2024: Year in Review
My favorite stories published this year
The wine industry is in the grip of a big learning curve this year. Often a victim of inertia, the industry got more wake up calls this year that markets really are conversations, and that they may be relying too much on what worked in the past. Smart folks in the industry are hard at work studying what works and trying to spring into action, despite uncertainty.
I was deeply impressed by how some wineries are responding–getting engaged with TikTok and, for a few, offering fine wine in bag in box formats which is proving to be very popular with consumers though less so with retailer gatekeepers.
Attending my first FIRA USA conference in Woodland (still under the radar for most of the wine industry in California), I was excited to see the potential for wine grape growers to take advantage of agtech advances, many of which are already being used abroad. Big grower are piloting autonomonous equipment locally, as adoption proceeds slowly.
Here are my favorite stories of the year, written for Grape and Wine and Wine Business.
Marketing: Waking Up?
Social marketers at agencies and big brands are optimistic about the new rules allowing them to advertise on the platform–a social media giant with 170 million U.S. users, many of whom are wine lovers with money to spend.
Climate Friendly Packaging
A catalyst for climate forward moves, packaging changes show how the category is a direct way for wineries to show their climate friendly colors.
• Fine Wine Producers See Bag-in-Box Wines Taking Off: “We Doubled Production”
Consumer demand has resulted in better wine choices–with more to come.
• Reinvent The Wine Bottle? Napa Entrepreneur's Hexagonally Shaped Bottle Innovates, Reducing Shipping Costs 39 Percent
Napa’s Kia Behnia introduces new wine bottle shape, proving that glass can be climate friendlier.
• Can Glass Wine Bottles Become Carbon Neutral? Fueled by Renewables, Verallia Fires Up Breakthrough Electric Glass Furnace
Not to be left behind, glassmakers up the ante, with cleaner furnaces.
• Low Carbon Footprint, FrugalPac Paper Wine Bottles Debut at Aldi, Whole Foods and Monterey Wine Co.
Bonny Doon and a Monterey co-packer embrace paper bottle breakthrough.
Agtech
• "An Olympic Village of Agtech Innovation": Central Valley Group's New Incubator Spurs Development of Autonomous Robots and Tractors
A new entity hopes to be the crucial missing link to accelerate R and D in agtetch.
• Can a Vineyard Software Startup Take Precision Ag to New Levels of Granularity and Increase Revenue? Scout Breaks New Ground
Kia Behnia and Mason Earles team up to invent practical, grower centric scouting tools.
• FIRA ROUNDUP: Forward-Thinking Ag Tech for Improved Vineyard Autonomy
Top vendors at FIRA USA showcase latest technology, much of which the state’s biggest growers are already trialing.
Regulations
• "A Huge, Huge Deal": Experts Untangle the "Super Hella Confusing" California Bottle Bill
Rules made for beer and soda producer compliance prove unwieldy for most wineries.
• Winery Wastewater Disposal Technology: Finding Affordable Solutions to California’s New Winery Wastewater Order
Compliance is confusing and expensive and vendors who scale to small wineries scarce.
Organic
• Can Regenerative Organic Farming Pencil Out? Study Provides State-of-the-Art Data and Demonstrates Dramatic Improvements in Wine Quality
Data points to resilience benefits as well as better wine quality.
Historic Vines and Winemakers
• Hundreds Pay Homage to Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' Visionary Founder Warren Winiarski and His Multifaceted Life
An icon and a perfectionist, the community celebrated the life of its legendary breakthrough winemaker, while his family and friends praised his lesser known environmentalist passions.
• Star Studded Historic Vines Tasting Showcases California's Treasures
Global interest in preserving old vines is alive and well in the state, with 44 producers pouring wine from their oldest vines in San Francisco.
For the Love of Wine
• Producers Celebrate International Grenache Day in Style: Praise "Grenache as What Pinot Noir Wants To Be When it Grows Up"
Though less than 5,000 acres grows in California, passions run deep for this climate friendly variety growing in popularity.