Economics of Sticks

U.S. Highway 101 (www.us-101.com) runs north-south through the western portions of California, Oregon and Washington. The highway includes many beautiful sites, especially along the California coast near Santa Barbara. My favorite part of the highway, however, is the portion between Paso Robles and Monterey. If you’ve driven this portion during the last 5 to 10 years, you will have noticed that miles and miles of new vineyards have been planted. If you’ve ever seen a newly planted vineyard, it looks like rows of Sticks standing up in plastic wrappers (to protect against the elements, and hungry predators like deer). As the Sticks grow, they are trained to grow up to a certain height, and then horizontal along connecting wires. It takes 5 to 7 years for vines to yield fruit that is ready for winemaking. And, according to my calendar, many of these vineyards are about ready for harvest.

It doesn’t take an economist to know that as the supply of grapes increases to meet the demand, wine pricing will go down. Fortunately for wine consumers, OPEC has no direct impact on wine production decisions. As more Sticks that get planted, more wine grapes are available to be made into wine. And, with ever improving farming and winemaking methods, quality will undoubtedly also increase. Happy thoughts, indeed.

So, when you see Sticks, you’ll know that better wine pricing is on the way.

Best, Joe Plonk

www.drinkplonk.com