Wine America: The Association of American Wineries
The American Vintners Association made its name change official. The organization's new name is Wine America: The Association of American Wineries, reflecting membership growth to more than 700 wineries in 48 states. Wine America is also forming an association of winery-related state and regional councils as part of its organization (45 states boast wine-related groups) and is launching an initiative to involve consumers in the Wine America organization.

The name change is expected to provide broader appeal in the legislative area and reflects a new emphasis on consumers.

Under bylaw changes, a new association of winery-related state and regional organizations is an elected representative to serve on Wine America's board and executive committee. Regional groups will be able to join the organization at no cost and funding has been set aside to help defray travel expenses for these groups to encourage their involvement.

The consumer initiative will involve an affordable membership category including benefits such as private tours at local wineries, a newsletter, discounts on wine purchases, and invitations to tastings. Early thinking is that a new website could provide a travel and tourism engine, a single resource to educate consumers about wineries. The organization would be open to individuals seeking to invest in the future of the American wine industry.

Wine America will be conducting a feasibility study to look at how a consumer initiative might be structured, and financed and offered.

BATF Eliminated by Homeland Security Act
The sweeping Homeland Security Act of 2002 that was signed by President George Bush leaves wine, beer and distilled spirits tax collection and regulatory oversight to a newly named Tax and Trade Bureau within in the Treasury Department. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and its responsibilities with firearms, explosives, arson and criminal enforcement areas will be transferred to the Justice Department.

This is precisely the framework the Wine Institute had advocated to the Administration and to the House and Senate.

"When the Homeland Security Initiative was announced, Wine Institute viewed it as an opportunity to remain at Treasury, shed ourselves from guns, bombs and illegal activity and, in addition, create a new bureau with a new name," Wine Institute executive vice president Bobby Koch said in a memorandum to members. "We were successful on all fronts." Wine Institute worked cooperatively with other trade groups on the initiative with industry unity playing a role in the outcome.

New York Judge Strikes Direct Shipping Ban
Judge Richard Berman, who had already ruled that New York State's ban on direct shipping wine was unconstitutional, has now ruled that the remedy should be to keep the gates open for direct shipping from New York wineries while at the same time opening New York up for direct shipping from wineries from other states.

Berman additionally said he is lifting an advertising ban that previously was imposed on out-of-state wineries. He ruled that New York may not prevent out-of-state winery clients from conveying lawful information to consumers on the same conditions applicable to New York wineries. Judge Berman stayed the ruling for 30 days pending an expected appeal.

The attorneys representing the wineries were Clint Bolick and Steve Simpson of the Institute for Justice. The decision is a significant victory for direct shipping advocacy groups, like the Coalition for Free Trade. Some states use the 21st Amendment as the basis for anti-direct shipping laws, but lawsuits pending in Virginia, North Carolina, Texas and Florida, seem to be convincing courts to view the 67-year-old amendment in a different light.

New York Supermarkets Lobby for Wine Sales
New York legislators have proposed bills that would allow sales of liquor and wine in supermarkets and that would allow sales on Sundays, moves that would raise taxes to help bridge a budget gap in the second-largest wine consuming state.

Assembly Deputy Majority Leader Ronald Canestrari (D-Albany) is reported to be the prime backer of a house bill that would allow liquor stores to open Sunday. Separately, a New York Senate bill would allow supermarkets to sell wine was proposed by Senator Randy Kuhl (R-Bath).

Liquor stores fear competition from supermarkets could put many of them out of business.

According to reports, the Food Industry Alliance, representing 21,000 supermarkets projects, New York would get some $130 million from the wine sales proposal through a one-time fee of $10,000 for supermarkets to get in on the sales.

Twenty-three states currently allow sales of wine and spirits on Sundays. Oregon, Pennsylvania and Kansas are the latest to allow Sunday sales.

The Minnesota Grocers Association is also proposing a change in state legislation that would allow grocery stores to sell wine. Grocery stores in that state are currently limited to sales of 3.2 beer and wine coolers.

The Act, which merges 22 federal agencies and 170,000 federal employees, will take months to implement.

Silicon Valley Bank, Motto Kryla Fisher Form Investment Banking Partnership
Vic Motto of St. Helena, California wine industry consulting firm Motto Kryla Fisher will become chief executive officer of a new investment bank dedicated to serving the wine industry as part of a joint venture that will pair MKF with Alliant Partners, a unit of Silicon Valley Bank.

The joint venture will be known as MKF Alliant, focusing on mergers and acquisitions in addition to financial advisory services.

"We expect to see at least a billion dollars worth of transactions in the next year or two in the wine industry," Motto said. He added that the timing of the venture is right. The number of industry transactions continues to increase, stimulated by increasing investments in premium wine though acquisitions and by distributor consolidation, which is triggering winery mergers for scale and clout.

Motto said that the venture will do business primarily in the US but will also be involved in transactions in other major wine regions of the world.

Financial details were not released.

Silicon Valley Bank already has a successful premium wine practice, so the venture is a logical extension for them. MKF has been providing business advisory services to wineries for 20 years.

Vic Motto will continue in his current role with MKF and is not leaving the company.

Allied Domecq Unveils Academy of Wine & Service Excellence
Allied Domecq Wines USA is planning an ambitious Academy of Wine & Service Excellence trade program. "While the longer term programming will offer something for everyone, our initial efforts will focus on our core audiences: retailers, brokers, in-house sales teams, restaurateurs, and our emerging global partners. The academy will feature an entirely new, comprehensive, multi-tiered series of wine education programs," Master Sommelier Evan Goldstein, Allied Domecq's new director of Wine and Hospitality Education said.

The program will take full advantage of its existing regional education training staff, but will also offer online courses similar to that of a correspondence class.

While initial efforts will take place in the field, the academy will also conduct courses at Allied Domecq's six California wine properties, including the newly completed Clos du Bois hospitality center in Sonoma County.

Niagara College Launches Canada's First Teaching Winery
Niagara College officially opened its Niagara College Teaching Winery, the first of its kind in Canada. Established with support from local wineries and industry suppliers, the Niagara College Teaching Winery operates a modest, but fully functional winery and is part of the college's Winery and Viticulture Technician program. The two-year program was developed in consultation with the local wine industry, which forecasts the need for a minimum of 5,000 additional workers over the next 20 years.

The teaching winery is equipped with $100,000 worth of processing tanks donated by the Criveller Company of Niagara Falls. Located at the college's Glendale campus, the winery also includes the Jack Forrer Vineyard--a six-acre teaching and research vineyard managed by students as well as faculty and staff.

Oregon Winery's New Barrel Cellar is Nation's First LEED Certification
In mid-December, Oregon's Sokol Blosser became the nation's first winery to be awarded LEED 2.0 Silver Level Certification by the US Green Building Council. Sokol Blosser was awarded for the sound design and construction of their new underground barrel cellar.

"The environmentally-conscious construction of our barrel cellar was a natural choice for us, allow us to create a needed facility and keep our commitment to maintain and preserve the natural environment whenever possible," explained Susan Sokol Blosser. "We want to continue to lead this movement by example and raise awareness of the ways each of us can make a difference."

The 5,805 square-foot barrel cellar--covered by a living roof--has been designed and constructed according to the advanced sustainable practices of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system, and used the international principles of the Natural Step as architectural guidelines. Sokol Blosser met exacting requirements in five integrated certification categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and environmental quality. In addition, the project gained extra credit for exceptional performance in construction waste management and the use of local materials.

The process included defining environmental goals prior to breaking ground, undergoing inspection throughout the construction process, and undergoing final inspections upon completion of construction. The formal application for certification takes place after the project is completed.

Designed by SERA architects of Portland, the cellar is built into the side of a hill adjacent to the winery. Optimal temperature (55 degrees F) is maintained via a low energy night-air cooling system, and the natural cooling properties of the soil. Design and construction also allows the optimum humidity. The roof is covered with same wildflower cover crop mix that is planted throughout the Sokol Blosser vineyards to encourage biodiversity.

General contractor was The Grant Company; consulting engineers, PAE; structural engineers, David Evans & Associates, and SCCI served as commissioning agent.

Sokol Blosser, first established in 1971, is located in the Red Hills of Dundee.

Clos du Bois Wins Integrated Pest Management Innovator Award
Every fall, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation presents its IPM Innovator Awards. IPM involves working with nature to provide pest management with minimal use of chemicals. One of the casualties in the battle against the glass-winged sharpshooter has been riparian vegetation because plants that often grow around streams and rivers also provide habitat for the sharpshooter. Many vineyards have been removing streamside vegetation. But riparian vegetation helps prevent erosion, and works as a filter to keep pesticide runoff from getting to into surface water.

Clos du Bois undertook an innovative new approach to this problem, creating a new riparian environment and carefully selecting vegetation that provided environmental benefits but was not particularly attractive to the sharpshooter. Clos du Bois' vineyard management team made this restoration effort into a community project, enlisting help from employees and families, and a local organization, the Circuit Riders. Clos du Bois was given the IPM Innovator award for getting the community involved and sharing its experince with others in the industry.

First Graduating Class for Wine MBA Program
During a recent ceremony at Château Mouton-Rothschild, Baroness Phillipine de Rothschild presented Peter Dauthieu with the Wine MBA degree in Wine Management awarded by Bordeaux Business School (École Supérieure de Commerce). This Masters degree was given to the first 10 graduates out of a total of 12 participants of this first graduating class of this new MBA course. The wine MBA has been developed by Bordeaux University in conjunction with UC Davis, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, University of South Australia and Keio Business School.

Dauthieu, who is trilingual in English, Spanish and French, has been a trading manager at Ehrmanns and is in charge of Viniberia S.A.'s wine export business to countries other than the UK.

Coppola Pays Record Price for Rutherford Vineyard
Francis Ford Coppola and an additional investor have purchased a Rutherford vineyard in a deal that is believed to be in the range of $31 or $32 million. The transaction represents the highest price ever paid for vineyard land in California, or the New World, working out to a whopping $350,000-plus an acre. Coppola told the San Francisco Chronicle the purchase is part of a grand plan to make his Niebaum-Coppola Wine Estate the country's top wine house, on par with the great producers of France. "Our goal is to become America's great wine estate, equivalent to a Bordeaux 'first growth,' and we have the land and grapes necessary to do so," Coppola, director of "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now, " said.

The vineyard was owned for years by the late JJ Cohen, co-founder of MGM Studios. Coppola purchased the property along with Brett Lopez, Cohen's grandson and one of three heirs to the property.

Located at adjacent to the Niebaum-Coppola winery, the parcel is 203 acres with 85 acres planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Much of it, about 110 acres, lies on a slope that is considered watershed, unlikely to ever be planted to grapes. The property includes a large house, barns, a caretaker's cottage and a large reservoir.

The vineyard was first planted in the late 1870s by Clnay. The stress factors will be drought, cold resistance, and salinity, conditions found in Nevada, and also worldwide. While studies have shown that drought stress can produce high quality wine, the genetic and chemical basis for this is not well understood. Cramer's study will look at those genes that influence the proteins involved in making plant cells, and the metabolites found in those cells. It is known that grape flavor compounds can arise from metabolites. The study will create and compare metabolite profiles of fruit extracts from the grapes under stress conditions to detect qualitative and quantitative differences.

Cramer's co-investigators are fellow biochemistry professors David Schooley and John Cushman at UNR, and Pedro Mendes of the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The study will build on previous work and use computer modeling to catalogue and analyze the genes of the stressed plants. Rather than mapping a full-length gene, a time-consuming process, the researchers will look at partial sequences of specific genes and create "microarrays" of a set of genes as a faster way to get the information desired. Cramer said this method has been used to look at flavor development in strawberries. "The genes can be looked at and analyzed at the different stages of fruit development and ripening, and then we plan to isolate those genes responsible for specific flavor development, and see how drought and stress affect those genes," Cramer said. The end product will be gene sequences that will be available to the international community to work with for further research, for bioengineering, or for standard vine breeding purposes.

Cramer will also continue and expand field trials at Nevada vineyard sites. Varieties now planted include Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Lemberger, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Semillon and White Riesling. In early winemaking trials from the Reno site, Semillon, White Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, and Lemberger have shown promise, and Cramer said most of the varietal wines tested have shown good sugar to acid ratios. He hopes to start planting a 6-acre trial site near Yerington next year. In addition to matching varieties to Nevada's climate and conditions, Cramer said, "Our goal is to also determine what varieties are economicially feasible to grow in relation to the market and competition with other varieties, to make vineyard development and winemaking economically viable."

French Winery Buys US Importer
Jeanjean S.A. of St. Felix-de-Lodez, one of the ten largest wineries in France, has acquired Cannon Wines Limited of San Francisco, CA, a national sales and marketing company, from the Pan Magna Corporation, a US company with headquarters in San Francisco.

Antoine Leccia, general manager of Jeanjean, declared, "We are very pleased that Cannon Wines has become part of our group. The US is a >dynamic market for wine, and Cannon has been integral to our growth there for nearly a decade. We have jointly created an ambitious plan for the development of our Rhone wines (the Caves des Papes brand) and our estate and regional wines from the Languedoc under the Jeanjean label."

Earl Myers, president and CEO of Cannon Wines since 1996, said "We have enjoyed a close relationship with Jeanjean as imported wines, especially French, have become an increasingly important part of our portfolio. Jeanjean brings a group of market-leading brands to Cannon, together with unmatched access to exclusive wine properties in southwest France. We will be able to serve our distributor partners even more effectively than in the past, and we have several innovative, high-quality wines ready for introduction."

Cannon Wines Limited will continue to market the wines of Domaine Saint George, Healdsburg, Sonoma County, California, a property of the privately-held Pan Magna Corporation, for which Cannon created the brand name and positioning in the then-new popular premium segment of California wines in 1985. Today Domaine Saint George is a well-established national brand competing in the popular-, super-, and ultra-premium segments of vintage-dated varietal wines.

California Legislator Introduces "Nickel-a-Drink" Bill
A "nickel-a-drink" bill that was defeated last year has been reintroduced by State Senator Gloria Romero, (D-Los Angeles), and hospital advocates are on record as saying the fee will offset financial losses and budget cuts at emergency rooms, whose patients have been injured in alcohol-related accidents and violence.

The makers of wine, beer and spirits would pay a fee to bolster California's emergency care system and help bridge the state's massive budget gap, which now sits at a staggering $10 billion. Romero's bill would impose the fee on wholesalers of beer, wine and distilled spirits and would be based on the size of a standard drink. Assuming a bottle of wine contains "five drinks," the fee would be 25 cents, or $3 per case.

Washington Education Consortium Launches New Website
The Washington Wine Education Consortium has launched a new education Web site (www.wineducation.wsu.edu ) to outline the state's educational programs in viticulture and enology. The WWEC is working with the Washington state legislature for funding in the upcoming 2003 legislative session. Additional funding will enhance the two-year certificate and four-year degree option programs in enology and viticulture offered through Washington State University, Walla Walla Community College, Yakima Valley Community College, Wenatchee Valley College and Columbia Basin College.

Wine Event Website Adds New Service
LocalWineEvents.com, the popular source for wine event schedules and information, has added an online ticketing function to make selling and buying wine event tickets easy. Event planners don't need merchant accounts to sell online and benefit from paperless registration and real-time access to online attendee and donation reports. "Online ticketing at LocalWineEvents.com is the greatest way to make ticket sales simple, for the participants and the event team," asserts site founder Eric Orange. LocalWineEvents.com is one of the most frequently visited websites for information about wine events. wbm