Archive for the ‘Wine News’ Category

Oct 13, 2017

The Heroic Efforts of Wine Writer Sarah Stierch During the Wine Country Fires

In moments of disaster, there are always people who step up and go well beyond what could well be expected of them. At 4:11am on Monday Morning, Sarah Stierch, a wine writer located in the town of Sonoma, set out on what has and continues to be a heroic effort to keep her community members informed during what is surely the most trying moments of their lives. At 4:11am on that early morning Sarah sent out this message via Twitter: Westside of…

Jan 12, 2017

The Wineries’ Betrayal of Consumers

Back in the day, from around the year 2,000 to 2010, wineries across the country understood perfectly that, given the chance, the wholesale tier would screw them, attempt to make their lives more difficult, attempt to push wineries into using only wholesalers to distribute their wines, work to stop any of their efforts to normalize direct to consumer shipping, and even accuse wineries of attempting to sell wine to minors. Back in the day, the California Wine Institute, Free the…

Dec 30, 2016

The Year In Charting Wine

There are many ways to reflect on the year (2016) in wine. No doubt, those various views will be explored as the year comes to an end and as 2016 data sets of various types become available in the new year. One data set always available is Google Trends, a tool that allow us to measure relative interest in Internet search terms. By comparing search terms we can look at the relative interest in those terms over the past year….

Nov 7, 2016

Alcohol and Liberty

In a fascinating chart highlighted at Wine Industry Insight and written about at the Washington Post, we learn that access to alcohol due to turning 21 years old absolutely results in increased crime. It’s not something you might think about, but when you see the data in a graphic you realized, “of course it does.” The question is: Is there anything we can or should do to eliminate the crime that results from people turning 21 and having legal access…

Aug 25, 2016

Wine Lovers Saw This Coming—Dumb Marijuana Science

For as long as I can remember, I’ve watched news outlets report the findings of studies on wine and alcohol that the reader looks at and says, “Well Duh! Did we really need a study to figure this out?” Headlines on such reports often read like, “Study finds people are happier after two glasses of wine” or ” ‘Beer Goggles’ Really Do Exist Study Finds”. I’m waiting for this headline: “New Study Finds Over Consumption of Water Can Lead to…