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

The United Sommeliers Foundation Announces the Appointment of New Board Member Landon Patterson, CEO of the Hundred Acre Wine Group

WASHINGTON, D.C.— April 29th, 2024- The United Sommeliers Foundation (USF), a charitable organization dedicated to providing emergency financial assistance to wine professionals, is proud to announce the appointment of Landon […]

Afternoon Brief, March 29th

Omar Khan Has Pleaded Guilty to Identity Theft: Omar Khan, the bon vivant who allegedly swindled fine-wine insiders out of at least $9.5 million, pleaded guilty to identity theft on Thursday, less than one month after the FBI arrested him at John F. Kennedy International Airport...

Afternoon Brief, March 26th

President of Treasury Americas, Ben Dollard to Keynote 2024 Wine Sales Symposium: Wine Industry Network (WIN) has announced Ben Dollard, President of Treasury Americas, as the distinguished keynote speaker for the upcoming Wine Sales Symposium...

Local Growers Gather to Celebrate Ten Years of Sustainable Winegrowing  SANTA ROSA, Calif.  (January 31, 2024) – Each year, when many of Sonoma County’s 1,800 certified sustainable winegrape growers gather for the Sonoma County Winegrowers’ (SCW) annual meeting, they want to know what is next for one of the world’s most sustainable winegrowing regions. Today, they learned the answer to their question: Sonoma County Winegrowers will embark on a major collaboration with one of the world’s most iconic brands, John Deere Company. The collaboration with John Deere will be an addition to SCW’s innovative Farm of the Future, a living lab for the future of agriculture and an innovation accelerator. Through this living lab, Sonoma County winegrowers and innovative companies can pilot concepts that may eventually result in game-changing solutions that can be shared with farmers across the country and around the world. John Deere is the latest co

Celebrating 15 Years of SIP Certified Over 47k acres of certified vineyards, 5 wineries, and 60.3m bottles Nearly 30 years ago, a small group of like-minded grape growers started a nonprofit to guide and educate the industry toward sustainability. Today, one of the groups’ award-winning programs, SIP Certified, is recognized as the gold standard program for sustainable winegrowing.  In 1996, this group, known as Vineyard Team, wrote the first self-assessment for sustainable vineyard farming: The Positive Points System (PPS). By completing the PPS year after year, growers would evaluate and improve their sustainable practices on every level, from habitat protection to water conservation, soil health to human resources. Consumer demand to understand how their wine was made compelled the group to transform the self-assessment tool into an official certification program. Their goal was to develop a rigorous, third-party verified program so vineyard stewards could be confident t

Raise a Glass to the Future: Sustainable Winegrowing Starts Here While “sustainable” is a common term in agriculture today, this was not the case in 1994, when a small group of vineyard growers got together on California’s Central Coast to talk about critical resource concerns like safe pest management, soil quality, and farmworker training.  Nearly 30 years later, that small group of growers has expanded to include hundreds more, representing over 80,000 vineyard acres. They are members of our non-profit organization, Vineyard Team. We continue to uphold the original growers’ mission: bringing together experienced growers and researchers to educate the industry on sustainable winegrowing practices.  Today, sustainability is accessible to growers across the globe through in-field meetings, digital resources, and third-party certification.  We are proud to help facilitate accessibility to all farmers and agriculture professionals. So Who Are W

Afternoon Brief, September 8th

Two Wineries Join Lawsuit Accusing Napa County of Unconstitutional Patterns & Practices: Two wineries have filed motions to join Hoopes Vineyards as parties in interest in the ongoing action against Napa County alleging an unlawful pattern and practice of forcing wineries that have operated for decades to seek permits for rights they have long possessed...

Afternoon Brief, September 6th

Renowned International Winemaker Files Lawsuit Against Napa County over Denial of Water Rights: Jayson Woodbridge, owner and winemaker of one of the world’s most sought-after wines, has filed suit against the County of Napa after the county refused to issue permits for water wells on Woodbridge’s vineyard properties, in violation of state and federal law...