Journal | April 14, 2025
Tariff Uncertainty and Linden Vineyards
Linden’s wines come form our own grapes and our own labor. But we have three significant costs of production that are affected by tariffs. We just don’t know what the final invoices will look like.
Our barrels are custom made to our specifications. This takes time. In April we meet with coopers (barrel makers) to finalize barrel purchases for the fall harvest. They need to be “on the water” by mid-summer. They are all French oak. Over the years we have tried American oak, but their flavor profile and assertiveness did not work with Linden’s wines. This year we really won’t know what the price will be (they were more than $1,000 USD each last year). It will depend on the exchange rate and the tariff rate when they hit the US port. We’ll need to be cautious as to how many barrels we order, but are uncertain at this time.
We love our corks as much as one can love a cork. Corks come from a tree that does not grow in the US. The corks we use are made using a special process that eliminates any problem with cork taint (an off flavor that can spoil the wine). The corks are made in Europe, then shipped to California where they are sorted and branded to our specifications. We will not substitute our corks and will pay the extra cost. Whatever it is.
We have spent the last several years looking for bottles that are more environmentally friendly and are still stylish. The manufacturing of glass is extremely energy intensive. Bottles with less glass (less weight) require less energy to manufacture. Most of these light weight bottles are utilitarian but have no esthetics. We finally found bottles that met our criteria. They are made in Chile. They need to be ordered many months in advance (we already have our order in for our winter 2026 bottling). Bottles are our single largest purchase. We have no idea what we will be paying for them.
Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Hardscrabble Journal: April 14, 2025