Hello, my friends. Not that anyone’s keeping track super hard core, but I did take a week off from my regular check-ins here. I spent the week of April 28 in Mast of Wine Stage 2 course days. Those of you that follow me on social media (mainly Instagram) may have seen me in Stories mode talking through a wee bit of my experience there. On the last reel, I did reveal that I am actually deferring the exam this year and have made the decision to take a step back and take a deep breath from the program—at least in the short term. We’ll see what the future holds. I won’t go into it here, but those of you who know me know how to reach me if you want a chat.
That being said, there’s two week’s worth of wine related news below. Hopefully some of it is still new to you, or maybe it’ll dredge up an old article you opened a tab to read but ended up forgetting about. So, as always, please enjoy the show!
Silly comments, random thoughts, snide remarks…all my own. ✌️🥂
Shameless Self Promotion Stuff
McBride Sisters Exclusive Interview
I had the immense pleasure and honor of interviewing Andréa McBride John and Robin McBride of McBride Sisters Wine Company for this exclusive interview featured on the Wine Industry Network platform. We talk about entrepreneurship, sustainable business management, staying socially active and engaged with consumers—and how to make wine FUN!
This is a much watch for anyone in the industry looking to learn how to stay up-to-date and relevant in the shrinking and oh-so-saturated market. WATCH HERE…
Forces of Nature
The Tasting Panel May issue is indeed a Special Issue—celebrating the hard working women behind some notable wine and spirit brands.
I had the honor and privilege of writing this Month’s Cover Story speaking to powerhouse women inside the Delicato Family Wines portfolio.
Many thanks to Alicia Ysais, Andrea Card, Andrea Card and Juliane Schmitt for taking the time to speak with me. It’s always a pleasure to meet fellow women in wine. I hope I did your story justice and that everyone who reads the piece is as inspired by each of your stories as I was.
You can read the full story here.
Health and Wellness Stuff
Hospitality’s mental health crisis
According to Hospitality Action’s “Taking the Temperature” report, published last summer, 76% of hospitality staff say they have experienced mental health issues in their careers. That is up from 64% in 2020 and just 56% in 2018.
Asked what worried them most for the year ahead, 60% of staff said work–life balance. 44% listed their mental health directly, and 42% were concerned about money. Long hours, unrealistic workloads and financial insecurity remain a daily reality for many.
What is clear is that these are not isolated cases. This is a full-scale cultural and structural problem, and it is not going away on its own. READ MORE…
There needs to be more awareness surrounding mental health in the bev-alch and hospitality spaces. For sure.
Not Drunk, Not Dry: What It Means to Be ‘Soberish’
One day last year, Christine Mosley woke up with the kind of hangover that inspires self-reckoning. That day, she decided she would never drink again.
A few days later, Ms. Mosley, 31, found herself with a cocktail in hand. For her at least, she said, “it’s really not that simple.”
More recently, Ms. Mosley, a business marketing manager in San Francisco, has tried to be not fully sober, but “soberish,” by reducing her alcohol consumption and paying closer attention to its effects on her mood and health.
“I want to emphasize the ‘-ish’ part — not to be dry but to increase the number of dry days,” she said. READ MORE…
Soberish is my jam. Embrace the sober. Embrace the ish. Life is about Duality.
Is Wine Healthy or Unhealthy? An Answer is Finally Coming
In late December 2023, Professor Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez and his team launched UNATI (University of Navarra Alumni Trialist Initiative). It’s a randomised control trial, a type of study known as the gold standard in science.
Prof Martinez-Gonzalez — Professor of Public Health at the University of Navarra and Adjunct Professor of Nutrition at Harvard University — outlined the project in front of an audience of scientists and doctors at the Lifestyle, Diet, Wine & Health Congress, held in Rome in late March 2025.
UNATI, partly funded by the European Research Council, will be the most significant randomised control trial done on alcohol; a previous attempt in the US collapsed amid accusations of impropriety.
The conclusions will be released later this decade. READ MORE…
The answer is probably…ish…
Plan for health labels on alcohol may be delayed, says Tánaiste
Tánaiste Simon Harris has strongly indicated that a plan to introduce health labels on alcoholic drinks is set to be delayed.
Labels that showed the calorie content in drinks along with the grams of alcohol, were set to become a legal requirement for producers in May 2026.
However, Mr Harris told the Dáil that there is now a very new trade environment and the matter will be looked at again given the concerns within the industry.
He said that it was important that Government controlled the things it could control in this environment.
However, Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI) has criticised Mr Harris’ comments in a statement, saying that they “raise questions regarding the real motives behind the move”. READ MORE…
Wonder if/how this will impact the US’s decision (or not) to move forward with similar…
Alaska becomes first state to require warnings about alcohol’s link to colon, breast cancers
Alaska bars and liquor stores will be required to post signs warning of alcohol’s link to cancer, under a bill that became law on Friday.
The new sign mandate, to go into effect on Aug. 1, makes Alaska the first U.S. state to require such health warnings specifically related to colon and breast cancers.
The warnings about the alcohol-cancer relationship will be added to already mandated warnings about the dangers that pregnant women’s consumption can lead to birth defects. READ MORE…
Guess I answered my own question with this piece…
Why is Gen Z really drinking less? It’s not what you think
“Gen Z ain’t got no money,” Nesin writes – bluntly capturing what the data shows. Compared to older generations, today’s young adults have lower incomes, less stable employment, and are only just beginning to form independent households. Many are still under the legal drinking age. When you factor all that in, their spending on alcohol starts to look remarkably normal.
In fact, Gen Z spends the same share of their after-tax income on alcohol as millennials did at the same life stage. It’s just that they don’t have much to spend in the first place.
The idea that Gen Z are inherently different starts to unravel further when you look at historical data. Across the past 40 years, younger adults have increasingly delayed their drinking – but by their mid-30s, most catch up to prior general norms. Nesin’s analysis suggests Gen Z will do the same, albeit at slightly lower levels. READ MORE…
OR maybe we just stop worrying about this.
Hot Goss
California wine executives plead guilty to $360,000 bribery scheme
Two California wine executives pleaded guilty to bribing a powerful alcohol distributor and a retailer to promote their products in exchange for approximately $360,000 in gift cards, luxury watches, golf trips and baseball tickets.
Prosecutors in February charged Matthew Adler of Walnut Creek and Bryan Barnes of Hermosa Beach (Los Angeles County) with commercial bribery, saying that Adler had given money and gifts to employees of a wine distributor and that Barnes had given gift cards to an employee of a wine retailer in exchange for favoring their company’s products. READ MORE…
Ew
Chinese owners offload Bordeaux estates as demand slumps
Chinese investment in Bordeaux vineyards has sharply reversed, with many estates now up for sale as demand for French wine in China declines, a recent report from The Times has found.
During the 2010s, Chinese nationals bought 176 vineyards across Bordeaux, drawn by the prestige of French wine and the booming domestic market. Buyers included real estate promoter Mr Wan (not his real name), who purchased two estates in 2011, and Qu Naijie, who acquired 27 properties between 2010 and 2014.
Christophe Chateau, communications director at Bordeaux’s wine marketing board, the CIVB, said the purchases reflected China’s enthusiasm for luxury brands during its economic boom. “When you are considered successful in China, you drive a German car, wear a Swiss watch and drink French wine,” said Chateau, a veteran of 50 trips to the country.
At its peak, China was consuming 80 million bottles of Bordeaux per year, making it the region’s number one export market, according to CIVB data. Demand for ownership quickly followed, with many Chinese investors seeking to cement their status by buying a château.
However, a mix of poor business planning, slowing economic growth, and shifting consumer habits has now led to a reversal in fortunes. Mr Wan, who once dreamed of the “wine lifestyle”, is now trying to sell his 18th-century property – complete with two fountains, a gravel drive, a professional kitchen and a bottling salon – for €1.8 million (£1.5 million), significantly less than he paid. READ MORE…
Uhoh?
It looked like Napa’s most promising wine empire. What happened?
Just seven years after a surprising billionaire investor began buying up a series of major Napa Valley wineries, funding flashy remodels and installing high-profile winemakers, cracks are emerging in his ambitious empire.
Arkansas agriculture tycoon Gaylon Lawrence Jr. shocked the wine world in 2018 when he scooped up Heitz Cellar, one of the region’s most storied wineries. To lead it, and eventually his company, Lawrence Wine Estates, he then installed a prominent yet unlikely CEO, master sommelier Carlton McCoy Jr.
Together, the pair quickly became two of Wine Country’s biggest power players. Money seemed like no object as they bought wineries and vineyards. Though McCoy had no winery experience — he was previously the wine director at the Little Nell restaurant in Colorado — he and Lawrence displayed a keen eye for historic Napa properties that had lost a bit of their former luster. READ MORE…
EW
Napa County lifts expiration on microwinery program, opening door to expand access
Napa County’s tiniest winemakers just got a break — and possibly a bigger future.
County officials voted Tuesday to lift the looming expiration of its “microwinery” program, a two-year pilot that streamlined the approval process for ultra-small wine producers. The move makes the program permanent and clears the way for potential rule changes aimed at easing restrictions that some say have limited its impact.
Created in 2022, the ordinance carved out a category for producers making 5,000 gallons of wine or less each year, with no more than 20 daily visitor trips. Wineries must use mostly on-site or adjacent grapes, and they can’t hold promotional events — all in exchange for a faster, cheaper approval process.
Some small winemakers saw the program as their best shot at operating legally in Napa County. But with just two approvals in two years — and eight more still in the pipeline — advocates like Save the Family Farms have pushed the county to do more.
Four new applications came in just before the program’s May 5 expiration date, a surge officials say was driven by urgency. READ MORE…
YAY!
Product, Placement and Packaging Stuff
Wines by the Glass: How Some Restaurants Do It Right, and Why
The typical restaurant wine-by-the-glass selection is overpriced and predictable. Many people can recite it by memory.
There’s a glass of Champagne at $30, with a cheaper sparkler like Prosecco at $17. Then a pinot grigio, a sauvignon blanc and a chardonnay, for, say, $17 to $25. A rosé if the weather’s warm, and reds, maybe a malbec, a pinot noir and a cabernet sauvignon, all in that same price range, all from nondescript, widely available producers. If the restaurant is cultivating a youthful clientele, add in an orange wine and a chilled red.
With variations depending on local tastes and a restaurant’s cuisine, this is by-the-glass standard issue. It’s a bore, it’s a shame. READ MORE…
BtG is my jam. Long live experimental imbibes.
Winemakers Without Wineries: A Three-Man Show at Wine to Asia
A trio of China’s most intriguing winemakers will headline a Wine to Asia forum and tasting in Shenzhen this Friday titled, “Wine on the Go: Nomadic Winemakers, Local Terroir & The Rise of Chinese Style.”
Wines from two of the speakers–Ian Dai of Xiaopu and Luo Yuchen of FARMentation—entered the New York Market last week. The panel is rounded out by Ma Jie of Petit Mont.
All three have spent extensive time over the past half-dozen years as “winemakers without wineries”–visiting over a half-dozen regions, sourcing grapes, renting equipment, and creating small-batch brands. READ MORE…
I mean, this basically explains the state of the industry in one business model right here. Again, experimentation for the win…
Japan’s Burgeoning Viticulture: Legendary Wine Region Burgundy and Rising Star Yoichi Team Up
“Can you tell if the wine in this unlabeled bottle came from Burgundy, or from Hokkaidō?” This question, posed at a February 8 event in the village of Gevrey Chambertin in the famed wine-growing region of Burgundy, filled the venue with whispers. The event was part of the “France/Japan Wine Cross View” symposium. The conference was kicked off by a ceremony where Christophe Lucand, mayor of Gevrey Chambertin, and Saitō Keisuke, mayor of Yoichi, Hokkaidō, signed a friendship accord between the two towns. READ MORE…
PS I’m going to Japan in like…a month…
Zero alcohol outpacing low abv wines
For years, the wine industry has worked towards developing the technology necessary to produce a low ABV wine in hopes of finding a balance between moderation and quality. Progress has been made, but consumer demand is now shifting towards zero-alcohol options altogether, which are outperforming the low ABV market.
In the UK, the overall no and low alcohol market is expected to have more than doubled in 2024 compared to 2023, and to grow at a rate of 7% CAGR through 2028, according to the IWSR. But for wine, the real change has been the split: while low-alcohol wine sales dropped by 5% in 2024, no-alcohol wine sales rose by 8%, with growth attributed to the zero sparkling category.
According to Kantar, spend on non alcoholic sparkling wine grew 3.5% in the 52 weeks to 20 April this year compared with the same period in 2023/24, while spend on non alcoholic still wine declined by 1.8% over the same period. There’s been a notable shift towards more premium options, too. “No-alcohol wine is dominated by value-oriented legacy brand-lines,” the IWSR noted in January. “Standard and premium brands are growing faster and are the source of greater levels of innovation, but from small bases.” READ MORE…
I mean, honestly, if you’re going to remove the alcohol, just remove all the alcohol…
The Beauty of Ugly When You Break All the Rules
Gallo and Ryan Reynolds have chosen a different path in an industry steeped in tradition and elegance, where labels boast prestigious vineyards and centuries-old heritage.
Their new collaboration, aptly named “Ugly Estates,” stands as a testament to the power of understanding the conventions of a category and doing the opposite of what you should do.
I am a brand strategist who has witnessed countless product launches across various sectors; this partnership is particularly fascinating because it is willing to challenge every unwritten rule in the wine category’s playbook. The strategy is refreshing because it recognizes that most consumers think wine drinking is filled with ridiculous snobbery and elite behavior, so give a quality product with more value (extra 33%) without the pretentiousness. READ MORE…
My initial reaction was…of course it was Gallo *insert eye roll.* On second thought: Of course it was Gallo! How the heck do you think they’ve stayed relevant and successful after ALL these years????
Target’s New Wine Collection Comes in Paper Bottles, and It’s Changing More Than the Packaging
Target is giving wine night a sustainable twist with the launch of Collective Good, a new line of wines packaged in recycled paper bottles — and just in time for Earth Month.
A wine bottle that feels like a milk carton might sound like a hard sell. But the moment you pick up Collective Good’s paper bottle, the logic — and the lightness — clicks.
Rolling out to nearly 1,200 stores nationwide, the four-bottle line includes a California Cabernet Sauvignon, a Red Blend from Spain, a Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, and a Pinot Grigio from Italy. Each bottle is priced at $9.99 and comes packaged in the Frugal Bottle, a paperboard alternative made from 94% recycled material. It’s five times lighter than glass, shelf-stable, and fully recyclable, with wrap-around branding that stands out in the wine aisle. READ MORE…
Hey man…Target’s on top of it too…
Two Buck Chuck maker: ‘Fundamentally rethinking how we approach wine’
The relatively new top executive of Bronco Wine Co., a major California wine producer long known for making Trader Joe’s value-driven Charles Shaw wine (better known as “Two Buck Chuck”), reveals how its recent acquisition of a Sonoma County group of brands fits his strategy to transform the 52-year-old company and the industry to appeal to younger adults.
The February acquisition of Wine Hooligans, which includes a winery in Santa Rosa, represents more than just an expansion of Bronco’s portfolio, according to CEO Dominic “Dom” Engels. READ MORE…
I’m probably still not going to go back to my TJ wine days…but applaud the initiatives.
Weed Stuff
What’s to come next for hemp-derived beverages?
The end of September, typically signals to the start of the holiday season and gatherings of friends and family, but for many Sept. 30 has a greater significance as it marks the end of the 2018 Farm Bill.
According to the USDA website, the bill “authorized the production of hemp and removed hemp and hemp seeds from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) schedule of Controlled Substances,” the website states. “It also directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue regulations and guidance to implement a program to create a consistent regulatory framework around production of hemp throughout the United States. The establishment of hemp as a regulated commodity also paves the way for U.S. hemp farmers to participate in other USDA farm programs.” READ MORE…
Press Releases
These are some press releases I received this week that I actually thought were interesting…enjoy!
18 local women professionals transforming the region in 2025
North Bay Business Journal celebrates extraordinary women who are transforming the region through leadership and community impact.
This year, we’re combining two noted events — Women in Wine Awards and the Influential Women Awards — into one powerful celebration of female excellence across Sonoma, Solano, Marin, Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties. READ MORE…
Quite a few wine pros on the list
Yountville’s Coop opens at the Commons
A new spot in town to casually gather and imbibe opened officially on Saturday, April 12, in the former snack bar space adjacent to the Kaneshiro Field baseball diamond on the Yountville Commons site.
The Coop by Hoopes, developed by Yountville vintner, micro-farmer and mom Lindsay Hoopes in partnership with the town of Yountville, is filled with farm fresh produce, innovative casual cuisine, eggs, wine, coffee and a clear mission to serve the local community.
It is open Tuesday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday through Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with seasonal hours to be determined throughout the year. READ MORE…
YAY!
Naked Wines Moving to Sebastiani Winery in Sonoma Valley
Naked Wines, the direct-to-consumer facing platform that crowd sources winemakers, will be consolidating winemaking operations and moving its offices to the historic Sebastiani Winery in Sonoma Valley – a win-win for Naked Wines and Foley Family Wines & Spirits.
The offices are relocating from Napa to the stone building directly across from the tasting room. Naked is leasing the white room, red room, and the tank farm at the winery.
Naked Wines leased space at Dutcher Crossing in Kenwood for years and made wine at other custom crush facilities in Sonoma Valley. Bin to Bottle previously leased tank space at Sebastiani.
Foley will keep operating the Sebastiani Tasting Room at the site, which it has owned since 2008. READ MORE…
Welcome to the neighborhood!
Introducing BUBL Cocktail Shots: Revolutionizing Classic Cocktails That Pop
BUBL Cocktail Shots, a new line of expertly crafted, unique cocktails, is thrilled to announce its official US launch. These innovative cocktail shots reinvent classic drinks and the ready-to-drink market by transforming the way we experience shots. BUBL Cocktail Shots are popular vodka-based cocktails encased in an edible capsule. They can be enjoyed alone or placed into a cocktail for an interactive experience unlike anything else in the alcohol industry.
A bold innovation born in New Jersey, this edible vodka-filled flavored bubble is the result of a dynamic collaboration between industry veterans Justin Peckerofsky–renowned in hospitality and wine and spirits sales–and Jack Parker, founder of Parker Development, Inc., a leading consultancy in food, beverage, and supplements. Now launching in the Garden State, this revolutionary product is set to expand into new markets soon. READ MORE…
Those of you who know me know that if I’m not drinking wine, I’m sipping on an icy vodka. But I draw the line.
BriscoeBites officially accepts samples as well as conducts on-site and online interviews. Want to have your wine, winery or tasting room featured? Please visit the Sample Policy page where you can contact me directly. Cheers!