09/23/20 Wine Business Monthly Announces its 2020 Wine Industry Leaders Every year, Wine Business Monthly sets out to honor those who shape the way the wine industry operates or how people drink wine. With this leaders list, we're showcasing men and women who are making a difference. It's full of movers and shakers, and there are more than a few who are dissatisfied with the status quo. Some of the influential people on this list are known to virtually anyone who follows the wine industry, while others are influential yet fly "under the radar." All of them are leaders in the North American wine business.

09/23/20 2020 Sonoma County Wine Auction Raises $1.17 Million for Sonoma County Nonprofits Over $37 million has been raised since the auction's inception, making a direct local impact on education, health and human services, the environment, and arts and culture. The 2020 virtual auction program included a Fund-A-Need campaign dedicated to education and addressing the digital divide among school-aged children in the community.

09/23/20 Should You Drop Unsold Fruit or Leave it on the Vine? It is possible that more growers this year will have unwanted fruit and the intent of this article is to help you make an informed decision regarding that fruit.

09/23/20 Paso Robles winemaker accepts plea deal for shooting 'threatening' neighbor's golf cart Tobin James Shumrick accepted a plea agreement for misdemeanor vandalism related to his long-running dispute with a threatening neighbor.

09/23/20 Napa Valley's Opus One winery names Christopher Lynch CEO Lynch's leadership roles in the wine business have included companies such as E. & J. Gallo, LVMH's Chandon Estates, Pernod Ricard, Beam Wine Estates and Terlato Wine Group

09/23/20 Neil Hadley MW elected chair of the Institute of Masters of Wine He is the 55th head of the IMW, which administers the annual Master of Wine examinations. The term is two years. When he passed the MW exam in 1993, Hadley was the youngest MW at just 26 years of age. He was an Australian resident at the time; a few years later he became an Australian citizen.

09/23/20 Sommelier Luke Boland on Finding Clarity During the Pandemic The former Crown Shy wine director reflects on his new perspective on restaurants-and recent career pivot

09/23/20 Santa Barbara County Wine Industry Looking At Taxing Some Sales To Support Marketing Efforts The plan still has a long way to go before it becomes a reality. A majority of wineries in the proposed district have to sign on for the plan, and then the cities, and Santa Barbara County also have to approve it. The goal is to have the approvals in place by the end of the year, so the 1% tak could take effect January 1st.

09/23/20 How Direct-To-Consumer Companies Succeed-And Why Many Fail Successful DTC companies have a gross margin of at least 50% and it can get as high as 85% depending on the product?

09/23/20 Richard Hemming MW: is Patreon the breakthrough new income model? Hemming explains why Patreon could be the breakthrough business model of our times.

09/23/20 Guala has developed a set of eco-friendly design guidelines which will be applied across its five research and development centers

09/23/20 Urban Grape announces two wine-studies award winners The inaugural award provides a year-long program of wine education, work, and mentorship, designed to open doors to professionals of color who remain underrepresented throughout the industry

09/23/20 Texas grape growers with Dallas roots open Fredericksburg winery Greg and Nikhila Narra Davis debut new Kalasi Cellars tasting room.

09/23/20 Is Black Friday Dead? Not Just Yet To help merchants chart a path for this year's Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Shopify Plus held a webinar, "Is Black Friday Dead?" to bring together ecommerce experts and merchants to share the trends they're seeing, their strategies for this holiday shopping season, and how they plan to prepare for a BFCM that will be unlike any other in recent memory. Here are their insights.

09/23/20 Santa Barbara County Women Winemakers Celebration Donates $10,000 in Annual Event Proceeds to Foodbank of Santa Barbara County The Women Winemakers Celebration, held each year on International Women's Day (March 8), has for the past three years, donated event proceeds to Northern Santa Barbara County non-profits. Given this year's food supply crisis, those involved in the Women Winemakers Celebration were in overwhelming agreement that the 2020 event funds raised should benefit those economically affected by the pandemic.

09/23/20 Washington Winegrowers, National Partners Ask Congress for Wildfire Relief The September letter, addressed to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, asks for immediate relief and is signed by Washington Winegrowers Association Executive Director Vicky Scharlau along with the Washington, Oregon and California farm bureaus, California Association of Grape Growers, California Wine Institute, Oregon Wine Board, Oregon Winegrowers Association, Winegrape Growers of America, and WineAmerica.

09/23/20 New Vintages from Tussock Jumper Released Tussock Jumper is pleased to announce two new wines, a 2020 Chenin Blanc from the Stellenbosch region of South Africa, and a 2020 vintage of their Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand.

09/23/20 Sutter Home Family Vineyards Celebrates 20 Years Of Fighting Breast Cancer With Annual Sutter Home for Hope Campaign As one of America's first wine companies to make a commitment to breast cancer research, treatment and education, Sutter Home has contributed more than $1.5 million to the cause over the past 20 years. The wine brand marked its seventh year of partnership with National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.® with limited-edition White Zinfandel and Rosé 187mL bottles - each donning pink ribbons like the returning Sutter Home for Hope 750mL and 1.5L formats.

09/23/20 InnoVint Expands Team with New Senior Relationship Manager, Kevin Williams Prior to joining the InnoVint team, Williams was a sales leader for both Commerce7 and WineDirect. While working for Winery Direct, he quickly rose in the ranks from Sales Executive to Director of Sales, then transitioned to spearheading International Sales for Commerce7 at the company's inception. He holds degrees in Business, Management, Sales & Marketing from Sonoma State University.

09/23/20 InnoVint Welcomes Don LaBorde as New Client Success Director LaBorde has spent nearly 20 years leading some of the North Coast's largest brands through their greatest growth phases. Mostly recently, LaBorde was Director of Industry Relations at ETS Laboratories. LaBorde earned a degree in Wine Science from Charles Sturt University in Australia.

09/23/20 Napa-based BE Local Launches Experience Curation and Trip Planning Platform Launched earlier this week for travel professionals in Napa Valley, BE Local combines local knowledge from real people with innovative artificial intelligence, to curate inspiring and engaging travel experiences and make the trip planning process easy, fun and most importantly, carefree.

09/23/20 Home Winemaking Classes Now Available Online Winemaker Frank Renaldi has a deep passion for not only making wine but teaching others the art of making wine. He's been making wine for over 18 years from wine kits, wine juice, wine grapes and frozen wine grape must. He developed his skills through long hard work. Frank consults at several local wineries which make 3000 - 14000 gallons of wine each season. He will teach you how to make wine the professional way in simple and organized terms - with plenty of hands-on demos.

09/23/20 Le Grand Courtâge Joins the Pacific Highway Wines Portfolio Three wines will be added to the Pacific Highway portfolio: Le Grand Courtâge Blanc de Blancs Brut and Le Grand Courtâge Brut Rosé, both available in 750ml (SRP $19.99) and mini 187ml (SRP $7.99), and Très Chic Rosé, a still rosé available in 750ml (SRP $16.99).

09/23/20 Chicago Wine Consulting Opens New Wine Store in Glenview, Illinois With Grand Opening on Friday, September 25 at 12pm The newly-opened Chicago Wine Consulting store is open 10:30am to 6:30pm Tuesday through Saturday (closed Sunday and Monday) and offers free delivery to Glenview as well as Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Next month the complete Chicago Wine Consulting inventory will be available on ChicagoWineConsulting.com for online ordering with secure credit card processing.

09/23/20 24Seven Connect Announces Turn-key Compliance and Shipping Product for Retailers of Alcoholic Beverages, Plus a Name Change 24Seven Connect has changed its company name to Boxcheck, powered by 24Seven Connect. This announcement coincides with the launch of Boxcheck's compliance, shipping and customer experience platform. Boxcheck's proprietary technology is an alcohol compliance and shipping platform specifically designed for retailers. It gives retailers access to a discounted rate shipping program where fees like Adult Signature Required and Residential Surcharges are deeply discounted.

09/23/20 Florida Wine Academy Announces Event Lineup for Miami Champagne Week 2020 The week dedicated to the world-recognized French sparkling wine will be celebrated with webinars designed to educate, promote and create awareness about Champagne nationwide. The festivities bring together some of the most prestigious Champagne experts in the industry to create unique and educational experiences for all Champagne enthusiasts, whether newcomers or experienced.

09/23/20 Nickel and Nickel winery will restore its farmstead history The Oakville area winery along Highway 29 won Napa County Planning Commission approval last week for its proposals. Commissioners particularly liked the planned restoration of an old barn and shed.

09/23/20 Wine Auction Raises $85,000 for Student Meals Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Foundation held its annual wine auction this year online. The nonprofit also moved the auction from September to July so the proceeds could be donated to the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District in time for the new school year.

09/23/20 I've Supported the Wine Industry for Years. Why Won't it Support Me? "While there's certainly no shortage of influencers here in wine country, the pool is significantly smaller for Black biracial POC influencers."

09/23/20 Surging Australian wine exports Australia's AUD2.84 billion wine export sector has recently gone live with a new SaaS licensing and approval system powered by Accela technology that will help regulate the wine export process for the burgeoning Australian wine sector.

09/23/20 New appellations would celebrate individual terroir of cannabis strains California's cannabis industry may soon have legally recognized geographic areas as highly regarded as those of the wine industry. Just as Sonoma's Russian River Valley is known for Pinot Noir and Napa's Oakville for Cabernet Sauvignon, Northern California sub-regions like Salmon Creek, Comptche and Ukiah Valley could each become world-renowned for their signature strains of cannabis.

09/23/20 Management Changes at Notre Vue Estate and Balverne Wines, "We are thrilled that industry veterans of this caliber will be joining our operation."

09/23/20 The 2020 Wine-Searcher Retailer Awards Want to know who has the best Burgundy list in Baltimore? Check out our award-winning retailers.