Hello and happy last weekend of July. Time flies when you’re drinking wine, eh? That’s why I put together my weekly round up of news-worth wine stories, so we can all play a little catch up during our time off. (Hopefully you’re enjoying some time off.)

There are loads of stories surrounding climate change. I can’t list them all here, but scroll through, there’s enough going on all over the world that even the hardest skeptic should (should) become a believer…

A few other headlines that caught my attention: Randall Grahm’s new project with Gallo (if you have thoughts/opinions on this, would love to hear); the loss of one of Amador county’s founding fathers; and on a lighter note—looks like wine may just be a valuable part of the food pyramid.

#MeToo is far from over, but here’s some progress at least: Batali and Bastianich just settled a major lawsuit following several accusations and CMS America speaks about how it’s shifting toward a safer and more inclusive environment for staff and students alike.

Lastly, with a bit of vein self-promotion, check out two articles published this week: California Zinfandel‘s past, present and future, and my interview with president of Vintage Wine Estates, Terry Wheatley.

That is all for now…scroll, read, have fun. Cheers.

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Happy weekend and I hope everyone is enjoying the summer season, staying cool, hydrated, and healthy. Welcome back to your weekly round up of wine-newsy items. Locally, we have to talk about the California wildfire season’s effects on the wine industry (yes, this is an ongoing issue—check AGG and CAWG’s investigation on rejected 2020 fruit), political tensions, and—unfortunately—the continuous spread of COVID throughout the Sonoma community.

On a broad industry level, if you haven’t heard about Russia’s new rules surrounding ‘Champagne,’ take a read and let me know what you think. And—it look like there may be a new, more environmentally friendly, way to achieve Parker Points?

Fun Stuff: Next time you go to a bar, you may just get straws made of….pasta! And (shameless self-promotion), I dig into the notorious ‘wine twins,’ —wines commonly mistaken in blind tasting or tasting exams in my latest article for Wine Enthusiast.

There’s much much much more. So enjoy your coffee, tea, cocktail, wine—whatever time it is while you’re reading this post—scroll through, have fun, learn some stuff. Cheers.

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A bit of personal update to start. You may have noticed the lack of posts outside of your weekly news roundup. I’m on the countdown for another WSET Diploma exam, so, indeed, I am taking a hiatus from any original writing for this site. You can still, of course, read my writing in one of the many outlets I write for and I’ll be sure to include links to those articles in my weekly roundups as well.

On that note and in a moment of shameless self-promotion, I will be moderating a session at this year’s (virtual) Three-Tier Symposium, so be sure to sign up if you’re interested in learning more about how the US is navigating both the wholesale and DTC channels as well as innovative new technology and techniques for boosting wine sales.

And a fair bit of warning: This week I’ve categorized the news—Local, National, Around the World and of course Blogs and Press Releases. The warning comes with the Local News. It’s not very nice. But it is happening and it is affecting the local community and to an extent the wine community as well.

That’s all from me for now. Please don’t hesitate to drop a line. Cheers.

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Hey cool kids, I’ll keep this short. Once again I find myself preparing for another long weekend of WSET Diploma Zoom-ing. Not complaining—enjoying myself, learning a lot and tasting some really interesting wines I probably wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to taste. I hope all of you have something fun and relaxing planned as well as some fun in the glass in hand.

There’s a lot of news this week. So while you’re sipping, take your time and scroll through—even the press releases are pretty interesting this week. (Well, I wouldn’t include them if they weren’t…)

Stay well, stay healthy, and drop me a line anytime…cheers!

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I’ll keep this intro short and sweet. By the time you read this, I’ll be sitting in another WSET course, studying away. This week I’ve pulled a good variety of wine related news from around the world, incorporating everything from the wines of Greece, cork production, New Zealand red wines to watch for, modern day Douro wines and winemaking, the stink bug that’s invaded UK vineyards, and so very much more. Hopefully you have some time to relax, scroll through, and read what suits your fancy. Enjoy!

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