Hello my friends. Another busy week. But since my friend (and fellow blogger) Rick actually took the time to send me a thank you note for these weekly round-ups, I figure they are, indeed worth the time and effort.

A few article call outs: Check out these two Black female powerhouses making waves in the Mid-Atlantic wine scene. Closer to home, in case you missed it, Napa and Sonoma experienced thunder and lightening and thankfully some rain, which means we’re not having an epic fire situation per 2020. However, there have been some suspicious spot fires around Healdsburg. Meanwhile, though the Caldor Fire continues to burn, containment continues to increase and vintners start the long recovery process. And now for something completely different: It seems expert analysts not convinced by recent poll concluding a massive wine consumer gender gap—interesting data there.

Over in the blogs, Tablas Creek has some interesting, and concerning, harvest updates regarding a significant drop in yields. A must read: Jancis Robinson’s article on females in the Slovenian wine industry. And, since I’m studying for my WSET Diploma D4 exam at the moment (Sparkling Wines of the World), I thought this post on Champagne from Jamie Goode was quite interesting.

Oh! And I’m not one to push press releases but check this out: Wine Company Pairs with Comic Book Producer. Need more of this in my life.

And, yes, registration is open for WINExpo where I’ll be moderating the viticultural session on regenerative organics.

There’s plenty (plenty) more. So take a scroll, read, enjoy, drink good wine. Cheers.

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Happy weekend, all. Happy Three-Day Weekend, in fact. There’s been so much going on in the news lately, it was almost hard for me to keep up this week. But I’ve done it, and hopefully I can help you catch up on anything you may have missed.

Of course, with selfish self-promotion, I’d like to point to my article speaking to vintners from Napa’s Spring Mountain AVA who are still cleaning up after the 2020 fire events that nearly destroyed the mountain top region. I report this, with respect to those who are currently battling the Caldor Fire and am happy to say, at least thus far, it seems El Dorado and Amador vintners remain optimistic. (Though the resulting smoke from these fires seem to be affecting our Canadian neighbors to the north.) Here’s how to help Caldor fire victims.

For a bit of dual fun-education, check out my Wine Basics feature for Wine Enthusiast answering the question: What does ‘Reductive’ Mean in Wine? And if you didn’t see my Wine Basics feature last week defining ‘mid-palate,’ take a read, and then check out this ‘critique’ of my article from Edible Arts’ Dwight Burrow.

Wine Industry folks: Ticket registration has opened for the second largest wine industry event in the US—WinExpo—and yours truly is moderating a panel discussion on regenerative agriculture. Sign up, join me, let’s learn how to save the earth one vineyard at a time.

What else? Well, it looks like the future of the US wine industry just may be based on *gasp* hybrid grapes. And, opinion time, what do ya’ll think about ‘hot climate’ wine regions? Oh, and if you like shopping at those small, independent wine shops, here’s an inside look at just how hard it is for producers to assert themselves onto those shelves.

I also have to include a few blog call outs:

With the abortion ban in Texas, my gal Amber asks the hard question—how is the wine industry going to respond?

James Suckling posted about the Top 10 wine instagram accounts the same week Wine Market Council released their data answering the question, “Does Social Media Impact Wine Choices.” Interesting juxtaposition.

And no worries, my fellow wine students, Jancis Robinson has no intention of retiring any time soon.

But wait! There’s more!!! If all that’s not enough booze news for you scroll through, there’s so much more that’s been reported this week. Did I miss anything? Let me know. Thanks for popping by. Cheers!

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Happy Weekend. Please enjoy your weekly round-up of booze-news. Cheers.

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Good Saturday morning to you. There’s been loads of wine news this past week and I’ve rounded up a few top headlines. I think one of the biggest surprises was President Joe Biden’s specific mention of the beverage alcohol industry in his Executive Order Promoting Competition. Read a breakdown of that clause and implications for the wine industry.

I also have to call out Sean Sullivan’s piece on dissecting the recent sale of Chateau Ste. Michelle and what that means for the Washington wine industry specifically.

Looking for some educational reading? Scroll down to the blogs and read my latest article for my wine school, Napa Valley Wine Academy, where I discuss the effects of wind on wine. And I absolutely love the latest post on Tim Atkin’s site talking about mousse.

Also—and this is a pretty hilarious juxtaposition—check out this piece talking about vintners who believe that biodynamic viticulture is utter witchraft, then continue on to the post describing why biodynamics can never be vegan (which is actually true).

Last but not least, I’ll leave you with this—be kind to each other.

Cheers.

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