Domaine Della 2023 Soberanes Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir Takes Top Prize  November 18, 2025 — Winners have been announced in the 2025 Harvest Challenge Wine Competition. After two spirited days of judging, Domaine Della 2023 Soberanes Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir took the top prize. It was also awarded Best of Show Red Wine and Best of Monterey County AVA. Coming in at 98 points, judges praised the wine as “warm and spicy” with “fig and nutmeg.” Other descriptors included “meaty,” “prosciutto,” and “dried rose petal.”  With entries from across the globe, the Harvest Challenge bases judging on a group of vineyards (or even vines) from the same region, belonging to a specific appellation and sharing the same type of soil, weather conditions and grapes that combine to give personality to the wine.  In other competitions, this terroir is ignored. At the Harvest Challen

The Wine Business Institute (WBI) at Sonoma State University (SSU) announced the 2023-2024 scholarship recipients of the Wine Industry Scholars Program (WISP) and the Wine Business Institute Inclusive Excellence Scholarship Program February 26. Recipients are recognized for having outstanding commitment to advancing their knowledge and expertise in the wine business. The Wine Industry Scholars Program (WISP) supports the access, retention, and graduation of students who are first-generation college students and children of families working in the wine industry. WISP awards approximately $150,000 in scholarships annually. The Wine Business Institute Inclusive Excellence Scholarship Program aims to foster a more diverse and inclusive wine industry by supporting a broad range of scholars, including women, individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds and those requiring financial support for their education. “This year’s recipients went through a rigorous sel

Afternoon Brief, January 25th

LivEx Recap: California Emerges as an Investment Powerhouse: There has been a boon in wine investment companies in the United States, with California leading the way...

Wineshipping has a new equity partner - Greenbriar. The transaction closed October 29. The company’s previous equity partner, going back to 2014, was Endeavour Capital. “I’m very excited about Greenbriar who we carefully selected,” Wineshipping CEO Eric Lewis told Wine Business Monthly. “They are a growth oriented company whose primary focus is on logistics with investments in companies like LaserShip, Uberfreight and Wineshipping.  The Wineshipping management team and founders remain shareholders who are fully invested in and running the company.  “We believe strongly in the growth of the DTC wine industry and that we are the only company that has the scale to provide meaningful solutions for both small and large wineries,” Lewis said. “We are committed to our customer’s success.” Lewis said Wineshipping will continue to invest in technology and people to provide service and innovative technical solutions.

Wineshipping today announced the arrival of Steve Klehr, who has accepted the position of Vice President of Operations Technology & Engineering. Klehr brings over two decades of experience developing and deploying automated manufacturing, distribution, and fulfillment solutions that accelerate growth, increase site productivity, and maximize throughput capability. His background includes time spent at Dematic, Intelligrated, Amazon, Tesla, and Walmart. While at Amazon he engineered and deployed the first group of Kiva System centers (now Amazon Robotics). In his most recent role as Director of Fulfillment Engineering at Walmart, he led the design of their next generation ecommerce fulfillment centers. This included ramping up output by 3x and reducing overall touchpoints by over 66%. “The addition of Steve to our already talented team will further accelerate our expansion of world-class service and efficiency through the latest technologies,” said Rob Sell, Chief Operat

NAPA—Wineshipping, the national leader in alcohol fulfillment services, today announced it has appointed Pawel Smolarkiewicz as Chief Product Officer. As CPO, Mr. Smolarkiewicz will lead strategy for Wineshipping’s suite of logistics technology products, ensuring the highest quality standards are met for Wineshipping’s clientele. Pawel joins Wineshipping from Sovos ShipCompliant, where he led product management and design of global SaaS solutions for compliance, tax, and regulatory reporting. Prior to its acquisition by Sovos, Pawel co-founded and developed the ShipCompliant platform. With more than 15 years of executive leadership in the software industry, Pawel has designed and delivered tech solutions that help businesses grow by making effortless what was previously time-consuming and difficult. His passion for solving complex business challenges through intuitive, flexible products was the driving factor behind his recruitment into Wineshipping’s C-Suite. &

Wineshipping LLC acquired Pack n’ Ship Direct, 24Seven Enterprises & Vin-Go a little over a year ago, creating the nation’s largest direct-to-consumer logistics provider with 2.6 million square feet of temperature-controlled warehouse space throughout the country. The company, which shipped close to 100 million bottles of wine last year, employs roughly 1300 people.  Chief Executive Eric Lewis joined Wineshipping just prior to the acquisition after working in direct-to-consumer fulfillment and technology for a decade. He was the first employee in fulfillment for Amazon in California, establishing a presence in Southern California before joining Google. More recently, he was SVP of Operations for Casper, which sells mattresses DTC. He worked in manufacturing with Black and Decker and Ford so has experience with engineering and automation as well.  In an interview with Wine Business Monthly, Lewis discussed how the company handled the COVID-19 crisis, managing g

Napa, CA – February 25th, 2021 Wineshipping welcomes Chet Gandhi as CIO. Mr. Gandhi stepped into the role at the beginning of the year, and will lead Wineshipping’s IT strategy at their Napa, CA headquarters and across the company’s fifteen national warehouse sites. “On behalf of the entire company, I would like to congratulate Chet on this appointment,” said Wineshipping CEO, Eric Lewis. “In the last two decades, Wineshipping has become the market leader in alcohol logistics due in large part to our forward-looking technology pipeline. With Chet’s focus on innovation, operations, and people, our team will be equipped to deliver on our strategic priorities, including the development of an API-based technology stack. “Chet’s appointment is the culmination of a rigorous selection process by myself and the Board, and we have great confidence that he will be an excellent CIO. Our goal is to position Wineshipping for a new era of nearly

Lower Lake, CA (November 12, 2020) – Shannon Ridge Family of Wines has announced the appointment of Brandon Lewis, effective immediately. Brandon will be responsible for the management of the Mid-Atlantic Region which includes Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Brandon will report to Brian Altomari, National Sales Manager for Shannon Ridge Family […] The post Shannon Ridge Family of Wines Appoints Brandon Lewis as Mid-Atlantic Regional Sales Manager appeared first on Wine Industry Advisor. Url:https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2020/11/12/shannon-ridge-appoints-brandon-lewis?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=shannon-ridge-appoints-brandon-lewis Published Date:Thu, 12 Nov 2020 19:42:28 +0000 

With new APIs from Wineshipping, customers can purchase wine via Commerce7 with a desired delivery date With new APIs from Wineshipping, customers can purchase wine via Commerce7 with a desired delivery date With new APIs from Wineshipping, customers can purchase wine via Commerce7 with a desired delivery date With new APIs from Wineshipping, customers can purchase wine via Commerce7 with a desired delivery date Wineshipping and Commerce7 have announced a new partnership in the form of an API which empowers end-customers to choose their own delivery date. This long-requested feature reduces failed delivery attempts and returns, saving wineries considerable cost and provides customers with a better shopping experience. Users can see estimated package delivery dates for various service levels, empowering them to make more informed choices. “The majority of returns are the result of failed delivery attempts, costing wineries and their clients huge amounts of money. Estimated d