Responding to requests from growers, a longtime manufacturer of precast concrete products has recently begun selling prestressed, steel-reinforced posts for trellising orchards and vineyards. “We talked to a lot of growers,” says Jensen Precast Director of Product Management George Kehagias. “We found there’s a lot of interest in the U.S. People are very intrigued by this system.” Jensen Precast was founded in Reno, NV, by Don Jensen in 1968 and remains a family business. It began manufacturing the concrete trellis posts at its Kingsburg, CA, facility this past May and will market them under the name Harvest Pillar. Many U.S. growers are familiar with concrete posts as they are already using them, but they generally have had to source them from Italy. Shipping costs have skyrocketed in recent years, however, making the posts often too pricey to import. That’s why Kehagias says the company’s employees are excited about their prospects for U.S. s

Afternoon Brief, October 5th

Website Launches to Inform Public About Lawsuits: Hoopes Vineyards, Summit Lake Vineyards and Smith-Madrone Winery are suing Napa County over unconstitutional patterns and practices and have now launched saveoursmallwineries.org...

Afternoon Brief, September 29th

Ohio Launches Appeal Over Wine Shipping: The state of Ohio has requested the Supreme Court to take on another wine shipping case....

Afternoon Brief, January 13th

Jane Anson Publishes the First Wine Article Written by Artificial Intelligence Tool ChatGPT : Less than 24 hours ago, Jane Anson, wine writer and publisher of JaneAnson.com commissioned an article on how the new ChatGPT technology can be used within the fine wine industry...

Afternoon Brief, January 12th

Michael Martini, Third-Generation Napa Winemaker, Dies at Age 73: A "larger-than-life" character, Martini was diagnosed with cancer three weeks before his death...

Wine’s Most Inspiring People 2023: Tom Gamble — Embracing and Enhancing Napa Valley’s Biodiversity

By Laurie Wachter   Tom Gamble’s driving passion is to ensure Napa County’s biodiversity endures for generations. His experimental lab is Gamble Family Vineyards, where he’s the third generation to […]

Afternoon Brief, October 13th

California North Coast Wine Grape Harvest Eases Toward an Early Finish: A third drought-challenged wine grape season in a row is pretty much complete in the North Coast, helped to coast to an earlier finish by consistently warm fall days after an extraordinary hot and long late summer heat wave...

Afternoon Brief, August 24th

Tornado and Hail Devastate Famed Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vineyard: Vieux Télégraphe's Daniel Brunier and other top winemakers report that a violent August storm inflicted heavy damage on La Crau and other choice vineyards...

Afternoon Brief, August 18th

Unshackled Wines to Pay $75,000 to One Person Ready to Unshackle from the Status Quo: Unshackled, a wine brand founded with the purpose of challenging the conventions of luxury wine, is offering $75,000 to one person ready to break free from the day-to-day grind to pursue their dreams...