Paying Tons for Grapes
Andy Beckstoffer, who owns 100 acres of Napa vines, including a good-sized chunk of the legendary To Kalon Vineyard, thinks grape growers should charge wineries based on the price of the wine the grapes go into: 100 times the bottle price per ton of grapes.
Are we in a business or are we just growing little plants for our enjoyment?
Beckstoffer, whose grapes go into some of the best and most expensive wines in the world, would collect an enormous amount per acre of To Kalon grapes, if grape prices were tied to the bottle price of the wines produced. Beckstoffer owns 89 acres of To Kalon.
Napa cabernet grapes sell generally for about $4,500 a ton, or between $9,000 and $20,000 an acre, depending on yield. In general, lower yields produce better grapes, so there’s tension between the growers — who profit from bigger yields — and the wineries — which pay by the ton, not the acre, and want higher quality grapes.
Beckstoffer’s idea would align the interests of the growers and winemakers — though the winemakers would likely end up paying more for premium grapes like Beckstoffers.
So, to answer Andy Beckstoffer’s question, Andy Beckstoffer is definitely not just growing little plants for his own enjoyment.
Paul Hobbs Beckstoffer To Kalon cabernet sauvignon is on the reserve list at the Napa River Grill for $300 a bottle. It’s an awesome wine, especially if you can get someone else to buy it for you.
