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 ninth annual Rich Smith Award of Excellence for outstanding contributions to the American grape and wine industry was presented today to Emily Hodson, the winemaker at Veritas Vineyards and Winery, a co-owner of Flying Fox Vineyards and Winery, and an active leader in the Virginia wine industry. Members of the Smith family and sponsoring organizations present the Rich Smith award to Emily Hodson (third from left). The prestigious award annually reflects the spirit and accomplishments of the late Richard (Rich) Smith, founder of Valley Farm Management and Smith Family Wines in California’s Santa Lucia Highlands wine region in Monterey County. Rich was first and foremost a family man, but also a successful grape grower and winery owner, and a highly respected colleague known for the combination of passion, commitment and collaboration which helped advance the American grape and wine industry. Ever since Rich passed away in December 2015, three organizations—WineAmerica, N

Wineries can now offer bubbles from California’s mid-state AVA Manveer Sandhu Rack & Riddle, the #1 custom sparkling wine producer in the United States, has expanded their portfolio of wine offerings to include two new sparkling wines from California’s Central Coast region.  Rack & Riddle’s new Central Coast Sparkling Wine Program includes a Méthode Champenoise Brut and a Rosé. Vineyard sourcing is from the Central Coast American Viticultural Area. This region includes Monterey Bay and Santa Lucia Highlands sub-AVA’s, places long prized for growing cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, ideal for crafting premium sparkling wines. “The Central Coast, with its maritime influence, is a region optimal for growing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir,” said Rack & Riddle Executive Director of Winemaking Manveer Sandhu, “Elegant grapes with bright acidity are grown in this AVA, ideal for making premium sparkling wines f

Decision-making on the sourcing of bulk wine and grapes continues to get more complex and difficult. April frosts in the Lodi/Delta, and in other regions of California to a lesser extent, added another challenging variable to the year. As of now, it appears the reduction in supply due to the frost affected Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in these regions the most. Time will provide a clearer picture of the 2022 crop size. In fact, recent crop projections are generally more positive than the initial forecasts after the frosts, but there is still uncertainty as to the extent of the damage. In the North Coast and other parts of California, the frost will likely have less of an impact. Bulk markets have slowed, returning to a more typical seasonal pace following 18 months of heightened demand, but still remain active. The typical spring slowdown is due to wineries assessing crop size and projected sales trends to inventories. It is more complicated this year for a few reasons. The first variable

Afternoon Brief, August 25th

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25 TRENDING STORY   WIN’s packXplore Conference Studies Consumer Acceptance of Nontraditional Wine Packaging Wine Industry Network continues to keep the industry informed despite continuing challenges with the in-person seminar and trade shows…   ADVISOR AFTERNOON BRIEF FEATURED ARTICLE   In Defense of Terroir Does wine-related terroir exist anymore? Are sensory manifestations of […]

by Steve Fredricks Excess Markets, Long-Term As we have been reporting for some time, the current excess market cycle had already slowed the bulk wine and grape markets well before the shelter-in-place orders. This time last year, most of the larger companies were in an oversupply position causing some traditional buyers to become sellers. Over the last year and a half, wineries and growers have made difficult choices to right-size inventories, realign their cost of goods, and/or remove acres. Many of our clients started making efforts to reduce supply, increase demand through innovation, and release new brands at lower price points. These business practices were working. Most of those large companies that were sellers last year were at a more neutral market position in Q1 2020, especially at the value-end. COVID-19 Impacts Unfortunately, the challenges of excess that growers and wineries were already adapting to have altered and increased in recent weeks due, in large part, to the ste