Good Saturday morning! I’ve compiled a little list of the latest wine-related news I’ve been reading this past week. Hope this proves interesting, if not useful. Let me know your thoughts…
From the Press
Wine Spectator: Wineries Pull Out All the Stops for COVID-19 Relief
Wine remains an essential pleasure for many during the coronavirus pandemic, and for the most part, wineries and wine shops have been deemed essential businesses. Still, the wine industry, especially smaller producers, has felt the economic strain—but wineries are more than eager to step up and help out victims hit far harder. From independent businesses donating proceeds to multinational producers partnering with major nonprofits and celebrity boosters, the drinks industry is going into overdrive to support the needy, the vulnerable, first responders, and their own out-of-work comrades in the severely crippled restaurant industry. READ MORE…
Wine-Searcher: The World’s Most Wanted Australian Wines
By Don Kavanagh
Has there ever been a wine-producing country so misrepresented by perception as Australia? The country has a fine, long winemaking tradition and is home to some of the finest winegrowing regions on earth, capable of producing eye-catching wines in a dizzying array of styles, and yet there have been those who would seek to dismiss Australia as merely a producer of simple, fruit-forward wines of no great note. READ MORE…
Wine Titles Media: Supporting the agriculture workforce during COVID-19
The Federal Liberal and Nationals Government is making temporary changes to visa arrangements to help farmers access the workforce they need to secure Australia’s food and produce supply during COVID-19. READ MORE…
North Bay Business Journal: Busy time of California wine grape season under social-distance rules
By: Jeff Quackenbush
The annual wake-up of wine grapevines across the California North Coast after winter dormancy is just over a month old, but as crews are preparing to fan out among the rows this spring, they face a viral threat that has nothing to do with agriculture. Meanwhile, just over a year after concerns started building of an oversupply of grapes and wine, there could be early indications that the societal response to the virus is kickstarting demand for wine to a certain degree. READ MORE…
Weekly Webinar: Behind the Wines with Elaine Chukan Brown
While so many things have been put on hold as we stay and home and practice varying degrees of self-isolation, the wine industry in California continues to push ahead – from bud break in the vineyard to bottling Pinot Noir in the winery. We don’t want you to miss a minute of it so we’re bringing the California winemaking community to you through a virtual discussion and tasting with wine writer and educator Elaine Chukan Brown and some of California’s top grape growing and winemaking talent. We invite you to take a break from the headlines, join us for a glass of wine, and learn how these individuals are innovating in the vineyard, in the winery, or with their business during these unprecedented times. MORE INFO AND SIGN UP HERE…
Blogs Worth a Read
I’m working on a new page to the website listing the Blogs I follow with regularity. Here are just a few posts from this past week I think are worth a read.
Tablas Creek Blog: Report from the distanced blending table: 2019 is a vintage of remarkable power and texture
By: Jason Haas
Last week, six of us emerged after two weeks at home to put together the white wines from the 2019 vintage. This was a smaller group than normal, a blending with no Perrin in attendance and the Tablas Creek participants reduced to a core six (Neil, Chelsea, Craig, Austin, Jordy, and me) in the interest of maintaining social distance. Still, it was a relief for all of us to have some social contact and I know it felt great for me to get out of crisis management mode and immerse myself in the familiar intellectual challenge of taking the 37 different white lots we had at the end of the 2019 harvest and turning them into Esprit de Tablas Blanc, Cotes de Tablas Blanc, and a collection of varietal wines. READ MORE…
Nielsen: In-Store Tech May Boost the Brick-And-Mortar Retail Resurgence
An array of wine brands have partnered with the Living Wine Labels mobile app, which turns the labels on the bottles into augmented reality experiences that are unique to each vintage. Partnering with those wines, for example, would certainly upend the in-store promotions game. READ MORE…
Shana Bull: Social Distance Yourself From Social Media: How To Spring Clean Your Social Media Habits
I hope these tips help you so you can take a mental break away from social media, and keep your business running. Because while I may talk a lot about how it is important to not stay silent on social media for your business – I do want to remind everyone that your mental health is more important than making money right now. This COVID-19 pandemic will end, and being honest with your customers about why you are not on social is okay. If you have built relationships with them, they will come back. READ MORE…
Tom Wark: Let’s Give the Post Office a Drink — NOW
The number and diversity of industries that have been hurt, devastated, impacted, etc by the social shutdown that has accompanied the arrival of the COVID-19 virus is hard to factor. They seem innumerable. Now we learn that the U.S. Postal service is, as a result of COVID-19, in jeopardy of folding. READ MORE…
Science and Wine: Virtual reality on wine tasting
This study showed that the environment affected the perceptual and emotional responses of consumers when tasting a wine product. Although liking was marginally affected, the dark-VR environment elicited different emotional reactions compared to those of the traditional booths. The virtual reality technology provides a relatively steady and economical method for sensory evaluation of wines by giving a more realistic consuming environment compared to that of conventional sensory booths. READ MORE…
Wine Curmudgeon: Aussie booze rationing, restaurant closures, wine sales
Booze rationing, as only the Australians can do it, plus looking at restaurant closures and that pandemic-fueled spike in wine sales. READ MORE…
GuildSomm: A Guide to Wine Phenolics
It is well accepted that the quality and the ageability of red wine are driven by its phenolic compounds. A number of studies have demonstrated that consumer preference, cost, and score are tied to the amount of phenolic material a wine possesses. From a winemaking perspective, better tannin and color management is generally considered the most impactful way to improve wine quality and longevity. Several companies, including WineXRay and Enologix, have formed specifically to advise winemakers on optimizing the phenolic profile of their wines. READ MORE…
The Wine Gourd: Is Scandinavia currently the most attractive wine export market?
In 2018, the ProWein Business Report announced that its surveys (of 2,300 industry experts) indicated China as the most attractive market, in terms of future potential as an export destination. Sadly, China has faded somewhat since then, amid a downturn in its overall economy, and trade disputes with the USA. In recent weeks, this position has been exacerbated by the Coronavirus outbreak, which has had effects on the wine industry worldwide. READ MORE…
WSET Global: The best ways to preserve wine after opening
Not that any of you need this. But…just in case. READ MORE…
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