E. & J.Gallo Winery's Spirits Division has announced plans to acquire Agave Loco, the parent company of cream liqueur brand RumChata. The terms of the deal also include the company’s other brands, The Tippy Cow and...
A Look at the Off-Premise as Category Laps 2020 Pantry Loading Period
This time last year, the U.S. had just declared a national emergency around COVID-19 and “panic-buying” and “pantry loading” were added to our vocabulary as an industry. As we lap the initial weeks of the pandemic, alcohol...
Understanding The Craft Beverage Modernization and Reform Act
Alcohol producers shared a collective sigh of relief in December when Congress made the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMA) permanent in its year-end funding legislation package after extensive lobbying...
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits to Acquire Epic Wine & Spirits
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits has acquired certain assets of Epic Wine & Spirits, the distribution division of Foley Family Wines. Simultaneously, Foley Family Wines signed a national distribution agreement with...
Oklahoma liquor group planning court challenge to state question 792
State question 792 would change Oklahoma’s laws to allow wine and cold beer to be sold in grocery and convenience stores, starting in 2018. State question 792, approved by 65% of voters, includes several changes to...
Australian Chardonnay
The other day I met the splendidly named Brice de la Morandière, who has taken over at the helm of the world-famous Domaine Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet. We discussed China, where he once ran a multinational hydraulics...
Cognac makers ‘fail’ to build brands in China
Cognac producers looking to China have their work cut out rekindling love for the category - but their luck may soon turn. Despite the impact of China's austerity measures on Cognac, the category is beginning to boast a...
August saved the Burgundy 2015 vintage, say vintners
Warm days and cool nights in August and September brought freshness to concentrated fruit, resulting in grapes with plenty of anthocyanes and colour, said vintners in Burgundy. This is despite a three-week heat wave with...
How to halt wine world’s biggest killer?
There are currently 7.5 million hectares under vine globally - 1.5 million suffer trunk diseases. Imagine a vine disease with no cure that affects an area the size of France and Italy's vineyards combined. We're not talking...
Wine Country prepares for another early harvest
Grapes around the North Coast are slowly turning color as a precursor to this year's harvest, which is expected to arrive earlier than usual and deliver a smaller crop than last year. Vineyard managers in Sonoma and Napa...
Louisiana: Drizly Brings Alcohol Delivery to New Orleans
Drizly™, the technology company powering fast, convenient beer, wine and liquor delivery for consumers and businesses across the U.S., today announced the launch of its delivery service in New Orleans. Powered by...
Subsidising wine
The EU has now increased the sum available for promoting wine over the period 2014 to 2018 by 121 per cent to €1.15bn "Making good wine is just the beginning - selling it is what's difficult." So says Silvana Ballotta, and...