So, I’m watching CNN and they’re talking to certain vineyards, and there are barrels of wine crashed all over the floor, and hundreds of bottles of smashed wine and the owners are a little upset.
Holy shit. You live in a region known for earthquakes and you have no protection from your product being shattered at a moment’s notice?
How in the hell is this possible, and wouldn’t insurance companies be concerned that you had wine casks and bottles stacked to the ceiling without some form of restraint?
Unbelievable.
It would be like living in Canada and neglecting to think that wine in a storage shed might freeze and burst over the winter. How could these manufacturers not have taken a more proactive approach to ensure stable storage?
Industrial wine racks that can hold the contents in a moderate shaker are not as retro and photogenic as aw-thennik olde style racks that wow the tourists and look awesome in the ads.
Yeah, but are there not a whole lot of areas between Alaska and extreme Southern California that have not seen a 6 or above in a hundred years? We certainly hope those areas are deeply aware that tomorrow could bring a big quake and have prepared accordingly.
Champagne is made by adding a dose of yeast & sugar to wine, so that carbon dioxide is formed in a second fermentation process. Riddling is a process of slowly moving the yeast into the neck of the bottle, where it can be removed when the champagne is corked. It’s done on racks like this.
[Quote= Biotop]
Yeah, but are there not a whole lot of areas between Alaska and extreme Southern California that have not seen a 6 or above in a hundred years? We certainly hope those areas are deeply aware that tomorrow could bring a big quake and have prepared accordingly.
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You’d think they’d be prepared, but my point is just that there hasn’t been an actual wine-damaging earthquake within the lifetime of any current winemakers. There’s a difference between preparing for a theoretical disaster and one that you have some actual experience with.
Um, what? Are you seriously suggesting that people operate wineries for decades just waiting for the big earthquake to hit so that they can file an insurance claim for the lost inventory?
Scarcity drives the price up. The bottles & casks that didn’t get broken just increased in value.
That said, operating a business which involves stockpiling product for decades before storing it, in an earthquake-prone area, without adequate protection is kinda dumb, but Californians are like that.
First of all, most wine is not stored for “decades.” Most is drunk within a few years. Second, Napa Valley, despite its fame, represents only a very small fraction of total California wine production. So it’s not going to be scarce. Some few individual labels are going to be scarce, but generally those are the wines bottled in smaller quantities. Some are available only through the winery directly, and perhaps a very few stores.
Earthquakes: God’s way of saying make more meritage.
Seeing the footage from the Silver Oak winery with all those beautiful bottles in a heap on the floor reminded me of the old Crown Royal ads… Ever seen a grown man cry?
So once it sinks to the bottom how do they get it out without all the wine spilling? Why can’t they lock those racks down more securely? Wouldn’t it be safer to just have a bunch of wine shaped holes on the floor and each bottle is placed there with no danger of falling?
No, but there is a lot of people there who follow “farmer economics” when it comes to counting losses. They count them using the best year they never got to have as their baseline, rather than something along the lines of “a median year”, or they suddenly remember that their iWhatever happened to be in the stolen bag this one in my pocket? Why, it’s the replacement! How come it’s two models old when the one I reported stolen was the current model? Well, uh… it’s… my wife’s! Yes! I borrowed my wife’s!
What’s daily riddling? Why neck down? Loose as in it can’t even be in a groove or something that holds it down? Why?