Why It’s Time to Take Control of Chain Retail Pricing In the wine & spirits business, the difference between a best-seller and a case that never sees the shelf often comes down to something so mundane, it’s almost embarrassing to say out loud: Pricing. Not the actual price point — the accuracy of it. There are already plenty of reasons your product might not make it to the shelf — a buyer reorg, a freight delay, the seasonal shuffle, or simply the chaos of modern retail. So when you’ve beaten the odds and secured a coveted placement with one of the nation’s top chain retailers, the last thing that should kill the momentum is a clerical error. And yet, that’s exactly what happens when the price on the invoice doesn’t match the price in the retailer’s system. One mismatch, and the product gets refused at the dock — benched before it ever had a shot. No match = no receiving. No receiving = no shelf placement. No pl

Two years ago, I wrote an article on AI in the vineyard for WBM. Feel free to read that article here…if you want. Otherwise, my basic argument was that although AI will eventually play a role in how we farm grapes, it’s a long way off compared to other industries and even other crops. We who grow grapes are the last ones to see such innovation. And since then, AI has grown exponentially. If two years ago you were playing around with Chat GPT to create bizarrely distorted images and learn about tax loopholes, you can now go onto the likes of Claude and have it just create a website for you from a single prompt. Chatbots like this have essentially eliminated the need for entry-level coders. However Claude is a computer, so it makes sense that it’s gotten very good at writing code for other computers. Similarly Chat GPT has digested the entire internet, and curates any answer for you by plucking it from its vast network of information. Sometimes its correct, and other t

COGS isn’t the sexiest topic, but your winery can’t afford to ignore it ‍Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) isn’t exactly a dinner-party topic—but your winery can’t afford to ignore it. It’s not just an accounting exercise; it’s the foundation of financial clarity. Whether you produce 500 or 50,000 cases, not knowing your true costs means flying blind when it comes to pricing, planning, and profitability. ‍In our interactions with winery operations of all sizes, we’ve grown convinced that you can’t afford not to know your COGS. Even boutique operations are running at a disadvantage if they don’t know how much it costs to make each of the wines that they sell. ‍What is COGS? And why is it difficult? ‍In its simplest definition, COGS includes all of the cost outlay required to produce each and every SKU coming from your winery. That includes raw materials, labor, packaging, and overhead. ‍Seems fairly str

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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.

Enhanced Bird Deterrent Technology for Vineyards Takes Flight with New Identity When the grapes are ripe and the birds are hungry, there’s no better vineyard protection than a sharp-eyed peregrine falcon soaring above the vines. Just a glimpse of this bird of prey sends starlings and other destructive flocks fleeing. Historically, wineries have installed netting to try to protect their crops, especially their most prized grapes. While effective, netting is also expensive, and installation and removal are labor-intensive. Other safeguards, such as cannons, broadcast distress calls, streamers or stationary decoys, offer fleeting results and can be intrusive.  Ten years ago, Falcon Crop Protection developed an innovative and cost-effective solution: realistic kites that mimic the shape and predatory movements of a peregrine falcon as it soars from a tall fiberglass pole. With just a slight breeze, the kite takes flight and patrols all day, triggering birds’ natural f