Limiting the number of wine-tasting rooms? Yes. Creating wine-tasting business licenses? No. That was the scorecard at the end of the Jan. 14 meeting of the Sonoma City Council, which continued its efforts to rein in the proliferation of tasting rooms in the downtown Plaza area

The full story on Elk Cove Vineyards ~ and all our Hot Brands ~ will be available in our February 2019 issue of Wine Business Monthly ...

Tetra Pak is to become the first company in the food and beverage carton industry to offer full-colour digital printing on its carton packages, working in collaboration with Koenig & Bauer, a global leader in the field.

Domaine Clarence Dillon, the renowned Bordeaux wine company managed by the fourth generation of a dynasty founded in 1935 by its namesake, Clarence Dillon, is pleased to announce that the 2016 vintage of La Clarté de Haut-Brion, the second white wine of Châteaux Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion, will be released in the summer of 2019.

The fifth annual Yountville Live, the ultimate, luxury getaway event is set to take place in Yountville, California from March 14 - 17, 2019. Guests will enjoy exquisite cuisines from world-class restaurants and Award-winning rock star chefs, exclusive intimate performances from some of today's hottest recording artists and a unique variety of some of Napa Valley's most celebrated wineries and finest beers and spirits available. Considered the culinary heart of Napa Valley, Yountville is the ultimate luxury getaway that marries a breath-taking setting and small-town ambiance with a sophisticated Wine Country lifestyle. The event, which includes the 26th annual "Taste of Yountville" experience on Saturday, March16th, attracts attendees from around the world and is the next generation of food and wine events.

Food labeling, trade and rural broadband access were among the resolutions discussed and approved by farmers and ranchers from across the nation during the American Farm Bureau Federation's 100th Annual Convention & IDEAg Trade Show in New Orleans, Louisiana. "This policy process is a true grassroots effort," Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) President Russell Boening said. "Farmers and ranchers from across the nation come together to discuss the issues facing agriculture and propose possible solutions."

The 2019 Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) State of the Wine Industry Report, released this week, offers some insight. Among respondents, the direct sales mix for the average winery is built on 42% tasting room purchases with another 36% leaning on wine club enrollments. The bulk of dollars come in with consumers who actually visit the winery at some point, especially for the many producers that aren't participating (or participating on a limited basis) in the three-tier system where a distributor funnels the wine to restaurants and retailers, and onward to the customer.

Few winemakers of whatever sex have in so short a period of time achieved the respect and honors of Argentina's Susana Balbo, whose wines I have long counted among the best coming out of the Mendoza territory.

Saucy Brew Works has collaborated with Napa Valley winery Fait-Main to produce b3, the Cleveland brewery's French-style biére de garde aged in wine barrels. The limited-edition b3 will make its debut Jan. 25-26 at the Cleveland Winter Beerfest and then be available on draft and in 750-milliliter bottles at the brewery on Jan. 26. The bottles will sell for $19.99. (Editor's note: A previous version of this story misstated the size of the bottles.)

With a theme of "Tomorrow's Technology You Can Use Today," the summit at Hartnell College in Salinas will focus on how to incorporate emerging technologies in all aspects of fresh produce growing, processing, sales, marketing and distribution. Educational tracks in ag production and ag business feature such topics as the latest in precision crop management, "big data" to accelerate decision-making, traceability to tackle the food- safety challenge, and initiatives to meet California's workforce needs in 2020 and beyond.

As many as 300,000 people a year will learn how California farmers lead the world in water efficiency once the state-of-the-art Powerhouse Science Center opens in Sacramento in 2020. That's because the section of the museum devoted to water will have three separate interactive exhibits that will show how much water it takes to grow crops, how California farmers lead the world in conservation, and how the state's complicated water storage and delivery system works, said Mike Wade, the executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition.

In the world of California water, much of the conversation -- nay: argument, really -- centers on this place called the Delta. Northern Californians think Southern Californians want to drain it dry. Southern Californians, for the most part, don't even know where the Delta is, much less why it would be important to them. I'm just guessing, but I would be willing to bet that most Californians who don't live near the Delta don't know where it is or why it is important, either.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced that many Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices will reopen temporarily in the coming days to perform certain limited services for farmers and ranchers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has recalled about 2,500 FSA employees to open offices on Thursday, January 17 and Friday, January 18, in addition to Tuesday, January 22, during normal business hours. The offices will be closed for the federal Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday, January 21.

Adopts policies on government shutdown, trade, opioids, cell-based food, broadband

Hog Island Oyster Co., whose oysters and other shellfish are served at Zuni Cafe, State Bird Provisions and several other celebrated San Francisco establishments, issued a voluntary recall of its oysters earlier this month, when reports started coming in that people had experienced symptoms of food poisoning

NextHome, the progressive real estate franchise with consumer-focused branding, technology and marketing, reveals its newest partnership with Splash Wines, a three-generation family-owned wine club company that offers elite wine memberships at best industry value. The partnership stems from NextHome's effort to expand high-quality resources made available to agents, and the buyers and sellers who work closely with them.

Greg Bergersen and Rick Quesada have worked in the Valley's toughest prisons for over four decades. They also have a passion for winemaking and in 2014, opened Solitary Cellars in Madera.

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of the beautiful, kind-hearted soul who imbued Longevity Winery with its uniquely warm, familiar and heartfelt hospitality. Debra Long, wife of Phil Long and co-proprietor of Longevity Winery, left us on Monday, January 14, after a courageous and hard-fought battle with pancreatic cancer.

The Napa County Planning Commission began 2019 by delaying further discussion of the controversial, proposed Anthem winery expansion and by approving the non-controversial Innova industrial building

VinPro's chairman Anton Smuts told delegates at its annual information day. Speaking at the annual VinPro day in Cape Town yesterday (17 January), Smuts told around 900 representatives of the South African industry that "14% of our bulk white wine sells for under R4.50, while water sells between R5-R6."

a conversation with TJ Douglas of the Urban Grape wine shop in Boston

This traditional Greek wine, made with the addition of pine resin, has been roundly scorned. But a new breed of producers aims to change minds

"We would be fools to just ignore all the millions of consumers that no longer even think about going down the drinks aisle at all in the local supermarket or order even one glass of wine in a restaurant. "

- Company Employees across the Country Volunteer Their Time During the Holidays, with a Company Match of $25 for Each Volunteer Hour Equating to Nearly One Million Meals for Americans Facing Hunger -