Orchard Valley Supply Inc.

European Grapevine Moth Could Force Quarantine in Fresno County

2010-05-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

From ABC Local News

Product Spotlight: Felco Pruners

2010-04-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

The Original Felco Pruner.

This pruners extended handle has a patented shear
for one or two-handed cutting.
Felco 13 Pruners

Vineyard Pruner with a rotating handle.
Felco 12 Pruners

Multi-use Pruner for a wide variety of pruning.

Felco 11 Pruners

Dear Vineyards, Spring is Right Around the Corner

2010-03-01T10:35:00.001-08:00

A new season is among us after a long winter. Whether you are in full production or just beginning to develop your site, you will need to be prepared for the seasons to come.

Orchard Valley Supply has Felco pruners, Bird Gard products, bird netting and so much more. Our products assist you in planting, training and trellising while your plants stay protected and grow.

Are you starting a new vineyard? We have all the tools for you. Please check out our shop. Feel free to contact us if you need assistance!

Imports help overall wine sales; end of ‘09 better; slow recovery seen

2010-01-28T05:35:00.001-08:00

By Jeff Quackenbush, Business Journal Staff Reporter, NBBJ

SACRAMENTO — Large scale importation of bulk and bottled wine helped boost total U.S. shipments by an estimated 2.1 percent last year, but wineries heavily impacted by shifting consumer demand may have to wait until 2011 for significant market improvement, an expert said at a major industry symposium here this morning.

Despite signs of improved sales for higher-end wines in the waning months of 2009, some winery representatives listening to Jon Fredrikson’s analysis at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium are preparing for a longer recovery.

California wine shipments for the first 11 months of 2009 decreased 3.9 million cases, or 1.6 percent, according to Mr. Fredrikson of Woodside-based Gomberg Fredrikson & Associates.

“It’s the first time in 16 years California shipments declined,” he said.

U.S. shipments decreased 1.4 percent, or by 3 million cases last year to a total of 323 million.

When shipments of imported wine are considered, total shipments increased 6.5 million cases, or 2.1 percent.

He pointed to a survey of five large wine warehouses in Napa and Sonoma counties that suggested small growth in late 2009 after a decline of 20 percent for first half of last year.

The Neilsen Company estimated that store sales of wine for the year increased 4 percent from the year before, with food store sales increasing and liquor store sales weakening.

Also, table wine sales between summer of 2008 and fall 2009 were hot for wines retailing below $9 a bottle.

In the last few months of last year, the $9 to $12 category started showing signs of increased sales, according to Mr. Fredrikson.

“It could indicate that prices are moving back up,” he said.

Boding well for the start of recovery in wine sales in 2010 is critical acclaim for the 2007 vintage for red wines now being released.

Ted Lehr, manager of grower relations in Sonoma County and the Central Valley for Jackson Family Wines, said he thinks recovery for the business will take longer for brands to regain past price points.

“We do not think it will get better until 2012 to 2013 after a year of seeing private-sector hiring,” he said following the presentation by panel experts.

Robert LaVine, director of California sourcing for Brown-Forman Corp., which produces Fetzer and Sonoma Cutrer wines, said he wants to believe recovery in 2011 is a given.

“Wine is an affordable luxury and adds to quality of life, so people will return to it,” he said.

However, global competition for U.S. consumers who may or may not carry their new-found frugality into the future may force California wine operations, including those in fine wine regions, to adjust to a new reality of global sourcing, according to another panelist at the symposium today.

More wine companies will act like consumer packaged goods companies, with a focus on price, margin and consumer acceptance, said Glenn Proctor of Ciatti Co. in San Rafael.

“As the price point moves out of their comfort level, they will source from other areas of the world and may not come back when California plants more vines,” he said.

He pointed to a large inflow of chardonnay wine from glutted Australia last year, which affected sales of such grapes from Napa and Sonoma counties for premium tier programs.

“California wine is not going away,” he said.

However, to be competitive, California wine grape growers should look at global markets as a future source for increasing quality, lower priced wine, he said.

High costs of farming may call for more mechanization of viticulture and higher North Coast yields per acre, he added.

“The premium market is going to be difficult for the next 12 to 18 months,” Mr. Proctor said.

To view entire article, please click here.

Insure Your Grapevines

2009-12-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

New policies cover vineyard assets, not just crop damage

by Paul Franson

Live Asset Insurance, a division of Marshall & Sterling, covers a wide range of maladies, including freeze, hurricane, fire, weight-of-ice, sleet, snow, lightning, explosion, tornado, hail, smoke, aircraft or vehicle damage, flood (except zones A & V), vandalism, sprinkler leakage, sinkhole, volcanic action, falling objects, water damage (limited), earth movement, riot or civil commotion and theft.

The company focuses on protecting perennial crops -- not just vines but also trees, shrubs and other plants at locations such as parks, orchards, tree farms, golf courses and even zoos. It covers the trees at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, for example, and also covers Christmas tree farms.

David Teed, managing director of Live Asset Insurance, says the company recently targeted winegrapes as well. “Government crop insurance covers grapes and raisins, but not the vines themselves. They had a pilot program in Napa Valley to cover vines, but realized they weren’t allowed to compete with private industry, so they backed off.” He claims that his service is unique.

Teed adds that the insurance companies that protect wineries typically avoid exterior assets or set very low limits on coverage; in fact, the company is now receiving referrals from some of these insurers.

Live Asset Insurance can insure an individual vine up to $250 and can cover lost wine production as well as vine replacement, depending on how the policy is structured. “A vineyard can be out of production for four or five years, and we can compensate for the lost revenue or pay for the present value of the vines.” It will also pay for loss to the scion, even if the rootstock isn’t damaged, as might be caused by a freeze.

The program is quite new, and it’s still being tweaked. Initially, the minimum premium was $5,000 and the deductible was $10,000, which meant a grower could be out of pocket $15,000 or more. Teed says that made the coverage unattractive for smaller growers -- and larger vineyards generally self-insure. Starting Jan.1, he’ll announce a lower minimum premium -- $1,000 -- and lower deductible of $2,500.

The company says that it already covers a couple of vineyards in California. One actually had a fire in the vineyard, but it didn’t reach the former deductible. “Under the new rates, they would have received compensation.”

Another benefit of the insurance is that it could provide additional guarantees to lenders hesitant to lend on property in these challenging times. “We haven’t focused on the lenders since we didn’t want growers to feel we’re shoving this down their throats, but there’s obvious benefit to the lenders,” Teed says.

To read rest of Wines & Vines' article please click here.

U.S. Wineries See Hope in Hong Kong

2009-11-24T06:57:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong, China -- Hong Kong is fast becoming a major wine trading and distribution hub, and many North American wineries seek to expand into the Asian wine market. The second annual Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair, held Nov. 4-6, drew 520 exhibitors from 34 countries and six continents -- more than double the attendance at the 2008 show. With the promise of a burgeoning Asian wine market, many growers made the trip expecting to find distributors anxious for their business: They quickly learned that patience and hard work are necessary to crack the Asian market.

Hong Kong’s position as a major wine center has increasingly solidified during the past few years. The Chinese government has taken an active role in making Hong Kong a wine-friendly region -- first by eliminating wine duties in early 2008, and also permitting wine to be transferred to storage prior to clearing customs (rather than sitting on the tarmac). Hong Kong cooperates with major wine-producing nations, already is the main distribution center for Asia and is set to become a wine auction center second only to London.

Understanding the Asian palate
As the wine industry in Hong Kong grows, so does the sophistication of the Hong Kong palate. Ross Chan of California Grapes International Inc., a Hong Kong-based distributorship specializing in California wines, described Hong Kong as having a taste for “premium red wines.” Conversely, he said, “less educated areas like the mainland want lower prices and sweeter wines.”

Korbin Ming, the marketing and sales director for Glen Ellen, Calif.-based Korbin Kameron Wines, noted that the Chinese “like to drink more” at a single sitting but “prefer less robust wines.” Ming’s display included a Best of Class medal won at the fair's associated wine contest, as well as a silver for its Cabernet, but he said that while the medals made potential distributors more likely to stop at the booth, in general competitions aren't that important to the local distributors. And though his family is originally from Hong Kong (Ming lived there until he was 5 years old and grew up speaking Chinese), Ming said, “Hong Kong is a confusing market. We came here to learn it, but it raised more questions than answers.”

Daniel Choy is the sourcing officer for San Castle Wines, a leading importer into the mainland, with offices in Guandong, China, and San Gabriel, Calif. San Castle has several U.S. clients and represents wineries from Europe and South America. Choy said it is looking for winemakers who believe in “taste, packaging and have a seriousness about the quality of the wine.” Equally important, Choy said, the wines must be competitively priced.

Read the rest of the wineandvines.com article here.

Rain to cut short this year's grape harvest

2009-10-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

The North Coast's wine grape harvest winds down this week, whether grape pickers and vintners are ready or not.

That's because the weather is likely to call it quits on the remnants of the season. Rain is in the weekend forecast.

“This is the week to get it all done,” Bob Anderson, executive director of the United Winegrowers for Sonoma County. “I think it has been a mad scramble ever since that big rain, but it looks in pretty good order now.”

After serving up a surprise blast of rain on Oct. 13, Mother Nature gave wine grape harvesters a two-week breather of cool evenings and warm daytime temperatures to get their remaining crop into their processing operations.

At Buena Vista winery near Sonoma, crews have already started processing the chardonnay and pinot grapes that were largely pulled from vines even before the Oct. 13 rain storm.

Buena Vista winemaker Jeff Stewart said “we are 95 percent finished, maybe a little splash of merlot is left out there, so this week will be the clean up.”

Stewart said the unseasonable rain storm “definitely woke everybody up and got us going.”

Since then, vineyard operators have been rushing to bring in the harvest and are not waiting for another threat of rain.

“We will be wrapped up this week and most growers out there will be in the same boat,” Stewart said. “The heat over this weekend was great, but there are too many vineyards ready to give up at this point.”

Anderson said much of the grape crop in Sonoma has been harvested with the exception of some hearty reds, such as cabernet sauvignon and others that end up as dessert wine. However, he had reports that as much as 20 percent of the Mendocino County crop was still on the vine.

“Growers and wineries are still looking at some of the ‘cab' and the debate is whether there are going to be some warming up days ahead of them this week,” Anderson said. “The problem is that the sugar levels have not changed much over the last couple weeks, so time is running out.”

Weather forecasters say daytime temperatures will gradually decline, from the low 80s today to the mid 60s on Friday, before giving way to cloudy skies and chances of rain Saturday and Sunday.

Read the rest of the article here.

Southeastern Winegrowers Hope to Dodge Storms

2009-09-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

Some vineyards reported rain early in season; weather service says storms headed east, where harvest is still under way.

For some winegrowers in the Southeast, vintage 2009 has been a dream so far, for others it's been plagued by rain. Today's forecast of more rain has some of them concerned.

"Over here on the East Coast, we have to worry about something called a hurricane," said Dave Fussell Jr. of Rose Hill, N.C., where his family's Duplin Winery is located. Fortunately, at least until this point, the worry has been unwarranted.

Provided that everything goes as planned during the coming week (harvest is likely to wrap up Wednesday), Fussell said that Duplin will have enjoyed a smooth growing season. Muscadines average about 7 tons/acre, he said, the same amount Duplin has been pulling in since harvest started Sept. 8.

Pressed to describe a factor that set the '09 growing season apart, he said, "I think everybody would say there was something unusual, but we were just slammed with so many grapes that I couldn't pay attention."

Rain
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service indicated that trouble was headed east, taking the form of a cold front that has been hovering over the Central United States. As of Friday afternoon, much of Tennessee was under a flash flood watch, and the agency issued a flood warning for Morgan and Scott counties there, calling the downpour "a life-threatening situation."

A handful of counties in Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina also were under flash flood warnings.

Many wineries in the Southeast have been fearing heavy rains since May. Jim Law of Linden Vineyards in Linden, Va., said spring 2009 was very wet, resulting in a crop reduction of about 5%.

Veraison in this region came a few days behind schedule. Because flowering in June was drawn out with cool, wet weather, some vineyards also have seen uneven ripening -- a condition that can cause trouble, especially in reds.

"Every month of the summer weather got progressively better," Law said. "September has been extremely dry.… We just got uncommonly lucky, and we've missed a lot of the rain."

Law reported that his harvest began Sept. 2 with Seyval Blanc, and two-thirds of the whites are in, with much of the Chardonnay coming in this week. Crews there will start picking young-vine Merlot next week, followed by Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon around Oct. 15-20.

Native varieties
Of course in the East, winegrape crops aren't limited to traditional vinifera varieties. In addition to the well-known Cynthiana-Norton grape, growers in the area gravitate toward vitis rotundifolia, also known as Muscadine, which is native to the Southeast and typically more resistant to Pierce's disease and Phylloxera than vinifera.

The Muscadine cultivar Carlos, for instance, was the first variety ready for harvest at Muscadine specialist Duplin, which produces 325,000 cases annually. Currently the winery is harvesting Scuppernong, Fussell said, adding that the winery's vines are descendants of a 480-year-old vine, the oldest known grapevine in the world, which resides on Roanoke Island.

Read the rest of the winebusiness.com here.

UNCG, N.C. A&T Researchers Join to Study North Carolina’s Growing Wine Industry

2009-08-26T12:47:00.001-07:00

GREENSBORO – Could North Carolina’s Haw River Valley become the next Napa Valley? According to researchers from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and N.C. A&T State University, the potential is ripe.

Faculty from Greensboro’s two public research universities teamed up to examine the growth of North Carolina’s nascent grape and wine industry and ways the business side of the trade could be strengthened. Their results, published earlier this year, identified a burgeoning industry that’s already making an impact on North Carolina’s economy and has the potential to be a key crop as the trade develops and matures.

The wine industry has a history of being a job creator, producing economic waves that ripple through other business areas, including transportation, retailing and hospitality and tourism. “A bottle of wine sold is a lot more than just one bottle,” said Dr. Joyendu “Joy” Bhadury, the associate dean for graduate programs and research at UNCG’s Bryan School of Business and Economics. “You have to buy the bottle; a label needs to be made. There are wholesalers who’ll sell to retailers, hotels, bed and breakfasts, art museums. There are huge multipliers.”

A 2006 study, commissioned by the N.C. Department of Commerce and the North Carolina Wine & Grape Council, showed the industry’s economic footprint included 5,700 related jobs and a total economic impact of $813 million. “Studies show that grapes are the only cash crop that can replace tobacco,” said Victor Ofori-Boadu, a research assistant with the Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education at N.C. A&T.

But struggles on the business side can hinder wineries and the growth of the industry. “If you look at it from the standpoint of a business, they are mini conglomerates,” said Samuel Troy, the Bryan School’s executive-in-residence. Winery owners are in charge of growing the raw materials, making and selling the wine, self-distributing and cross marketing their products, he said.

Key findings from the UNCG-N.C. A&T wine industry report show that winery owners:
• Are held back by a lack of time and capital
• Feel burdened by the state’s alcohol regulations
• Would benefit from using wine distributors instead of self-distributing their products, and
• Would profit from the proposed business development center dedicated to their industry at Surry Community College.

The report also identified an overall need for better education and marketing to promote North Carolina’s locally produced, hand-crafted vintage, as well as areas of opportunity, such as the state’s need for more grapes than are currently being produced.

The team of researchers is already compiling information to address one of the findings, conducting a benchmark study on the state’s alcohol regulations and how they compare to other states in the nation.

The seeds for the UNCG-N.C. A&T study were planted in the fall of 2007, when project coordinators Bhadury and Troy arrived at the Bryan School. While brainstorming industries they might be able to positively impact with local expertise, they quickly honed in on the state’s young but growing wine industry.

“We identified the fact that Greensboro was within driving distance of a majority of the wineries in North Carolina,” Bhadury said. “We found that the wine industry had help when it came to viticulture and oenology,” referring to the study of grapes and making wine, “but little evidence existed of similar help available from the business side. That’s where we came in.”

They teamed up with other academics from the Bryan School and the schools of business and agriculture at N.C. A&T who were versed in transportation, international export, marketing, research and agribusiness, and started the yearlong process of researching the wine industry. In addition to Bhadury, Ofori-Boadu and Troy, the team includes Dr. Osei-Agyeman Yeboah, associate professor and interim director of N.C. A&T’s International Trade Center; Dr. Nicholas Williamson, associate professor of business administration at UNCG; and Dr. Kathryn Dobie, professor and director of N.C. A&T’s Transportation Institute.

The group conducted multiple phone and face-to-face interviews and visited vineyards over the course of their study, logging miles from Boone to Duplin County. They found an industry that’s attracting attention, is in high demand and has great potential. “If you look at current trends, people are consuming less hard liquor and moving to wine,” Yeboah said. “This is not an enterprise that will fail. The demand is there.”

Wine isn’t all. Studies rank North Carolina third in wine-related tourism behind New York and California, Williamson said. And grape byproducts can be used to produce lotions and other commodities. “Even if grapes don’t become wine, they can become other products,” Dobie added.

But researchers also realized that the majority of the state’s wineries are young – less than 10 years old – and were not looking to export their products internationally yet. The help owners need at this point is more basic.

“We learned the grape industry, except for muscadine grapes, is not at the stage where it can think about exporting,” Bhadury said. “We are at the stage of thinking about business development.”

The researchers have been happy to oblige.

“Part of the concept that they’ve brought forth is to assist smaller wineries and vineyards with understanding basic business practices, providing some resources from the business school in order to help them generate or improve their business plan and educating the industry in supply chain partnerships,” said Margo Knight Metzger, executive director of the N.C. Wine & Grape Council. “It can be overwhelming as a small winery understanding the complexities of doing business through a wholesaler and the benefits as compared to selling everything yourself. That’s their goal, to educate our industry about supply chain, which is helpful.”

The state’s wine industry has experienced exponential growth in the past five years. Since 2004, the number of wineries has grown from 35 to 85, Metzger said. “I would say by the end of this decade, we’ll have 100 at least,” she added.

“Our wine industry ranks 10th in the nation in terms of size and it continues to grow every year at a pretty impressive clip. We’re happy to have the university system here in North Carolina involved with our burgeoning industry.”

To read the full report, visit http://www.uncg.edu/bae/or/WIBDC_Results_Final_Report.pdf.

New vineyard opens, wine industry flourishes

2009-07-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

he wine industry continues to flourish in the Yadkin Valley.

Five vineyards have opened since the first of the year, and a sixth one will hold its grand opening Saturday.

For airline pilot David Blackwell and his wife Pamela, their Brandon Hills Vineyard is a dream come true.

"By planting a vineyard here, we ensure that for at least another generation this will remain farming land," said Blackwell.

Industry consultant Sean McRitchie said winemaking is still an experimental industry in North Carolina as vineyard owners try to determine what varieties of wine grapes will grow best here.

"You put grapes in the ground and you pull some out," said McRitchie, who owns McRitchie Wine Company. "The goal is obviously to have some good wine in the bottle."

Next to finding the right varieties, the climate poses the biggest challenge.

"With the weather patterns," said Blackwell. "Atlantic storms coming in at the wrong time or like we had this year an unseasonably wet spring, so it's going to be different year to year."

A native of Oregon, McRitchie has spent more than 30 years perfecting the art of winemaking.

He said there's been a steady improvement in the quality of North Carolina wines.

"And I think that's just from time," said McRitchie. "It's a very slow industry to develop and to find its niche and balance within the climate that it's in."

Blackwell said unlike many other industries there's a true camaraderie among vineyard owners.

"The North Carolina Wine Growers Association is a very close knit group," he said. "People open up. They're willing to help you in any way they can to get you started."

As he looked out at the fruits of his labor, Blackwell said he saw the promise of the future but remains focused on his craft.

"You see what we've done and I see what's left to do," said Blackwell. "And on a broader scale, it looks nice but I still see the flaws and I want everything to be perfect."

Brandon Hills Vineyard is located at 1927 Brandon Hills Road in Yadkinville.

Saturday's grand opening begins with a ribbon cutting at 11:50 a.m. and runs till 6 p.m.

Read the rest of the News 14 article here.

Amid a tough market, wine execs see opportunities

2009-06-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

The wine industry is in the middle of a cyclical downturn, but Central Coast vintners have some advantages that will help in recovery.

That’s the view of Rob McMillan, chief of the wine industry lending unit at Silicon Valley Bank. He told the Central Coast MIT Enterprise Forum on June 17 that industry revenue growth has plunged from 20 percent to zero during the past two years amid a sharp pullback in buying, particularly among restaurants.

Richard Sanford, a Santa Barbara County wine pioneer, described the downturn as a “reset” for wine industry pricing. “We are finding that people will buy whites at under $20 per bottle and reds at under $30,” he said, adding that the days when restaurant goers and retail buyers would pay more than $50 for a bottle of wine are over — at least until the next industry upswing.

Sanford, owner of Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards in the Santa Ynez Valley and founder of Sanford Winery, said there still is a lot of opportunity for Santa Barbara and other Central Coast regions to make a profit from premium wines that sell for more than $15 per bottle. McMillan said that because land prices on the Central Coast are much lower than in Napa and Sonoma counties, the region remains an attractive location for wine grape growing.

Sanford also said the future of the industry may lie in sustainable practices that grow better-tasting wines that attract buyers who want organic products.

(source: pacbiztimes.com)

Tenn. wine shipping measure headed to governor

2009-05-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

NASHVILLE — A proposal that would allow Tennessee consumers to have wine shipped directly to their homes is headed to the governor for his consideration.

The measure passed the House earlier this week and was approved by the Senate last month. The proposal was sent to Gov. Phil Bredesen on Thursday after the Senate agreed to technical changes made by the House.

The bill would allow wineries that acquire a $300 license to ship up to three cases to Tennessee consumers per year.

Tennessee is one of 15 states that bans direct shipment of wine, according to the Wine Institute, which represents California wineries and wine businesses.

Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker says the governor will review the legislation once it reaches his desk.

(source: winebusiness.com)

Trellis Supplies

2009-04-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

We carry all of the trellis supplies you need to setup and maintain a trellis system. First decide on what type of trellis system you want to make (we have books to help with this). Then determine the type of vineyard post, vineyard wire, gripple or wirevise fastener, and anchor system. If this is all new to you, we are glad to help guide you through the process.

Some of our Trellis Supply products:

Getting SB 607 Passed Into Law....

2009-03-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

WinePress.US and its members are instrumental in bringing out of date CA law to light, and getting SB 607 passed into law. In an initial inquest for a permit for the 2008 WinePress.US Winefest to the ABC, the ABC notified that the wine competition and wine swap would be illegal. I sent dozens of emails to the ABC to find a way to host the Winefest legally. Each one came back stating that what I wanted to do was illegal.

The law in place at that time prohibits home winemakers from transporting wines from the place where it was made, as well as giving it as a gift. I sent out emails to nearly 20 winemaking clubs in CA, notifying them of the law. Many of the WinePress.US members, especially Andy Coradeschi sent emails to local congressmen / women, wine clubs and more. Andy has been instrumental as our point of contact with Senator Wiggins' and Senator Boyd's offices.

Find the rest of the story here at www.winepress.us

About Orchard Valley Supply

2009-02-24T13:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Orchard Valley Supply! Since 1986 we have been the wholesale vineyard supply and orchard supply choice of America (we ship coast to coast). Orchard Valley Supply has all the vineyard supplies and vineyard equipment you need for the vineyard in addition to winery supplies, orchard supplies, and nursery supplies.

Orchard Valley Supply, Inc. is focused on proving the same high level of customer service, quality products, and low wholesale prices that customers have become accustomed to over our 20+ years. We pride ourselves in quick service by providing same day shipping for in-stock items. Contact us today or call Toll Free 888.755.0098