Gallo acquires Columbia/Covey from Ascentia

Looks like the piecemealing of Constellation Wines/Ascentia continues apace.

Press-Dem in Sonoma announced that Gallo acquired both Columbia and Covey Run.

Bout equal reaction of "Gallo's going to screw up another good winery" and "it's a good thing to keep these two from sinking deeper into the mire of discounter close out wines"

Suspect Gallo will make decent, cheap, high volume wines, with maybe a good quality lurker in there for scores and prestige.

One thing for sure: nothing will bring back the Columbia we used to know under David Lake MW. Them days are gone. Sad, but true.

Was talking about these large wine 'companies' on my @bigandfruity podcast.

The wine I had was Turning Leaf Vineyards Cab/Sauv 2010 13% California but reading the back label info 'Bottled in the UK' 7 no mention of Gallo

http://twitpic.com/9qpoek

Too sweet and not pleasant - oak surely not from barrels - 'oak chips maybe?' - bottle mostly poured away.

Also reading from my Sunday Times for 20th May:-

'Wine Trains' are now being used to move vast quantities around the UK (by Georia Graham) with UK demand at 1.8 Billion bottles a year.

Wine is shipped in 'Plastic Bags' fitted into 20 foot Steel Containers - each holding the equivalent to 32,000 bottles!

Wine shippers Hillebrand sends 6 trains a week from Tibury Docks to Essex - each train has 30 containers each holding 24,000 litres!

Cheers, Dave C (daveac)

Looks like the piecemealing of Constellation Wines/Ascentia continues apace.

Press-Dem in Sonoma announced that Gallo acquired both Columbia and Covey Run.

Bout equal reaction of "Gallo's going to screw up another good winery" and "it's a good thing to keep these two from sinking deeper into the mire of discounter close out wines"

Suspect Gallo will make decent, cheap, high volume wines, with maybe a good quality lurker in there for scores and prestige.

One thing for sure: nothing will bring back the Columbia we used to know under David Lake MW. Them days are gone. Sad, but true.

Ahmen, Hoke. I had the good fortune to meet David and taste before he released his first Syrah (WashState's first). I was mightly impressed..
all I could think of was they got something going w/ Syrah up there. Followed 'em from the very start, I did/I did. He also made some very fine
Cabs as well....even a Merlot or two. He was a wonderful man...very quiet/low-key, but very competent. Not like some of
the rock-star winemakers we see up there these days.
I actually followed Columbia from before the very start. One of our early LosAlamos guys (GeorgeCowan) was making frequent trips up there
to Richland/Hanford, met these profs at Univ of Wash who were making ho-made Riesling, was mightly impressed, and so he invested in AssociatedVintners,
which went on to become Columbia and then they hired David.
Tom

Ayup, Tom. David Lake was one of the handful of guys who built the wagon that a whole Kansas colloquialism of people got on to claim celebrity status. David just kept building better wagons.

Syrah. Cabernet Franc. AVA development. Single Vineyards that spoke with specific terroir. The ability to combine good, decent,"grocery store" wine to the masses while at the same time producing several small-batch super-quality wines on a good business model. Full bodied, robust, quintessentially NW wines that were not pablumed out of existence. All those were David Lake's signature. Combined the enthusiasm of a child with the serious attitude of a professor and the approach of an engineer to solving problems. Massively knowledgeable, but quiet and never flaunted it. Plus an all around nice guy that everyone appreciated, many loved.

The early days of Washington wine had itself some characters, and when the books get written there'll be some colorful story-telling for sure. David Lake (and the origins of AV) will feature prominently throughout for his quiet, persistent, unwavering pursuit of the best that Washington wine had to offer.

Covey's story would make an intriguing book as well. At one point they had all the bright promise in the world for success, and then the nature of the business changed from an Andy Hardy kind of free-for-all backyard show to serious bidness, and things sorta sequentially disintegrated into internal squabbles and flailing.

Ayup, Tom. David Lake was one of the handful of guys who built the wagon that a whole Kansas colloquialism of people got on to claim celebrity status. David just kept building better wagons.

Syrah. Cabernet Franc. AVA development. Single Vineyards that spoke with specific terroir. The ability to combine good, decent,"grocery store" wine to the masses while at the same time producing several small-batch super-quality wines on a good business model. Full bodied, robust, quintessentially NW wines that were not pablumed out of existence. All those were David Lake's signature. Combined the enthusiasm of a child with the serious attitude of a professor and the approach of an engineer to solving problems. Massively knowledgeable, but quiet and never flaunted it. Plus an all around nice guy that everyone appreciated, many loved.

The early days of Washington wine had itself some characters, and when the books get written there'll be some colorful story-telling for sure. David Lake (and the origins of AV) will feature prominently throughout for his quiet, persistent, unwavering pursuit of the best that Washington wine had to offer.

Covey's story would make an intriguing book as well. At one point they had all the bright promise in the world for success, and then the nature of the business changed from an Andy Hardy kind of free-for-all backyard show to serious bidness, and things sorta sequentially disintegrated into internal squabbles and flailing.

Hoke,
You did a much better job of characterizing DavidLake than I did. Truly one of a kind.
He was there at HdR (almost from the very start) and he would light up like a pinball machine when I'd appear at his pouring table.
As genuine a man as I've ever met...good enough, even, to be a Kansan..though a funny-talking one!!!
Tom