North Bay Business Journal

Growers wish for a normal year; Sonoma harvest down estimated 20%

After three consecutive years with early and late rains and hard frosts in some areas negatively impacting winegrape production, growers and wineries in the North Bay and coastal regions of California cling to hope for sustainable yields and better returns in 2012 and beyond.

Wine: Cecchetti wine sales rise 39%; top North Coast pruners; what is an intern?

Sonoma-based Cecchetti Wine Co. reported that it had its third year of volume sales growth. Roy Cecchetti’s goal of making lower-priced wines has resulted in 200,000 cases sold in 2010, a 39 percent increase from 2009. The winery is projecting sales of 250,000 cases total this year. … Winners from vineyard pruning contests in Mendocino, Sonoma and Napa counties. … A California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Labor Standards Enforcement opinion letter has added new wrinkles to the quandary over whether student interns have to be paid at least minimum wage as employees, according to Jennifer Phillips, an employment and real estate attorney with Dickenson Peatman & Fogarty in Santa Rosa. … Graton-based custom winemaker Sonoma Wine Co., which now produces more than 5 million cases of wine from six facilities in Sonoma and Napa counties, inked a deal with Sebastopol-based Winesecrets to provide services to Sonoma Wine’s 30 clients. … Golden State Overnight and FedEx expand direct-shipping services. … Bill Hambrecht teams with Paul and Heath Dolan and Phil Hurst in the H.D.D. wine group venture. … Dry Creek Vineyard entered a sales and marketing agreement with Sonoma-based V2 Wine Group, which will manage Dry Creek’s distribution nationwide.

Supervisors move forward with revised frost-water ordinance

SANTA ROSA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 5-0 to proceed to a final vote at next week’s meeting on a draft frost-protection water use ordinance, despite warnings from several conservation groups today to slow down the process and make it more “transparent.”

Sonoma supervisors to consider reworked frost rules today

SANTA ROSA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors this afternoon is set to consider reworked local rules for use of well and stream water for frost protection in parts of the Russian River Basin deemed key habitat for protected fish.

Sonoma County wine labeling effort advances

SONOMA COUNTY — A bid to make the Sonoma County name a standard descriptive feature on all wines made from grapes grown in its winegrowing regions, called conjunctive labeling, reached a significant stage today as grower and winery trade groups reached consensus to back state legislation this year to make it happen.

Leaders of Sonoma County Vintners,

Wine: TastingRoom fills startup tiny-bottle portfolio with 50-plus wineries

Just months after launch, Santa Rosa-based TastingRoom already has nearly 50 wineries lined up to repackage their wines in 50-milliliter bottles that allow remote sampling of their wines. … Tonnelerie Saury, which produces the Leroi and Erable brands, merged with French barrel stave maker Groupe Charlois. All 6,700 cubic meters of staves Charlois produces will go to Saury brands, instead of the 70 percent usage currently. … Presidents of the various American Viticultural Areas in Sonoma County plan to meet April 27 to decide whether to support Sonoma County vintners’ proposal for conjunctive labeling, which would require wines made in nested or subappellations to also carry the name of Sonoma County as the origin of most of the grapes in the wine, according to Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission. … Napa-based direct-to-consumer wine sales training program WISE Academy (www.wineindustry
saleseducation.com) is launching two new courses. … Twenty years after buying 4,000 acres of land on Mt. George in Napa Valley and planting 75 acres of it, Kenzo Tsujimoto, chairman of the Japanese gaming giant Capcom Group, plans to open his Kenzo Estate winery on Monticello Road on May 1.

Wine: Vintage buys minority stake in Kunde

Foster’s reports ‘premiumization’ showing some gains

Winery group seeks ‘Sonoma Co.’ label law

SANTA ROSA – The Sonoma County Vintners trade group on Jan. 20 started a campaign to get state legislation that would require labels mentioning any viticultural area within the county to also include “Sonoma County.”

Rain adds drama to tough economy

North Coast winegrape growers late last week were looking forward to a few warm, breezy days to dry out the remaining grapes on the vine and close out what has been a surprising, challenging season in terms of weather and economics.

Seeing an uptick, tourism officials look forward

SONOMA COUNTY – As tourism statistics indicate the sector is on the rise, the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau will commence its first, three-year strategic plan, including more tech marketing, a larger home office and additional satellite locations on the East Coast and abroad.

Feds pilot quarantine crop insurance

CALIFORNIA – Some California farmers will for the first time receive crop insurance coverage for losses created by a quarantine, according to a new pilot program announced by federal officials this month.