YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollections Some of the wine you buy today was once unloved and unwanted, a product of a "winery" or "vineyard" with neither land nor building.Yet many of these are good wines sold at reasonable prices. These brands are owned by savvy wine people who know how to buy "bulk" wine of good quality and offer it at a reasonable price.Bulk wine has long been a staple of the lower-priced wine market in the United States, not unlike the negociant system in France, where buyers acquire wine in tanks or barrels, bottle it with their house label and sell it at a lower price than estate-bottled wine.In the last few years, technical improvements in wine making and grape growing have made some of this bulk wine better than ever. In part, this is due to the plethora of brands that have sprung up in California in the last few years--more than 800 at last count.One example of the way in which too many wineries have created better bulk wine: A producer crushes grapes to make the equivalent of 10,000 cases of wine, but knows that when the wine is ready to be sold in two years, he's likely to sell only 8,000 cases.

The extra 2,000 cases, about 5,000 gallons, may be very good--as good as the winery's regular wine. To sell the leftover cases, a winery typically contacts a wine broker, who specializes in such deals.Small amounts of wine may be trucked to the buyer's winery to be blended and aged in barrels. what's the best wine to have with pizzaOr it may simply be bottled as is.best buy wine and spiritsSome wineries do a major portion of their business as custom-crush operations, servicing grape growers who have no winery facilities. what is the best homemade wine recipeThe resulting wine is held at the winery until it is sold through the bulk market.It's often hard to determine exactly where such a wine was made, but the label offers a clue.

If an unfamiliar wine label identifies the wine as having been "vinted and bottled by So-and-So Cellars, Geyserville, Calif.," it was probably made at Vinwood Cellars, one of the most modern custom-crush facilities and home of Gauer Estate wines.If a wine label identifies the location as Windsor, the wine may have come from the large Rodney Strong winery in Sonoma County.Two "wineries" that have taken a slightly different approach to lines of wines based on the bulk market are Stephen Zellerbach and Ivan Tamas. Neither brand owns a winery or vineyard land; both offer good-quality wines at moderate prices. And both do so by having a close working relationship with a winery.Steve Mirassou, one of the partners in the Tamas operation, started as a buyer of bulk wine. But, having grown up in the business (his family has a well-known winery in San Jose), he knew that the way to assure quality was to stay in close contact with the producers of the wine."When I left Mirassou, I knew we could make a living buying bulk wine and bottling it," says Mirassou, "but that didn't satisfy my desire to be in the wine business.

I left Mirassou because I was tired of selling wine that was lesser in quality and larger in quantity than it should have been."Mirassou began crushing grapes in 1987. In 1989 he agreed to work closely with Wente in Livermore, using largely Livermore fruit and the Wente facility for making the wine. With Wente's talented wine maker, Willi Joslin, handling production and Mirassou giving the wines his own personal touch, they have achieved a consistency of style.The 1989 Ivan Tamas Chardonnay ($7.50) has a lovely floral, pear and apple scent and excellent balance. The wine was barrel-fermented, but has just a trace of oak. The 1988 Cabernet ($7.50) is soft and approachable, not a long-term wine, but one with ample fruit and charm.The Tamas line also has a first: a 1989 Trebbiano, made from the Italian grape variety that has long been grown in California as a blending grape. The wine is wonderfully floral with a melon-like quality. At $7.50 it's a lovely wine at a fair price.Zellerbach wines are aged in oak longer than the Tamas wines, and the result is slightly richer.

Zellerbach is owned by Steve Situm and Bill Baccala, who make selected lots of wines at Vinwood.The 1989 Zellerbach Chardonnay ($8.50) has a tropical fruit aroma and is soft and a trace buttery, with good acidity. A 1988 Cabernet from Alexander Valley ($9) has an herbal-cherry aroma and a hint of dill from aging in American oak.All four wines are good values.To the uninitiated, the bulk wine business sounds like a way to make a fast buck. Wine in bulk often sells for $5 or so a gallon, which equates to about $1 a bottle. "I can sell it for $3 and make a lot," thinks the unwary entrepreneur. But such wines (a) must be paid for well before they will be sold; (b) must be bottled and corked, (c) stored in a temperature-controlled warehouse, (d) transported and (e) the tax on it must be paid. On top of that, the wines must be marketed and sold.Moreover, with such powerful players in the game as Gallo, Seagram, Glen Ellen, Sebastiani, Sutter Home, Fetzer and Nestle (Beringer), the profit margins, say the experts, are tiny.

Seizure Led to FloJo's DeathHis 104 scores make his caseRestaurant review: South Beverly GrillBrutal Murder by Teen-Age Girls Adds to Britons' ShockComaneci Confirms Suicide Attempt, Magazine SaysThe private label wine business is picking up momentum as retailers and restaurants look for ways to boost revenue, increase margins and create a unique brand identity On the surface, it almost sounds like an oxymoron – having your own wine label without having a winery. But private label wines are becoming an increasingly popular segment of the U.S. wine market, and for good reason: launching your own private label wine can boost revenue, increase profit margins, and help you create a unique brand identity that sets you apart from the competition. Perhaps the best example of a private label wine business taking off is the Kirkland Signature line of wines at Costco, which is already the #1 wine retailer in the U.S. Through its exclusive partnerships with wineries in the United States, Costco is able to offer unique, premium wines at half the cost anywhere else.

Similarly, Trader Joe’s has sold over 50 million cases of its private label wine since 2002. And a growing number of retailers – including some national wine and liquor chains and supermarkets – are following suit, viewing the private label wine business as a way to boost revenue and grow margins. According to some estimates, the margins on private label wine bottles are 10-15 percent higher than on bottles from national brands like Kendall Jackson and Barefoot. Plus, as wine experts point out, retailers are essentially shortening their supply chain by squeezing out some of the middleman who are making their mark-ups every time they sell a case of wine. You are getting your wine direct from the winery, after all. As a result, it’s no longer out of the ordinary to see private label wines show up on the shelves of supermarkets. Even a few national wine and spirits stores, such as Total Wine, now offer private label wines. According to the current estimates, private label wines now account for approximately 5 percent of all wines sold in the United States, and that figure could be headed higher.

Some projections call for private label wines to eventually account for 20 percent of the entire market. That would make private label wines roughly the equivalent of other private label goods (i.e. private label pasta, private label canned goods) that supermarkets now sell. And in France and Italy, the private label wine market is even more popular, accounting for nearly one-third of all wines sold. In addition to the economic appeal of these private label wines, there’s also the branding aspect that can help to differentiate companies from other restaurants or retailers. For example, the legendary Italian restaurant Carmine’s in New York City has used private label wines as part of its overall branding strategy. It has worked with wineries to create a range of different wines – Pinot Grigio, Chianti, Prosecco, Montepulciano and Trebbiano – that it can offer to customers as examples of small, family-made wines, which can be enjoyed as part of a family-style feast. For families and tourists on a budget, it’s a way to create a welcoming wine menu that is also true to the restaurant’s overall brand.

The important point to keep in mind is that a private label wine doesn’t say “private label” on the bottle. To the casual wine drinker, it looks just like any other wine they might drink. While Costco and Trader Joe’s customers may realize they are drinking private label wines, that’s not necessarily true in the restaurant and hospitality business. In general, private label wines are starting to catch on as customers become more adventurous and daring in their choices. They may not recognize the wine or the label, but are tempted to try it and experiment. And, as we’ve seen already, having an eye-catching label is often just as effective as having a first-class wine in terms of attracting attention. The “snob appeal” of avoiding private label wines, if there ever was any, appears to be fading. After all, the bottle, the cork, and the label are no different. It’s just a matter of convincing a customer to try a $10-15 bottle of wine they may not recognize instead of a bottle of wine that’s 2-3 times more expensive.

If anything, the major trend is towards private, exclusive wines that are grown in limited quantities. So that’s how businesses can choose to position their private label wines. Instead of being used to attract cost-conscious customers, it’s a way to attract affluent, sophisticated customers. That may not be true for Costco, which is focused on selling huge quantities at low prices, but it certain works for the hospitality business, where there is a constant search to differentiate oneself from the competition. As a result, everyone from a national chain of steakhouses to a small boutique hotel chain might be interested in creating a private label wine. Which leads to the obvious question: How do you get started if you want to own your own private label? The first step, say industry insiders, is to figure out the types of wines that your customers enjoy drinking and what the average price of the bottles they are ordering is. From there, you need to make a few projections about the growth projections of your business.

You don’t want to be ordering thousands of cases of wine, and then be stuck with dead inventory. Also, since every label must denote the place of origin of the wine, the wines you select should be a natural fit for the restaurant in terms of region and style of wine. From there, it’s time to reach out to wineries that might potentially be interested in a deal. Some wineries are able to accommodate a wide range of order sizes – everything from 5 cases to 1000 cases – while other wineries prefer only to work on smaller or larger order sizes. Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, the vintner will work with you on every aspect of creating your own wine – down to the creation of the label and even the type of cork. There are also independent design companies specializing in designing wine labels, cases and other promotional material. They will design a label that meets the specifications of the country you want to sell in and the tier you want to sell the wine in. From there, all you have to do is place the order and you’ll soon have your private wine label, all without the time and expense of actually operating your own winery.