Afternoon Brief

U.S. Marshals to Sell Thousands of Bottles of Wine from Rudy Kurniawan Case: The U.S. Marshals will auction approximately 4,711 bottles of wine, deemed authentic, that belonged to Rudy Kurniawan, the man convicted of fraud in federal court in 2013 for producing and selling millions of dollars of counterfeit wine...

Massive El Niño Gains Strength, Likely to Drench Key California Drought Zone: One of the most powerful El Niños on record continues gathering strength and is looking increasingly likely to bring heavy rains to key Northern California areas that provide water for the rest of the state, according to a new forecast...

Unauthorized Work at Winery Vexes Planning Commission: Napa County Planning Commissioners again found themselves confronted with a winery asking to have unauthorized work made legal, as well as seeking an exception to the county's road setback rule...

Jackson Family Wines Joins Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable: The Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable welcomes Jackson Family Wines, a leading international, luxury wine company, as its newest member...

Wine Spectator's Full Top 100 List Revealed: Each year, Wine Spectator editors survey the wines reviewed over the previous 12 months and select our Top 100, based on quality, value, availability and excitement...

New Grapevine Virus Detected in California: Grapevine Pinot Gris Virus Discussed at UCD FPS Meeting: A grapevine virus formally recognized in 2012 by Italian researchers as grapevine Pinot Gris virus and associated with disease symptoms in Pinot Gris/Grigio in Italy since 2003, was recently detected in California grapevines in Napa Valley...

Peter Michael’s Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Au Paradis 2012 Named Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year: Wine Spectator, the world's leading authority on wine, today announced Peter Michael Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Au Paradis 2012 as the 2015 Wine of the Year...

What Do American Wine Consumers Want? Fruity, a Little Sweet and Not Expensive: A survey of wine drinkers shows that their preferences are varied, but a few rules still apply...

California's Wine Industry Heading for a Fall? The decline in Bordeaux prices means many Californian wines are now at a premium, but how much longer can that last?

Auctioneers at Christie's 'Tried to Sell Fake Wine After Ignoring Experts' Warnings That Burgundy and Bordeaux's Were Cheap Copies': One of Britain's best known auction houses has been caught up in a wine selling scandal in New York...

Wine Industry Has Yet to Embrace Full Potential of Social Media Marketing: There's little doubt that social media marketing has become a cornerstone of modern-day communications and has revolutionized the way companies across the globe now do business...

Objections May Scuttle Jackson Wine Purchase in McMinnville: Two parties have filed objections to Jackson Family Wines purchase of two mirror-image buildings in a set of three on the campus of the former Evergreen International Aviation...

Diageo Sells More Wine Assets and Agrees Argentinian Spirits Partnership: Diageo has sold off more of its wine assets for an amount described as "not material" after deciding earlier this year that wine was "no longer core"...

Wine Spectator to Unveil Top 100 Wines of 2015: After tasting more than 18,000 wines from vineyards around the globe, the editors at Wine Spectator are set to release their much-anticipated list of the Top 100 Wines of 2015...

US Beverage Industry Expo Announces Conference Schedule and Speakers: US Beverage Expo, the conference that will take on the topic of the new normal in the beverage alcohol industry, has announced the schedule and list of speakers...