The Emotional Impact of Selling Wine

The Steven Kent Winery winemaking team toasting to the last picking bin of the season being de-stemmed and crushed.

Last Friday marked the end of the fruit-receival stage of our 2023 harvest. We got in the last of the fruit from Ghielmetti Vineyard (Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot) and celebrated this stage of the season with a glass of Champagne.

Friday also marked the day that our Northern California distributor held its portfolio tasting for its sales reps and select customers in Pleasanton.

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It is, ultimately, a zero-sum game. You either sell enough of what you make to be able to do it again or you go out of business.

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The tension between making and selling is a real thing. You cannot make wine over and over again without the income that comes from selling it…over and over again. The making of it — as glorious and physically demanding as it is, is nothing compared to creating a market for the thing you pour your soul into. All of the months of crushing and de-stemming, the punch-downs, the blending that goes into the making of our world-class Cabernet Franc means absolutely nothing if it cannot be sold.

It is, ultimately, a zero-sum game. You either sell enough of what you make to be able to do it again or you go out of business. All of the time that I was pouring samples of wine for the reps and the trade, hoping for a glimmer of understanding and for the most important yes! of the supplier-buyer relationship, I knew my team was out on the crush-pad, under the late morning majesty of the Livermore Valley sun, tasting fruit as it went into the de-stemmer (really, the only place I want to be).