Afternoon Brief, June 22
Uncertain Futures for Smaller Wineries Post-COVID: Big wine has been muscling independents out for years in the world's largest wine market – COVID exacerbates the trend...
Afternoon Brief, June 19
Time to Take Tariffs Threat Seriously: The US wine trade – and the media – needs to start learning the facts behind the latest tariff threat...
Afternoon Brief, June 18
Southern Oregon Starts June Ahead of Historically Hot 2015 Vintage: As Northwest wine country officially enters summer, the forecast for the region signals a return to warmer-than-average conditions and growing concern about the extended drought conditions in some corners...
Afternoon Brief, June 17
A Black Winemaking Revolution in the Making: As Black Lives Matter protests drive more business to black winemakers, some wonder if a change is going to come...
Afternoon Brief, June 16
US Wine Market Volumes Will Be Flat in 2020, with Coronavirus-Related Off-Premise Surge Balancing Out 29% On-Premise Volume Decline, According to Wine Intelligence Modelling: Total wine consumption in the US will show static volumes for 2020, with consumers broadly drinking the same amount of wine, but doing more of it at home, according to modelling work based on Wine Intelligence’s Covid-19 consumer insights data collected during March and April 2020...
Afternoon Brief, June 15
Increased Demand for Sustainably Produced Wine: Millennials lead the way in purchasing from the range of sustainably and environmentally produced wine, and nine in 10 are “willing to pay” more for sustainable wine...
Afternoon Brief, June 12
The Curious Case of the Withdrawn Wine: US editor W. Blake Gray has many questions – but few answers – about a bottle pulled from an auction this week...
Afternoon Brief, June 11
Data Shows Economists Are Wrong—Wine Industry Doesn’t Support Trump: Quite recently the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE) made headlines by publishing a dataset highlighting presidential campaign contributions originating from individuals in the wine industry. It created a bit of a stir, particularly the AAWE’s conclusion that “The U.S. Wine Industry overwhelmingly supports President Trump”. Some thought this conclusion misrepresented the data and reality...
Afternoon Brief, June 10
How California Wine Country Vintners, Restaurants Are Using Data to Navigate the Coronavirus Business World: The North Bay economy practically shut down overnight, but restarting hospitality businesses in Wine Country will take some creativity, a lot of cleaning products, and many new tools to adapt to life as Northern California reopens...
Afternoon Brief, June 9
Foley Family Wines to Acquire Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery: Two of America’s leading family-owned and operated wineries jointly announce that Foley Family Wines (FFW) has reached an agreement to acquire Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery...
Afternoon Brief, June 8
Does the Wine Industry Have a Racism Problem?: As protests against police brutality and racism in police culture continued across the United States and around the world last week, sparked by the death of George Floyd, many corporations, brands, celebrities, and sports franchises showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement via statements on social media and by donating money to allied organizations...
Afternoon Brief, June 5
More Drinkers Cut Than Increase Alcohol in Lockdown, Survey Says: People missing out on drinking in restaurants and bars during coronavirus lockdowns are not entirely making up for it by pouring more at home, a survey of nine countries conducted on behalf of beer, wine and spirits companies showed...
Afternoon Brief, June 4
Robots Armed with UV Light Fight Grape Mildew: Robots fitted with ultraviolet light lamps that roam vineyards at night are proving effective at killing powdery mildew, a devastating pathogen for many crops, including grapes...
Afternoon Brief, June 3
Sonoma County Health Officer Set to Fully Resume Indoor Dining at Restaurants, Wineries and Brewpubs: Barring a spike in coronavirus cases or people needing hospital care for the highly contagious infectious disease, Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said Tuesday she plans to reopen a big portion of economic activity by Saturday...
Afternoon Brief, June 2
Pierce’s Disease Resistant Vines Now a Reality After Years of Research: Carrying a heavy economic burden for those areas of the country with infestation of the glassy winged sharpshooter (GWSS), Pierce’s disease is a plant pathogen, transmitted exclusively by sap-feeding insects...
