Good Saturday morning to you. As you open this, hopefully cozy in your humble abode, I am up bright and early ready to teach my WSET Level 1 class at the NVWA. I love teaching these lower-level wine education courses. They’re super fun and engaging and there’s a kind of thrill being the person who’s introducing a room full of wine newbies to what could be their next passion—personal or professional. I usually get the most interesting and insightful questions in these classes. It challenges me, keeps me on my feet, and can also be quite humbling.
Enjoy this week’s list of newsy items.
Snarky comments are all my own. ✌️🥂
The Path to Industry-Wide Adoption of Regenerative Viticulture
By now, the wine industry can agree: regenerative viticulture is more than a trendy buzzword. This holistic farming approach is gaining momentum as a proven method of increasing the health and vitality of soil, plant, animal, and even human life. But for regenerative farming to truly make an impact on the wine industry at large, it needs to be adopted by both boutique operations and large-scale brands.
Bonterra Organic Estates in Mendocino, California, which bottles nearly two million wines each year, was one of the first companies to embark on regenerative farming at scale. All of the company’s 850 planted acres are Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) through the Regenerative Organic Alliance. These vines are the source for Bonterra Estate Collection wines and the Single Vineyard Collection, bottlings that boast the ROC stamp since the 2021 vintage.
As leaders in this sector, the viticultural team at Bonterra is constantly educating the wine community on the benefits of regenerative practices. “We don’t want to be the only ones doing this,” says Joseph Brinkley, Bonterra’s senior director of regenerative organic farming. But convincing more producers to move towards regenerative viticulture can be a feat; when a grower comes from a conventional farming background, says Brinkley, the notion of a new approach can be daunting. READ MORE…
Yes, the above is a bit of shameless self-promotion. 😋
Katie Jackson Is Making Jackson Family Wines Climate Positive by 2050
Today, as senior vice president of corporate social responsibility for a producer who sells 6 million cases per year across 40 different brands, she’s grown Jackson Family Wines’ social and environmental efforts in a way that has had an impact far beyond her own company. READ MORE…
IDC what other folks think or say, JFW is on top of a great sustainability model, actually implementing best practices based on location, climate, topography etc. 👏👏👏👏👏
‘Organic farming is about so much more than avoiding pesticides’
“Too often, organic and sustainable farming methods and wine quality are talked about separately,” explains Alexana’s Estate director of viticulture, Drew Herman, a founding member of the Organic Winegrowers Network. “What we do in the vineyards has a dramatic impact on the finished wine in the glass, and the goal of this gathering is to show, rather than tell, our friends and peers just how vital these practices are to crafting long-lived, expressive, luxury wines.” READ MORE…
Yeah, it should be.
Cal Fire releases new hazard maps for the Bay Area and wine country
Cal Fire released new fire hazard severity maps for coastal Northern California on Monday as part of a two-month rollout process that ends with Southern California on March 24.
The new maps include Oakland, the site of the 1991 Tunnel fire that killed 25, and Santa Rosa, which is still recovering from the 2017 Tubbs fire that killed 22. It also includes Northern California’s wine country, which has been plagued by devastating fires including the Kincade fire in 2019 and the Ranch fire in 2018.
Fourteen out of the 109 cities mapped in the coastal Northern California region saw a decrease in acreage for the highest-risk fire zones, including Oakland. That compares with one of 35 cities seeing such a decrease for Cal Fire’s inland Northern California map released two weeks ago. READ MORE…
Stay vigilint folks.
Even in wet years, wells are still dry. Why replenishing California’s groundwater is painfully slow
Even after multiple wet winters, and despite a state law that’s supposed to protect and restore the state’s precious groundwater, thousands of wells — mostly in rural, low-income communities in the San Joaquin Valley — have gone dry because of over-pumping by growers.
So why hasn’t the recent bounty of rain and snow replenished the state’s underground supplies? READ MORE…
This was an uber interesting read that helped me understand why I’m always so confused: “Are we in a drought, or aren’t we?” It’s complicated…
Leading NZ producer to move away from fine wine
To give an approximate idea of bottle price at export, London wine merchant Lea & Sandeman currently stocks Felton Road’s 2021, 2022 and 2023 vintages of Bannockburn Pinot Noir for between £45.99 and £57.95 per bottle, while at Lay & Wheeler bottles of its Pinot Noir Block 5 are listed for around £84.
So attendees of Pinot Noir New Zealand 2025 were surprised to hear that Felton Road intends to take a new direction, not in terms of its winemaking style but categorisation. READ MORE…
🤔 And yet…👇
Why China’s pollution could be a boon for NZ Pinot Noir
“In China everyone is looking for Lafite, but Burgundies are growing in popularity and New Zealand Pinot is really benefitting from this,” she said. “Pinot has an amazingly positive image in China.”
However, she added: “You’re lucky to see a blue sky in Beijing [due to the pollution]. So for the Chinese market, New Zealand represents that purity, the idea of connecting to nature.” READ MORE…
Alcohol’s premiumisation trend makes way for ‘shifting lifestyle choices’ in the US
In its ‘SipSource Q4 2024 Industry Report’, published this week, the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) has warned that US consumers are not trading up but trending away from alcohol consumption. Among the findings in the report were figures a slide in spirits sales by value last year of 4.3%, while wine revenue fell by 6.3%.
Labelling 2024 as one of the “most challenging years in collective memory” for beverage alcohol, the report found that spirits depletions decreased by 3.7% and wine dropped by 7.2% in the 12-month period. READ MORE…
Daily dose of data.
Aldi searches for consumers to form ‘winefluencers’ club
The retailer is looking for ten wine connoisseurs to join the club for three months, in which they will receive free bottles from Aldi’s wine range in exchange for authentic social media reviews. During this time, they will not only be able to uncover “hidden gems” from the new collection, the retailer said, but also provide feedback to the retailer that will help shape future wine selections.
Julie Ashfield, managing director of buying at Aldi UK, said the retailer was “embracing the changing world of wine”.
“With the launch of our Winefluencer Club, we’re not just offering great wine, we’re creating a community where passionate wine lovers can share their thoughts on the range. It’s all about making wine something that everyone can enjoy, no matter their level of expertise,” she said. READ MORE…
I can’t explain how confused I am…
Meanwhile in Napa…
Few have heard of this Napa winery. But it’s selling a $25,000 Cabernet
Effrayant (“scary” in French) is still in barrel, but when it’s ready in 2027 — all three cases of it — he plans to charge $25,000 a bottle.
The label, an update on the silver equine etching on his other bottles, features a horse on fire, its mane ablaze in orange. Ask him what makes this wine so distinctly special and he demurs, refusing to divulge trade secrets. With Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanee-Conti around $20,000 on release, Effrayant may indeed catapult Anderson to the superlative status he’s been chasing for 25 years. READ MORE…
But if wine’s not your jam, try some premium coffee.
Why People Are Paying $635 for This Cup of Coffee
On August 7, 2024, The Best of Panamá Auction, which highlights some of the nation’s leading producers and their beans, sold the Elida Geisha Natural Torre coffee lot from the Lamastus Family Estate for a stunning $10,013 per kilogram. “At that price, the cost of the beans to make one cup will be $250 per 20 grams,” said Lamastus. And that’s before factoring in staff, general overhead costs, and commercial real estate rent. Lamastus offered to put me in touch with Berg and co-founder Chee Lu, his wife, to understand the motivation and logistics around roasting and selling high-value beans. READ MORE…
Blogs Worth a Read
Taken from the list of Blogs and other media outlets I follow regularly, here are just a few posts from this past week I think are worth a read. Shoot me a note if you have suggestions of independent media to follow or want your outlet included on that list.
Wine Gourd: Current opinions and trends in the US wine market
Wine lovers are not part of an elite. Not every car driver needs to own a Rolls Royce or a Lamborghini, and not every resident needs to inhabit a roof-top apartment or a cliff-top mansion. Similarly, not every wine-drinker needs to consume an exclusive vintage. These are all status symbols for the rich.
Too much of the wine literature focuses on “the best” (intended for “true wine lovers”), not simply the above-average (The price of exclusivity: how wine lost its everyday appeal). Wine is often made into the star, a thing that people need to revere (“wine speaks to us”), rather than being created simply for pleasure. So, wine is not an elitist pursuit (not status), nor is it an unhealthy one – in both cases provided it is conducted in moderation. READ MORE…
Tablas Creek: Why our glorious February weather is making us nervous
What’s the down side of this glorious weather? Well, too much more warmth and we could be looking at budbreak in early March. One of the principal stimuli that plants are waiting for to initiate budbreak is rising soil temperatures. We’re mitigated from very rapid soil temperature rise because of the recent rain, as wet soils hold cool temperatures longer than dry soils do. But too many warm, sunny days and not enough chilly nights, and the grapevines are going to react.
Whenever it comes, budbreak begins our worries about frosts…READ MORE…
Highway 29: Wine Club Marketing 101—Attracting and Retaining Younger Audiences with Your Website
Younger wine drinkers are reshaping the wine industry, and they’re not joining wine clubs for the same reasons as previous generations. Millennials and Gen Z are driven by experience, personalization, and values over status. If you want to attract and retain these younger audiences, your website has to reflect their expectations. It’s not just about offering wine; it’s about delivering an engaging, authentic experience that makes them feel connected to your brand.
Here’s how to design your website to attract younger wine lovers and turn them into loyal wine clWP Mail SMTP ub members. READ MORE…
Press Releases
These are some press releases I received this week that I actually thought were interesting…enjoy!
IWSR: Shifts in moderation strategies for beverage alcohol
The latest findings from the IWSR’s Bevtrac 2024 Wave 2 report reveal a transformative shift in global beverage consumption habits, with moderation becoming more ingrained in consumer habits over the past 12 months.
Drinkers are now more habitual in their control of alcohol intake, but 2023’s spike in abstaining from alcohol altogether now looks to be a blip. Consumers have returned to beverage alcohol in substantial numbers, including younger LDA+ consumers, however single-category occasions and temporary abstinence are becoming common methods for regulating consumption.
The trend spans all age groups, regions, and demographics, highlighting moderation as a mainstream cultural phenomenon rather than a trend limited to younger LDA+ consumers. READ MORE…
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