Internal Review (edition I)

As most of you know the '09 crush has been Cooper's first official crush. Although, we have been working on the procurement procedure for a couple years now, this has been the maiden voyage of buying grapes, barrels, and having a little involvement in making our wine. I can see crazy times in the mirror as well as looking ahead. Taking over the old operation on the corner has been time consuming to say the least. Here is a little summary of where COOPER has come from and hopefully will give you an insight on what is ahead… L’inizio!

Basin Direct has been my farming and seed marketing business for about 10 years now. As of 2008, I decided that with the state of the economy and the strong involvement of corporate America in the seed industry, I would be better off to get out of this industry and pursue as all of the big dogs say... “a niche”. Through Basin Direct, I was able to turn a small seed stock operation of a few acres to a commercial farming operation that at one time harvested over 3,500 acres just a few years ago. Seeing where the industry was heading, I decided to hedge my future and alter the grass seed industry in the Columbia Basin for the future. Basin Direct was a pioneer in the industry as a producer to own bluegrass varieties. This created a better control of the market that Basin Direct was able to sell into. This was a slight form of vertical integration without purchasing a tremendous amount of "bricks and mortar". The purchase of the first blue grass variety now known as Fullmoon yielded larger than normal returns known at that time, furthermore lead to further varietal purchases. Since then many other producers now own or are involved in the ownership of proprietary varieties.

The U.S. economy after October 2008 created a surplus of seed. This would be better stated, the economy "stopped" all demand of bluegrass seed on the east coast. It appeared it was going from a booming farming economy to the most stale grass seed market in history. Producing more in an economy that was completely uncertain and controlled by a handful of large American corporations really did not make financial sense. Now having a couple of year’s worth of inventory in the barn and a stale economy, I started to diversify my operations. I was planning on COOPER being an investment that would work along the side of a substantial farming operating. As the economy continued to remain uncertain, I made an inconceivable decision to shut down farming operations and put all resources into the wine business on Red Mountain to now be known as COOPER. As I stated earlier, there is an abundance of seed in the warehouse. It will take me quite some time to sell off all that inventory that has mounted over the years.

This brings me to today. We have our first vintage in the bottle (500 cases), second in barrel (1,000 cases), and the third just recently crushed (1650). We are not just ankle deep in alligators; we decided to make the plunge. With a great wine maker and strong support from family and friends, this is the direction that I have long sought after. The acquisition for Cooper out on the Red Mountain AVA on Sunset Road is close to completion. We will spend the next few months in remodel and updating the tasting room, adding some color, and rejuvenating the landscape. Many ideas and often not enough time to get it all done, it will surely be a “work in progress” for many years to come.

The next Cooper Report will discuss our vision on where we are going and our wines. The main basis of our business plan is definitely based upon our mission statement we like to call the Cooper Approach; a way for our customers to experience our ideals of hard work, dedication to perfection, and our continuous determination to always create a product or experience that is truly satisfying.



Cheers to L'inizio (the beginning) ~coop

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