Discussing The Pros/Cons Of Creating A 100% Estate Bottled Wine With The CEO Of Three Sticks

When William “Bill” Price III purchased the 138-acre Gap’s Crown pinot noir and chardonnay vineyard in Sonoma County in 2013, he paid more than $100,000 per acre. The $13 million+ price tag was the highest ever paid for vineyard land in Sonoma County at the time, and land prices have continued to escalate since then.

But this hasn’t fazed Price. Through the years, the former co-founder of private investment company TPG Group turned winery owner, has managed to pull together a portfolio of six of the some of the most illustrious vineyard properties in Sonoma County. And now he has decided to turn his ultra-premium Three Sticks wine brand into a 100% Estate Bottled winery.

In a recent in-person interview with Price, he described some of the reasons for this decision. “Farming control in the vineyard is going to become increasingly important as consumers want more information,” said Price. This includes information on how the land and workers are treated, as well as any non-organic additives that may be used in farming, such as pesticides, herbicides and the like.

Of Price’s six vineyards, three are farmed organically –Alana, One Sky and Williams James; and three are certified sustainable: Durell, Gap’s Crown and Walala. All focus on chardonnay and pinot noir grapes, though there are small sections of other grape varieties planted as well, such as syrah, grenache, and pinot blanc. Frequently sheep can be seen grazing in the vineyards – naturally helping with weed control and fertilization.

The Rarity of 100% Estate Bottled Wine and Its Pros/Cons

The next time you visit a wine shop, check and see how many wine labels state the wine is 100% Estate Bottled. The chances are you will find very few. This is because in the U.S., in order to print the statement, ‘100% Estate Bottled’ on the label, the wine must be verified by the TTB (U.S. Alcohol & Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau), as meeting the following requirements:

“Estate bottled means that 100 percent of the wine came from grapes grown on land owned or controlled by the winery, and both the winery and the vineyard must be located within the boundaries of the labeled viticultural area.”

The majority of U.S. wineries are not allowed to put 100% estate bottled on their labels because they purchase grapes from vineyards owned and controlled by other people, in addition to farming their own vineyards. Some do not even own their own vineyards, and purchase all of their grapes and/or bulk wine.

The advantage of not being 100% estate bottled is that it provides a lot of flexibility for winery owners to make different types of wine to match consumer trends, as well as to supplement their own crop if they do not produce enough in a certain year. This practice also cuts down on vineyard operating costs. Therefore, there are potential revenue upsides and cost-savings.

On the flip side, in order to be 100% estate bottled, a winery generally must have been in existence for a long time or own a large enough vineyard in order to be economically viable. But Three Sticks has now managed to achieve this.

“Part of why we are moving to 100% Estate Bottled is because we can,” quipped Price. The benefit of having created such a prestigious portfolio of six vineyards now provides his company with access to a consistent quantity of high quality grapes. He also sells grapes from the vineyards to other wineries who pay a premium price to be able to list the names of his vineyards on their bottles.

The fact that Three Sticks is able to produce around 10,000 cases of wine per year, averaging around $75 per bottle for a new release and swelling into the hundreds of dollars for older vintages, is a testament to the quality of the chardonnay and pinot noir wines coming from these vineyards.

Furthermore, the fact that the winery makes multiple varietals from different vineyards is also rather rare, according to Price.

“There are other people who own one vineyard and make one wine, for example Screaming Eagle and Dalla Valle,” he stated. “But it is rare to find a winery that produces multiple varietals from multiple vineyards and they are all 100% Estate Bottled. There are only a handful, such as Peter Michael, Helen Turley and a few others.”

A final combined pro/con of being 100% estate bottled is that in some years Mother Nature may not deliver a very bountiful crop, so less wine will be made. This means less revenue for the winery that year, but enhances the scarcity of the wine. This can cause consumers to desire it even more, pushing wine prices higher, and the winery into the coveted luxury wine category. This is the reason so many wines from Burgundy have risen to such high prices.

Why Three Sticks Wines Sell Out Almost Every Year

Three Sticks winery tasting room is located in the town of Sonoma, just off the plaza in an old adobe house built in 1842 by Salvador Vallejo, the brother of Sonoma’s founder, General Mariano Vallejo.

The majority of the wine is sold direct to consumers via allocation or wine club, and it is very difficult to obtain, because it generally sells out every year. The winery hosts several special wine tasting events for club members, and the most recent one was held outside at Durell Vineyard with gourmet food, walks through the vineyard, and a live band to compliment the wine.

“We finally got off the waitlist to purchase wine and are now in the wine club,” said one customer at the event. “If you don’t get in the wine club, you generally can’t get the wine because it sells out almost immediately.”

This is because many of the wine offerings are vineyard designated, and only number around 400 cases per vintage. Now with the new 100% Estate bottled designation coming soon, the wines will enter an even more rarified category.

The name of the Three Sticks winery came from the nickname that Price’s surfing buddies gave him when he was growing up in Hawaii. They jokingly called the three Roman numerals that follow his name as ‘three sticks,’ and nicknamed him ‘Billy Three Sticks.’

Price also has ownership interests in four other wine brands: Kistler, Gary Farrell Winery, Lutum and Head High. He is an active philanthropist and serves as Chairman of the Gladstone Foundation and Common Sense Media, the latter which rates, advocates and educates families and schools on media and technology for kids.