The unseasonal heavy rains last week were welcomed by ranchers and firefighters, but were not particularly good news for the wine industry.
I checked with Karl Wente and David Kent who both reported that the majority of their crops already had been harvested here in the valley. It’s just some red grapes still hanging, primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, with its tough skins that didn’t concern Wente at all.
In Monterey County, where the Wente family grows its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on Riva Ranch, the white grapes are still hanging. Wente said Livermore Chardonnay is picked in September, while the Monterey vines are about a month behind.
I specifically reached out to them because I noted lots of unplanted land when we went to Garre earlier this month for Shepherd’s Gate’s annual fundraiser.
The Kent Family and the Lemmons family partnered to buy the historic Concannon building along with its production facility from The Wine Group. The northwestern portion of the 240-acre property is now being replanted after 20-year-old vines were removed. A 4-acre block already has been planted in Pinot Noir that will be primarily for sparkling wine that will be a new offering. The plan calls for another 47 acres to be replanted with Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, “two signature varieties” of the valley.
Concannon’s original Sauvignon Blanc in 1883 came from Chateau d’Yquem in France, a famed sauterne house. The Cab Franc went in on the Olivina estate that still has the original gate at Wetmore and Arroyo roads.
Kent wrote that new owners, Tom and Paige Lemmons will farm it organically. He noted that two block of the best and very old Petite Sirah vines are still maintained and are used for the Captain Joe’s reserve. They may be the oldest vines in the valley.
Kent is bullish on the industry, planning to move the Almost Famous brand into the Concannon facility and expand its offerings.
Not so for the Wentes who have been hit hard by tariff battles. Karl cited shelves empty of American brands in Canada in February as emblematic of the struggles.
The wine industry in California is in rough times. Demand for coastal wines, that grew by double digit rates for decades not only has declined, but consumption has dropped as the younger generations drink less and different beverages.
When I asked Karl what he was going to do about it, he welcomed suggestions. Times are that challenging.
When I wrote about Pleasanton school enrollment last week, I didn’t have a full picture of the situation. The district spokeswoman got back to me with current information. The state requires a census Oct. 1 each year and the unofficial Pleasanton results showed an enrollment of 13,006. That number, if finalized, is a drop of 690 students year-over-year.
Each student represents $12,586 in state funding so this means a nearly $8.7 million drop thus the school board’s discussions last week about how to trim the budget and how much to slash to avoid further significant cuts next year. Senior leadership presented 60 options to trim between $10 million and $13.5 million from the budget next year.
Superintendent Maurice Ghysels bluntly told board members that they’d been deficit-spending for seven years and needed to make the cuts necessary to overcome a structural deficit.
The enrollment plunge makes it worse although you have to think administrators expected the drop for the seventh year in a row. It’s an interesting phenomenon—the district consistently rates as the best or nearly the best in the county and one of the top ones in the state. Yet, that’s not resulted in students lining up to transfer in.
You have a typo.
“Concannon’s original Sauvignon Blanc in 1883 came from Chateau d’Yquem in France, a famed sauterne house.”
“sauterne” must be “Sauternes”.
Sauternes is the place name that d’Yquem is located within, the protected name of the wine they and others in that region make.
“Sauterne” is an early example of place of origin deception that unfortunately is a sordid part of the history of Livermore valley winemaking. Even if one wanted to make some sort of claim that the knockoffs had some intrinsic value, the sauterne label couldn’t be applied to the original. In any event, the styles are incredibly different.