Afternoon Brief, October 17
Hit by Trade War, California Winemakers See Their Carefully Cultivated Market in China Shrivel: Big tariffs and anti-American sentiment have hit hard, soon after US vineyards developed a following among Chinese consumers...
Afternoon Brief, October 16
Why Wine Country Isn’t Attracting Millennials: Napa Valley, capital of wine tourism in California, pinnacle of New World luxury hooch, has a Millennial problem. The kids might be all grown up by the end of this year, the youngest Millennial will be 23, using the Pew Research Center definition of the generation but they aren't drinking wine the way their parents did, and the arena to see the shift up close is the Napa tasting room...
Afternoon Brief, October 15
Jackson Family Wines of Santa Rosa Buys Winery in Mendocino County: Jackson Family Wines of Santa Rosa on Monday said it expanded in Mendocino County by acquiring the winery, vineyard and tasting room of Balo Vineyards in the Anderson Valley. Jackson, the ninth-largest wine company in the United States, did not disclose the price that it paid for the winery, which was founded by the Mullins family in 2003...
Afternoon Brief, October 14
PG&E Wants to Seize Private Vineyard Property for Liquid Natural Gas Plant in Calistoga: PG&E is taking Calistoga vineyard owner Terry Gard to court, to seize a portion of his land for a liquid natural gas plant. Since the beginning of the year, the utility has tried to reach an agreement with Gard, who steadfastly refuses to cede any of the property his family has farmed for generations...
Afternoon Brief, October 11
PG&E CEO Apologizes After Employees Went Wine Tasting Just Before California Blackouts: 'Insensitive, Inappropriate, Tone Deaf': The CEO of PG&E has apologized after it was revealed several of its employees mingled with some of its top customers at a wine tasting event paid for by the company while hundreds of thousands of people in California were facing an unprecedented power outage ...
Afternoon Brief, October 10
Turning the Tables on Karen MacNeil: Karen MacNeil is one of the foremost wine experts in the United States. Karen is the only American to have won every major wine award given in the English language ...
Afternoon Brief, October 9
Sonoma County Wineries Continue the Grape Harvest Using Backup Power: Regional wineries have ramped up emergency plans for PG&E's scheduled power outage Wednesday by securing generators and electricians so they will be able to continue with the annual grape harvest that still has about a month remaining ...
Afternoon Brief: October 8
Personalized Information Makes the Wine Marketing Focus Group a Thing of the Past - An age-old marketing need is to identify a consumer base, its preferences, and the strength of a products message and presentation. In the past, the focus group was a most widely used method, which may or may not have been near perfect, but it sufficed ...
Afternoon Brief, October 7
California Wineries Plan Price Hikes: Young drinkers, cannabis and White Claw were much on the minds of attendees at last week's Wine Industry Financial Symposium in Napa but so were greater profit margins ...
Afternoon Brief, October 4
Eyeing a Possible Recession, California Wineries Cut Back on Production — and Farmers Suffer: Paul Johnson farms 450 acres of wine grapes in Monterey County for his family's Johnson Vineyard Co. Normally, a range of local wineries, under multiyear contracts, buy his Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. But after last year's harvest, Johnson began to worry when no winery clients renewed their contracts...
Afternoon Brief, October 3
Jackson Family Wines CEO: No Big Buyout Planned to Counter Gallo-Constellation Deal: The chief executive of Jackson Family Wines of Santa Rosa said Wednesday the premium wine company doesn't plan to make a big acquisition in response to one of the biggest wine deals in U.S. history, E. & J. Gallo Winery's $1.7 billion proposed purchase of more than 30 low-price wine and spirits brands from Constellation Brands Inc...
Afternoon Brief, October 2
Four Ways to Make a Winery More Profitable: The balance of power has changed in Australian wine, according to a speaker at the recent Wine Industry IMPACT Conference. Australian producers now have an unprecedented opportunity to "claw margin back" and take control of their own financial future...
Afternoon Brief, October 1
State Appeals Court Issues Split Decision on Walt Ranch Vineyard Project in Napa County: The fate of a proposed 209-acre vineyard development in the eastern hills of Napa County remains in court. A state appeals court in San Francisco on Monday ruled that Napa County did not properly evaluate the environmental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions of the proposed Walt Ranch project when it approved the project in 2016...
Afternoon Brief, September 30
Russian River Valley Wines Sweep Top Honors at 2019 Sonoma County Harvest Fair Awards: A pinot noir, a chardonnay and a sparkling brut rosé - all produced from Russian River Valley grapes - won the coveted sweepstakes awards Sunday night at the Sonoma County Harvest Awards Gala...
Afternoon Brief, September 27
Police Dismantle Grape Harvest Human Trafficking Ring: In a joint operation on 17 September, over 80 law enforcers from both Bulgaria and France helped to raid an organised crime group involved in labour exploitation and money laundering. The group recruited workers from Bulgaria for the harvest season in France ...
