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.”
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