October, 13, 2014 Winegrape harvest early, lighter, dodges problems

(NBBJ) -  Thanks to an early start to the 2014 North Coast winegrape season and moderate temperatures with serious weather issues in between, harvest started and wrapped early throughout the region, and tonnage appears to be larger than average over the past several years but smaller than last...

October, 12, 2014 Sonoma County: Winery, creamery plans stir opposition in Bennett Valley

(PD) - Nate Belden and his wife, Lauren, want to permanently relocate from their San Francisco apartment to their Sonoma County farmhouse, situated on 55 acres off a remote stretch of county road east of Rohnert Park, where they plan to expand their vineyard operations to include a new winery and c...

October, 12, 2014 Amid bombs and bullets in Syria, a vineyard blooms

(USAToday) - As the U.S. was bombing Islamic State militants in Syria last week, eight wine experts were invited to the Ledbury, a two Michelin-star restaurant in West London, to sample the latest vintage from the Syrian winery Domaine de Bargylus. For these red and white wines, it was the culmina...

October, 12, 2014 Number of UK wine producers continues to grow

(BBCNews) - The number of new wine producers in the UK has risen sharply, according to new research. In the year to 31 March, 46 new producers registered with the taxman, up from 31 in the 2012-13 period, said accountants UHY Hacker Young. There are now 135 UK producers registered with HMRC, the ...

October, 12, 2014 Vinfolio Wants Wine Provenance In the Bitcoin Block Chain

(CCN) - Wine ages like fine… wine. Some of the rarest bottles fetch well over $100,000 USD. Collectors of ancient libations have six-figures worth of reasons in proving the bottles integrity. Verifying a wine’s provenance means tracing a bottle’s history as far back as possible &...

October, 12, 2014 Influential Costco executive discusses wine business in Q&A

(PD) - Annette Alvarez-Peters is one of the most powerful people in the wine industry. She supervises the wine buyers for Costco Wholesale Corp., which sold $3.7 billion in alcohol around the world last year. The sway Costco carries in the industry from the vineyard to retail shelf is tremendous b...

October, 12, 2014 An Ode to Organics Without the Dogma

(Wine-Searcher) - Robert Anding finds this evaluation of sustainable viticulture and viniculture surprisingly balanced and level-headed. One of the problems I have with the organic wine movement is that many of its proponents tend to get a little preachy about it all. How refreshing, then, to fin...

October, 10, 2014 How birds of prey keep the pests away

(SCMP) - Why do vines grow grapes? Clearly, it's not to ensure that we get to crack open a perfectly chilled glass of albarino with our oysters. That is simply a rather pleasing side-effect. What vines want is a fail-safe system for ensuring their own survival, and they have chosen, in nature's wis...