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September 8, 2017 CapitalPress.com 13 Wine consumers in flux, California winemaker says By JULIA HOLLISTER For the Capital Press Chuck McKahn, the 28-year-old winemaker at McKahn Family Cellars in Livermore, Calif., says wine consumers have become more sophisticated in their drink- ing habits, but that’s not good news. “The wine-drinking com- munity is at a crossroads right now,” he said. “There is a sig- nificant gap between varietal sales in the wholesale market and in tasting rooms.” He said that people who visit tasting rooms want something new or unique, and people who buy wine at Safe- way want Cabernet and Char- donnay. Online wine sales are throwing a monkey wrench into the market as well. “Young people are chang- ing everything, but middle- aged and older people are still the bulk of the buying pub- lic, so everything is a mess,” McKahn said. McKahn grew up in Ri- pon, Calif., a small farm- ing community just north of Modesto, and was exposed to the wine industry at an early age mainly because his moth- er worked in exports at a large Livermore Valley winery. “I decided to become a winemaker when I was 18,” he said. “I worked a harvest at McManis Family Vine- yards (in San Joaquin Coun- ty) before I moved to attend California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and I was hooked. “I received my degree in enology,” he said. “Studying viticulture was part of my de- gree, but the core of my stud- ies was in winemaking.” He fermented his first batch of wine on his own in 2014. It was also the first vin- tage from the McKahn Fami- ly Cellars, and all three wines Courtesy of Chuck McKahn Chuck McKahn, winemaker at McKahn Family Cellars, praises Syrah as his favorite varietal. “It threads the needle for me (as) a wine with a lot of natural complexity,” he says. turned out to be exceptional. Today the winery’s tasting room hosts visitors for a seat- ed, semi-private tasting expe- rience in a relaxed setting. The number of wines tast- ed is determined by availabil- ity, as the wines are produced in small quantities. “For whites I like to make aromatic, fruit-driven wines with little to no new oak, and no malolactic fermentation,” McKahn said. “For reds, I like robust age-worthy wine and I want them to be drink- ing strong past 10 years in the bottle.” Malolactic fermentation means the tart malic acid in grapes is converted into mel- lower lactic acid. He doesn’t mince words or hesitate when it comes to naming his favorite varietal. “Hands down, it’s Syrah, with Grenache being a close second,” he said. “Syrah threads the needle for me be- ing a tannic variety with a lot of natural complexity. I also love how beleaguered its rep- utation is in the market these days. It’s a ‘black sheep’ wine right now and I think that is awesome considering how many great wines are made from Syrah.” He expands on another area of the California wine industry that he sees as a huge challenge clouding the hori- zon. “Large corporations buy- ing every small winemaking or vineyard operation and burying them in a portfolio,” he said. “The spending spree has been apocalyptic and it is going to homogenize our industry into a melting pot of mediocrity. Large corpo- rations are inevitably con- cerned more with the bottom line than they are with qual- ity.” V17-2/#6
