Legacy Vineyard. New Opportunity.      Ultra-premium Cabernet Sauvignon fruit for the 2026 harvest and beyond — sourced from a 2-acre hillside vineyard in Calistoga, positioned above renowned sites like Switchback Ridge and Hourglass. This vineyard has produced wines retailing at $200+ per bottle for over 25 years, and with the longtime winemaker retiring, this fruit is now becoming available to a new buyer — presenting a rare opportunity to step into an established, high-pedigree vineyard source. With sourcing decisions actively underway, listings like this offer wineries the chance to secure exceptional fruit early and build future vintages around proven vineyard performance. View Listing The WIN Marketplace is built to connect buyers and sellers across the wine industry, and vineyard listings like this highlight how the platform helps wineries secure exceptional vineyard sources directly from growers. With a long track record of producing high-end wines and a prime

Insights from a bottling manager and how Clevertech’s team backed him at every step When wineries invest in automation - whether to reduce manual labor, boost performance, or keep production running smoothly - another question becomes just as important: Will the supplier be there to support us when we need them? At Oak Ridge Winery, Bottling Manager Steven Uline recently oversaw the installation of a Clevertech bulk depalletizer, case erector, and partition inserter into their existing bottling line. For him, the decision wasn’t only about the capabilities of the machinery. It was also about having confidence that the level of after-sales service and support would remain dependable over the long term. “Clevertech’s quality of support is great,” Uline says. “They were very responsive to our specific challenges and committed to finding solutions that worked for us. During installation, we kept a punch list of open items and worked through it together.&

Recent-vintage stocks growing tighter The 2026 harvests in the Southern Hemisphere are in full swing – a number are ahead of a typical schedule, in fact – and this month’s Global Market Report provides the latest on conditions, grape quality, and crop-size expectations. With one exception, the bulk markets of the world have been quiet over the past month. The introduction to our March 2025 report applies again 12 months on: “The bulk market can be characterised as slow and steady since mid-February, with the Southern Hemisphere focused on harvest and demand in the Northern Hemisphere dampened by flat or declining retail sales and, in Spain, some elevated pricing.” Wary buyers are waiting to see how the harvests affect availability and pricing before committing, perhaps using the intervening time to take the industry pulse at shows like Wine Paris (growing in prominence; we review its recent instalment here) and ProWein, and generally try to gain a read on

A few years ago at the DTC Wine Symposium, a panelist joked about the modern winery website formula: the guy, the dog, the truck, and the vineyard. Beautiful backdrop, strong lifestyle photography, a thoughtful founder story. Polished, absolutely. Strategically distinct, rarely. The critique wasn’t about branding. It was about structure. Most winery websites aren’t broken, but they aren’t built as decision environments either. Calls to action are unclear, revenue pathways are buried, shipping surprises appear late, and wine club often lives in isolation instead of throughout the buying journey. After auditing winery sites across regions and production sizes, the pattern is consistent: performance is constrained by friction, not effort. Most wineries don’t have a traffic problem. They have a conversion architecture problem. Before increasing ad spend or launching another promotion, run a winery website audit — on your phone. Start at the homepage and move t

Bloom signals more than color in the field. It marks the transition into one of the most critical irrigation periods of the year. As crops move from dormancy into active growth, water demand begins to shift quickly. Root systems wake up. Canopies expand. Evapotranspiration increases. What worked during winter or early pre-season conditions will not carry you through bloom and fruit set. This is the moment to recalibrate. Start with a System Check Before peak demand hits, take time to evaluate your irrigation infrastructure: Inspect valves, filters, and pressure regulators Confirm flow meter accuracy Review pump performance under load Test soil moisture sensors and telemetry connectivity Verify that automation schedules match current crop stage Small inconsistencies in early season can become major inefficiencies during full production. Match Irrigation to Crop Physiology During bloom, consistency matters. Over-irrigation can reduce oxygen in the root zone and impact nutrient uptak

When the Super Bowl and Olympics approach, we celebrate the performance we see on the field. What we don’t see is the year-round conditioning, repetition, and skill-building that made that performance possible. Winning teams don’t train only when the lights are brightest. They train all year long. The same principle applies to winery DTC teams. Downtime Is Where Advantage Is Built Periods of slower visitation or economic uncertainty can feel like a signal to pause. But research shows that the opposite approach separates leaders from laggards. A landmark study published by Harvard Business Review analyzed more than 4,700 companies across multiple recessions. The findings were striking: “Only 9% of companies emerged from recession stronger than before.” Even more telling: “Companies that balanced cost discipline with continued investment in people and capabilities recovered faster and gained market share.” Training Is a Growth Strategy,

It is time to dust off the employee handbook, review your policies and procedures, and make sure they comply with all the new laws, regulations, and interpretations that went into effect during 2025, became effective in late 2025, or January 1, 2026. Below, we have identified our “top 10” changes.  Please keep in mind there were hundreds of laws, regulations, and changes implemented at the local, state, and federal levels throughout 2025. This summary highlights selected changes most likely to impact California employers and is not intended to be exhaustive. So, if you need a handbook/policy review or have any questions, please call us! 1 – Minimum Wage Update: Updates happen every year.  It’s best to put a calendar reminder in November, to make sure your payroll is ready! Action: Review your payroll to ensure all employees are being paid the new minimum wage, send written notice of the wage change to affected hourly employees, and be sure your salari

With an emphasis on high quality, purity and performance ingredients for Wine, Beer, Distilled Spirits, Hard Cider/Seltzer and Fruit Juice, we invite you to explore the benefits of Mays Chemical quality ingredients that are sourced from market-leading ingredient producers. We offer products for cleaning & sanitation, water treatment, filtration aids, enzymes, yeast and yeast nutrients. Mays Chemical looks forward to partnering with you to provide supply chain solutions for your future requirements. Contact a Mays Sales Rep to review product and supply options. Mays Chemical, a Ravago Company Unified Symposium Booth: 801

Continuous fertigation is gaining traction among growers who want to promote yield and preserve crop quality. This practice involves delivering smaller, steadier doses over the course of the crop season. Instead of applying large nutrient loads at select times during the season, maintaining a consistent injection rate that aligns closely with the crops natural uptake patterns can result in waste production and support improved crop quality and yield. In some cases, applying smaller doses within individual irrigation events can also be beneficial, but the primary value comes from season-long nutrient delivery based on the crops demand.  Field Observations and Operational Benefits  Growers are reporting a wide range of benefits from adopting continuous fertigation. For instance, almond grower Nathan Heeringa has noted improvements in almond development and overall performance when fertilizer is delivered in smaller, consistent doses. This method aligns with his broader experie

For wineries, year-end is not simply an accounting exercise. It is the point at which financial discipline either shows up or years of small compromises finally catch up. Too many wineries treat year-end close as a compliance task: get the books to the tax preparer, have them file the returns, move on. That mindset is increasingly risky, given that you are operating in a challenging market. Margins are under pressure, inventory is expensive to carry, cash flow is tight, and lenders and partners expect better visibility than ever before. A clean, accurate year-end close is no longer optional. It is the foundation for survival and strategic decision-making in today’s wine market. Start Where Most Problems Begin: The Balance Sheet If your balance sheet is not clean, nothing else matters. At year-end, every winery should have: Fully reconciled bank and credit card accounts A realistic assessment of accounts receivable (what will actually be collected) Accounts payable that reflect