Though often considered a relic of the past, several wineries have been exemplifying modern business.
Winemaking is a tradition that goes back many thousands of years. As such, it is easy for winemakers to rest on tradition and to avoid taking risks. While there is certainly something to be said for the value of upholding one’s cultural traditions, there is also something to be said for innovation and growth. Personally, I think there is room for both in the world. There is simply no reason to abandon the old ways just because something new has come along. Nor is there a reason to reject new things outright. In this spirit, we are going to take a look at some of the world’s innovative new wine companies that are exploring new aspects of an old profession.
MacDonald Wineries
One small winery that is worth taking notice of is MacDonald Wineries in Napa, California. While the Napa Valley region is sometimes criticized for making too much Cabernet and not enough variety, two brothers named Graeme and Alex MacDonald went in a different direction. They produce a variety of wines with a mixture of methods. However, they do have one distinctive touch of their own. The fifteen-acre parcel of land on which they grow all their grapes was formerly a cherry orchard. As such, all their wines contain a hint of cherry flavor that is both pleasant and unique. The MacDonald Brothers come from one of the oldest winemaking families in the Napa Valley and are a perfect example of an approach that blends classic and modern methods.
Brick & Mortar
We might also take a look at Brick & Mortar Winery, owned and operated by Matthew Iaconis. Founded by a guy who is both a scientist and an athlete, Brick & Mortar has gained a reputation for producing some of the most distinctive and unique flavors of wine available. He mostly makes Pinot and Chardonnay, but he uses several tricks to give them such a unique flavor. For one thing, he grows all his grapes at high altitude in a bowl-shaped depression in the earth. These wines are known for a tart earthiness that can be recognized immediately by the discerning palate. This taste is also due to the fact that Iaconis never uses new oak barrels. This is a radical departure from the norm because most wineries will make it a point to use only new oak barrels. Sometimes, they will even switch their wine to a second new barrel after a year of storage, in order to impart the maximum amount of oak flavor to the beverage. It just goes to show that even the smallest change in the process can have a profound effect upon the final product.
Arkenstone Vineyards
We might also take a look at Arkenstone Vineyards, which is owned by Sam Kaplan. Like many of America’s best winemakers, he comes from a family that has been making wine in California’s Napa Valley for a very long time. Sam Kaplan’s father Andrus noticed that his son had an affinity for good wine at an early age. To nurture this natural predilection, his son was offered an internship to see if he could prosper. Apart from his wine expertise, Sam Kaplan is also a scholar of religious studies, and is very interested in the idea of wine as a spiritual form of expression. But his real genius lies in the clever ways in which he has automated production in his winery. This allows him to spend less time processing the wine itself and more time tending to his 22 acres of grapes. If you want to know just how good some of Arkenstone’s wines are, note that five cases of their Memento Mori Cabernet sold for $80,000 at a recent auction.
Denis Mackenzie
The fourth person on our list is Denis Mackenzie. An advertising executive by trade, Denis Mackenzie decided to fulfill a lifelong dream by throwing his ambition behind one of the most successful and popular wineries in the nation. Denis Mackenzie differs from all of our other examples because he chose to base his winery in the wine country around Lake Erie. California has dominated America’s wine industry for so long that it is refreshing to see someone going a different route. Denis Mackenzie’s innovation also lies in a fondness for extra-curricular activities and events. From wine-tasting events to various contests to “sip-and-paint” events which are centered around the combination of wine and art. The old and well-documented connections between good wine and fine art would be hard for anyone to deny.
Conclusion
Regardless of how minute the differences may be, these wineries represent the cutting edge because, as stated before, even a small change in the winemaking process can result in a drastically different product. Even two wines made with the same grapes and the same process will still be different if they come from two different places. This is because of soil differences that cannot be fully duplicated anywhere else. It is these subtle differences that create the uniqueness of any fine vintage.
