Hello my friends. Another two weeks gone. This time because I spent the week of the 10th traveling all around the Bay Area. First out to Livermore (my secret spot for amazing wines!) to cover an event at the beautiful Wente Estate for Tasting Panel. Then jet-set up to Santa Rosa to speak at this year’s Wine Industry Sales Symposium. All while continuing to teach my classes as well as write my stories.
So, of course the news piled up a wee bit. And, sorry NOT sorry that I’ve got bit of a rant about the majority of these headlines: I feel like the wine industry is just trying SO hard. It feels like when an uncool parent/aunt/uncle/older sibling is like trying to wear what the cool kids are wearing or start using phrases that are way outside their lingo. Can we all just relax a wee bit? Nothing is more of a turn-off then when someone is forcing their agenda.
Obviously I’m not against wine—or any alcohol for that matter—but, as I mentioned in my last newsletter, we just need to be ok with the -ish part of drinks culture. Whether that means going off the sauce for any length of time; having areas of lives where abv-based drinks are not welcome; or including our non-drinks-oriented friends and families. Further, we need to be ok with alt-categories. Weed is not the enemy. Seltzers are not the enemies. Juice, soda, coffee, gum—not the enemy. As folks keep pointing out, wine has been a part of human culture for eons. Even if regulations state we have to slap health warnings or nutrition facts on it, I wager that wine won’t be going anywhere. If anything, folks will start to consume more thoughtfully, engage with the category rather than chug it—which will continue to set wine apart from other beverages. I also wager that the brands and businesses that find a way to comply will only find favor in the modern market.
But those are just my two pennies. For whatever two pieces of copper are worth nowadays…
Mini-rant over, but beware that my snide remarks get pretty, um, snide-y alongside these first eight articles.
Silly comments, random thoughts, snide remarks…all my own. ✌️🥂
Is There a Least Bad Alcohol?
TLDR answer: No.
If you’ve heard that red wine is better for you than beer or liquor, or that clear liquor like vodka or gin is less harmful than dark liquor like rum or whiskey, we have bad news.
“Alcohol is alcohol,” said Jürgen Rehm, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Drinking any type of alcohol, in any amount, is bad for health.
Still, experts say, it’s sometimes not reasonable or even practical for people to avoid alcohol entirely. So if you’re going to drink, there are some strategies you can take to reduce your risk, and to avoid some of the other unpleasant effects of drinking, like hangovers. READ MORE…
Alcohol brands under fire for irresponsible social media ads
Global Brands Ltd, the company behind VK, faced a similar fate in April, when a paid Instagram story promoting its 70 cl bottles of VK Blue was ruled in breach of CAP Code rules 18.1 and 18.6. The post read: “Doing Dry January? One won’t hurt, right? Can anyone else think of a similar US-based campaign? 🤔 READ MORE…
Screen time, not health fears, behind drop in alcohol sales, says Asahi CEO
Rather than see the trend as a threat, Asahi is seizing it as an opportunity. Katsuki said the company is now targeting bloggers, gamers and influencers – groups he believes the industry has overlooked – with its high-end alcohol, low- and no-alcohol offerings, and premium soft drinks aimed at at-home consumption.
For the love of GOD is nothing sacred anymore. Just…stop…🙄
Alcohol groups face a sobering cultural shift
People taking better care of their health sounds like good news for humanity. Yes, yes it does… READ MORE…
Spanish study needs 10,000 volunteers to drink wine everyday
If you’re the kind of person who enjoys a glass of wine with dinner and has always hoped it was secretly good for you, well, science might finally be on your side. Or, rather, you can play guinea pig to figure out if it is, indeed, on your side… READ MORE…
Weed In A Can: How Cannabis Drinks Are Changing The Ritual Of Drinking
Weed in a can. Weed in a can. As the cannabis plant completes its noble lifespan. To be lovingly picked by a slow, steady hand. Then to be f’d in a can. [If you don’t get it: Wine in a Can]
On a shelf between craft beer and kombucha, something else is showing up in more fridges, bar tabs and DoorDash carts: cannabis. Not flower, not gummies: drinks. Fizzy, fruit-forward, sometimes microdosed, sometimes not. Once confined to dispensaries and health stores, THC beverages are moving into everyday life, and fast.
Some brands promise a cleaner, hangover-free buzz. Others position themselves as functional, plant-based upgrades to wine or cocktails. But whatever the pitch, one thing is clear: cannabis drinks are no longer a novelty. They’re scaling, diversifying and, in some states, outselling more traditional cannabis products like edibles. READ MORE…
Thomas Keller asked me to leave the French Laundry. It turned into my most extraordinary night as a critic
Thomas Keller is fidgeting on the bench next to mine in the empty courtyard of the French Laundry. There’s a slight quaver in the chef’s voice, and he tells me he is nervous. This is not something he is accustomed to doing, he says — asking a critic to leave.
He’s sure I’m a nice person, he tells me, but he doesn’t know my intentions, and he doesn’t want me in his restaurant.
ew… READ MORE…
Lawsuit Accuses Billionaire Hansjörg Wyss of Sexual Harassment
An 89-year-old Swiss billionaire who owns California wineries repeatedly sexually harassed a 30-year-old former employee, according to a lawsuit.
Madison Busby claims that Hansjorg Wyss, owner of Halter Ranch winery in Paso Robles, repeatedly propositioned her, exposed himself to her, groped her and told her stories about his sexual exploits, then retaliated against her when she did not return his advances.
ew… READ MORE…
A new type of investor is buying up California wineries. Here’s why it’s controversial
A form of investment once rare among California wineries is quietly reshaping the industry.
Private equity firms — notorious for buying up private companies, often with the goal of selling them quickly — have lately accelerated their investments in California wineries, targeting famous Napa Valley estates. The Duckhorn Portfolio and Far Niente Wine Estates have had private equity ownership for several years. Newly backed wineries include Spring Mountain Vineyard and Silver Oak Cellars.
“There’s private equity in I’m going to guess around 10 quite substantial wineries,” said Jeff O’Neill, a wine and liquor company CEO who has previously taken private equity funding. It flows through “wineries selling everything from 200,000 cases to 10 million cases,” he said. READ MORE…
Healdsburg Winery Medlock Ames Goes Up for Sale
A $44 million property in the Healdsburg countryside hit the real-estate market yesterday: The Medlock Ames winery and estate at 13414 Chalk Hill Rd. and tasting room at 3487 Alexander Valley Rd. I’ve reached out to the winery for more information about what this means, and why it’s happening; all I know for now is that the 20-year-old Medlock Ames brand and properties are listed for sale on sites like Redfin, Mayacama Luxury Real Estate, Coldwell Banker, etc. Sad face. READ MORE…
Delicato lays off 15 as winemaking ended at Sonoma County facility
A Napa-based wine group has laid off 15 workers at one of the Sonoma County wineries it picked up in its acquisition of Francis Ford Coppola Winery nearly four years ago.
Those job cuts came Thursday at the former Virginia Dare winery, renamed Francis Ford Coppola Winery Too, at 22281 Chianti Road in Geyserville, according to a Delicato Family Wines’ regulatory filing. Nine of the affected employees had cellar roles, and all were offered a severance package and job placement. READ MORE…
Adding to Wide Body of Science, Study Finds Pesticide Residues Threaten Health of Soil Microbiome
“This study investigated the correlation between pesticide residue risks and soil ecological security and human health, revealed the response characteristics of soil microbial communities under pesticide stress, and identified microbes strongly related to pesticide ecological risks.” Pesticides, as the authors emphasize, “inevitably pollute agricultural soil, affect the ecological environment, and pose a threat to human health.” (See studies here, here, and here.) With this in mind, they assess 50 selected pesticides in 145 soil samples from agricultural land in Zhejiang Province, China and calculate the associated risks to ecosystems and public health.
I guess in case there was any lingering doubt…READ MORE…
Gallo Winery practices threaten Fresno drinking water, regulators say
Central Valley water regulators want the world’s largest winery to stop using its wastewater on local crops — a decades-old waste management practice — because it’s threatening Fresno’s drinking water supply. The Central Valley Water Regional Quality Control Board issued a tentative Cease and Desist Order to E. & J. Gallo Winery in March for allegedly violating 2015 waste discharge requirements. The stipulated order says the winery at Olive and Clovis avenues is “threatening to adversely impact groundwater beneath the Facility.” Specifically, Gallo’s practice of applying some of its untreated wastewater from the grape crush and press process directly to 400 acres of local cropland has resulted in concentrations of nitrate and other contaminants above allowable levels. The city of Fresno is directly impacted by the winery’s wastewater practices because it relies on groundwater downgradient of the winery for its municipal drinking water.
And again I say…I guess in case there was any lingering doubt…READ MORE…
Missing cat ‘survived on beer for three weeks’ in Dover
Don’t even bother to read the article. I didn’t. This is literally worth clicking for the title alongside the lead image alone. Trust. READ (or not) MORE…
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