Tuesday, August 18, 2015

On August18, 2015, John Olney commenced the listing of the  wineries displayed on this  first of his poster-maps with brief abstracts about each and whether or not they continue in business today.  If  they do not, he describes who replaced them or if they simply went out of business.  

This is a laborious task and will require some time to go through all 85 wine labels so this posting will be updated frequently until all 85 wineries have been accounted for.


NAPA VALLEY WINE

LABEL POSTER-MAPS


The Displayed Wineries on

 Series "A" (85 labels) and “A-1” (_TBD__labels)

CREATED BY JOHN M. OLNEY

BACKGROUND

HOW I GOT INVOLVED
      I came to California from Honolulu, Hawaii in 1984 to conduct experiments at SRI, Palo Alto, using an experimental extruder called the “K-Dur Process” in attempt to convert sugarcane bagasse into quality cattle feed pellets for Parker cattle ranch located on the Big Island of Hawaii.  With a partner, I spent all my remaining money in the hopes this project would be my entrepreneurial success.  It failed but I was staying with my father in wine country Napa so I had a way to survive.
    I needed a job and found an ad from a marketing guy, Tom Keller, who wanted a salesperson to work on a commission basis selling Napa Valley wine label ad space on a 24” X 36,”  full color, poster-map.  I met with him and we agreed that we could work together to make this project happen. 
    I immediately started visiting the wineries attempting to sign them up for a space on the poster-map.  I ran into many skeptics who wanted to see similar products that we had already completed.  Since this was going to be the first one, a pioneer, in this form of marketing and advertising, there were no examples to show.  It was running about 50-50 that a winery would sign up but since there were many more wineries than advertising spots, I could probably fill the poster spots. The majority of those who declined the opportunity did indicate they would be interested in participating in the future, if what we produced this time out was a quality product.
    Then the bottom dropped out!  The man who conceived this project announced he was going through divorce and had to cease participation.  I had sign-ups for about two-thirds of the advertising spots and was just too deep in to stop the effort.  I needed the commissions I had earned!  I told Tom that I could not afford to let the project fold and was going to go ahead and complete it without him if I had to.  Now, we did not collect any money from the clients at the time they signed up.  Rather, we would collect once we had the proofs for the finished product.  He did not object.  Interestingly, I never heard from Tom again.  I did go ahead and complete the project without him.

ABOUT THE DISPLAYED LABELS
    When I first started collecting the label, I did not know that much about the wineries of Napa Valley except they were supposed to have number of them that ranked among the best in the world.  I was a scotch drinker, not wine!. 
     I only occasionally had wine and it was generally an ordinary wine.  I remember what I drank when I was in Navy at the Officers Club and I thought I was being pretty sophisticated.  The Officers Club offered, as special three different labe wines back in the late 1960’s.  They were Lancers (do you remember the terra cotta bottle?), Italian Swiss Colony (ISC)), Mateaus, and the highlight, Blue Nun. I remember my Mom using the Lancers and ISC bottles for her multi-colored candle burning bottles.   In the 1980’s, all these wineries I was contacting just smiled when I mentioned these wines I had been drinking.  

Renegade Fred
     I collected permission to use the Napa Ridge label, a second label produced by Beringer. Then came Rutherford Vintners being produced by the Skoda’s who would shortly thereafter sell the label and move to the Carneros area of Sonoma.  Napa Creek was my next label.  It was a wine being made by a bar friend of mine, Jack Schultz, in a former meat packing building in St. Helena.  Jack was a former owner/executive in the Gibson fruit winery business along the Sacramento  River in _______.  Then I added Domaine Napa (AKA Domaine de Napa).  Quail Ridge would follow. Added to these wine labels was that of Charles Shaw. 
       What did all of these labels have in common?  It was a man named Fred Franzia, one of the sons of the original Franzia Brothers wines which had been purchased by Coca Cola.  You can possibly associate to my surprise that I had actually, and coincidentally, collected all the Napa Valley wine labels that Fred Franzia had purchased and they were all displayed on my Series “A” poster-map.
     Years later, Fred Franzia would shock the wine world when he filled the above original Napa Valley wine label, “Charles Shaw,” with what everybody thought was ordinary wine instead of Napa Valley wine and placed in the market place in a partnership with “Trader Joe’s” food and wine shops.  They sold it for $1.99 per bottle in California and $2.99 in every other state. A journalist in the Los Angles area nicknamed the wine “Two-Buck Chuck,” a  name that caught on and helped propel the wine to great sales success.  People who tasted this wine could not believe it was so good at such an outrageously low price. Although not generally known outside of the circle of friends and business associates of Fred, was the fact that the wine was from the very large Napa Valley large surplus that Fred was able to get his hands on at a very attractive price.  The wine was not from Central Valley product as so many had guessed. Trader Joe’s and Franzia each grossed $1 per bottle and both swore that they were making a profit at that price!  Later on Franzia would try to fill other his other ex-Napa Valley wine labels with Central Valley wines which brought about a very large legal battle between Franzia and Napa Valley wineries.  Fred eventually lost. 

Bronco Wine Company These are sons and cousins whose father's started Franzia Brothers winery. Franzia was sold to Coca Cola but now the name is owned by The Wine Group which sells the wine in a plastic pouch surrounded by a cardboard box.

Bronco is #4 on the WBN 2006 “Largest Wineries List.” After Franzia Brothers was sold to Coca Cola, the Franzia Brothers began withdrawing from day to day operations. The sons and cousins decided they still wanted to be in the business so they started their own company and they grew and grew. Fred Franzia is the marketing whiz of the partners. He saw opportunity in Napa Valley particularly when he could buy an existing label and put wine in the bottle, even if it wasn’t from grapes of Napa Valley! Staring in the mid 1980’s, he ended up  buying six Napa Valley labels from large corporate wineries , small bankrupt wine producers and even the wife of a winery who won the rights to the label in a divorce case settlement. Little did anybody realize what this divorcee’s label - Charles Shaw - would do to the American, and in particular, the Napa Valley wine world.

The marketing genius of Fred Franzia burst into the forefront of the American wine consumer. All he did was fill the bottle with inexpensive but good tasting wine negotiate an exclusive outlet for the wines, “Trader Joe’s” and they sold it in California for a mere $1.99 per bottle. That’s not a misprint: $1.99 a bottle! It quickly got the nickname “Two-Buck Chuck,” and a phenomenon was born!!

Franzia also purchased the former Quail Ridge, Domaine Napa and Rutherford Vintners labels. He didn’t immediately produce a wine under these labels but he owned them and plans were underway. Finally, Franzia purchased two other labels: Napa Creek and Napa Ridge. He was selling 100’s of thousands of cases of “Two-Buck Chuck” and all knew that he would be introducing wines under the Napa Creek and Napa Ridge labels, yet not a drop of Napa Valley juice would be in these wines.

Napa wine producers were in an uproar. How could anybody do such a dastardly thing to the premium name of Napa Valley wines? Something had to be done to stop Fred Franzia. The fight was on and Bronco Wine Company put on a great battle but the courts finally said no - if it doesn’t contain Napa Valley grape juice, Bronco could not use the label. It was not a short battle: indeed, it took years of courtroom brawling before the Sate Supreme Court finally confirmed lower court rulings.

But Fred Franzia did not fade away. He came out with a new label under which he offered Napa Valley wine. He called the wine “Napa River.” Now, if you know anything about our lovely little stream, you know that it isn’t the most pristine of waters. In fact there is evidence of significant pollution in this creek called a river. Did Fred intend to send a message to his foes? Hmmmmmm!


The Mondavi Brothers War
     The other highlight of the poster-map was that I had managed to obtain the permission of both Robert Mondavi and his brother, Peter, to include their winery labels on my Series “A” poster-map.  This was accomplished without me knowing anything about the famous, “on the ground , knock down” fight the brothers had at the winery back in the 1960s that resulted in Robert being kicked off the property and out of the family business by his Mother and Peter.  Years later, I was able to get Robert to autograph his Robert Mondavi wine label and while I was interviewing Peter for my book on famous Napa Valley winery persons, I got Peter Mondavi to autograph his Charles Krug wine Label.  That single poster-map containing only their autographs is well sealed and very safely stored away.     

WHAT’S NEXT?

     This poster-map is now over 25 years old since I first released it back in 1987.  It is, in a sense a classic. Of the 85 displayed wineries on Series “A,” about half either no longer are in business and/or have been replaced by at least one new owner with a different label.  This fact is what made me decide to produce a smaller wine label poster-map, (24” X 24”)  that includes the wineries that took over those originally displayed back in 1987 to which I would add some other Napa Valley wineries. This new Series “A-1” poster-map includes ___ labels of wineries that were taken over by new owners.  The poster-map also includes ____labels  replacing those wineries that went out of business without somebody buying them out.

 NOW THE LIST OF WINERIES

Legend

Approximate location on poster:  Bottom  (B) or Top (T),  Left (L) or Right (R ) quadrant.  Example = BL Quadrant

 Not Applicable = NA

Wine Business Monthly (WBM) publication on their Top 30 USA wine producers (in case production)

Winery names in italics are out of business
                                    
Acacia Vineyard  -  Napa, Carneros
1987 Series "A" Map (TL Quadrant)
Founded: 1979                    Web:  www.acaciavineyard.com
Notes of interest:
 In ____, it was purchased by the Chalone Wine Group.   The Chalone wine group was purchased in ______ by the British firm Diageo Chateau  & Estate Wines. Diageo is the result of a merger of the two British firms,  Grand Met and Guinnes.   Each of these entities were giant companies in their own right.   Their other holdings in Napa County include Beaulieu Vineyards, Hewitt Vineyards, Provence Vineyards and Sterling Vineyards.  Another well known winery holding is Rosenblum Cellars. Diageo is among the top 10 on the WBM wine producers list.


Altamura - Napa -
1987 Series "A" Map (TL Quadrant)
Founded:                                          Web: 
Notes of interest:
Altamura moved to a new site in Wooden Vallley

          Original site now occupied by Darioush
                                              2016 Series "A-1" Poster-Map (__ Quadrant)
                                              Founded:                                          Web: 
                                              Notes of interest:

Anderson, S. - Yountville -  See listing under S. Anderson


Arroyo, Vince Winery - Calistoga -  See listing under  “Vincent Arroyo

Artisan Cellars - Out of Business - No replacement
1987 Series "A" Poster-map (TL Quadrant)\

Beaulieu Vineyards (Pre-1900 site) -  Rutherford
1987 Series "A" map  (TL Quadrant)
Founded                                     Web
Notes of interest
       The site was originally built in _____ by ______
       Georges La tour who hire Andre Techiliachire
       Banker Sullivan was married to Countess _____   he negotiated sale of the winery to
              _____    which shocked the wine world/

                                                 Now owned by Diageo   Diageo is the result of the merger between
                                                 Grand Met  and Guinnes in _________.  Each of these entities were
                                                 giant companies in their own  right.   Their other holdings in Napa
                                                County include Hewitt Vineyards, Provence Vineyards and Sterling
                                                 Vineyards. Another well known winery holding is Rosenblum Cellers


Beringer  (Pre-1900 site) -  North St. Helena
1987 Series "A"  Poster-map (BL Quadrant)
Founded                                                 Web
Notes of interest


                                          Now site owned by Fosters of Australia
                                              5. WBM Fosters  AKA Treasury Wine Estates  -- 18 mi (Beringer,
                                              Etude    Wines, Stags' Leap Winery, St. Clement Vine


Bernard Pradel -  Hoffman Ln,  north Napa - Out of   business. 
Now site of Elyse Winery
1987 Series "A"  Poster-map (TR Quadrant)
Notes of interest:
                                         Now site of Elyse Winery
                                         See 1989 Series B” Wine Label Poster-map
                                        Founded: 1987  Web:   www.elysewinery.com\
                                         Notes of interest: ,
                                               Cellar worker and then winemaker at Whitehall Lane for 10 years.        
                                               Then worked at custom crush facilities before starting Elyse wines

                                              Purchased Pradel winery site in 1997.