Sparkling wine is a bright spot in today’s challenging wine market. It ranks third among wine categories in sales, behind Cabernet and Chardonnay, and is the fastest-growing varietal.[*] The lower alcohol and light, fizzy taste appeals to the healthy mindset of today’s consumers, and the lower price point appeals to their stretched budgets. Sparkling wine is also a natural entry point for younger generations to engage with wine, as it delivers the fruity flavor and familiar effervescence they favor.  Mark Garaventa, Chief Commercial Officer and General Manager of Healdsburg, California-based custom production and crush facility, Rack & Riddle, provides insight. “When I started here in 2009, drinking sparkling wine was a celebratory event, unlike the Europeans who drank it daily. Now that trend is developing here and driving the growth.”  Rack & Riddle has grown from its 2007 founding by Rebecca Faust and Bruce Lundquist to become America’

As a winery, you might think Amazon Prime Day is only relevant to tech gadgets and household items. But with a bit of creativity, you can harness the excitement and consumer frenzy surrounding Prime Day to boost your Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) wine sales. Here are some expert tips on how to use this opportunity to drive traffic to your website, increase sales, and enhance customer engagement. 1. Create Your Own “Wine Prime Day” 🍷 Establish a special day or series of days around Amazon Prime Day (July 16-17) where your winery offers exclusive deals and promotions. This can help you capitalize on the general shopping buzz without directly competing with Amazon. Promote this event through email marketing, social media, and your website well in advance to build anticipation. Tip: Use a popup on your website to remind users to join the mailing list to be the first to know about your special offers. 2. Offer Free Shipping 🚚 Free shipping is a powerful incentive for online sho

CAVA’s Regulatory Council Reports Record Sales in 2023 Driven by Growth in Domestic Market

From January to September 2023, total Cava sales were up 2.35%, with a notable increase of 7.65% in the domestic market.  Vilafranca del Penedès, December 15th, 2023—Cava sales figures from […]

Afternoon Brief, December 4th

Washington Winery Wants Answers as to Who Drained Thousands of Gallons of Wine Estimated at over $600K: Investigators have not made any arrests and have no suspect information...

While associated with fun and frivolity, sparkling wine is a complex wine of many moving parts that requires serious skill to make. We catch up with some of the leading lights in the fizz industry, from Champagne, Spain and England, to find out the secrets of their craft and the challenges surrounding creating a consistent sparkling wine style in an ever-changing climate. Synonymous with celebration, sparkling wines are easy to enjoy but challenging to create. Crafting quality fizz requires a skilled hand, well-trained nose, razor-sharp intuition and nerves of steel come harvest time, when deciding on the perfect moment to pick feels like a game of Russian roulette. Cellar masters are the wizards of the wine world, able to create a consistent style of wine each year from hundreds of elements amid increasingly erratic weather conditions. They have to be time travellers too, projecting themselves into the future when tasting aggressively acidic base wines, working out how they will harmo

D.O. Cava Implements New Strategic Plan and Continues to Amplify Quality Guarantee in Year Two of Its “360 Degrees of Cava” U.S. Brand Campaign

The Spanish Denomination of Origin Cava commences a successful 2022 programming, once again in partnership with local agency O’Donnell Lane. SONOMA, CA, May 4, 2022—Beginning May 2022, the Consejo Regulador de […]

Afternoon Brief, March 21st

Can Major Wine Markets in China Survive Its Worst COVID Resurgence?: China’s intense lockdown and curbs have shown immediate effects on the country’s lucrative wine market, especially in three of the affluent cities in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Dongguan that are engines for the country’s wine consumption, as the country holds on tight to its ‘zero-Covid policy’...

Cava Discovery Week Returns for Its Second Edition in New York City

From October 9-17, D.O. Cava will partner with NY-based restaurants, wine bars, and retailers to spotlight Cava sparkling wines New York, NY, October 5, 2021—Cava Discovery Week in the USA will launch on Saturday, October 9, kicking off a week-long series of celebrations for wine lovers to sample an array of top-quality Cavas at some […]

D.O. Cava Launches the First Certified Online Cava Training School 

The Cava Academy will be a meeting point for international training professionals to dive deeper into  the history and personalities behind a glass of Cava  Jun 18th – Sonoma, Calif.—Open to wine professionals all over the world, the Cava Academy aims to make its  training available to everyone through comprehensive lessons led by renowned names […]