This is my last post here on my way to a new publishing platform. If you choose to follow me to my new publishing platform at Substack, I’ll begin publishing there tomorrow. To read any future posts you’ll need to subscribe: CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE But with this last post, I want to preview a few things I’ll be writing about at the new home of FERMENTATION. A look at the stranger arguments states and opponents of wine shipping are making... The post A Last Post and Preview of Coming Wine Coverage appeared first on Fermentation ..read more

It’s pretty clear at this point that I’m incapable of looking at something then not saying something about it. This affliction can’t be addressed through medication. It’s something I’ve known for some time now that I just have to give in to the compulsion. And that’s what I’ve done for the past 17 years and through 3,500 posts here at Fermentation. It’s my intent to continue to do this at a new subscription-based newsletter/website version of Fermentation hosted by Substack... The post A New FERMENTATION and a Promise appeared first on Fermentation ..read more

The wine media is a slow-moving ship. Its turns and transitions come slowly. When changes do come to the wine media, they are notions and innovations at first, then the spigot opens and it seems as though it must have always been this way. Up until the 1960s and into the 1970s, the wine media in the United States consisted primarily of books providing the basics on a select number of regions and wines One occasionally would find newspaper articles... The post Transitions in the Wine Media—And For This Writer Too appeared first on Fermentation ..read more

Stacy Brisco never disappoints. The most recent reminder of this writer’s well-honed chops is an article she wrote for the Wine Industry’s Beverage Industry Enthusiast entitled, “The Wine Industry Pledged Improve Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity. Has anything changed?” One thing that Stacy demonstrated in this review of the wine industry’s DEI efforts is how talking and writing about the issue has changed. As I read through the article I noticed that there was no mention of the wine industry being... The post Moving Forward on the Question of Race and the Wine Industry appeared first on Ferme ..read more

Rabobank’s latest report on Alcohol e-commerce shows that such transactions reached $6 Billion in 2021, a 131% increase in just two years. Now, this $6 billion figure includes e-com sales of wine, beer, spirits and everything else. But the question that goes unanswered is to what degree do e-com sales of alcohol help increase the total sales of alcohol? In the press release announcing the new Rabobank report (2022 Alcohol E-commerce Playbook) the report’s author, Bourcard Nesin, answers this important... The post Where Is Alcohol E-Commerce Going and Where Has It Been? appeared first on Fermen ..read more

My position is a simple one:  When you publicly lie to consumers and lawmakers in pursuit of profit and at the expense of consumers and competitors, you should be publicly branded a liar. Case in point: The Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of America, The Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of California, and the Teamsters. Each of these liars is telling lies about California Senate Bill 620, legislation that would legalize direct-to-consumer shipments of spirits from distillers in California. Or, put another... The post Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Lie For Profit — Again appeared first on Ferme ..read more

I’ve often thought it would be a fascinating project to map out The Family Tree of Winemakers. The project would consist of connecting present-day winemakers to winemakers of the past and follow the influence and inspiration down the line: Smith worked under Jones; Jones worked under Washington. Washington worked under Johnson, etc, etc. In the U.S., this would essentially be an exercise in tracing back most of our great winemakers to Andre Tchelistcheff. This could be done with winemakers because... The post Influence, Inspiration and Value in the Wine Media appeared first on Fermentation ..read more

I don’t remember the last time I saw the sun. Surely it peeked through the slate grey Oregon sky at some point in the past four weeks, but honestly, it couldn’t have been for an hour or two. Before we moved to the Willamette Valley, we were warned of the winters. We were warned particularly good and hard by our friends who lived here and understood we were coming from Napa Valley where it rains and is grey in the... The post Winter in the Willamette Valley Wine Country appeared first on Fermentation ..read more

Today many will devote a good deal of brainspace and emotional toil to remembering the Capitol Riots of January 6, 2021. I don’t think anyone will or should treat January 6 like Pearl Harbor Day or 9/11 anniversaries, but I do think a good deal of justified introspection will ensue. With my FERMENTATION and wine industry hat on, I am motivated to ask if the Capitol Riot and its fallout have any impact on or anything of substance to say... The post One Year Later—Capitol Riots, Wine, Beer, Spirits and Us appeared first on Fermentation ..read more

Twenty twenty-one (2021) was a non-election year. It was also the first of the traditional two-year election cycle. This year is the second of the two-year election cycle, an important election year, and it is the year that campaign contributions really pour in. I note this because what I’m about to show you is really a pittance; a drop in the bottle, so to speak. American alcohol wholesalers have nearly completely captured the lawmaking process when it comes to alcohol.... The post Keeping Corruption in Wine in Place: Campaign Contributions appeared first on Fermentation ..read more