Wine industry panelists at the 2019 Impact Napa Conference on Tuesday spoke about some of the biggest concerns facing the industry. These include millennials' lower interest in wine compared with baby boomers, increasing labor costs, falling market prices for grapes, and slowing growth rates that are likely to persist.
American wine country extends far beyond Napa, Calif., with at least 10 other low-profile wine regions worthy of a visit dotted across the country, Autumn Jones writes. Among them are Geneva, Ohio; Arrington, Tenn.; and Lincolnville, Maine, she writes.
Rain that exceeded 20 inches in certain places has swamped some vineyards in Napa and Sonoma valleys in California. The Napa and Russian rivers are rising, and some vintners have expressed concern about potential hillside erosion.
Texas ranks fifth in the nation in wine production, and the Texas Hill Country trails only Napa in wine tourism, writes Lynn Brezosky. While California remains king in wine production, Texas has an advantage in that "almost every Texas winery is a family-owned operation," according to Messina Hof co-founder Paul Bonarrigo.
Resource Label Group has acquired Paragon Label in a move Paragon founder Jason Grossman said will provide "some horsepower" to its growing wine label printing business. Resource Label has printers in Oregon, Washington and Canada, while Paragon's customers are mainly in California's Sonoma and Napa counties.
Australia's Penfolds is taking its blended wine approach on the road, planning to release its own wines using grapes from other wine regions, the company announced. Among its planned bottlings are a Napa blend and a shiraz infused with baijiu.
Containment of the major wildfire burning in California's Yolo and Napa counties rose to 30% this morning, Cal Fire reported. Firefighters are continuing to battle the blaze, which has burned 86,000 acres since Saturday.
Kuvee, maker of a Wi-Fi-enabled wine bottle designed to keep wine fresh, is shutting down and has cited a fire in California's Napa region as a major factor. The company, which raised millions and had a successful Indiegogo campaign, is now looking for a partner that can use its technology, CEO Vijay Manwani noted.