Domaine Della 2023 Soberanes Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir Takes Top Prize  November 18, 2025 — Winners have been announced in the 2025 Harvest Challenge Wine Competition. After two spirited days of judging, Domaine Della 2023 Soberanes Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir took the top prize. It was also awarded Best of Show Red Wine and Best of Monterey County AVA. Coming in at 98 points, judges praised the wine as “warm and spicy” with “fig and nutmeg.” Other descriptors included “meaty,” “prosciutto,” and “dried rose petal.”  With entries from across the globe, the Harvest Challenge bases judging on a group of vineyards (or even vines) from the same region, belonging to a specific appellation and sharing the same type of soil, weather conditions and grapes that combine to give personality to the wine.  In other competitions, this terroir is ignored. At the Harvest Challen

Ever wondered what it takes to craft a wine barrel? Here’s your chance to witness a master cooper in action! Join Bogle Family Vineyards for our Burning Barrel event and experience the mesmerizing art of barrel making as a skilled cooper assembles and chars a barrel right before your eyes. Spend the morning with Bogle Family Vineyards VP of Winemaking, Eric Aafedt, and Barrel Consultant, Yuri DeLeon from Cooperages 1912 for an immersive barrel-building adventure. Held at our production winery in Clarksburg, this unique experience offers a behind-the-scenes look at the craftsmanship that shapes our wines. The morning concludes with a light lunch and a glass of wine—an unforgettable way to toast to tradition and innovation. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind event! Purchase tickets here. Friday, April 11th 10:30am – 1pm $70 member | $75 non-member 

Afternoon Brief: Wine Labeling Up in the Air

The federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is currently taking public comments on a proposed rule about nutritional labeling on alcohol. Sadly, information that a wine lover might actually want to know - residual sugar, and any additives - is not under consideration...

The SVB Annual State of the Wine Industry Survey closes this coming Sunday evening, October 20th.  The great news is there has been a strong response rate this year, and we will close with a statistically significant response size above 500 total responses. The AVAs in seven regions will receive their own comps to compare performance against the other regions.  A special thanks to Paso Robles for their record participation this year. Napa will again cross the 100-participant mark, so once again, thank you, Napa!   I'd still love additional responses from wineries in Oregon, Washington, Lodi/Clarksburg, New York, Santa Cruz/Monterey, and Texas. With another seven to ten responses, each of the last four named regions will have sufficient responses to have their own regional comps too. Please promote this post on your favorite social media to get the word out for the last push! Adding your data to this annual industry event will only take about 20 minutes.&nb

The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s preliminary 2023 grape crush figure, published February 9th, totalled 3,668,294 tons, in line with Ciatti’s pre-harvest projections of 3.5-3.7 million tons. The crop was 8% larger than 2022’s 3.39 million tons but the fifth consecutive crop to come in below the 4-million-ton mark. At least part of the shortfall was attributable to uncontracted grapes going unpicked: Many wineries were willing to receive grapes only to the contracted volumes and then held growers to that number.  Chardonnay’s total tonnage was up 24.1% versus 2022 to 651,610 tons, re-taking the crown as the state’s largest variety which it briefly lost in 2022 to Cabernet (itself up, by 14.1% to 646,941 tons). Versus 2022, some 66,000 extra Chardonay tons were harvested in Lodi and Clarksburg combined. Sauvignon Blanc experienced the same percentage growth as Chardonnay, up 24.1% to 162,765 tons, while Pinot Gris tonnage was up 19.1%

(February 9, 2024, Novato, CA) – The California Department of Food & Agriculture’s Preliminary Grape Crush Report for 2023 was released today. The crush of 3.668 million tons stayed in line with the Ciatti Company’s earlier pre-harvest projections of 3.5 - 3.7 million tons  Ciatti’s experienced brokers are available for further details, comments & analysis on the 2023 California Grape Crush Report. Please call 415-458-5150. North Coast The takeaway from the North Coast is that the 2023 crush looked a lot like the rest of the state where wineries were willing to receive grapes only to the contracted volumes and then held growers to that number. Unlike much of the rest of the state, in the North Coast there was a late season spot market for grapes in Napa and Sonoma that cleaned up any extra tonnage. A noteworthy highlight from the North Coast harvest in 2023: Napa County harvested 92,262 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon up from 73,812 tons in 2022. - Chr

Afternoon Brief, October 30th

Rudy Back in the Fake Wine Game: The world's most notorious wine counterfeiter is at it again – this time with his clients' blessings...

Novato, CA – The California Department of Food and Agriculture Preliminary Grape Crush Report, containing tons crushed and prices of wine grapes sold during the 2022 harvest, has been released. The Crush Report provides growers and wineries insight into the inventory position of the California wine business as a whole and influences market dynamics for the current bulk wine market, as well as the upcoming 2023 winegrape market. The 2022 California Grape Crush report confirmed today what the industry had already expected; the 2022 wine grape crop was far from a barn burner. Yields per acre were light for the third year in a row, in many cases lighter than projected, and highly variable due to frost, excessive heat, and the continued effects of drought. Due to lower 2022 yields, the overall supply wineries received was less than projected. However, recent trends illustrating a challenging consumer sales growth environment may balance the 2022 wine supply, leaving some wineries clos