday morning the cellar crew did not hesitate to put me right to work. I started my morning assisting our interns with pumpovers, which is the process used to circulate the juice to increase the flavor and color in our fabulous wines.  Then I got my hands dirty clearing the sump (a strainer used to keep the wine and skins away from each other) of the skins and seeds. After pumpovers, I spent the rest of the morning cleaning the floors of all the runaway grapes and miscellaneous debris.

The afternoon brought in a large load of grapes from the Rafanelli Vineyards and I was summoned by the Cellar Master to carry a load of dry ice to the top of the tank to give our new grapes some much needed CO₂.

Finally, I was tasked with rehydrating yeast for one of our tanks. The yeast smelled like fresh bread right out of the oven. Feeding the yeast was an entirely different experience. While taking some wine from the large tank, instead of closing the valve, I opened it all the way and was sprayed from the head down with freshly pressed Zinfandel.  Needless to say, I did not go home as clean as I had arrived!

It was definitely a learning experience and I am glad to have a better understanding of what Harvest entails. I also have a much deeper respect for all of the hard work our cellar crew goes through to produce our fabulous wines. Now, back to what I do best; providing assistance to our club members in my nice clean and comfy office. I can honestly say that I am more than prepared to talk about how Harvest is going. I await your calls!

Salina Littleton, Wine Club Administrator