“Every experience in my academic journey starts with a single fact: I am the first in my family to continue my education.”— Denise, Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholar, Yale University First-generation college students like Denise don’t just pack up and head to school—they carry big dreams, heavy responsibilities, and the quiet courage to be the first. They often navigate college on their own, juggling tight budgets, unfamiliar systems, and the emotional challenge of leaving home. But when someone believes in them, everything changes. The Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship was created to do exactly that—by offering financial support and mentorship to the children of vineyard and winery workers. It’s not just a scholarship; it’s a bridge to a better future. And it's working: our scholars are graduating, thriving, and giving back to their communities. --- Denise's Journey to Yale As the first in her family to attend college, Denise h

How have natural corks stayed on top of the wine world? Antonio Amorim’s efforts to make the cork business more innovative and sustainable have a lot to do with it Antonio Amorim has seen the closure industry change dramatically during his two decades at the helm of his family's 150-year-old cork business. (Courtesy of Amorim Cork) For centuries, cork has been the primary method of closing wine bottles. Then in the late 20th century came cheaper stoppers and—though not without some controversy—the value end of the market was suddenly awash in bottles topped with colorful plastic “corks” or metal screwcaps. That would have been alarming enough for a family cork business founded in 1870. But at the same time, high-end wineries were facing a problem with TCA taint, which could make wines smell and taste like musty cardboard or—in a way even worse for the producers—muted and boring, without being obviously flawed. The problem was largely blam

While associated with fun and frivolity, sparkling wine is a complex wine of many moving parts that requires serious skill to make. We catch up with some of the leading lights in the fizz industry, from Champagne, Spain and England, to find out the secrets of their craft and the challenges surrounding creating a consistent sparkling wine style in an ever-changing climate. Synonymous with celebration, sparkling wines are easy to enjoy but challenging to create. Crafting quality fizz requires a skilled hand, well-trained nose, razor-sharp intuition and nerves of steel come harvest time, when deciding on the perfect moment to pick feels like a game of Russian roulette. Cellar masters are the wizards of the wine world, able to create a consistent style of wine each year from hundreds of elements amid increasingly erratic weather conditions. They have to be time travellers too, projecting themselves into the future when tasting aggressively acidic base wines, working out how they will harmo

CANADELL ensures the quality and consistency of its oak adjuncts by overseeing the entire manufacturing process, from selecting trees in the forest to seasoning, fabricating, toasting, packaging and sales. This 100% vertical integration gives winemakers full traceability and confidence in the impact its oak will have on their wine. "The Canadell Family delivers a full range of premium oak products that are classically made, traditionally crafted, and extremely consistent," says Paolo Bouchard, Business Development Manager for Bouchard Cooperages, CANADELL’s exclusive partner in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. "Wineries producing everyday value and premium price point wines often appreciate the consistency and quality of the CANADELL portfolio," adds Sarah Lanzen, International Oak Alternatives Consultant at Bouchard Cooperages. "Their consumers rely on consistency in today's ever-changing world. CANADELL's approach has always

The bulk market globally can be characterised as slow, even for what is a traditionally slow time of year when the Northern Hemisphere summer holidays are is in full swing. As well as there being few buyers, some already-acquired wine is being put back on the market by those who no longer need it; these wines are sometimes picked up quickly by an alternative buyer, sometimes not. The reappearance of inventory is potentially symptomatic of a range of factors – problematic shipping; dry goods such as bottles being in short supply and/or high in price; a real or projected slowdown in consumer sales as annual inflation rates remain high.  The inflation rate in the US fell in July, from 9.1% to 8.5%, as a decline in fuel prices offset a continued rise in grocery prices. Hopefully this a sign of inflation starting to cool, but in many other markets fuel prices and energy bills are projected to continue rising for the rest of the year. In the UK, the Bank of England expects inflati

The Northern Hemisphere harvests are now complete and, while official numbers remain some way off, it appears Europe’s harvests were average sized while California has had its lightest crop since 2011. OIV is forecasting 2020’s total global crop at between 254 and 262 million hectolitres: coming in at the lower end of that range would make 2020 the joint second-lowest yielding year since the turn of the millennium (above 2017’s 248 mhl and in line with 2002’s 252 mhl).  As per usual for this time of year, however, the Northern Hemisphere’s bulk markets and buyers are quiet while crop results are assessed, wine made, and OND sales analysed. The unprecedented event that 2020 will always be synonymous with – the COVID-19 pandemic – has injected understandable caution into the marketplace: much activity is proceeding in small increments. This caution will be exacerbated by the so-called ‘second wave’ of the virus in Europe, which

Dry, Warm Winter Could Bring Drought to California, Southwest in 2021: With the world coming off the hottest September since 1880, California’s North Bay to the south is likely to experience a continuance of warmer, drier weather conditions into the winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday... The post Afternoon Brief, October 16 appeared first on Wine Industry Advisor. Url:https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2020/10/16/afternoon-brief-1719?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=afternoon-brief-1719 Published Date:Fri, 16 Oct 2020 20:38:27 +0000 

There are over 400 commercial vineyards and wineries in England, and Wine of England has been founded to support them.  At Wine of England, we provide a great looking, usable platform for English wine lovers to discover the incredibly large number of wineries and vineyards that dot our hills and plains, and what they have […] The post Wine of England Launch Their New Website Promoting English Vineyards  appeared first on Wine Industry Advisor. Url:https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2020/10/16/wine-england-launch-new-website?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wine-england-launch-new-website Published Date:Fri, 16 Oct 2020 18:20:34 +0000 

This year we've weathered a pandemic, riots, double-digit unemployment, a contentious election year, a labor shortage, and now the most expansive fire in California history. If what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, then we should be Ironman by now. It's enough to make you crawl into your cellar and lock the door. But, we need to pay the bills, harvest the fruit, and sell our wine. With the context and focus of our marketplace changing weekly, what can we do to be culturally sensitive, faithful to our brands, but continue to market our products? Here, we've assembled our suggestions for addressing your marketing approach during this fall.  Realign your goals, but keep setting them. Remember back in December when you set your 2020 sales goals? That seems like a long time ago. Many of us started careening off course in March and just let it ride, hoping that we'd adjust when things returned to "normal." By now, we've realized this is "the