09/24/20 California regulators identify violations after Rodney Strong wine spill, but no fine yet - press democrat (paywall) In a notice issued Tuesday, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board outlined three discharge violations stemming from the Jan. 22 spill at Rodney Strong Vineyards, where a racking door at the bottom of a large stainless-steel storage tank burst open, flooding the Old Redwood Highway facility with a torrent of cabernet sauvignon.

09/24/20 Hess CEO talks Smoke, Pandemic Strategy "The general practice that we're seeing emerge is to agree to a delayed acceptance of fruit with growers, allowing for harvest to go ahead, but also giving time to get an accurate picture of smoke taint. The good news is that results that we've received to date from Napa and Lake counties have been far lower than expected."

09/24/20 Interview, Part 1: Marc Taub, President And CEO, Taub Family Cos. "When you look up and down our fine wine portfolio, anything that's doing more than 25% of business on-premise is going to be down. In many cases, it's more like 50% of the brand. We're utilizing the strength of our retail teams to help bring those brands into the retail market."

09/24/20 Off Premise Wine Sales Up Nearly 20 Percent in Past 17 Weeks: Sauvignon Blanc and Red Blends Gain Share Throughout the pandemic, growth of Prosecco has been somewhat consistent, with growth rates earlier in the pandemic up 43% and growth rates for this summer up 34.4%. French champagne experienced different dynamics, with slower growth rates during the first 3 months of the pandemic, followed by an extreme pick up in off premise growth during summer months.

09/24/20 Diving Into August and Summer 2020's Alcohol Trends: A Tale of Two Recoveries Is alcohol looking at its own unequal K-shaped recovery, where the brands and alcohol categories that entered the Covid era in a position of entrenched strength have bounced back quickly, while upstarts face a far more uncertain future?

09/24/20 California's wineries tossed into chaos with backlogged tests for smoke taint If wines reflect the unique attributes of the year in which they were made, then California's 2020 vintage may carry the distinctive notes of uncertainty, confusion and chaos.

09/24/20 Wildfires taint West Coast vineyards with taste of smoke The wildfires are likely to be "without question the single worst disaster the wine-grape growing community has ever faced," said John Aguirre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

09/24/20 Wine industry faces wildfire smoke taint uncertainty Cooperative Extension Specialist Dr. Anita Oberholster was interviewed for a KCRA 3 news feature about how the wine industry is dealing with the risk of smoke taint.

09/24/20 Oregon winemakers hoping for stellar vintage despite wildfire smoke "I'm not ready to call this vintage yet and I have a lot of faith in what's going on here." - Jason Lett

09/24/20 Napa Valley's Somerston Estate Forgoes 2020 Vintage Due to Smoke Damage from Wildfires "On a positive note, our team is safe and well, although still in a bit of shock."

09/24/20 Solano, San Mateo, Alameda join other Bay Area counties in reopening from coronavirus restrictions Solano County on Tuesday moved into a less-restrictive tier of California's four-level COVID-19 containment framework, allowing a number of restaurants, movie theaters, hair salons and shopping malls to reopen indoors to a limited degree.

09/24/20 Zachys Auctions Rare Wines from Italy's Enoteca Pinchiorri The 2,500-bottle consignment from the Grand Award-winning restaurant fetched $4.1 million, but it still has nearly 80,000 bottles in its cellar

09/24/20 CZU Lightning Complex fully contained, but Cal Fire urges caution "Remember, contained is not controlled. We will continue to monitor this fire for smoldering areas," Cal Fire said. "Re-population efforts continue to be complicated in portions of the fire area by closed roads, damaged utilities and compromised trees."

09/24/20 North Carolina's Thermal Belt Helps Grow Grapes Just west of Charlotte, and slightly southeast of Asheville, you'll find Rutherford and Polk Counties. In this two-county region, give or take a sliver from surrounding counties, you'll find what's referred to as the "Thermal Belt Region/Zone"

09/24/20 Hospitality outlets in UK must display QR codes as tracing app goes live Hospitality venues in England are now required by law to display QR codes, which users of the NHS Covid-19 app can scan to check-in.

09/24/20 China Says It Wants Less Aussie Wine, But Drinkers Say More Please China might be trying to use beef, barley and wine as weapons in its trade war with Australia but when it comes to a drink at the end of the day Aussie wine remains a preferred tipple of discerning Chinese drinkers.

09/24/20 Argyle Winery and Pacific Northwest College of Art Celebrate Fifth Annual "Art of Sparkling" Release Three artists create an original piece of art reflective of their interpretation of Argyle, which is then turned into a label for the Art of Sparkling 3-bottle set.

09/24/20 Lail Vineyards Celebrates its 25th Anniversary and Releases "Cellar Stories," a Series of Colorful Anecdotes as Told by Vintner Robin Lail The entertaining collection of personal tales is available on Vimeo and Instagram @LailVineyards and will include stories from other vintners and winemakers in the future

09/24/20 Los Angeles Vintners to Pick Historic Grapes this Weekend With the challenges of the current moment heavy on the mind, a small group of Los Angeles based wineries are looking to the past, and will soon harvest grapes from some of the oldest known vines in California.

09/24/20 NABI Testifies Before United States International Trade Commission on COVID-19 Disruptions on Global Supply Chain Covid-19 related disruptions are only exacerbated by the 'trade wars' with China and the European Union.

09/24/20 Nominations Open for Wine Industry 'Distinguished Service' Award The award recognizes those whose contributions have benefited the American grape and grape products industries by exemplifying the qualities that set Rich Smith apart.

09/24/20 In praise of the blockbuster wine The blockbuster wines that line supermarket aisles have an important role to play in the wine industry, says Robert Joseph.