The Sonoma County airport is named for him, so is a museum and ice rink. Peanuts creator Charles M. Schultz spent 42 years living and working in Sonoma County, with “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” one of his most famous works. Schultz, during his lifetime, kept an airplane at the airport and was an avid aviator. Snoopy, of course, loved flying too. Schultz was born in 1922 in Minnesota and given the nickname Sparky at a young age. In 1929 the family moved west to Needles, California. The move was said to be prompted by a young cousin’s tuberculosis, which would fare better in a desert climate. Schultz later incorporated Needles into many of his comic strips, particularly those built around Snoopy’s brother Spike, who lived alone in the desert with coyotes and cactus. Their time in the desert was alas short-lived, and Schultz moved back to Minnesota in time for elementary school. This is also where he developed his lifelong passion for ice hockey.

The Sustainable Ag Expo isn’t just about earning CE hours—it’s a gathering place for wine industry professionals to learn, network, and celebrate the future of sustainable farming. From morning burritos to student-led research and vintage tractor showcases, this year’s Expo is packed with unique opportunities to make your experience more meaningful and memorable. Here are six can't-miss events happening alongside the seminars: 1. Monday Kick Off: Farming for the Future 🗓️ Monday, Nov 10 | 5:00–7:00 PM 📍 Center of Effort Winery Sponsored by Inland Desert Nursery Start your week with an evening of connection, SIP Certified wines, and gourmet hors d’oeuvres. Expo headliner Dr. Chris Chen, will lead a forward-looking conversation on vineyard management in a changing climate. 🎟️ Free for ticket holders (while supplies last), requires separate reservation; additional tickets $50.  2. Breakfast Burritos & Coffee = Day 1 Fuel 🗓

Natural cork stoppers are often viewed as a pricier alternative to other closures - such as aluminum or plastic stoppers - and even other cork closures, like microagglomerate and colmated cork stoppers.  However, the fact that it represents a bigger investment doesn’t mean choosing natural cork stoppers doesn’t pay off. There are plenty of reasons to pick natural cork stoppers in detriment to synthetic alternatives. Let’s look at some of them. Natural cork is associated with high-quality wine A study conducted in Italy confirmed that wine drinkers experience a higher cognitive and emotional response to smelling, tasting, and even listening to a wine sealed with a cork stopper than they do with a wine sealed with a screw cap. In fact, on a global level, cork is associated with high-quality wine, which makes it the preferred sealant for many consumers all around the world. This becomes especially interesting when you consider that consumers in high-income countr

This November, growers and agricultural professionals will gather in San Luis Obispo for the 2025 Sustainable Ag Expo, an event designed to foster innovation, provide high-impact education, and create meaningful connections across the wine and agricultural industries. When/Where: Kick-Off Event - Monday, November 10, 5:00-7:00 pm  |  at Center of Effort Winery Trade Show & Seminars - Tuesday, November 11 & Wednesday, November 12, 7:00 am-5:00 pm  |  at Madonna Expo Center What to Expect The 2025 program offers a robust lineup of content focused on critical topics like climate resilience, automation, and workforce development, with 17 in-person seminars offering 20+ hours of CE credit. Two-day ticket holders also receive access to 13 online courses with an additional 10+ CE hours available from October 13–November 28. Even More Opportunities to Connect and Learn Kick-Off Event: The event begins with a special Monday Night Kick-Off hosted at Cen

Let me peel back the curtain a moment, and share with you the two topics that have interested this wine + data audience the most over the past month or so. How to make money by using your data (here and here), and the video about how to sell more wine in wholesale. So this week, we thought we'd combine those two particularly compelling topics, and share some ideas about how to make money in DTC by using your wholesale depletion data. Visualizing the heatmaps of your wholesale accounts is super easy. So, too, is overlapping the heatmaps of your DTC data. You'll be able to see the gaps or the "deserts" where your winery has a great wholesale presence but little or no DTC sales. That desert is exactly where to look for new DTC sales, perhaps through targeted ads using Google or Meta. That desert of DTC presence is also where you could prioritize pop-up tastings at retailers. When the wholesale presence is strong, customers have easy access to purchase your wine. Turn th

Choosing the right closure for wine bottles is a crucial decision for winemakers, as it directly impacts the quality, aging potential, and environmental footprint of the wine. In recent years, alternative closure materials, such as aluminum and plastic, have emerged alongside traditional cork stoppers. In this article, we will compare cork, aluminum, and plastic as materials for wine closures, examining their sealing ability, production resource use, environmental impact, and other relevant aspects. By understanding the characteristics of each material, we can make informed decisions that balance tradition, innovation, and sustainability in the wine industry. Sealing Ability Cork Cork production is a sustainable process that relies on the careful harvesting of cork oak bark, a process that supports the health and longevity of cork oak forests, which act as valuable ecosystems.  Harvesting cork does not require cutting down trees, as the bark regenerates naturally. Furthermore, co

Known as “montado”, this unique ecosystem is home to thousands of species. It plays a vital role in preserving biodiversity, preventing desertification, and capturing carbon. #Portocork #Cork #CorkStoppers #CorkOakForest

From Midnight Mocktails to Croatian Coasts: The Top Travel Trends Stealing Wine Country's Thunder As travelers eagerly plan their next getaways, the tourism landscape is shifting—fast. Driven by changing values, advancing tech, and global events, how we explore the world in 2025 looks very different than it did just a few years ago. From AI-crafted itineraries to wellness retreats designed around your sleep cycle, travel today is more curated, personal, and purpose-driven than ever. But while adventurers chase hot springs in Iceland and food tours in Tokyo, one classic destination is quietly slipping from the spotlight: wine country. Once a top choice for weekend getaways and special occasions, winery visits are on the decline. And for the wine industry, that’s more than just a hospitality hiccup—it’s a missed opportunity to turn curious sippers into lifelong fans. Understanding this season’s top travel trends isn’t just about keeping up. It&rsq

Who (or what) is this eddy you keep talking about? Efficient water management has never been more critical for agriculture and specifically for viticulture. High-end viticulture needs to manage water to not only cut costs, but to keep quality high in a market of oversupply and buyers who hold the upper hand over the grower. High production viticulture may not need the water management finesse for quality that high-end viticulture does, but regulatory demands for groundwater protection as well as limitations on water deliveries push growers into making the most out of every gallon. Here at AV, we’ve made use of impactful technologies to help growers irrigate efficiently and control vine stress to improve wine quality from their vineyards. Our primary tools have been the soil moisture probe and, more recently, the Florapulse microtensiometer. Both tools have been indispensable and even more so now that we have our own data portal to view and analyze these data streams. More recen

Preserving the Montado: A Commitment to Biodiversity and Culture On this International Day of Forests, we celebrate the Montado, one of the world's most precious and biodiverse ecosystems. This unique landscape, found in southern Portugal and other Mediterranean regions, showcases a harmonious blend of nature and human ingenuity. The Montado is an agro-silvo-pastoral system that has thrived for centuries. Protected by some of the world’s oldest laws—dating back to the 7th century and refined in the early 13th century—its cork oaks and holm oaks are cherished cultural and natural treasures. These trees not only support local livelihoods but also provide critical environmental benefits. Beyond its rich cultural significance, the Montado plays a vital role in carbon sequestration, water regulation, and biodiversity conservation. Its tree cover helps absorb COâ‚‚ from the atmosphere, mitigating climate change, while its unique ecosystem maintains soil health, prevents