Jan 3, 2022
It’s always a good idea to review the facts that govern our lives in the alcohol industry. The first days of the new year, when we are looking forward to what’s coming down the pike is a particularly good time to review the facts of the industry in which we toil. Listed below are not all the facts that we need to keep in mind as we move forward in 2022. But they are some of the more important basic…
Dec 30, 2021
I look back at 2021 and see a year of progress in the wine industry. Granted, this isn’t a difficult position to take if we are comparing this year to 2020. Still, 2021 looks like a year of recovery, and there were positive moves in the regulatory and legal spheres. That said, I wouldn’t want to be accused of being a pollyanna. There are things going on in wine in 2021 that were not so great. These are the worst…
Dec 29, 2021
Over the course of the past few decades, the development and evolution of the wine industry in the United States has largely been propelled by organic changes to culture, society, and technology. Population growth, demographic changes, the introduction of a wider variety of beverages, the implementation of widespread Internet communications. These have been the general trends that have given us the industry we have. But it’s the one-offs that impress us and move the industry to immediate actions. The Trump…
Dec 13, 2021
The problem with injustice in the world is that there is usually very little we individuals can do about it. We can digitally pound our fists on social media. But honesty…… We can try to reach out to someone who has suffered injustice and offer our sympathy. But again, nice gesture but little impact. So I find comfort and satisfaction in being able to actually do something tangible when injustice has been visited upon a person. I pre-ordered Jim Murray’s…
Dec 8, 2021
Having just completed my 16th year publishing FERMENTATION, I look back at these past 12 months and, as is my tradition, seek to understand what I’ve learned or confirmed about wine, my industry, and its people in the course of my reading and writing and living. These are those things. CONFIRMED: Wine Communications Remains Vibrant: When I think “Wine Communications” I’m thinking real writers and media, not influencers. I’m thinking about the emergence of The Drop, From Pix. I’m thinking…