The winemaker dinner at the Burnt Hill Solstice Festival in Maryland

I’m a news junkie, although, honestly, the actual news is unbearable these days. However, I can still escape to the world of wine news as there is little to terrify me there — other than the climate disasters around the world. The Supreme Court threw some salt on that wound this week.

I start the day with a cup of coffee and a deep dive into my RSS reader, which I’ve curated over the many years I’ve been using RSS feeds to focus on all things wine. Wine growing, wine making, wine selling, you name it.

The big news all over the wine Internet this week was the acquisition of the Joseph Phelps Winery by LVMH. Phelps is one of those pioneer boutique wineries that helped make Napa’s name in the seventies but eventually bloated over the years to a reported production of 750,000 bottles.

Now, while that sounds like a lot of bottles in the wine business, many would still consider that a small winery. Still, that many bottles at that price range are quite a few bottles.

With Covid restrictions lifted, we are back on the road again bringing our Troon Vineyard wines to markets across the country. Once again, I have been hitting the wine shops to introduce them to our wines. When reading the news of the Phelps sale, it occurred to me I could not remember the last time I saw a bottle of Phelps wine on a shelf. It seems Troon and Phelps are running with different crowds.

As a small, about 60,000 bottles, biodynamic winery, our wines do not tend to be found in the big chain stores but in small wine shops, wine bars, and restaurants that follow the natural wine scene. These are buyers looking for wines that combine authenticity, personality, and creativity. I am confident that we express those traits in our wines.

There are two different wine markets. There’s the mass market, where 750,000 bottle wineries are small brands, and the natural wine market, where 60,000 bottle wineries are larger producers. It’s two different worlds, totally different businesses.

While reading all the headlines about the Phelps sale, I realized that this was not news I could use. These transactions have no effect on the wine world I live in. I still will not see Phelps wines in the shops that seek out our wines.

I recently returned from the Burnt Hill Solstice Festival, a celebration of natural wines and regenerative agriculture on the beautiful Burnt Hill Farm in Maryland. The event begins with a dinner on the farm for all the visiting winemakers in attendance. It’s an idyllic evening with great views, food, wine, and camaraderie. Everyone there sharing their wines has a shared vision. A news item like the Phelps sale would not be a topic of discussion. It’s just not something with any meaning for us.

Having spent time in both of these wine business worlds, I feel happy — and lucky — to have been at the Burnt Hill dinner with the rebels. Having seen the dark side, I have no desire to go back. May the force be with us.