Archive for the ‘Wine Business’ Category
Not too long ago I wrote about the really horrendous rhetoric used by anti-winery folks over in Sonoma (BLISS-Fully Ignorant in Sonoma and Napa Wine Country) concerning their view that the wine industry is ruining everything. Well it turns out that a new study out of Sonoma State University reveals that the vast majority of people living in and around wine country think the wine industry is just great. In fact: — Eighty-eight percent of respondents from Napa, Sonoma and…
Shepard Bliss (what a great name!) is the latest in what is becoming a slew of people pushing back against the wine industry in Napa and Sonoma Counties. The anti-industry activists appear to be concerned the growth in the industry will cause massive harm not only to the counties and their environments, but also to the quality of life for residents. What’s interesting about these anti-winery activists is the remarkably disingenuous way they are trying to make their case against…
This is the question: HOW DO WE CHANGES IS THIS OVERALL “FEELING” THAT WINE IS INTIMIDATING, BUT BEER ISN’T? At least this is the way it was put by Larry Schaffer, owner of Tercero Winery, commenting in this post about “craft wine”. In fact, this is the same question that I’ve heard asked ever since I got in the wine business nearly 25 years ago. In fact, that wine is intimidating has been among the most important concerns to the…
What’s the best label to use to describe a small, hands-on, privately owned, high-quality oriented winery? It’s interesting, what with the explosion in interest in “craft beer” over the past two decades, that the wine industry has not explored using the “craft” prefix. “Craft Wine!” That sounds good to me. Is it possible, given that it’s beer, spirit and cider producers that most often use the term “craft”, that wine producers see the term as too downscale? In fact, I’m…
A few years ago I speculated that if and when legalized, marijuana would be marketed by some in exactly the way high-end wine is marketed: based on terroir. That day is here. The SOMM Journal, which has continued to improve in quality and to extend its relevance, published an article in its latest issue entitled “California Artisanal Hashish”. If it weren’t for the subject being a leaf grown with the expressed purpose of getting one high, the article could have…
