Afternoon Brief, February 17
Strong Competition in Wine Sales Will Increase: The 2017 Wine Business Monthly rankings are out, and the results highlight what everyone in the wine business already knows: The competition in the world of wine sales is staggering...
Afternoon Brief, February 16
Powerful Friday Storm in Southern California; Warm & Wet Atmospheric River to Affect Oroville Dam Watershed Monday: California is currently experiencing one of its wettest winters on record. Precipitation has been especially remarkable across the Northern Sierra watersheds, where liquid equivalent (rain+melted snow) is presently above 200% of average...
Afternoon Brief, February 15
Californians Holding Breath as More Storms Loom: California water officials are frantically releasing water today from the Oroville Dam, located about 75 miles north of Sacramento, as concerns remain about erosion of the nation's tallest dam...
Afternoon Brief, February 14
California Wine Exports Reach Record $1.62 Billion in 2016: U.S. wine exports, 90% from California, reached $1.62 billion in winery revenues in 2016, a new record. Despite challenges from a strong dollar, winery revenues were up 1% from 2015. Volume was 412.7 million liters or 45.9 million cases…
Afternoon Brief, February 13
Napa, Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon Winegrape Pricing Pushes North Coast to New Record: While North Coast winegrape tonnage last year came in slightly below average, the value of the regions 2016 crop hit a new record of $1.45 billion, getting a big boost from double-digit price increases in cabernet sauvignon grapes from Napa and Sonoma counties, according to figures released Friday...
Afternoon Brief, February 10
Preliminary Winegrape Crush Report Is 4.0 Million Tons: The California Department of Food and Agricultures Preliminary Grape Crush Report for 2016 has been released. It is a critical barometer for the wine and grape industry, containing tons crushed and prices of wine grapes sold during the 2016 harvest...
Afternoon Brief, February 9
'Red Blotch Like Phylloxera for California': Following a tasting in London on Tuesday this week, Bruce Cakebread discussed some of the issues facing wineries in California, in particular drought conditions and their effect on wine style, before mentioning Red Blotch as the biggest problem for growers in the region at the moment...
Afternoon Brief, February 8
Traveling? Don't Drink the Water, Drink Wine: For many, alcohol and travel go hand-in-hand. Even when you're not in wine country, you're likely celebrating your respite from responsibility with a tipple or two...
Afternoon Brief, February 7
eBay Partners with WineDirect to Support Thousands of Small and Medium Sized Wineries and Grow the Wine Marketplace for Consumers: Today, eBay announced a partnership with WineDirect bringing wine from around the world to its eBay Wine marketplace destination. The new partnership with WineDirect, the industry leader in direct-to-consumer services for wineries, provides consumers direct access to inventory for these wineries, including wines not normally available online...
Afternoon Brief, February 6
Beer Is the Drink of Choice Among Americans, with Wine Moving Up in the Ranks: Beer had edged out wine as US adults (21 years and older) drink of choice, according to a survey by The Harris Poll that included responses from 2,148 people in late January 2017...
Afternoon Brief, February 3
Sonoma County Vintners Announces New Organization Appointments: Sonoma County Vintners announced several new organizational appointments during their 2017 Annual Membership meeting on February 1, 2017...
Afternoon Brief, February 2
Free or Discounted Wine Tasting Options Vanishing in Sonoma County: Back in what might be described as the good old days, consumers could waltz into any given tasting room on any given day in Sonoma County and enjoy several samples of locally produced, high quality wine at no cost...
Afternoon Brief, February 1
The 9 Top Trends in Wine Consumption to Watch Right Now: For wine industry sleuths, observing and analyzing wine lifestyle behavior in America was once an easier exercise. Twenty years ago, baby boomers consistently defaulted to aspirational environments, seeking white tablecloth restaurants and classified-growth Bordeaux pours as the height of wine enjoyment...
Afternoon Brief, January 31
Five New and Interesting Products from the Unified Trade Show: Even if you went to Unified and spent two days on its massive trade show floor with seven hundred plus exhibitors spread out over two floors and several halls, you probably didn't have a chance to visit every exhibit, and you may have missed some of these interesting finds...
Afternoon Brief, January 30
Is the Intelligent Vineyard the Future of Winegrape Growing?: Phil Asmundson is by no means a veteran viticulturist, but a half-dozen years ago, after watching his wife and business partner, Kim, augering soil samples, he recalls turning to her and saying, "No offense, but there's got to be a better way"...
