September, 19, 2014 UK: Ad mogul gives cutting critique of wine trade

(TDB) - The wine industry is “peculiar, fragmented, confusing and impenetrable”, has done little to further its growth and lacks innovation, according to one of the UK’s foremost figures in advertising. That is what Sir John Hegarty, the man behind iconic adverts including John...

September, 19, 2014 Barbara Banke: Queen of the Vine

(Fortune) - Barbara Banke took over at Jackson Family Wines in 2011. Now she’s preparing for a global wine shortage. Barbara Banke Age: 61 Title: Chairman and proprietor, Jackson Family Wines Background: Before JFW, ran a law practice specializing in land-use cases Belief: “We are on t...

September, 18, 2014 Convicts Do Time in the Vineyard

(Wine-Searcher) - Faced with a shortage of pickers, one Mendocino County winery looked behind bars. Grape pickers are always hard to find because the job is such hard work and pays poorly. One winery in Mendocino County, California is trying a new idea this year: prisoners. Six inmates of Mendoci...

September, 17, 2014 Can a Napa Icon Be Saved?

(WineSpectator) - Of all the dramatic visuals the morning after the Napa earthquake—the shattered wine cellars and landslides of fallen barrels—nothing for me was more startling than the live TV images of the historic McIntyre building, crippled and sagging on the grounds of Trefethen V...

September, 17, 2014 Governor Brown Signs Historic Groundwater Legislation

(Gov.CA) - Putting California communities on a path to become more resilient to water shortages, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed historic legislation to strengthen local management and monitoring of groundwater basins most critical to the state's water needs. "We have to learn to manage ...

September, 17, 2014 There’s ‘no need’ for alchemy in the cellar

(TDB) - Winemakers should be less focused on trying to be alchemists in the cellar and instead work towards expressing their piece of dirt according to one of South Africa’s leading winemakers. Speaking to the drinks business during a lunch hosted by Bancroft Wines at Ting restaurant in Th...

September, 17, 2014 Jackson Family Wines launches new Burgundy wine division

(PD) - Jackson Family Wines has launched a new wine division that will focus on Burgundy varieties. The West Burgundy Wine Group is comprised of estate-grown, site-specific wines in the North Coast and Oregon. Fred Reno, vice president of strategic products, will serve as its director. The Santa ...

September, 17, 2014 Nanoscience makes your wine better

(Phys) - One sip of a perfectly poured glass of wine leads to an explosion of flavours in your mouth. Researchers at Aarhus University, Denmark, have now developed a nanosensor that can mimic what happens in your mouth when you drink wine. The sensor measures how you experience the sensation of dry...