Bankruptcy Proves Appeal of California Wine // Fells’ Vinothèque initiative to give sommeliers aged wines to sell now

It might sound counterintuitive, but the collapse of Vintage Wine Estates shows the strength of California's industry.

It might seem a first-world problem but one headache facing premium on-trade wine teams is having entire vintages of fine wines on your list that sell out and are consumed before they get the chance to reach their optimal drinking potential.

The court decision is the latest turn in a yearslong legal fight between Sonoma County and environmental groups who contend the county is not doing enough to study and regulate heavy groundwater pumping and its impact on streams and aquatic wildlife.

Troubled online retailer Naked Wines has announced a further fall in sales, with its full year results showing total sales down 18% year-on-year to £290m (52 weeks to 1 April 2024) against £345.0m in FY23.

James MacPhail takes control again of MacPhail Family Wines, which he sold to Hess Persson 13 years ago.

A vineyard resting trial in South Australia began its second round yesterday, aiming to enable red winegrape growers to save up to $2,000 per hectare in input, water, and management costs.

The expansion and search for new sites further south to deal with rising temperatures and lack of rainfall began with vineyards on the coast.

The 2030 Climate Action Plan includes aggressive goals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but omitted contributions from the oil and gas industry.

Australian wine producers can celebrate what looks like a very successful reopening of their Chinese market. But sales elsewhere are falling - which may be a cause for concern.

MWE’s continued focus on growing its distribution and premium branded wines saw branded sales revenues and volumes increase by 5% and 2.8% in FY24 respectively.

Just as the harvest of vintage 2024 gets under way in California, Amador County’s wine community is being jolted by news that Trinchero Family Estates is closing and putting on the market its Shenandoah Valley winery Terra d’Oro.

An affiliate of Sacramento-based Buzz Oates, which has built hundreds of thousands of square feet of warehouses in Napa and Solano counties over several decades purchased two fully leased American Canyon warehouses.

Vergelegen Wine Estate in the Western Cape is using drones to drop "predatory wasps" on its vineyards, which it hopes will control pests and outbreaks of leafroll virus.

An order published in the Official Journal on August 15 updates the list of authorised wine cultivars by including four new varieties produced by VCR nurseries for a ten-year period, which have already been authorised and planted in the rest of Europe.

“We’re educating lawmakers on the contribution our industry makes to the state and on our values.”

“You never know what you’re going to do in life,” says acclaimed grape grower Dick Boushey.

The potential of white wine production in Washington and the unique terroir shaped by geological events like the Missoula floods.

How parent company Veronafiere invested in the various Vinitaly products and allowed for experimentation.