Fine Vine Wines Closing Their Doors

[ratflinger]

I moved to Mosti on Georges recommendation and have been pleased with their product, but I have not made any WE kits in a long time so I'm not for sure how they compare now.

 

[ratflinger]

Not sure where your located in the USA, but look up “Vintner’s Cellar” there are locations across the states and they will carry all the Mosti products. I don’t know if they will ship but a location may be close by if you like mosti products. They will be Vintners cellar branded but these are all mosti products.

Thanks, I'll look into this.

 

[heatherd]

Thanks for posting that Heather. I can drive there in a little over an hour. Just seems that the prices are a bit high, but I normally make WE kits. Do you like the Mosti kits? Are they worth the extra $'s?

Craig, I find the I like the Mosti kits - that's the Amarone you guys tasted of mine at our meet-up last year, which folks felt had good body. I tend to like their stuff, even more so if I can find it on sale!

 

[grapeman]

I had bought from George for 15 years and had always looked forward to talking with George when I could before being active in this forum , I was active on the Fine Vine Wines forum and eventually became co-administrators of it with Wade Evans. Many members transitioned over here when George made the hard decision to sell that forum to this one. George always took a personal attitude with everything he did with the store, even going to Italy to buy equipment and he traveled to an hour north of me to near Montreal to negotiate deals and make Mosti Mondiale purchases direct from them. There were a few times that George flew overhead on his way there that I would look skyward to the jet flying at 50000 feet and I swear I could see the plane twinkle in the sunlight like it was George's eyes sparkling as he looked down and saw my vineyards.

George and his store will be sorely missed.

 

[joeswine]

With out a dought, missed, I to came over with the transition .
How many are part of that group are still here? Do you think?

 

[Trevor7]

Spoke with "Sophie" at Mosti last Friday. She has been receiving quite a few calls regarding purchasing their products. At present, she only suggested BrewCraft and Musto Grapes as possible retailers but she is aware that George moved a lot of product for them.

 

[ras2018]

I reached out to Mosti as well. I received a reply asking if I was a business or individual. Never heard back after my reply. Was planning on preordering a Meglioli but I’m not going to jump through hoops to do so. Crazy that FVW appears to have controlled nearly all of the online business for them?!

 

[Oneo Teras]

Shocked and sorry to hear this news. I also came over from FVW and have bought wine kits exclusively from George for many years. Mosti product has produced many fine bottles for me.

 

[bstnh1]

As for the "slump" in the wine and beer home brewing business, I suspect it's not a temporary thing. I'm not sure what age groups are on these homebrew forums, but I doubt there's many millennials here. The younger generation with their demands for instant gratification isn't about to take the time to make their own beer or wine. In my neighborhood, most of them do next to nothing. They hire someone to mow the lawn, clean the house, plant shrubs, etc., etc. You never see them in the yard working or washing the car. Based on the number of takeout boxes I see by the curb, I even doubt many of them do much cooking. You certainly can't expect people with that mentality to have the ambition or patience to make their own wine. Well, I guess maybe they would ....... if you could do it by pushing a few buttons on a cell phone!

 

[sour_grapes]

As for the "slump" in the wine and beer home brewing business, I suspect it's not a temporary thing. I'm not sure what age groups are on these homebrew forums, but I doubt there's many millennials here. The younger generation with their demands for instant gratification isn't about to take the time to make their own beer or wine. In my neighborhood, most of them do next to nothing. They hire someone to mow the lawn, clean the house, plant shrubs, etc., etc. You never see them in the yard working or washing the car. Based on the number of takeout boxes I see by the curb, I even doubt many of them do much cooking. You certainly can't expect people with that mentality to have the ambition or patience to make their own wine. Well, I guess maybe they would ....... if you could do it by pushing a few buttons on a cell phone!

OTOH, I certainly was not making wine when I was that age... (Of course, I was doing the other things you cite.)

 

[joeswine]

I think that the pricing for the kits has a lot to do with it.
The Brew store here has a large following in beer making they use to have a wine making class ( use to).
They are moving for the 3rd time,costs are driving the factor, rent, product personal, shipping and the simple fact that it's easier to buy a bottle of wine than to put out the time and the effort to make it.
On the other hand the kit wine industry hasn't been helpful with there mandentory pricing.

 

[Bleedaggie]

As for the "slump" in the wine and beer home brewing business, I suspect it's not a temporary thing. I'm not sure what age groups are on these homebrew forums, but I doubt there's many millennials here. The younger generation with their demands for instant gratification isn't about to take the time to make their own beer or wine. In my neighborhood, most of them do next to nothing. They hire someone to mow the lawn, clean the house, plant shrubs, etc., etc. You never see them in the yard working or washing the car. Based on the number of takeout boxes I see by the curb, I even doubt many of them do much cooking. You certainly can't expect people with that mentality to have the ambition or patience to make their own wine. Well, I guess maybe they would ....... if you could do it by pushing a few buttons on a cell phone!

You need some new neighbors. I’m about a year on the older side of millenials, technically. Many of the millennials I know work more hours than most of us - but at non traditional times and industries.

I’m in North Texas and the home brew culture is strong with millenials. I don’t know about wine so much. But north Texas is more a beer culture than wine culture anyway.

Joe is right about the kit price. It’s almost impossible to get economical high quality grapes here, and the kits put the hobby out of reach for a lot of my friends. They can do country fruit wines, but not anything they’re going to be really proud of in wine circles. And if they’ve got the resources to make those kits, they’d rather spend it on good wine.

 

[kyle5434]

As for the "slump" in the wine and beer home brewing business, I suspect it's not a temporary thing. I'm not sure what age groups are on these homebrew forums, but I doubt there's many millennials here. The younger generation with their demands for instant gratification isn't about to take the time to make their own beer or wine. In my neighborhood, most of them do next to nothing. They hire someone to mow the lawn, clean the house, plant shrubs, etc., etc. You never see them in the yard working or washing the car. Based on the number of takeout boxes I see by the curb, I even doubt many of them do much cooking. You certainly can't expect people with that mentality to have the ambition or patience to make their own wine. Well, I guess maybe they would ....... if you could do it by pushing a few buttons on a cell phone!

I suspect there may be something to that. There's a definite "hipster" element in play for many folks - an over-arching concern with what's considered cool at the moment. Many want nicer, highly rated things (craft beer, bespoke coffee, even - perhaps - highly rated wines), but not if it takes much in the way of time or effort, and only to the degree that it increases their hipster cred. Look at the fall-off of Merlot sales after the release of the movie 'Sideways' for a sense in which appearance and acceptance are major forces in their lives.

I have a late-20's neighbor who lives with his mom. His dad passed away a few years before I moved in to my house (I'm guessing he would have been early 20s at that time), so I don't know the family dynamic then, but he does almost nothing in terms of yard/home care. He mows during the summer, but never on a weekend. No weeding, no shoveling snow, no routine maintenance of the outdoor a/c unit. Aside from mowing, I never see him outside the house except for coming/going to work on weekdays.

As a former youth worker for many, many years, I do know a few millennials who break that mold, but they're definitely in the minority. As a casual observer of economics, and history, I do believe that we're over-due for a significant economic downturn/reset, and I expect that such an event will affect millennials hardest in terms of quality-of-life expectations. But I also think that something like that - which would likely, ultimately, reset prices and foster more of a DIY ethic - could trigger a resurgence in the hobby.

On top of that, I think a general reset toward being satisfied with "good", rather than needing "the best", would help the spiritual health of many.

 

[sour_grapes]

Look at the fall-off of Merlot sales after the release of the movie 'Sideways' for a sense in which appearance and acceptance are major forces in their lives.

The oldest Millenials were not of drinking age when that movie came out. The youngest were still in diapers.

 

[ibglowin]

Be interesting to compare wine kit sales US vs Canada. Canada pays for health care with a high sin tax on alcohol and cigarettes. No sin tax on a box of grape juice with a packet of yeast inside however.....

 

[joeswine]

If you take a look at the wine thread Tweaking Cheap Wine Kits.
On this forum , it has a strong following.
If you look for the same subject on Google it's usually near the top.that shows me that there is a need for affordable kits for the beginner and
For a decent everyday wine.
Even the moderate priced kits with help can make a good finished product, but you have to work at it.

 

[kyle5434]

The oldest Millenials were not of drinking age when that movie came out. The youngest were still in diapers.

It's always tricky to precisely define the generations. Sideways came out in 2004. According to Wikipedia, "Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the generational demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years."

According to multiple studies, the "Sideways Effect" on Merlot sales has lasted multiple years, no doubt due in part to streaming. As an anecdotal example, there are still only a couple of small shelves for Merlot at my area Trader Joe's locations, where there was an entire section in the mid-2000s.

While this specific "Sideways Effect" is probably not limited to Millenials, I've known hundreds of them over the years, and the majority of them are extremely beholden to popular/hipster values, and would rather not spend much time on DIY endeavors. So I stand by my assertion.

 

[sour_grapes]

Have you tried yelling at them to get off your lawn? BTW, if you look at the my post #34, I had provided a link to the Wiki definition of Millenials already, but thanks for citing its text. It buttresses my claim.

I'll just note that every generation values things differently than the previous generations. (Often, this is known by the sobriquet "progress." Surely you believe your values are superior to those of people in the mid-12th century, no?) Doubtless the generations before me thought that my generation's values were deficient. I am not arrogant enough to think that my baby-boomer values are the apotheosis of human development.

 

[Stressbaby]

Seems like each generation thinks the younger generation lack some vital element of character/work ethic.
Boomers aren't immune and in fact in the end may prove worse.

 

[joeswine]

We're off track FW closing it's doors.