Napa vs Oregon Wine Country: Coppola Edition
News that the Coppola family of Napa and Sonoma winery fame purchased the Vista Hills Vineyard in Oregon’s Willamette Valley shouldn’t be a real surprise. While there isn’t an exodus to Oregon among...
View ArticleWomen in Wine—Survey Says, It’s Getting Better
The 2018 Career and Salary Survey commissioned by SevenFifty and carried out by Wine Opinions. is a really good thing. It delivers a lot of interesting background to the wine, beer and spirits...
View ArticleAll the Ways In Which Coffee and Wine Compare
My relationship with coffee is fairly utilitarian and different from my relationship with wine. I use coffee to deliver a stimulant effect in the morning. I think I’m addicted to the caffeine in...
View ArticleCanada and the Future Impact of Cannabis on Wine Sales
The ways in which Canada and Canadians are different from Americans are many. But it’s also true that Canadians and Americans are very similar people. Given that, what to make of this: “According to a...
View ArticleFreedom and Egalitarianism in American Wine
The San Francisco Chronicle’s excellent young wine editor, Esther Mobley, engages in some really interesting speculation this week. In response to Katherine Cole’s excellent survey of how some wine...
View Article2018 Key Wine Trends #2 – Cannabis and Wine
How did the American wine industry evolve in 2018? It’s a “meta question” that directs us to examine those issues that coursed through all elements of the industry and in the long run have the...
View ArticleWine and the Courts: Key 2018 Wine Trend #3
Among the more notable things about this third of three Key Wine Trends For 2018 that I’ve identified is that, unlike the first two, it does not track with broader cultural themes we witnessed this...
View ArticleWine and the Mob — Prepare Yourself
For a number of reasons, the very worst and most destructive elements of America’s now prominent Slash & Burn culture hasn’t, yet, impacted the wine industry or individuals in the wine industry....
View ArticleSaying Goodbye To Napa Valley
I’ve lived in Northern California for 55 years. I’ve lived in the North Coast Wine Country (Sonoma and Napa) for more than two decades. Nearly all of my very best friends are located here in Northern...
View ArticleHow to Fix the Problem with Millennials and Wine
The narrative surrounding Millennials and wine has changed. Where previously the focus was on Millennials’ apparent interest in non-traditional wine (read: Not your Baby Boomers’ noble varietals), now...
View ArticleThe Wine Narrative is Slowly Changing—In a Bad Way
“Narrative” It’s a word that has come to be used more and more over the past decade to describe a given explanation or story concerning one topic or another. Most often you see the term “narrative”...
View ArticleThe Relationship Between Total Wine and Consumers Explained
Why are consumers so rarely consulted when it comes to public policy issues that so directly impact them? This is a question I used to pose in this forum more often than I have recently. However, a...
View ArticleWine, Millennials and the Art of the Proper Rant
I have a dream. I have a dream that one day, Johnny-come-lately wine marketers and wine mavens and social media experts can come together and join in delivering evidence, come together and join in...
View ArticleThe Rise of Willamette Valley’s Sub-Appellations — Statistically Speaking
Since writing about the proposed conjunctive labeling law in the Oregon legislature meant for wines produced in the Willamette Valley, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Willamette Valley. I continue...
View ArticleFirstleaf and the First Rule of Wine Marketing—Tell The Truth
I’ve been tough on the Natural Wine category in the past. I think I may have called its champions “charlatans” and labeled them “frauds”. But I wasn’t talking about the wines. I don’t think they are...
View ArticleAmazon Is Coming For Wine and That’s a Good Thing
The recent disclosure that Amazon.com is seeking to hire an alcohol policy lobbyist has led a number of folks to wonder if, speculate on and predict that, the retail giant is planning a move into...
View ArticleWhat Does the Wine Industry Have to Learn from the Cannabis Industry?
Over at Greenstate.com writer Chris Macias, who has a good deal of experience writing about wine, provides the cannabis industry readers seven important lessons they can learn from the California wine...
View ArticleMeet William Occam—The Millennial Wine Marketing Expert
Before we start imploring wineries and retailers to change the way they do business in order to accommodate a different kind of consumer (Millennials) it might be a good idea to deploy Occam’s razor....
View ArticleToward Better Liquor Control in an Age of Wholesaler Dominance
With the recently announced merger of wine and spirits distributor Young’s Market with Republic National Distributing, we now have three companies that control more than 60% of wine and spirits...
View ArticleDelicious, Easily Accessed, Low-Priced Alcohol—What Consumers (will) Want
What do wine consumers care about? It’s a good question that Wine Intelligence’s CEO Lulie Halstead took a whack at when she gave a presentation at the recent. In the report on Halstead’s presentation,...
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