In a down market like the one the wine industry faces today, wineries are taking different paths to adapt. Some pull back, reducing production or pulling vineyards. Others seek to acquire struggling wineries, consolidating to broaden their portfolio and leverage their production facilities. Another route is to premiumize their brands to rise above the fray and appeal to confirmed oenophiles with white glove winemaking and customer service. The other turn along the price path is to downgrade to a more affordable price to attract shoppers who are increasingly price-conscious in this economy. These are only a few of a bewildering array of choices for wineries, and the decision tree will take each winery owner or winemaker to a unique solution. Chris HollingsworthChris Hollingsworth, General Manager at Punchdown Cellars in Santa Rosa, outlines three reasons a winery might choose a custom crush facility like the one he runs. “An established brand might want to change facilities to tak

Afternoon Brief, May 24th

Wine Hits Back at Negative Headlines: The Wine Market Council is leading the charge against pessimistic wine stories about the US market...

Afternoon Brief, May 23rd

Riverland Wine Growers United in Rejecting Contract Buy-Out amid Industry Uncertainty: Growers from a cooperative in Australia's largest wine producing region have rejected an offer to sell their red wine contracts amid a crisis of global oversupply...

Afternoon Brief, March 17th

SVB Financial Files for Ch. 11 Bankruptcy Protection, Says It Has $2.2 Billion in Liquidity: One week after trading was halted for SVB Financial and regulators took control of the holding company for Silicon Valley Bank and other subsidiaries, SVB Financial has taken the next inevitable step: Today it announced that it has formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York...

Afternoon Brief, March 15th

ChatGPT Just Passed Three of the Master Sommelier Theory Exams: OpenAI’s ChatGPT continues to confound with its seemingly endless scope – including passing three levels of the infamously tricky Master Sommelier exam...