Napa Valley rival looms over Wine Country as shocking figures leave sommeliers on life support // Wine facility with 4.5M gallons went up in flames in Eastern WA

Napa Valley wineries have been getting some stiff competition from the county to the north as of late, with Sonoma County tasting rooms seeing far more visitors keeping sommeliers on the job.

A wine production center and tasting room near Mattawa in Grant County in Eastern Washington caught fire on May 5. The facility had 4.5 million gallons of wine inside.

Jim Barry Wines has announced the appointment of Topsi Wallace as its senior winemaker, making her the first female to hold the position in its 67 years of operation.

Wine Institute announced the promotion of Tyler Rudd to vice president of State Relations, a role he assumed in April 2026. Rudd, who has served as central states counsel for Wine Institute since June 2016, steps into his new position following the appointment of Steve Gross as Wine Institute’s interim resident and CEO. 

At a Healdsburg panel hosted by Mascarin Family Wines, three Sonoma winemakers made the case for Chenin Blanc, Timorasso, Gamay, and other non-traditional grapes shaping California's future.

The growth of flavored wine offers lessons in accessibility, flavor, and meeting evolving consumer demand

What would you do if you wanted to motivate someone or some group into giving up wine drinking? The proper answer to that question is simple: Scare the shit out of them.

This Wednesday, May 6, Tracy Genesen will deliver the keynote for the 16th edition of The Wine & Law Program - A Jean Monnet Chair, at the University of Reims, France.

No matter how good your wines are they will not succeed in such a competitive marketplace as the UK unless you have a top class distributor fully on board to sell them and place them in the right channels of the trade. But just how does a major importer bed in a new producer to its business to ensure it delivers the sales the winery is looking for?

Leading Left Bank estates Châteaux Pontet-Canet and Batailley have effectively kick-started the Bordeaux 2025 en primeur releases campaign, alongside top Right Bank wines from JP Moueix and St-Emilion estate Laroque.

Australia has a relatively low share of the Japanese wine market compared to other markets in Asia – five percent of volume and three percent of value.

The wine market’s extremes are getting more extreme.

Saudi Arabia’s only official liquor shop has reported alcohol shortages, as the conflict in West Asia causes supply chain issues and stalls shipments. 

San Joaquin Valley farmers are removing orchards and fallowing land as California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act curtails water pumping.

The Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) has revealed its UK communications campaign for 2026.

Over the past several months, an intense marine heat wave has developed in the Pacific from Washington to Baja Mexico, with a particularly extreme hot spot between the Bay Area and San Diego. Ocean temperatures have spiked to as much as 7 degrees hotter than average, with many places breaking records for this time of year.

CAWG is accepting nominations for its 2027 Awards of Excellence honoring California winegrape industry leaders.

Australia’s fortified wines once took the world by storm, at a time when global tastes leaned firmly toward sweet, richly styled wines.

The announcement of François-Régis de Fougeroux’s death has sent shockwaves through the Loire wine community. The 52-year-old died in an accident

By Tim Carl