The San Francisco Chronicle has published a very interesting story on the growing number of small boutique wineries - called Garagistes. These bare-bones operations bring a wealth of passion and effort that far exceeds their low output.
Garagistes share a passion in their approach to winemaking that often trumps profit. Marketing and sales usually take the form of a basic Web site, a mailing list, local restaurants and possibly a few small distributors. Gottl parcels out Merus three bottles at a time to devoted customers willing to pay $105 a bottle. But most garagiste efforts retail between $20 and $50.
Moving such small quantities can be less demanding than, say, the 10,000 cases or more that a small winery like Everett Ridge in Healdsburg is likely to produce in a year, or the 200,000 cases produced by a medium-sized winery like Sebastiani in Sonoma. Word-of-mouth -- or word-of-mouthfeel -- among wine aficionados does the heavy lifting. There are no branding consultants. Although many of these wineries make a profit and provide a comfortable living for their owners, a considerable portion of their gross revenues typically goes back into buying and repairing equipment, purchasing new barrels, and related expenses.
Next time I find myself in Napa, I think I'll stop by and visit a few of the so-called Garagistes listed in the article. Their insights could be quite valuable to Oklahoma's small wineries.
Full article: Two-tank garages / Micro-sized, owner-operated wineries punch more than their weight with critics and fans
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