Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/534849
1 0 2 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | J u l y - A u g 2 015 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m harsh winters and bud kill in the East and Midwest left some states with virtually no vinifera grapes in 2014. Increasingly, wineries in this position are finding a solution in bulk wine. "By itself, the East cannot pro- duce enough fruit to allow exist- ing wineries to stay in business and satisfy demand," said Donnie Winchell, executive director of the Ohio Wine Producers Association. Others purchase wine not out of crisis, but as a way to get into the wine business and stimulate cash flow, with the idea of transitioning to local fruit later. Some may take ollowing three consecutive extra-large harvests (2012- 2014), California has plenty of grapes, while just about every- where else in the country has a shortage. Even in the best of times, wineries in the East and Midwest, as well as in Texas, have had a difficult time finding local fruit and often pay dearly for what is available. New entrants to the wine busi- ness, dominated by those who aren't interested in expensive land acquisition and years of vine- yard establishment, have driven up demand for bulk wine. Recent BY DAVID FALCHEK delivery and finish or blend the wine to put their mark on it. CALIFORNIA CONTRAST The crunch experienced by win- eries in the East and Midwest is in stark contrast to the situation in Cal- ifornia, where wine grape acreage jumped from 546,000 acres in 2012 to 570,000 in 2013. This set the table for a series of bumper crops that left wineries small and large wondering what to do with all the wine they made. As a result, more wine entered the bulk market. There's strict confidentiality on Getting Bulk Grapes and Wine from A to B Short supply in the East and Midwest sends tankers across the country