8 replies to this topic

[WineMan2008]

Hi,

Why is it that almost every week I pick up the local newspaper and there is another local Craft Brewery opening. The say there is still a lot of growth in that end of the market. So why not Craft Wineries?

Steve

[Steve mead]

I would consider each of the thousands of small wineries already in existance to be a "craft" winery.

[Sangiovanni Winery]

I believe both beer making and winemaking are crafts, but somehow the public associates the term “Craft” more with the brewing industry. Maybe the answer to your question is more a matter of accepted terminology and production size than anything else.

My understanding is that Breweries and Wineries are measured in regards to production size and the use – or not - of “traditional” production techniques ( Craft ). Therefore, you can find Large, Medium, Small, Micro and Nano Wineries and Breweries.

Maybe we have to find out when an operation has become so large and technological driven (to keep up with output and consistency), than the actual art of crafting a product starts to fade away. In other words, How big does an operation have to be to go from Craft operation to Industrial operation?

Emiro

[Tomer1]

Its likely when the winemaker no longer has the pysical abillity to do punch downs (or he can accually afford to pay someone alse to do it )

[Chris_Austin]

Tomer - I like your logic!

Craft is when you have to do everything hands on cause you either can't affort to have help or you can't afford to buy equipment.

Industrial is when you can't afford to not have the equipment cause the people are too expensive!

And somewhere in the middle is a nice place where you can hire out some things but still be small enough to really know the product being produced and leverage art in its creation...

[Hammered]

I prefer the term garagiste for what we do, although the Garagiste movement is more of a French winemaker's rebellion it kind of reflects what we homers and small wineries are really all about.

[Calamity Cellars]

I have not heard the term Craft Brewery before. Micro Brewery is more common in my experience.

Since prohibition licensing for distillation has been extremely limited. By both state & federal regulations. Recently there have been exceptions to these previous laws that allow small distilleries to come into existence and those laws have been written to allow what they call "craft distilleries" thus the term craft typically is only used in that form. The laws have allowed small wineries to exist for quite some time so there is not really a special term for small wineries that is based in the law. The tax codes definitely divide wineries by size but that is for tax purposes. I don't see the wineries themselves embracing the term "craft winery" as there are commonly accepted terms that describe that genre already... boutique, etc

[Tomer1]

We in israel label small wineries as "boutique wineries".
Funny enough some produce low-mid end wines equivilent in quality to the low-mid range stuff by the large co-op wineries but charge 3 times the money. If your gone do it commerically, buy premium grapes man... from low yeild vinyards.

[Juniper Hill]

I prefer the term garagiste for what we do, although the Garagiste movement is more of a French winemaker's rebellion it kind of reflects what we homers and small wineries are really all about.

1+ on that point Steve. I like to use Garagiste when describing what I do to other wine people and winemakers. Makes me feel like a rebel.