Napa Valley: Wine industry leaders urge more teamwork and innovation

(NVR) - The future of the Napa Valley wine industry revolves around collaboration, producing even better-quality wines, preserving agricultural land and enhancing the value of the Napa Valley brand.

So reported a panel of wine industry insiders at Thursday’s Impact Napa conference hosted by the North Bay Business Journal at the Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa in Napa.

The four panelists, led by moderator Richard Mendelson of Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty, each spoke at length about the challenges and opportunities facing the industry.

“The Napa Valley is the finest wine-growing region” in the country, said Bill Harlan of Harlan Estate. But that title, he added, must be preserved and nurtured. “We need to produce better and better wines and farm our land better in every block in this county. As we do that, every bottle of wine we produce enhances the value of the Napa Valley,” he said.

“Things have never been brighter for Napa Valley,” said Bruce Phillips of Phillips Family Farming LLC/Vine Hill Ranch in his opening comments. “Never before have we seen a situation where vineyard owners have been so well capitalized and access to credit so available.”

The challenge the wine industry faces is not new, Phillips said. “It’s been the challenge of this industry for 50 years — to maintain focus on our success. It’s critical that we maintain focus on the objective to establish Napa Valley as the pre-eminent wine-growing region in the world,” he said.

To do so, “We need to maintain an environment where growers can stay in business for a long time,” said appraiser Tony Correia of Correia-Xavier Inc. “To maintain family ownership of wineries in the valley will be one of the greatest challenges in the future.”