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• Baker Family Wines Opens New West Sacramento Winery
  After producing wines on Treasure Island in San Francisco since 2014, Baker Family Wines has opened a new urban winery and tasting room in West Sacramento to more efficiently manage wine production and to focus on direct sales. Baker Family Wines (BFW) are produced under a partnership formed in 2013 as B & B Wine Company between former Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager Dusty Baker, and winemaker Charles "Chik" Brenneman
  
  
• B. Wise Vineyards of Sonoma Valley buys Amapola Creek from Richard Arrowood
  B. Wise Vineyards of Sonoma Valley has acquired Amapola Creek Vineyards and Winery from legendary vintner Richard Arrowood who will retire from the local wine sector after 54 years of work. The deal, which will close on Jan. 10, includes 20 acres of certified organic vineyards, a winery permitted to produce up to 5,000 wine cases annually and inventory. The sale price was not disclosed. The 73-year-old Arrowood said he and his wife, Alis, will relocate in 2020 to Idaho and spend more time
  
  
• California bars insurance companies from dropping customers in fire-prone zones
  California state regulators on Thursday banned insurance companies from dropping customers who live in fire-prone areas, a move aimed at helping some 800,000 people across the state.
  
  
• Grape and Bulk Wine Sales Remain Slow as Wineries Cope with Sluggish Wine Sales
  The "semi-good" news was that the 2019 crop was average. Growers harvested about 4.1 million tons of wine grapes statewide and about 520,000 tons in the North Coast., according to preliminary figures. The growers harvested 4.5 million tons in 2018 - or 6.2 percent than in 2017, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture
  
  
• Total Wine Appeals To U.S. Supreme Court In Connecticut Minimum Pricing Case
  Total Wine & More is looking to take its battle against Connecticut's minimum pricing rules to the U.S. Supreme Court. In an appeal filed December 3, Total presses its case that Connecticut's minimum pricing system violates federal anti-trust laws aimed at promoting competition.
  
  
• Cleo Pahlmeyer Appoints National Sales Manager for Wayfarer Vineyard Wines
  Hunter joined the Pahlmeyer family in 2014 as the company's Western Division Sales Manager US and Canada for Pahlmeyer, Jayson by Pahlmeyer and Wayfarer, after 24 years in wholesale distribution with Admiralty Beverage and Young's Columbia Distributing in Oregon.
  
  
• DAOU Winery, nestled on rolling hills in Paso Robles, Calif., is a favorite with critics and consumers alike
  Founded in 2007 by brothers George and Daniel Daou, the winery has since accumulated over 300 scores of 90 or above ...
  
  
• WSET and IWSC Announce Future 50 Awards List
  The Future 50 is a new initiative created by WSET and IWSC in celebration of their joint 50th birthdays to select 50 under 40 future influencers of the global drinks industry.
  
  
• IPACK-IMA Focuses on Sustainable Materials and Packaging with IPACK-Mat
  The 25th IPACK-IMA to be held in the Fiera Milano exhibition centre from 4 to 7 May 2021, further expanding the show's scope and contents.
  
  
• Healdsburg's Jimtown Store to close after 28 years
  Jimtown Store, a 28-year-old Sonoma County fixture for locals and tourists, will shut its doors at the end of the month
  
  
• Proposed tariffs on French goods could boost US wine sales?
  "A lot of the winemakers in the U.S. are going to take advantage of that and say, 'Hey you don't need French wine to have something good.'"
  
  
• Storm forecast to bring as much as 4 inches of rain to Sonoma County
  With a storm on its way from the Gulf of Alaska, the National Weather Service on Thursday issued a flash flood watch for the Kincade fire burn area in Sonoma County starting Friday afternoon, with from to 2 to 4 inches of rain possible over a 12-hour period.
  
  
• Tablas Creek celebrates 30 Years of Rhone varieties in Paso Robles
  Reflecting on 30 years, Jason Haas commented that "it's hard to believe it's been 30 years. Thirty years marks the end of the beginning. We are through the formative stage." It is exciting to think about the future of Tablas Creek, the pioneers of the California Rhone wine movement.
  
  
• Dan Berger, On Wine: Oxygen -- friend and foe
  Over the decades, I've noticed a lot of wine with common flaws, such as oxidation. And I've also noticed that most people do not see the flaw - or even know it is one.
  
  
• Planning Commission looks at zoning compliance for Neely Wine tasting room in Portola Valley
  The Portola Valley Planning Commission discussed compliance with the town's general plan and zoning requirements of an application for a conditional use permit for wine tasting, onsite wine sales and an event space at Neely Wine, 555 Portola Road, at its meeting on Wednesday (Dec. 4), but took no action.
  
  
• Point Reyes Vineyards and tasting room on the market
  
  
  
• Joe Fattorini: why marketing only to millennials is a waste of money
  Personal circumstance rather than our age is a more revealing way to determine what sort of consumer we might be
  
  
• How To Make And Sell Canned Wine, According To The Experts
  The majority of drinkers in the US prefer the taste of canned rosé wines to those sold in a bottle, according to a recent study, but producers should proceed with caution if they want to cash in on the latest wine trend.
  
  
• Gift Idea: Natural Wine For The People, By Alice Feiring (Book Review)
  Above All, Enjoy It. And Maybe Learning Something Too.
  
  
• Conservation group paying $29 million to protect sprawling Dean Witter Lone Pine Ranch along Eel River
  A conservation organization has unveiled its plans to acquire a 30,000-acre ranch along the Eel River that will ultimately afford public access to trails and a 20-?mile stretch of the river though the Eel River Canyon, where state Sen. Mike McGuire and others envision a trail from San Francisco Bay to Humboldt Bay.
  
  
• Taming the 'wild west': King County Council approves new rules on tasting rooms, wineries outside city limits
  The council voted 5-4 to approve the code update, which redefines how the county regulates wineries, distilleries and breweries in unincorporated King County. The new legislation concludes more than a year of work by county officials on regulations that were last updated 16 years ago, before the region's population - and wine industry - boomed.
  
  
• Bending Branch Winery wins first-ever Texas Sustainable Winegrowing Competition
  Bending Branch and Tallent Vineyards share the award given by Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo and Botanical Research Institute of Texas
  
  
• Award-Winning Winery Thrives Under Winemaker's Enthusiasm
  Lauren Zimmerman, a dynamic and enthusiastic young woman in the burgeoning Maryland wine industry, is currently the winemaker for the Port of Leonardtown Winery in southern Maryland.
  
  
• Meet the 'NFL Wine Guy': Retired DB Will Blackmon building concierge business off his love for wine
  Charles Woodson, who owns a winery in Napa Valley, began sharing his knowledge with Blackmon. And so birthed an unquenchable thirst that has taken the now-retired pro from casual fan to certified sommelier and budding businessman.
  
  
• Report Claims Hard seltzer category to triple in US by 2023
  Led by brands White Claw and Truly, the category is already larger by volume than the leading spirits category in the US - vodka.
  
  
• Eric Asimov's Best Wine Moments of 2019
  The best bottles don't necessarily meet some objective standard. Instead, they are the ones that you can't forget, that have meaning and tell stories.
  
  
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