North Bay Business Journal

  • Forecast: Wine, grape prices to rise in 2012

    January 25th, 2012

    SACRAMENTO — The prices of wine on U.S. store shelves could start rising this year because of an “emerging shortage” of winegrapes and wine plus a sales and marketing “blitz” last year, according to experts speaking at a major wine industry trade event this morning.

  • Bulk-wine inventory hits 12-year low

    January 19th, 2012

    SANTA ROSA — The tightest inventory of top varieties of wine available for purchase in bulk in a dozen years and a dwindling supply of those winegrapes could extend the rise in pricing for those fine-wine components into this year, but wineries are hard-pressed to pass those cost increases to consumers who are continuing to look for discounts, according to experts at a major local wine industry seminar this morning.

  • Report: Fine wine sales to grow 11% to 15% in 2011

    April 27th, 2011

    The fine wine segment of the industry is at the beginning of a “long-term, steady growth phase,” with sales of such wines forecast to grow 11 percent to 15 percent from last year and wineries enjoying “marginally improving profitability,” according to a report released this morning by Silicon Valley Bank.

  • U.S. thirst for wine passes that of France for first time

    March 15th, 2011

    The long-held place of France as the top market for wine in the world fell to the U.S. last year, according to data released today by wine industry consultants Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates.

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

    March 14th, 2011

    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.

  • Napa Valley wine auction harvests record $2.4 million

    February 28th, 2011

    ST. HELENA — The Napa Valley Vintners’ annual wine futures auction to the trade held Feb. 26 in the Napa Valley, broke records finishing at nearly $2.4 million in sales. Last year’s PNV auction brought nearly 30 percent more than 2009’s take, and this year closed at 6 percent more than 2008’s record-setting $2.2 million.

  • Wine exports increase 25 percent in value, nearly 2 percent in volume

    February 22nd, 2011

    U.S. wine exports, 90 percent from California, bounced back from the 2009 recessionary slump in value to reach a new record of $1.15 billion, but the volume of wine shipped out of the country didn’t return to 2007 or 2008 levels, according to figures released today.

  • Wine telesales firm dials up expansion

    February 21st, 2011

    SANTA ROSA — Provino Premium Wines is expanding to accommodate a sales force to sell wines over the phone for a growing number of client vintners.

  • Expert: Restaurant wine sales recover, but slowly

    January 26th, 2011

    SACRAMENTO — Sales of wine in restaurants are improving but will be challenging for the next five years amid a lasting consumer shift to “value,” but growers of grapes for ultrapremium-priced wines are facing higher costs than are covered by the increasing number of grape buyers, according to experts at a major wine industry conference in Sacramento today.

  • Expert: ‘Luxury drought’ challenge to winemakers

    January 20th, 2011

    SANTA ROSA — Producers of high-end wine face a “luxury drought” decade through 2020, in which attracting younger “affluent” consumers who actively acquire luxury goods will be increasingly challenging as the ranks of such buyers decline until the buying power of the Millennial increases as they age, according to a luxury products marketing expert at a major wine direct-sales conference Wednesday.

  • Direct-to-consumer wine partnership formed

    July 8th, 2010

    NAPA — VinAccess, eWinery Solutions and VinoVisit Inc. joined forces to provide French and Italian wineries with an integrated direct-to-consumer platform to promote tourism and sales to American consumers.

  • Bank study sees 2010 improvement for wine

    May 3rd, 2010

    NORTH COAST — The high-end part of the wine industry will start to recover by the end of this year, with revenue growth this year for wines retailing for more than $20 a bottle of 8 percent to 12 percent from that of last year, according to an economic forecast released today by Silicon Valley Bank.

  • Wine conference presenters will focus on building value

    April 19th, 2010

    NORTH BAY — What’s it worth to you? It’s a vital question vintners need to ask themselves, regardless of whether they are looking to sell a luxury-tier wine to consumers more conscious of spending on such luxuries or to court an investor in all or part of the business, according to experts set to speak at a wine business conference this week in Santa Rosa.

  • Report says ‘flight to value’ to continue for wine consumers

    April 19th, 2010

    NORTH COAST — This year is shaping up to be another challenging one for the wine industry on the North Coast as signs of recovery in the U.S. economy and consumer spending slowly take hold, according to an economic report released today.

  • California wine sales flat, revenues off 3.2%

    April 8th, 2010

    CALIFORNIA — Despite an economy in which some wineries’ revenues were off by double-digits last year, California winery shipments to U.S. markets were nearly unchanged in volume, according to industry analyst figures released today. Yet aggressive discounting of wines to maintain that volume resulted in revenue from those shipments dipping 3.2 percent to $17.9 billion.

  • Winery Insider launches

    March 29th, 2010

    SONOMA – The first members-only private sale company focusing exclusively on wine launched last week. Tony and Danielle Westfall formed Winery Insider, www.wineryinsider.com, to offer members access to hundreds of wines from around the world at 40 percent to 80 percent off retail prices.

  • eWinery expands as industry seeks more direct sales

    February 1st, 2010

    NAPA — Wine e-commerce software developer and provider eWinery Solutions is expanding its headquarters to accommodate a 60 percent growth in revenue and 120 more winery clients in the past year.

  • Winery group seeks ‘Sonoma Co.’ label law

    February 1st, 2010

    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.”

  • Imports help overall wine sales; end of ’09 better; slow recovery seen

    January 27th, 2010

    SACRAMENTO — Large scale importation of bulk and bottled wine helped boost total U.S. shipments by an estimated 2.1 percent last year, but wineries heavily impacted by shifting consumer demand may have to wait until 2011 for significant market improvement, an expert said at a major industry symposium here this morning.

  • Marketing minefield for wineries

    January 18th, 2010

    NORTH BAY — The industry has been looking to consumer product promotional know-how from outside the business for fresh ideas, particularly as producers of higher-end wine look to move slow-selling inventory in an economy with high unemployment and trimmed expense accounts.

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