Wine is so simple…and so complex.  It’s just fermented grape juice. But its magic—color, aroma, taste, and pure pleasure—depend on myriad factors like grape variety, region, vintage, sugar-acid-pH ratios, picking dates, winemaker decisions, and so much more. It’s a perfect blend of art and science, and one of life’s greatest pleasures. It’s also a source of 1,750,363 jobs, including nearly 50,000 in agriculture that are not even directly related to winery employment. In the Supplier category there are 41,551 agricultural jobs, and another 7,523 in the Induced category. The American wine industry is first and foremost a farming industry that could not exist without a large, skilled and dedicated labor force as well as the trellises, tractors, harvesters, and supplies needed to grow good grapes that make great wine at a reasonable price. There are 10,761 wine producers and 763,080 vineyard acres in the United States, and all 50 states produ

Afternoon Brief, June 5th

Feds Grill Ex-Workers from Iconic NYC Wine Shop Sherry-Lehmann as Fraud Probe Heats Up: The feds may be close to putting a cork in their year-long probe of iconic wine shop Sherry-Lehmann — and potentially bringing charges against its former owners for allegedly scamming customers out of their vintage bottles...

Afternoon Brief, May 11th

What the Sale of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Means for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Northwest Wine: Yesterday Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (SMWE) and Italian producer Marchesi Antinori announced that the latter purchased full ownership of Napa Valley’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars...

Afternoon Brief, December 5th

Herbicide the Star of New Napa Movie: Documentary filmmaker Brian Lilla says he moved from Oakland, California to Napa to get away from gun violence, because he and his wife wanted to have kids. Once there, he discovered grapegrowers spraying Roundup on their vines and it disturbed him enough to make a movie about it...

Afternoon Brief, June 20th

Cal/OSHA Safety Board Denies Monarch Tractor Petition to Modify Regulations Regarding Autonomous Tractor Use: Current California safety regulations under the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) written in the 1970s require a human operator to be stationed at the vehicular controls for all self-propelled tractors used in agricultural operations, thus presenting a regulatory roadblock to the use of autonomous, driver optional tractors that are being developed, marketed and trialed for use in California's vineyards and farmlands...

The 50 Great White Wines of the World Winners 2022 by Wine Pleasures

Now in its second year, Wine Pleasures reveals the 50 Great White Wines of the World Awards and results 2022. June 20th – This year’s competition has seen wines uncorked […]

Wine Pleasures B2B Workshops for the Wine Export Trade 2022 Switch Dates

The 12th edition of Italy’s leading B2B Workshop originally due to take place 1-3 March will take place on 2 – 4 May due to importer concerns over travel and the Omicron variant. […]