09/26/05 Monday question - Estate wine grapes

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today we are answering questions from the email. Recently a listener wrote to ask a question about harvest. "Many wineries brag that their wines are made from grapes that were grown entirely on their own property. What is the big deal?" What the listener is referring to when he describes wine made from grapes grown entirely on property owned by the winery is an estate wine. And sometime in the near future we are going to do a week long series about the challenges and the advantages of making wines from estate properties. But, for now let's say that the bragging rights have to do with having complete control of the vineyards  what kind of grapes are grown, and where the grapes are grown, and of course, how the grapes are grown. It is the implication that this will translate into harvesting grapes that are the most desirable for making the style of wine that the winery is known for. It also seems to imply consistency and value. It creates a story for the winery to tell. All of which translates into some extremely valuable sales and marketing tools. Knowing about the winery and its location can make for very interesting speculative wine conversation. For example: a winery is known for its Merlot, yet none of the surrounding vineyards grow Merlot. You might ask yourself, why? Do they know something that no one else knows or are they true pioneers? Or are they setting themselves up to fail in some way? Who can say that is something only time will tell? After all, they are an estate winery. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.