Archive for the ‘Wine Business’ Category

Nov 30, 2018

Freedom and Egalitarianism in American Wine

The San Francisco Chronicle’s excellent young wine editor, Esther Mobley, engages in some really interesting speculation this week. In response to Katherine Cole’s excellent survey of how some wine labelling regulations have and are changing in the U.S. published in SevenFifty Daily, Mobley asks the following question: “Will this emulation of Europe at some point endanger our distinctively American spirit of experimentation when it comes to planting vineyards?” What Esther is asking is will wine labelling regulations in the U.S….

Nov 19, 2018

Canada and the Future Impact of Cannabis on Wine Sales

The ways in which Canada and Canadians are different from Americans are many. But it’s also true that Canadians and Americans are very similar people. Given that, what to make of this: “According to a new poll conducted by Ipsos exclusively for Global News, nearly half of cannabis users — 45 per cent — say they will drink less alcohol now that pot is legal.” In my view, the jury is still out. The question is not “will legal recreational cannabis…

Nov 7, 2018

All the Ways In Which Coffee and Wine Compare

My relationship with coffee is fairly utilitarian and different from my relationship with wine. I use coffee to deliver a stimulant effect in the morning. I think I’m addicted to the caffeine in coffee, but I honestly don’t know. I haven’t tested how I react without coffee in the morning. And I don’t plan too. Wine is different. I don’t drink it every day and when I do drink it I do so as a refresher or as an accompaniment to…

Oct 29, 2018

Women in Wine—Survey Says, It’s Getting Better

The 2018 Career and Salary Survey commissioned by SevenFifty and carried out by Wine Opinions. is a really good thing. It delivers a lot of interesting background to the wine, beer and spirits industry. The part that has received the most attention, however, outlines how women and minorities are underrepresented in the industry as well as receiving less compensation. This part of the survey’s findings is particularly important. The disparity in wages between men and women described by the survey is…

Oct 25, 2018

Napa vs Oregon Wine Country: Coppola Edition

News that the Coppola family of Napa and Sonoma winery fame purchased the Vista Hills Vineyard in Oregon’s Willamette Valley shouldn’t be a real surprise. While there isn’t an exodus to Oregon among California winemakers, there certainly is a turning north in winemakers’ investment view. The Vista Hills Vineyard is a pretty prime spot. Located in the Dundee Hills AVA and situated next door to Domaine Drouhin and Domaine Serene, the 42 acres of vineyard and tasting room and winery…