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Wine and the Falling Dollar
There are good reasons why it has been a while since I last wrote about wine and the dollar’s foreign exchange value. A lot of things have shaken up the pattern of wine sales here in the U.S. market,...
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Theories of the Global Wine Glut
The world is awash with wine, or so it seems from reading the news. Down in Australia, they are counting up the gallons of unsold wine in a new (to me) measure: number of Olympic-size swimming pools...
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Economic Change and the Global Wine Glut
Last week’s Wine Economist probed two influential theories of the emerging global wine surplus that are based in different ways on demographic trends. I call them the “Generation Gap” hypothesis and...
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Global Wine Glut: The Return of Crisis Distillation
Crisis distillation is back in the news. For those unfamiliar with this wine business term, crisis distillation refers to government programs that buy surplus wine and distill it into industrial...
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Will Success Spoil Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc?
Will success spoil Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc? That is the question that haunts the 50+ winery members of Appellation Marlborough Wine (AMW). Sauvignon Blanc, as everyone knows, is New Zealand’s...
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Bolgheri and the Native vs Traditional Grape Variety Debate
There are hundreds of native grape varietals around the world. Italy has enough for Ian D’Agata to fill two substantial volumes: Italy’s Native Wine Grape Terroirs and Native Wine Grapes of Italy....
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Unified Symposium XXX: Back to the Future for the Super Bowl of Wine Industry...
As harvest 2023 draws to a close, many of us are gearing up for the 2024 edition of the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento on January 23-25, 2024. The Unified is sort of the Super Bowl of...
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Crisis & Change for Washington Wine
Is the Washington State wine industry in a crisis? How you answer this question depends on where in the industry you sit and how you define a crisis. Certainly the news this year, as reported at The...
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Bottle Shocks: Unexpected Wine Bottle Trends
The movement to address climate change challenges is one of those glass half-full or half-empty situations. Bold initiatives are often followed by foot-dragging or back-sliding. Two steps forward then...
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Fiasco Flashbacks? Rediscovering Chianti Classico
It is called a fiasco. Fiasco? Yes, I know what you are thinking, but you’re wrong. I’m not talking about what happening in Congress with the debt ceiling. And I am not talking about the bonehead moves...
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Non-Alcoholic Wine and the “Second Glass” Test
Sue and I hadn’t given much thought to non-alcoholic wine (NA wine) for a while but then we read Florence Fabricant’s NY Times article on “8 Non-Acoholic Wines for the Thanksgiving Table” and we knew...
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The “Uncork Ontario” Regional Wine Cluster Strategy
Although the U.S. economy performed surprisingly well in 2023, the wine business news columns were filled with gloom and doom as wine demand lagged behind the growth needed to sustain the industry....
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A Look Back at the Future of Wine
The Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, North America’s largest wine industry conference and trade show, is happening this week in Sacramento, California. It is an exciting event where people from...
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The Case for Cautious Optimism about the Future of Wine
Sue and I have just returned from the 30th edition of the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento. The Unified is the largest wine industry gathering in the Western Hemisphere with about...
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The Road Ahead: Lessons from the Unified Symposium
What’s the state of the wine industry? Here are four observations inspired by things I learned at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium‘s State of the Industry session and in hallway conversations....
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Stalin, Machiavelli, and Nutritional Labels for Wine
If you want to start an argument among wine industry people, bring up the issue of nutritional labeling. Should wine labels provide consumers with the same kind of nutritional information and...
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Got Bacon? What Can the Wine Industry Learn from Pork’s Problems?
The outline of the Wall Street Journal story was very familiar to anyone who has followed wine industry trends in recent years. The product had a long history and was well-loved in America and around...
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From Yellow Jersey to Blue Bin: Wine Bottle Innovation Steps Up
Last week’s Wine Economist stressed the need to adapt to changing wine market conditions and to embrace innovations as part of that process. However, innovations are not always readily accepted (often...
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License to Steal 2024: Forging Best Practices in Wine Marketing
I will be in Syracuse, New York, next week to speak at License to Steal, a national wine marketing conference that is being held in conjunction with the Eastern Winery Exposition. License to Steal?...
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What’s Your Wine’s Story? From 19 Crimes to 1000 Stories
“What Young Wine Drinkers Want” is the title of a recent Financial Times article by Hannah Crosbie, one of several recent reports probing the priorities and buying habits of younger consumers. Taken...
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