Mar 24, 2020
I began running my wine communications consultancy out of a home office in 1994 when I left a wine PR firm that I began my career with and went out on my own. There was a brief moment of a year and a half when I was lured away to work for a company in an office every day. However, for nearly 30 years, I’ve worked out of my home, physically alone. And there are rules to make it work….
Mar 23, 2020
In the interest of working to get this message out far and wide, I’m reposting a press release from the National Association of Wine Retailers here. The release deals with the need for members of the wine and spirits industry to muster the strength not to use the current health and economic emergency to fearmonger and politick for policies that advance the interests of a single element of the industry. It deals with the commonsense needs of consumers at this…
Mar 16, 2020
This is my 30th year working in the American wine industry. Nothing even approaching this kind of disruption has ever occurred. The impact of social isolating and business shutdowns due to the CoronaVirus is going to devastate the Ameican wine industry. We are talking billions of dollars in losses, many talented people forced out of the industry and a number of wine-related businesses shuttering their doors forever. Some wineries will go under. Some restaurants, after being forced to close by…
Feb 25, 2020
I can’t emphasize enough how rare it is to see the creation of a successful new trade association in the alcohol industry. In my 30 years working in the beverage alcohol industry, I can count the number of successful new trade coalitions on one hand. Moreover, the creation of trade organization that brings together importers, wholesalers, retailers, restaurants and producers is unheard of. Enter the United States Wine Trade Alliance. What’s not surprising is the unique coalition represented by the…
Feb 3, 2020
It’s quite possibly the most consequentially negative headline I’ve read about wine in 30 years: BOTTOM FALLS OUT OF BORDEAUX PRICES It comes from a February 1, 2020 article by Wine-Searcher written by, “Wine-Searcher Staff”. It describes exactly what it says: “the price of bulk Bordeaux had fallen to less than a euro a liter, with a fair possibility that prices could crash even lower.” What does this mean for many of the producers of Bordeaux wine? “At this price,…