North Bay Business Journal

After three straight years of harvests delayed and reduced by unwelcome weather, North Coast winegrape growers see signs of brighter prospects for a 2012 crop that could be, thankfully, average-sized and on time.

Nearing the end of its fourth decade in business, Joseph Phelps Vineyards of St. Helena plans to unveil a refreshed website this summer that not only integrates the company’s Sonoma Coast wines and has a new background look but also will deliver from the same design a viewing experience neatly accommodating existing or future screen sizes ranging from smartphone to large panels.

That vintner and others as well as designers of their sites and providers of their ecommerce and operations software are exploring, actively pursuing and dealing with the consequences of “responsive web design.”

If we review sales activity over the past 18 to 24 months, we can see how the role of foreign investment in the U.S. wine industry has evolved. Broadly speaking, there are three general categories of foreign investment in the United States wine market from which to gauge activity.

Rohnert Park-based Stellar Energy, a solar energy engineering, procurement and construction provider, installed a 454-kilowatt photovoltaic electricity system at Jordan Vineyard & Winery in Healdsburg.