"After 11 years of direct presence in North America, Enartis is entrusting its analytical services business to a very capable partner. Enartis now wishes to concentrate its resources on its core business of oenological products, further strengthening its position of leadership and innovation."

Ben Aneff, president of the U.S. Wine Trade Alliance and managing partner of Tribeca Wine Merchants, urges the wine community to make their voices heard.

A San Francisco federal court said Curtis Hanson may pursue breach of express and warranty claims in a proposed class action over Welch's 100% Grape Juice, 100% Juice Red Sangria and 100% Black Cherry Concord Grape Juice.

Are China's top wines now as good as Bordeaux?

While the 'hot' $20-$25 price tier segment cooled a bit, the price tiers just below and above it performed strongly. Wine is more 'restaurant' aligned than bars - its share of alcohol in restaurants pre-COVID was close to 3x its share in bars. With mandated bar closures more evident than restaurants, wine may weather the storm better in the on premise.

As part of the Paycheck Protection Program, the federal government provided up to $659 billion in financial support to banks to make low-interest loans. Search the loans approved by lenders and disclosed by the Small Business Administration.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has broadly undermined market prices for California winegrapes and we believe the U.S. Department of Agriculture should include winegrapes on the list of specialty crops eligible for direct payments in the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program," stated a July 6 letter to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, signed by 25 representatives and two senators.

The Board's budget includes an allocation of $200,000 to contract for a new research coordinator. Since 2001, the Board has had total assessment revenue of $70.7 million, with average annual assessment revenue of $3.72 million.

Willamette Valley Vineyards is building a $13.5 million sparkling wine facility in the Dundee Hills. Beginning July 8, WVV is offering $9.3 million worth of preferred stock to help finance the Bernau Estate Vineyard project.

This virtual tour of Washington State will take you from coastal oyster farms with Justin Stang of Hama Hama Oysters, to the apple orchards of Finnriver Farm & Cidery with the cidermaker himself, Andrew Byers. And it wouldn't be a proper tour of the Evergreen State without the wines - learn from some of our favorite winemakers themselves: John Freeman of Browne Family Vineyards and Waterbrook Winery and Ashley Trout of Brook & Bull and Vital Wines.

Katerina Axelsson, now 28, is the founder and CEO of Tastry: a sensory science company with patented artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The technology has been applauded by leaders in entrepreneurship and technology, and seems to be the logical next step in wine.

A month after what would have been Auction Napa Valley's 40th anniversary, the Napa Valley Vintners announced reaching the $200 million milestone in charitable giving to the community. "Through virtual acknowledgements during July, the NVV is saluting the generosity of its winery members, the bidders from all over the world, the strategic business partners and dedicated volunteers who, since 1981, have all played a role in reaching this milestone."

Breweries and bars face another complete shutdown; indoor dining and wine tastings may be once again prohibited.

In light of continued restrictions on in-person events, Central Coast Insights will now be held as a two-day webcast on August 26-27, 2020. However, Wine Business Monthly has made the difficult decision to delay the next convening of WiVi Central Coast tradeshow and conference until March 31, 2021.

"We have seen the success that the Folio Fine Wine Partners team has built with the Susana Balbo Wines collection over the last five years and we look forward to joining this dynamic and growing portfolio. We sincerely thank The Hess Collection Winery for the many years of invaluable collaboration in building the brands to be recognized nationwide and wish them only the best for the future."

Most recently, as Vice President and Director of Strategy-California for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Joy ran Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Patz & Hall, and Conn Creek.

For the past fourteen years, he has served as Peter Michael Winery's CFO.

Dominique Demarville, the highly respected winemaker who joined Laurent-Perrier less than a year ago, is to leave the Champagne house this month.

She will continue to oversee daily operations.

The bill appears to have been subjected to the gut and amend process, as the previous contents dealt with unrelated provisions pertaining to temporary licenses. The bill would fine-tune the Cannabis Appellations Program, whose proposed regulations have recently been promulgated by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

The Connected Worker Program measures certain motions and detects unsafe movements of employees during their shift. The data is shared with the supervisor and used to identify risk trends, improve safety measures, and coach workers on injury prevention techniques.

Celia Welch is such a winemaker, having made superb wines for high-end clients such as Staglin, Keever and more, with the most renown being Scarecrow, which is basically in a league of it's own. However, we not only talk wine, but get to know Celia in a way most people don't get insight to. I'm sure what you find will be enriching and inspiring so please listen and enjoy.

The one-, three- and five-year plans that brand owners put together in the autumn of 2019 will now seem mostly irrelevant in our new world. How are brand owners reassessing their channel distribution?

The Farm Credit Northeast AgEnhancement Program, a joint effort of Farm Credit East, Yankee Farm Credit and CoBank, recently provided more than $62,000 in grant funding to 19 organizations. With this latest round of funding, the program surpassed $2.5 million provided to various efforts to support young and beginning farmer initiatives, encourage youth leadership development, and promote northeast agriculture, forestry and commercial fishing, since the Northeast AgEnhancement program's inception.

"It takes a lot to birth an AVA," explains Anna Keller, Estate Director of Keller Estate in Petaluma, California, speaking of Petaluma Gap, designated an American Viticultural Area (AVA) December 7, 2017, "but it's not surprising a dynamic group of women took up this charge-as women, we are used to being an underdog, having to fight harder for a seat at the table."

Elaine Chukan Brown speaks with Rodrigo Soto, estate director, Rebekah Wineburg, winemaker, at Quintessa in the Napa Valley, as well as Pedro Parra, PhD, wine terroir consultant, and wine producer.

A model by one of its professors concluded that in-person classes were a better option.

By taking out a small leaf sample from any grape vine, plant biologists can now figure out the exact sequence of genes contained within its cells' DNA, which allows them to develop genetic maps and chart out the various pathways for breeding.

"The negative impact of the pandemic on the Tourism Industry has been unprecedented, " cited Glenn Mandziuk, President and CEO of TOTA. "Building the industry back requires strong and collaborative partnerships that can provide foundational support and out of the box thinking."

They include San Francisco's leading arts organizations; major construction companies; food and wine makers such as Jelly Belly, Guittard Chocolate and the Wente Bros. winery; a hospital; a law firm; an insurance company; venture capital-funded startups; Berkeley tour operator Backroads; Francis Ford Coppola Presents in Geyserville; and two hotels affiliated with Richard Blum, Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband

Two pinot noirs and a chardonnay from entrepreneur Allan Warburg's beautiful, art-filled winery in Sonoma County Each Donum vintage is marked by an Ai Weiwei zodiac animal.

Sun Pacific, one of the larger fruit growers in California's San Joaquin Valley, continues to expand its organic grape program and is anticipating a very good 2020 season.

She is now the wine director of One Market Restaurant, a fine dining institution with decades of history, where she has built one of the city's most impressive beverage programs.

According to the latest figures, the total amount of alcohol imported into China has fallen by 29.07% in volume and 31.4% in value, with wine imports seeing the greatest reduction, falling by over 30% in both value and volume.

Laurent Ponsot was a low-sulfites maverick and innovator. Then three years ago he broke with his family to start something new.

The loss of on-premise sales has left wineries with a surplus of wine. That's leaving many with little appetite for grapegrowers' 2020 harvest. Many Denominacións de Origin (DO) have already begun addressing the issue. "DOs are taking measures in order to reduce yields of next harvest to mitigate the risk of oversupply and minimize potential downward pressures on prices as much as possible."

The tasting experience is available now through August 31. Offered 7 days a week, the tasting is $200 per person with a limit of 6 people per group.

Eric has spent a majority of his career on the supplier side and distributor side, running regions in the west; Mainly; California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, & Oregon. Eric comes to Favorite Brands to reshape the sales force and to guide the Spirits division to the next level of success by developing brands and creating the best selections of craft spirits in Texas.

New measures include the temporary exemption from the EU's competition regulations, allowing companies to "self organise and implement market measures" in order to stabilise the market for a maximum period of six month. This includes working together to plan production and promotional activities as well as use private storage.

At a time when some of the biggest fundraisers for food banks - annual galas and award nights - have been postponed.