It’s official — tickets are LIVE for our Annual Summer Open House + Marketplace on Sunday, June 22nd from 11 am to 3 pm!  And trust us, this is the summer event you won’t want to miss! We’re pulling out all the stops to make this day extra special — our Sonoma-based boutique wineries are bringing their A-game with amazing wines, and the vintners themselves will be on hand to share the stories and inspirations behind each bottle.  In honor of the season, we’ve invited some of the best local farms and food artisans to join the fun, bringing their craftsmanship to the table for the ultimate tasting experience. But it’s not just about tasting incredible wines — this is about supporting the passionate winemakers who make it all happen. When you join us, you're directly supporting our local wine community, so let’s raise a glass to the dedication behind every bottl

Looking back over a challenging 2024 and ahead to 2025 This month’s California Report looks back at the year just passed and ahead to the new one: Read on below for an in-depth review of the bulk wine and grape markets in 2024, as well as bulk inventory charts for a range of periods and an updated bulk/grape market activity barometer. A Q&A with Ciatti broker Johnny Leonardo, discussing the current market situation, will be published in the coming days, together with the first packaging bulletin of the year from our friends at Saxco. For California’s wine industry, the year 2024 was defined by a painful but necessary right-sizing as the industry evolves into one better suited to delivering to the US market something like 350 million 9-liter cases of wine per year instead of the 400 million cases of the past. Rationalization of businesses and vineyard area took greater hold – there was a marked rise in wine-related property on the real-estate market and a shortage

The wine industry is evolving toward a circular economy. Pioneers in this movement include viticulturists who began the transition to regenerative agriculture and wineries leading the move to renewable energy like solar fields or more sustainable materials, such as lightweight bottles and post-consumer recycled labels. Efforts are spreading from these innovators to the broader industry as the impacts of climate change increase the urgency and neighbors see the effectiveness of these solutions. “While every industry is subject to trends, it is especially true for wine,” says Michael Garretson, who manages the RafCycle program at UPM Raflatac. “That could be because these companies are close neighbors. Driving along Highway 29 through Napa Valley, you see one winery after another. The same is true in Sonoma or Santa Barbara. They know each other; they’re members of the same organizations, attend the same conferences and events, and talk to each other. Even for a g

We are excited to announce a new monthly column inspired by the diversity of Sonoma County wine, food and lifestyle, written by certified sommelier and our wine education consultant Rachel Thralls. The new lifestyle series is titled “Sip & Learn with Somm Rachel” and will be all about Sonoma County wine sips, food and wine pairings, and living a healthy lifestyle.  The series will include topics such as unique monthly recipes complete with wine pairings, holiday recipes, wine faults and how to sniff them out, ideal serving temperatures for wines, how to enjoy wine and so much more!  Rachel Thralls is a Court of Masters Certified Sommelier who focuses on entertaining and educating key members of the trade, as well as consumers, on the wonders of wine, food and farming. She loves the diversity of micro-climates and soils here in Sonoma County which lead to the variety of grapes grown and wine styles. Rachel loves using local and in-season foods from around the c

As we move into the second quarter of the year, California’s bulk wine and grape markets are proceeding steadily, with some particular areas – namely Napa and Sonoma – commanding high interest while other areas are quieter. Overall, while retail sales from the first quarter of 2022 are assessed, inflationary input costs are adjusted to and spring’s clusters are counted and dissected, some degree of caution pervades buying behavior.  Rabobank’s latest Wine Quarterly report cites a “perfect storm” of five challenges facing the wine industry in the US and globally: Rising shipping/ trucking costs, rising gas prices, rising labor costs, five years of geopolitical uncertainty (tariff wars, COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine conflict) and “relatively tight” inventories after two-successive short crops in 2020 and 2021. Rabobank references a “regionalization of supply chains” in response to rising trucking and gas prices, with c

GET TO KNOW MANVEER SANDHU, OUR DIRECTOR OF WINEMAKING! We sat down with Manveer back in 2020 to ask him some questions, and we’re sharing that interview with you now: You have a degree in neurobiology. Why were you drawn to winemaking? Had you ever considered an alternate career path in the sciences? When I first studied at UC Davis, I was a pre-med major and dedicated myself to that career path — decided early on in high school. In my junior year, as most college students do, I needed a part-time job to help pay for my living expenses. I started working at Dr. David Smart’s Viticulture lab (at the university) and became fascinated with grape growing and winemaking. I took a few classes in viticulture and enology and fell in love with the science, culture and art of winemaking. From that point on, I was determined to explore winemaking as my future. Was coming to Rack & Riddle a major switch in your winemaking career or was sparkling always your primary wine foc

After several years of record-breaking fire events, experts predicted 2020 to be the “year of recovery” for the California wine industry.  However, with the outbreak of a global pandemic came shutdowns disrupting business early in the year in a way never seen before. Just as consumers were starting to visit wine country again, the fires returned with a vengeance in what some might call a disaster inside of a disaster. Not only did it cripple tourism in the region, but the financial impact on the grape and wine market is also still being assessed. To add to these already unstable conditions, the country faced an incredibly acrimonious Presidential race leading to even more economic uncertainty – an uncertainty that many wineries continue to wrestle with. This year-end virtual conference will take a close look at the 2020 impact on the California wine industry, beginning with an economic overview, both nationally and regionally, followed by an up to date repor