- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Like many business sectors, the California premium wine industry is suffering under the weak economy, according to an article published over the weekend in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.
Wine produced in Napa and Sonoma counties used to be cheap alternatives to French wines. Now connoisseurs are turning to less expensive wines from Australia, South America and California's Central Valley.
UC Cooperative Extension viticulture farm advisor Glenn McGourty told reporter Glenda Anderson that he believes consumers will return to North Coast wines when the economy...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Latino winemakers are rare, but some are finding success by catering to Latinos developing a taste for fine wine, according to an Associated Press article by Olivia Muñoz. The story ran in the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, on the ABC News website and other media outlets.
The article profiled two Latino family wineries whose founders started out working in the fields.
"I would work my regular shift and then pester the vineyard manager with questions until...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A two-acre vineyard on the Shasta College campus will produce grapes for the school's growing wine-making program and a venue for collaboration with UC Cooperative Extension, according to an article in the Redding Record Searchlight.
Although the young vineyard is still about a year away from producing its first crop, the college is already working with UCCE to use the vineyard for research and community workshops.
“That’s been a good partnership,” Shasta College horticulture instructor Leimone Waite was quoted in the article. “We are trying to be a completely organic vineyard, which has been a real...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Grape crush has begun at a new UC Davis winery that is intended to become self-sustaining in terms of energy and water, according to a UC Davis news release that ran in the Daily Democrat. The facility's environmentally friendly features include onsite solar power generation and a system for capturing rainwater and conserving processing water. The stored rainwater will be used for landscaping and toilets. "We want to demonstrate a self-sufficiency model that is applicable to any business with limited water," the article quoted
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Within 20 years, 42,000 acres of new vines could be needed to meet growing U.S. wine consumption, Western Farm Press reported Jim Lapsley, UC Davis professor emeritus of ag economics, said at the “Outlook and Issues for the World Wine Market” symposium sponsored by the UC Agricultural Issues Center in late June.
But recently, cheaper wine imports have been spurring growers to replace grapevines with more profitable crops, notes reporter Harry Cline. In the Central Valley, wine grape plantings declined from 190,000 acres in 2001 to 157,000 in 2008.
“Using UC crop budgets, wine grapes are netting only $80...