Afternoon Brief: Wine Sales Drying Up as Americans Turn Elsewhere

U.S. wine sales continued a multiyear decline in 2024, which experts attribute to shifting demographics, health concerns, new competition and economic forces...

Afternoon Brief: Court OKs $140 Million in Vintage Wine Estates Assets Sales

Nearly two dozen wineries, brands and other assets of the defunct Santa Rosa-anchored Vintage Wine Estates portfolio got the green light to change hands in a Delaware bankruptcy court Tuesday...

California’s 2020 crush is underway amid the unique conditions created by COVID-19, with bio-secure protocols being followed in the vineyards and in the wineries. The vineyards appear in excellent condition this year across the state: so far there has been very little disease pressure and few if any climate extremes. The crop size at this early stage looks lighter than average: for a detailed harvest update see below.  The state’s overall bulk wine inventory continues to be steadily utilized (see our updated bulk wine inventory graph), given the growth of sales in the off-premise. Off-premise sales are still running at or around +20% per week in terms of year-onyear dollar sales. Nielsen estimates wine’s off-premise dollar sales were up +26.6% between the start of March – when COVID-19 first hit the US – and July 25th. All the while, the on-premise/tasting room sector remains greatly inhibited by the virus.  A recent Gomberg Fredrikson webinar

The North Bay Business Journal's 20th annual Wine Industry Conference will feature the most in-depth, regional view of the strategic direction of the premium wine business - by and for industry leaders. Keynote JON MORAMARCO Managing Partner, BW166 and Editor & Partner, Gomberg & Fredrikson State of the Industry Panel LEE ANN PEARCE Manager Food & Agribusiness Advisors, Wells Fargo Commercial Banking KATHERINE PHILIPPAKIS Partner, Farella Braun + Martel LLP BILL VYENIELO Senior Business Consultant, Moss Adams MARIO ZEPPONI Principal, Zepponi & Company Economic Outlook SARAH HOUSE Senior Economist, Wells Fargo Bank Register online for free: nbbj.news/wine20

The North Bay Business Journal's 20th annual Wine Industry Conference will feature the most in-depth, regional view of the strategic direction of the premium wine business - by and for industry leaders. Keynote by Jon Moramarco, Managing Partner, BW166 and Editor & Partner, Gomberg & Fredrikson More speakers to be announced with a panel addressing the state of the industry. Register online for free: nbbj.news/wine20

The world continues to change rapidly in the battle against COVID-19. It seems we are now moving into the next phase, in which there were will be a gradual easing of Stay in Place (SIP) or shutdown restrictions while balancing the health and well-being of all. Here in California we do not know what impact this will have on the state’s bulk wine and grape markets moving forward, but in this month’s report we attempt to provide an incisive update on what effects COVID-19 has already had on our marketplace.  It is a strange situation in which what would normally be a good news story – a surge in off-premise wine sales (which continued throughout April) – is of course greatly tempered by a dramatic sales slump in the on-premise channel, which has been greatly affected by SIP restrictions. Jon Moramarco, editor of the GombergFredrikson Report, in a Wine Institute release, estimated that the sales drops on an annualized basis in 2020 in the on-premise (-$2.54 bil