Hooray for the Family Owned Winery!

I am constantly singing the praises of our beautiful Umpqua Valley and with no less passion our amazing wineries which are all family owned. Some might say I am a bit obsessed with this wonderful attribute of our area. But after reading the latest report out of the Marin Institute - an alcohol watchdog organization out of the San Francisco Bay Area - you might understand why I go on so…

This latest published report entitled _“The Myth of the Family Owned Winery”_ -Global Corporations Behind California Wine- is a 9 page report stating the fact that despite the industry promoted image of the mom-and-pop wineries of California, nearly all of the leading wine producers in the state are multinational corporations with offices worldwide. And it states that wine is just one part of their massive product portfolios along with beer brands, spirits and even tobacco. The report goes on to suggest that these huge corporations hide behind the warm and fuzzy family owned winery façade as they work to deregulate the laws governing alcohol in every state. Their goal is bigger market share and relaxed laws to allow for bigger profits. And it has worked… The case sales listed for the year 2008 ranged from between 4.5 million cases for the smallest of these giants ( Brown-Forman) to 56 million cases of wine sold by the largest (E&J Gallo).

And while this report could be argued as a veiled attempt for prohibitionists to get up on their soap box one more time to voice the evils of big alcohol, the information contained within is accurate and something that can be easily seen from “on the ground” in my old home state. Nowhere more easily witnessed then in Napa where in 1970’s virtually all the wineries were family owned and today most are owned by one of ten major corporations. A visit to any national supermarket chains wine section is a perfect illustration of the wine industry. Safeway and Albertsons display easily over 1000 different wine labels but most can be traced back to those top ten corporations. Other lesser known wine regions all over California are witnessing the corporate take over of their wine industry as well. This transformation of the wine industry in California is turning the state with the reputation of family run wineries and hand crafted wines into the state with the reputation for huge corporations making astounding profits much of which is propelled through disingenuous marketing.

So are there still family owned wineries in California? Of course there are. Just not many and as the corporate trend continues, family owned wineries are absolutely on the endangered species list. And the trend continues in Washington State and yes, here in our beloved Oregon as well. The Willamette Valley mixes the family owned winery with the corporate owned and run winery and to some it might not be immediately obvious which is which. But it doesn’t take long to see and taste the difference for those interested. For those of us lucky enough to live here among one of the last completely family owned wine regions in the country (no facades here) we should appreciate it more! And while the Umpqua Valleys unique terrain is best suited to the smaller vineyard and winery operation it is just a matter of time before our family owned tradition begins to mix with the bigger business of wine making. But for now, before progress rears its ugly head, take advantage of what we have. Get out and visit your favorite winery today. I’ll see you there…