Pink Won't Save California Wine // Are Hybrids the Future of Wine?

No amount of cheap rosé is going to make a dent in California's huge oversupply of wine grapes.

Say the word “hybrids” and often the first thing that comes to mind are cold-hardy grapes. Meant to withstand freezing temperatures, grapes such as Frontenac and Traminette are cultivated in Minnesota, Vermont, Canada, and other regions that aren’t hospitable to many vinifera vines.

Orders for Coralie de Bouard's alcohol-free red wine have been gushing in since the Qatari owners of Paris Saint-Germain football club asked her to come up with a teetotal tipple for them.

Wild North American grapes are now less of a mystery after an international team of researchers led by the University of California, Davis, decoded and catalogued the genetic diversity of nine species of this valuable wine crop.

The National Direct Shipping Bill of Rights has reached a major milestone of support with more than twenty producer businesses and ten producer associations agreeing on the set of principles designed to help educate policymakers and modernize direct shipping regulations.  

Explore what it means to be a bonded winery in the U.S and the complex regulatory framework designated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).

Marama Labs, the startup behind CloudSpec, is developing novel spectroscopy technology for chemical analysis of complex liquids including wine, has closed a seed-plus round of €1.75 million (AU $2.89 million).

The next beverage alcohol fin-tech company should be focusing on the potential billion-dollar craft distribution industry.

Online wine merchant Laithwaites has launched the UK’s first 100% recycled glass wine bottle after pledging to halve its carbon footprint by 2030.

Elemental is part of the alternative packaging movement, packaged in lightweight aluminum bottles and retailing at $17 a 750-ml. across a lineup that will initially include Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Rosé, and Pinot Noir.

Farmers in France, the EU's biggest agricultural producer, say they are not being paid enough and choked by excessive regulation on environmental protection.

Researchers found that the world’s most rapidly declining basins are in farm regions, especially drier areas like the San Joaquin Valley.

Is being sustainable enough? That’s the question proposed by winemaker Richard Leask in a research paper published in 2020. His answer, to paraphrase, was, ‘Not at this stage, mate.’

Gundlach Bundschu Winery received sustainability certification from the Regenerative Organic Alliance for soil health, animal welfare and working conditions.

Promotional body Austrian Wine has announced the appointment of Patrick Eppacher as the new head of its Markets International team.

Bonhams, the international auction house, has appointed Amayès Aouli as its new Global Head of Wine and Spirits, a position he will assume with immediate effect from his base in France.

Washington State Wine Commission (WSWC) has announced that Colangelo & Partners, a fine wine, spirits, and food-focused integrated communications agency, will be its PR agency of record. Colangelo & Partners will develop and execute a comprehensive communications strategy targeted to key media, trade and consumer stakeholders.

DGB has taken over the Avontuur Wine brand, cellar and cellar door as an extension of its significant investment in Helderberg, Stellenbosch.