October, 16, 2018 Big Wine Brands' Bizarre Beginnings

(Wine-Searcher) - The greatest wines seem to come from an inordinate amount of blood, sweat and tears. Wine is weird. After grapes are plucked from vines, cleaned and crushed (or not), they're ready for fermentation. Eukaryotic microorganisms go in, consume sugar, and burp out carbon dioxide and...

October, 16, 2018 U.S. Wine Sales Led by Value Increases

(Wines&Vines) - September saw 3% growth in the value of U.S. wine sales, as consumers traded up in value while paring back on volume. The trend appeared across multiple channels, underscoring the strength of the economy. Direct-to-consumer (DtC) shipments posted the strongest growth in S...

October, 16, 2018 U.S. Wine Retailers And The Constitutional Right To Ship Out Of State

(Forbes) - A few weeks ago the Supreme Court agreed to hear in early 2019 Tennessee v Byrd, a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that erupted into a small volcano of speculation among wine industry promoters and marketers. To find out if the explosion is warranted, I asked Tom Wark. ...

October, 16, 2018 Bordeaux 2018 red wines: Balance key amid high alcohol levels

(Decanter) - As Bordeaux winemakers wrap up this year’s harvest, many say that they have never seen such high levels of alcohol, including for Cabernet Sauvignon. Bordeaux 2018 red wines: Balance key amid high alcohol levels As final grapes were being brought in at Château Léov...

October, 16, 2018 Elon Musk announces bid to produce Tesla-branded Tequila

(TDB) - Entrepreneur and CEO of electric car and solar power company Tesla, Elon Musk, has revealed his company has filed an application to trademark ‘Teslaquila’, meaning that what was originally an April Fool’s prank could become a reality. Musk first made reference to the pr...

October, 16, 2018 This is the Most Expensive Wine Ever Sold

(Maxim) - Ultra high-end whiskies have been getting all the glory lately. Collectors recently gobbled up the world's most expensive whiskey bottle  for $1.1 million (an extremely rare 1926 Macallan scotch) and the priciest Japanese whiskey , a $300,000 Yamakazi single malt.  But now ...

October, 16, 2018 The Silence of the Somms

(Wine-Searcher) - If silence is golden then the Court of Master Sommeliers is the new El Dorado. A week on from a foundation-rattling revelation that one of its senior Masters had leaked information about this year's MS tasting exam, there is still a deafening silence emanating from the Court. ...

October, 09, 2018 The California wine industry is worried about “smoke taint” from wildfires

(Thetakeout) - The record-breaking wildfires in California, Oregon, and British Columbia have caused an unbelievable amount of damage, with more than 10,000 homes destroyed and dozens of people killed since October 2017, per the  Los Angeles Times . It’s grim stuff, grimmer by far than h...