The Winkler Index, also known as the Winkler Scale, is a measure for classifying wine regions based on the heat summation or growing degree days over a season. The index was developed by professors Albert Winkler and Maynard Amerine at UC Davis in the 1940s after prohibition. The purpose of Read more…
Former Executive Vice President of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) Wine Division, Rob McMillan, tried answering that question this weekend on his personal blog. He said if the SVB Wine Division is not reinstated in the next few weeks, the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) benchmarking information can’t be produced this year. His Read more…
I was creating an AVA map for a regional association when I realized there are multiple data sources for mapping boundaries. Besides TTB, there is another source for spatial files of boundaries, the American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) Digitizing Project. It was 2017, and wineries were using designated grape-growing regions on Read more…
The world celebrates International Syrah Day, or World Syrah Day, every year on February 16. It is the most widely planted variety in Australia, where it is known as Shiraz and celebrated as International Shiraz Day on the fourth Thursday in July. The Rhône Valley region of France is, Read more…
Those working in the wine industry associate Healdsburg with some of Sonoma County’s finest wineries, not realizing it is also the location of the Sonoma County Wine Library. The public library at the Healdsburg branch of the Sonoma County Library holds approximately 5,000 wine books. The books on the shelves Read more…
Some refer to it as the “Bible” of the wine and grape industry. It is probably better described as the White and Yellow Pages of the industry. The 2023 Directory and Buyer’s Guide printed version developed by Wine Business Monthly and Wines Vines Analytics with more than 19,000 listings was Read more…
The number of new wineries in the northern parts of the United States has been increasing in recent years. The reasons include the development of new cold region cultivars. These emerging wineries are small and rely heavily on their tasting room and on-site experiences for product distribution. An understanding of Read more…
The low price of wine in Italy was one observation I made while spending the winter holidays on the peninsula. This was most apparent at the local grocery stores. The price for a decent bottle of wine ranged from just a few dollars to approximately twenty dollars at the higher Read more…
The wine industry is facing supply chain issues, rising prices and inflation, changing consumer expectations, and an unpredictable economy. Technology has addressed many of the challenges of wineries over the past several decades. The use of technology became even more critical during the pandemic when wineries were forced to shift Read more…
It was 2015 when the last report on the economic impact of the California wine industry was completed. A few months ago, the release of the National Economic Impact Study of the American Wine Industry provided us with a glimpse of California’s contribution. The shortcomings of that report are that Read more…