Afternoon Brief

International Experts Discuss a Reimagined Wine Industry at Wine2Wine Business Forum: At the virtual exhibition, professionals from around the globe focused their attention on inclusivity, and how transparency, empathy, and equity can transform the business of wine...

Wine & Spirits Continue Premiumization, but Growth Eases: As the key holiday-selling season began in earnest on Thanksgiving weekend, the off-premise alcoholic beverage market saw continued deceleration, coming off its growth highs of earlier in the year...

After 2020 What's Next for Wine? : It's been a year from hell, but next year might not bring much relief for wineries...

California Liquor Board Bypasses Due Process: A move by California's Alcoholic Beverage Control department ignores a basic legal principle, critics say...

Wine Intelligence's Global Wine Trend Predictions for 2020 - How Did They Do?: Yes, we missed one obvious one – but then so did everyone else. How did our predicted wine consumer trends for 2020 stand up in the face of an extraordinary 12 months?...

Sonoma County Supervisors Eye Changes to Rules Governing Vineyard Development: Changes sought by grape growers to Sonoma County’s ordinance governing vineyard development are set to come before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, with proposed revisions that county leaders say will streamline permitting and encourage more environmentally friendly farming practices...

Tourist Visits for State and Napa Valley May Not See Full Recovery Until 2023 ... or Later: Visitation to California is expected to decline more than 40% this year, according to a study released by the tourism advocacy nonprofit Visit California. The figure is in keeping with several of Napa Valley’s cities, which have reported similar declines...

California Wineries Brace for Big Losses During Holiday Season After Looming Lockdown: Following news of a looming shutdown, winery owners and executives throughout the Bay Area said that while they understood the public health concerns, they were disappointed that they would likely have to close their tasting rooms at some point in December for at least three weeks...

Drizly Study of Independent Alcohol Retailers Points to Bullish Holiday Outlook: Drizly, the nation’s first and largest alcohol e-commerce marketplace, today released its second annual monitor of North America’s independent alcohol store owners and managers, providing an in-depth look at the experience and expectations of beverage alcohol retailers operating in a COVID-19 environment...

Napa Valley Grapegrowers 2020 Growing Season Perspective: Napa Valley sets the gold standard for farming. As an established agricultural preserve for over 50 years, the cherished, 30-mile stretch of land is cared for by dedicated grape growers who tend to their vines with careful consideration and innovation...

California Tourism Economy Cut in Half in 2020 Because of Coronavirus Pandemic: Proving to be an unwelcome visitor to travel economies like the North Bay, COVID-19 has slashed in half tourism spending in California...

Chinese Wine Tariffs Will Have Global Impact: Crippling trade tariffs imposed by China on Australian wine could lead to a worldwide chain reaction...

Supreme Court Opens Another Case of Wine: It looks like the thorny subject of interstate shipping is heading back to the US Supreme Court...

Eliminating Weather Holds and Waste: New Cooler Ships Wine Safe and Sustainably Anytime: From the people that brought Otter Products to the protection of fragile cell phones comes a new concept in wine delivery, Liviri Vino...

Enterprise Level Automation and AI Marketing Tools Made Accessible to Wineries: Debuting at the WIN Expo in December 2019, PreferencePro by VinterActive made a serious splash and quickly signed up several wineries for this breakthrough email marketing software...