The Vineyard to Market Workshop Series launches this spring as a three-part program designed to support Lake County growers in navigating today’s market landscape. Each session will focus on a critical piece of the grower-to-buyer relationship, from understanding winery expectations to refining how vineyards are positioned and communicated, to gaining clarity around contracts and negotiations. Workshop 1 | April 29, 2026, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Buyer Perspectives: What Wineries Are Looking for From Growers An inside look at how wineries evaluate vineyard partners, including current market conditions, quality expectations, and key factors influencing purchasing decisions. Speakers:  Ben Byczynski, Director of Vineyard Operations, Draxton Wines Ryan Decker, Owner, DeckerVIT Workshop 2 | May 20, 2026, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM Vineyard Branding & Messaging: Communicating the Value of Your Vineyard A practical session focused on how to clearly position and communicate vineyard value. To

March 13, 2026 (Novato, CA) — Following the release of the Preliminary 2025 California Grape Crush Report, Turrentine Brokerage, the largest California grape and bulk wine brokerage company, has issued a market assessment characterizing the 2025 vintage as one of the most challenging for the wine industry since Prohibition. According to the new state data, the total tons crushed came in at 2.62 million tons, a figure that is above initial projections and well above what was felt by the industry. This statewide volume is 8% below 2024 and 23% below the 5-year average. Total red wine production declined by 9% and white wine production declined by 6%. “The decrease in tons is still very positive news for the industry overall,” said Steve Fredricks, President at Turrentine Brokerage. “The 2025 vintage highlights the industry’s directional shift of declining production and an overall restructure of the industry. 2025 represented continued challenges for grower

Great Champagne tells its story long before the cork is popped. With the Mélodie Frossard label, an abstract idea rooted in anticipation, rhythm and movement was transformed into a tangible expression of craftsmanship. The result is a Champagne label that translates inspiration into material, structure and embellishment through close collaboration between design and production. At the heart of the concept lies the idea of Champagne as a silent melody. Not heard, but seen. Not tasted, but anticipated. The perlage becomes a vertical score, each bubble a note rising patiently to the surface. This poetic starting point shaped every design decision that followed. Translating Inspiration into Design The creative concept was developed by Atelier Design, an Italy-based studio specialising in label design for high-end beverages. For founder Luca Morandini, the label is more than decoration. “A label is the first and most powerful message of a product. It must already com

Learn how great no- and low-alcohol beverages are made — from concept to bottle! Join BevZero’s U.S. Service Team, in partnership with ANBA, for an informative webinar featuring Patrick Morgan and Christian Deakin. October 30, 2025 - 9:00am Pacific / 12:00pm Eastern Gain expert insights into the full journey of No & Low alcohol product development — from concept creation and formulation to production and bottling — and discover how to bring high-quality, consumer-ready beverages to market.  >>Don’t miss out - Register Now:  https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/1RcRBYqESVW4uBdXsvPVlg#/registration

A “generic” label design might sound uninspired at first – but not when it comes from the hands of Caroline Becker, Head of Prepress & Marketing at CCL Label Trittenheim, where the labels were also brought to life. The concept perfectly balances creativity, technical finesse and visual storytelling.  These wine labels bring together romantic symbolism and modern branding through the depiction of an angel with a bow and arrow – a clear nod to Cupid, the classical figure of love and attraction. In this context, the angel becomes a playful metaphor: just as Cupid’s arrow makes hearts fall in love, this label aims to make consumers fall in love – first with the label and then with the product. (Read more about the power of labels in article “Choosing Wine is an Emotional Decision“!) Visually, the angel adds a sense of timeless elegance, while the bow and arrow bring movement and impact, reinforcing the emotio

You’re invited to the Lake County Winegrowers 2025 Grower Conversation Series, an opportunity for buyers, growers, and industry professionals to engage in discussions about the evolving wine market. Each session will feature brief, informal presentations from guest speakers, followed by time for networking with peers in a relaxed setting. Wednesday, June 4, 2025 Time: 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Location: Chacewater Winery, 5625 Gaddy Lane, Kelseyville Speakers: Christian Klier, North Coast Grape Broker, Turrentine Brokerage  Carri Beaver, Customer Relationship Manager, Pacific Gas & Electric Wine and small bites will be provided.  No fee to attend, but please RSVP to events@lakecountywinegrape.org Printable Flyer

NOVATO, CA  -  “The fact that the 2024 California wine grape crop was 2.844 million tons is nothing short of shocking. Although the 2024 crop was generally light, and overall demand was lackluster, the industry has not seen a crop this low since 2004,” according to Audra Cooper, Director of Grape Brokerage of Turrentine Brokerage. With grape acreage being removed (and the process continuing), and growers employing mothballing techniques on some of their less marketable blocks, the question now arises: Do we have enough wine grapes for the future growth of the California wine business? According to Brian Clements, Vice President of Turrentine Brokerage, “The 2023 harvest of 3.685 million tons was a major contributing factor to the industry’s oversupply, despite the approximately 325,000 tons of grapes that were left unpicked due to quality concerns and heavy yields. 2024 brought a historically lighter crop of 2.844 million tons, yet approximately 100,

Hofbräu München and Anton Paar:  Brewing Classic Beer Together Located in Munich, Germany, the “Hofbräu München” brewery brews the beer for the “Hofbräuhaus,” one of the world’s most famous beer halls. With Anton Paar’s help, it produces well over 340,000 hectoliters of beer annually. A trust-based partnership  According to Christian Beetz, brewer and deputy laboratory manager at the brewery, “With a reputation for producing stable, practical, and precise instruments, we knew we could trust Anton Paar.” So Hofbräu München has steadily expanded its measuring points with Anton Paar devices and built them into its QC network. “Since we had so many parameters we needed to measure,” remembers Beetz, head of quality assurance Thomas Brandt bought two of Anton Paar’s Alcolyzer Beer Analyzing Systems to automatically analyze alcohol and other parameters in our laboratory.

This year’s harvest is coming to a close with what appears to be an excellent vintage. However, the wine industry is facing worrisome challenges from a changing marketplace, accentuated by declining consumption, rising production costs and higher interest rates. These factors combine with overabundant past harvests to fuel an oversupply situation exacerbated by bulk grapes being returned to the bulk wine sector as unsold wine.   “I think that the industry is pretty darn risk-averse,” says Marc Cuneo, a wine broker and partner at Turrentine Brokerage. “After going out and trying to sell wine from bulk into the consumer retail space and not getting much positive feedback, we’re less likely to see opportunistic buyers putting together 10,000 cases of Sonoma Cabernet from the spot market.” “There’s a lot of excess inventory in the marketplace today, with far too many grapes than the wineries need right now,” agrees Christian Klier,