Adventures in the Discount Jungle

Wineries discount their wines all the time--but they rarely disclose the reasons.

Usually, when a wine is deeply discounted, it’s simply because the winery made a lot of it and for one reason or another it has sold slowly. With the next vintage ready to be released, discounts help the prior vintage move out of the stores.

But wines are discounted for other, more arcane reasons too. The 1989 Mazzocco Vineyards Chardonnay from Sonoma County, for instance, is a terrific wine, with a delicate citrus and roasted-nut aroma and a crisp, lean texture that matches well with grilled seafood and lighter chicken dishes. The suggested retail price is $12.50, but in many stores it can be found discounted to below $6.

The reason: Some writers unfairly (and inaccurately) dubbed the 1989 Chardonnays from California’s North Coast as poor.

They did this because of rains that hit the area during the harvest--and rain usually causes problems, such as rot. But in 1989, rain didn’t hit until Sept. 15. By then nearly three-quarters of the Chardonnay grapes in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino had been harvested, most in perfect condition.

Some reporters, hearing about heavy rains in wine country, called wineries to ask about the “disaster.” Ignoring the fact that most of the vintage was excellent, these reporters focused on the potential difficulties. One reporter inaccurately said the losses to growers and wineries could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The “bad news” situation was exacerbated when one vintner joked that 1989 was “the vintage from hell”--and the line made it into headlines. Actually, he was talking about the amount of work necessary to make fine wine that year. Winemakers worked around the clock without much sleep for days sorting grapes.

“It was hell working the vintage, but the wines turned out fine,” said one winemaker later.

Still, the rush to judgment about the “poor” quality of the 1989 Chardonnays stuck. Many merchants around the country bought the argument and simply turned their backs on the vintage. A lot of 1989 Chardonnay remains in wholesale inventory.

“People tasted our 1989 Sonoma County Chardonnay and liked it,” said Mazzocco winemaker Nancy Steel, “but then they told us, ‘We’re not buying any 1989s. It was a lousy vintage.’ Can you believe that?”

Thus a number of excellent 1989 Chardonnays were bypassed--and discounting resulted.

Economics brought about the discounting of the 1987 Lyeth red wine--the suggested retail price is $19, but it can be found for as little as $7.99. A Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, the wine has a fine berry aroma and generous fruit; it’s a lovely wine to drink now or age for a few years in the cellar.

Had the marketing of Lyeth wines continued as projected when this wine was made, it would probably be selling today for $22 or $24 a bottle. It’s one of the best red wines of its type I have tasted. In two recent tastings of super-premium Meritage (Bordeaux-blend) red wines, 1987 Lyeth finished first and second.

But Lyeth, based in Geyserville, was sold by the owner, the late Chip Lyeth, to Vintech and went through Chapter 11 when Vintech collapsed. Security Pacific Bank, which controlled Lyeth (pronounced “leeth”), wasn’t able to sell the entire project and finally decided to conduct what was termed an orderly liquidation of the assets. The brand and inventory were sold to Jean-Claude Boisset, a negociant from Burgundy, who released the 1987 Lyeth red wine at a deeply discounted price.

Another bargain is Lyeth’s 1988 white wine, blended from Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. It too was deeply discounted and was seen in one supermarket for $4.88. It was supposed to sell for $11.

Wine of the Week

1987 Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon “Hillside Select” ($35) --Shafer has quietly become one of the superstars of Cabernet in the Napa Valley. Wines made from Shafer’s hillside vineyard deliver all the characteristic grace and richness of Stag’s Leap Cabernets, which are slightly different from other Napa Cabernets: The wines are generally more generous on release, smell of blackberry rather than cherry, and have a bit less of the herbal nuances often associated with Cabernet.

Winemaker Doug Shafer uses Cabernet Sauvignon grapes picked from only three of 10 tiny vineyard blocks for this wine. The “Hillside Select” wine is aged for 2 1/2 years in a combination of French oak barrels so the wood character is there, but does not dominate, as it does in some other expensive wines. The wine is beautifully structured--lush and full without being heavy. At $35 it may cost a lot of money, but now and later it is almost sure to please.