Welcome to Willamette Valley Vintage 2024!
Hello and Welcome,
Welcome to Willamette Valley Vintage 2024! By all accounts, Vintage 2024 is not a “hit the ground running” type of year. While the first day of every year is a holiday, Vintage 2024 began on a Monday. We dodged a bullet there, but it was hard to get back in the groove for the rest of the week.
So, it was 1 down and 51 left to go. But it is a leap year, so February gifts us with 29 days. And the first full Wolf Moon of Vintage 2024 appears on Thursday evening, January 25th. The Farmers Almanac even has a calculator to help to determine your best viewing time.
In This Communication:
Cold (and Dry?) January
The CRV and You
Drop Shipping and the ARB Gordian Knot
Logistics Update
Become a Beta Tester!
2022 Book Club White Wine
Visit our Purchase Page to View our Current Offers
Cold (and Dry?) January
Climate change is back in full force for Vintage 2024. For football fans, the January wild card games in Buffalo, NY, and Kansas City, MO, were played outside in below ZERO temperatures. Other venues have covered domes where the games were played inside and were better attended. Except in Buffalo, where the fans seem to have acclimated.
Here in the Willamette Valley, we enjoyed an extended weekend of below freezing temperatures and an ice storm. Ernie had plenty of hot cocoa on hand, but the peppermint sticks and marshmallows didn't last. Not cold enough to kill the vines, but we may see some bud damage come spring… whenever that may be.
If you are not familiar with The Rodeo Song, or would just like a refresher, you can find that here:
For wine drinkers, and those who enjoy an Adult Recreational Beverage (ARB) from time to time, January is a time for reflection. Dry January is a term that refers to voluntarily abstaining from alcohol for the month. Unlike the United States’ experiment with Prohibition, this is voluntary, not compulsory. Could be worse...
However, as we awaken to Vintage 2024, we see the world is changing and not just the climate. Many health-related organizations around the world are rethinking your relationship with the aforementioned Adult Recreational Beverages. Healthcare organizations (and some government agencies) are always on the lookout for ways to improve our health and reduce the costs of care. The so called “sin taxes” are there to remind us that some substances are best taken in moderation, or not at all. And the revenue raised from consuming these products (or paying a deposit on their containers) is often targeted at their cost to society. (Alcohol, Tobacco, Sugary drinks, Junk food, Tetra Paks et al…)
The CRV and You
Recycling is the low hanging environmental fruit of the Adult Recreational Beverage industry. California, once again leading the industry, is instituting a California Redemption Value (CRV) for wine bottles, cans, and bag-in-box packaging. While the deposit only applies to containers purchased in or shipped to California, all wineries doing business in California must register. And California does require a conforming label indicating CA CRV. It shouldn’t be too much longer until this low hanging revenue is recognized by each state. Accommodating all 50 states labelling requirements could make for a very busy label…
But, the easiest thing we can all do is recycle our aluminum cans and glass bottles. Historically we have recycled aluminum and glass, as well as other materials like newspapers (remember those?) with content specific recycling bins. Now we trade in our iPhones for the new model. Where do the old iPhones go?
Going forward, you will most likely see a more direct approach to recycling for all beverage containers. This means that at the point of sale, a recycling fee will be collected on targeted products or types of containers. If you choose to return these containers to a recycling facility, you will be reimbursed some or all of your deposit. There may be a service or “convenience” fee.
If you choose to dispose of these containers in a non-recyclable manner, you will not be reimbursed and can expect a visit from The Green Police. Remember, there are two types of risk – Discovery and Compliance. If you choose not to recycle, best to keep it to yourself.
Drop Shipping and the ARB Gordian Knot
What’s old is now new, again. Back in the day, if you wanted a product (or agricultural part) that was not in stock, a retailer could order it for you. Then in a week or so, you could return to the store and buy it. One day, someone asked if they could just have the product sent to them directly, so they wouldn’t have to return to the store.
And that “drop shipping” model was the genesis for the Direct to Consumer (DTC) e-commerce model that Amazon was founded on. Agricultural parts are still an iteration or two behind, but eventually the industry will catch up. Maybe even in our lifetimes.
Historical Note: Clipping box tops and sending them away in the mail in hopes of receiving some trinket was an early proof of concept. While that left many a young boy loitering around mailboxes, it did not instill confidence in a fledgling business model. However, it did afford young girls a reason to select which way to walk home from school…
As we view the Adult Recreational Beverage industry through this lens, there is a bit of inherent distortion. And that distortion arises when you visit a retailer and try to order your “go to” Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. In some instances, the wine you are trying to “Special Order” may be available through a state mandated wholesaler. If so, you can return in a week or so and purchase it from a retailer. In some circumstances, an Uber driver may be able to deliver it to your door. No box tops necessary, but you may find yourself waiting at the mailbox… With Nurse Ratched eyeing you from across the block.
However, if the wine you seek is not carried by a state mandated wholesaler, that wine is unavailable to the retailer to order for you. And that will not change until a state mandated wholesaler sees a reason (or specific level of sales revenue or sales incentive) to import that wine into the state. This is commonly referred to as the “follow the money” principle.
Most states require a wine producer to sell to an in-state wholesaler who then sells to a retailer who then sells to you. However, an in-state wholesaler is under no obligation to purchase or "Special Order" from a wine producer. Most states do require their retailers to purchase wine from their in-state wholesalers. Ergo, the state mandated wholesalers are the gate keepers who collectively determine what wines retailers (and restaurateurs) can sell to you. If they don't carry it, your alternative is DTC wine shipping.
These laws are a relic of the repeal of prohibition, commonly referred to as the 3-Tier system, intended to promote health and safety. The judiciary, at several levels, are having a look see at the health and safety protections inherent in several states’ age old 3-Tier laws. Here is a brief look at some of those cases.
As a small, family owned and operated winery in the Willamette Valley, drop shipping or Direct to Consumer (DTC) shipping Pinot Noir is important. Once we get past each state’s regulatory hurdles of actually being able to ship wine to interested Legal Drinking Age Adults (LDAA), our next big thing is the cost of logistics. What to do?
Logistics Update
Increasing logistics costs are perpetual. Perpetual as in “…occurring repeatedly; so frequent as to seem endless and uninterrupted.” Or as we say here on the farm, as day follows night.
It was widely publicized last year that UPS and the Teamsters Union reached an agreement to avoid what could have been a catastrophic nationwide strike. The US economy is so heavily dependent on e-commerce, that DTC shipping logistics is an industry that genuinely is “Too Big to Fail.”
Depending on which side of the table you sit, the agreement was too generous, or not generous enough. We look at it differently. We believe the final agreement reflects the true costs of moving goods from point A to point B. Based on the enormity of the industry, if DTC shipping logistics could be done for less, someone would be offering to do it.
Since we had some time on our hands this week, and a nice wood stove to heat the house, we thought about DTC wine shipping logistics. What can we do as the winery to do our part? What made sense to us is to provide a shipping credit based on the number of bottles in a shipment.
We figured the more bottles in a shipment, the greater the cost of shipping and the larger the credit we should offer. So, that’s what we are offering. Of course, we took a little inspiration, from 1963.
Until we are able to stream wine over the internet, our next best alternative is shipping direct from the winery to a business or your most convenient UPS drop location for pick-up. Of course, if you live near the winery, or are renting a van to make a wine run, then by all means stop on by!
Some of the early choices we made in this agrarian endeavor included selecting a bottle. We chose to use the domestically produced Owens Illinois WP2339. This is a lovely 750 ml soft shoulder shaped bottle with a punt. It is also a standard weight bottle. We avoided the “my bottle is bigger than your bottle” mentality. As a result, a packaged case of Amalie Robert Estate wine bottles (containing wine and corks) ships at 36 pounds. Logistics costs are comprised of girth, weight and distance. We can control the first two.
Additional costs to wine shipping include age verification and residential delivery fees. Your UPS delivery driver may use discretion in verifying your age. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't (if you are over 30, don’t take it personally). But they do charge a fee for this required service.
The best way to lower the cost of wine shipping is to avoid a residential address delivery fee. All of the carriers build in extra cost for delivering age verification shipments to residential addresses. Part of this reasoning is that they may have to make more than one attempt to successfully deliver to an unimpaired resident who is 21 years or older. This would be you.
Whenever possible, we suggest using a business address or UPS drop location and collecting the wine at your leisure. You will still have to verify your age, but the choice of when you collect your package is up to you. And your wine is not driven all around town trying to track you down…
Become a Beta Tester!
For calendar year 2024, we are offering a PER BOTTLE shipping credit that you can use to offset the cost of wine shipping. All wine orders receive a credit as follows: 1 - 5 bottles receive $1 per bottle credit. Orders of 6 – 11 bottles receive a $2 per bottle credit. And here is THE DEAL: 12 bottle orders receive a $3 per bottle credit. Note: The credit for 11 bottles is $22. The credit for 12 bottles is $36. Whichever wine you choose to add, the shipping discount applied to the 12th bottle is $14.
All shipping options are available to you. You can apply your credit to ground shipping, or next day air. The credit also applies to Alaska and Hawaii shipments. Select a business or UPS drop location to save even more. Note: Your shipping credit is limited to the actual cost of shipping. A 12 bottle box is currently our maximum order quantity, however each order receives a shipping credit.
It's better on the A-List. All of the aforementioned shipping logistics apply, AND orders of 11 bottles or less receive a 10% discount on wine. The 12 bottle order reigns supreme at 20% wine discount. Not on the A-List? You can learn more about that right here: Amalie Robert Estate A-List
Complimentary insulated shipper box upgrades. If the weather is looking a little cool or hot, we will substitute an insulated shipper at no additional cost to you. We may also suggest holding your shipment until weather conditions between us and you improve. We pack all our own shipments in UPS compliant packaging and ship directly from our winery in Dallas, Oregon. If we make a mistake, we will make it right. Here is a useful website that displays temperatures across the country.
2022 Book Club White Wine
You can visit our Vinoshipper shopping portal to beta test your shipping options. We have loaded this cart with our inaugural release of 2022 Book Club White Wine (MSRP $20). Add 6 bottles and check out your shipping options. Add 11 bottles and see if you can locate a business or UPS drop point ship-to location to see your savings. Then add another bottle to see the 12 bottle discount! You can proceed to check out and complete your order, or cancel. Either way, please let us know what you think!
In the world of wine shipping, we realize there are about as many different ways to do it as there are wineries doing it. We went back and forth, and round and round and this is the best we could come up with. But we do reserve the right to wake up smarter tomorrow than we are today. If that happens, we will let you know.
Kindest Regards,
Dena &Ernie