2026 Coombsville Cabernet from Flying A Vineyard Flying A Vineyard brings an established Cabernet history to this month’s Round Up. Its 2026 Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon comes from Clone 169 vines on 110R rootstock and is listed as organically farmed. Harvest timing is mid-September, with Grand Crew Vineyard Management overseeing the site. Previous buyers include Amici Cellars, Favia, and Far Niente—a useful piece of history for wineries evaluating the source. Price per ton is negotiable, leaving room for a direct conversation with the seller. If Coombsville Cabernet is already on your sourcing list—or this listing just put it there—the full vineyard details are ready on the Marketplace. View the Coombsville Cabernet listing → Have grapes, bulk wine, or shiners to move? Reach wine industry buyers by posting on the WIN Marketplace. Use promo code MARKETPLACE for 100% off your next listing. Explore the Marketplace Grapes Bu

Whether you're launching a new label or scaling an established brand, Grand Cru Custom Crush in Windsor, California offers the production space, equipment, and expertise to bring your vision to life. State-of-the-Art Winemaking Facilities Our custom crush facility provides everything you need under one roof. We've built a modern, fully equipped production space designed to handle projects of any size—from boutique first releases to growing brands ready to scale. Our state-of-the-art winemaking equipment allows you to maintain full control over your process while benefiting from professional-grade tools and infrastructure. Temperature and Humidity Controlled Barrel Storage Proper barrel aging is essential to crafting exceptional wine, and our temperature-controlled barrel storage ensures your wine develops exactly as intended. Consistent conditions mean consistent quality, vintage after vintage. Your barrels are monitored and maintained in an

COGS isn’t the sexiest topic, but your winery can’t afford to ignore it ‍Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) isn’t exactly a dinner-party topic—but your winery can’t afford to ignore it. It’s not just an accounting exercise; it’s the foundation of financial clarity. Whether you produce 500 or 50,000 cases, not knowing your true costs means flying blind when it comes to pricing, planning, and profitability. ‍In our interactions with winery operations of all sizes, we’ve grown convinced that you can’t afford not to know your COGS. Even boutique operations are running at a disadvantage if they don’t know how much it costs to make each of the wines that they sell. ‍What is COGS? And why is it difficult? ‍In its simplest definition, COGS includes all of the cost outlay required to produce each and every SKU coming from your winery. That includes raw materials, labor, packaging, and overhead. ‍Seems fairly str

In Session 3 of the Wine Club Symposium, Liz Mercer (WISE Academy) made a clear case: tasting-room traffic alone is too volatile to power sustainable DTC growth. Wineries that take their brand to their members, through roadshow events and member travel, are winning sign-ups, sales, and loyalty in the markets where fans already live. Why this matters now Weather, travel patterns, and local disruptions make tasting-room demand unpredictable. Taking the winery on the road diversifies acquisition and retention—and deepens relationships. You control cadence, format, and data capture instead of waiting for foot traffic. Three roadshow formats that work Winery-hosted dinners: Co-plan with a restaurant or country club; keep pricing all-inclusive; align the menu to make your wines shine. Partner-hosted events: Team up with lifestyle brands (e.g., premium appliance showrooms, private social clubs) to co-mingle audiences and scale. Champion-hosted gatherings: Member-home tastings done

In Session 3 of the Wine Club Symposium, Liz Mercer (WISE Academy) made a clear case: tasting-room traffic alone is too volatile to power sustainable DTC growth. Wineries that take their brand to their members, through roadshow events and member travel, are winning sign-ups, sales, and loyalty in the markets where fans already live. Why this matters now Weather, travel patterns, and local disruptions make tasting-room demand unpredictable. Taking the winery on the road diversifies acquisition and retention—and deepens relationships. You control cadence, format, and data capture instead of waiting for foot traffic. Three roadshow formats that work Winery-hosted dinners: Co-plan with a restaurant or country club; keep pricing all-inclusive; align the menu to make your wines shine. Partner-hosted events: Team up with lifestyle brands (e.g., premium appliance showrooms, private social clubs) to co-mingle audiences and scale. Champion-hosted gatherings: Member-home tastings done

The clink of glasses, the warmth of late afternoon sun across the vines—these are the moments that define a winery. But digital marketers can get stuck in the rut of Facebook posts and Instagram stories that have become repetitive and rote. How do you translate the sensory magic of a tasting room into strategies that make visitors show up in person? Take a look at some marketing channels that are not as used by wineries, where old-school storytelling and next-gen tech converge to give you a competitive edge. Connected TV: Your Vineyard in 4K Another banner ad, another still photo, another yawn. Sometimes the channel itself can leave you feeling confined to content that lacks vitality. If you’re facing that, and you’ve got the budget, think about going big on video and distributing it via Connected TV.. Connected TV (CTV) lets you beam the romance of your winery directly into living rooms, framed by the cinematic power of streaming. Think smart TVs, Roku, Apple TV&

The ninth annual Rich Smith Award of Excellence for outstanding contributions to the American grape and wine industry was presented today to Emily Hodson, the winemaker at Veritas Vineyards and Winery, a co-owner of Flying Fox Vineyards and Winery, and an active leader in the Virginia wine industry. Members of the Smith family and sponsoring organizations present the Rich Smith award to Emily Hodson (third from left). The prestigious award annually reflects the spirit and accomplishments of the late Richard (Rich) Smith, founder of Valley Farm Management and Smith Family Wines in California’s Santa Lucia Highlands wine region in Monterey County. Rich was first and foremost a family man, but also a successful grape grower and winery owner, and a highly respected colleague known for the combination of passion, commitment and collaboration which helped advance the American grape and wine industry. Ever since Rich passed away in December 2015, three organizations—WineAmerica, N

By Stacey HeuerIn both the world of winemaking and logistics, technology has made tremendous strides in efficiency and automation. Yet, there are times when the best results come from people who care deeply about their craft. Take, for example, wineries that harvest their grapes by hand. While machines can pick grapes faster, hand-harvesting provides a level of quality and care that often leads to superior wines. Similarly, in the world of third-party logistics (3PL), companies are beginning to question whether automation is always the best route, opting instead to reduce automation and invest in team members dedicated to providing high-quality service. Hand-Harvested Grapes – Quality Over Quantity For centuries, vineyards have been harvesting grapes by hand, especially for premium wines. Although mechanical harvesting can be faster and cheaper, hand-picking grapes offers several benefits that directly impact the quality of the wine. Selective Harvesting: Vineyard workers can car

Growers Enjoy Near Perfect Growing Season SANTA ROSA, Calif. (October 31, 2024) – The 2024 winegrape harvest has just completed in Sonoma County and both growers and vineyard employees are raving about what may be one the best vintages in the past 50 years. According to Karissa Kruse, president and CEO of the Sonoma County Winegrowers, “the best word to describe the 2024 Sonoma County harvest is smooth!” Added Kruse, “The tonnage varied by grape variety and AVA, but the quality was outstanding across the region. As the vineyards turn dormant, most farmers are hosting celebratory lunches and parties for their vineyard employees and crews and relaxing a bit before pruning season and another cycle begins.” The start in early to mid-August for most grape growers was considered a return to normal, after a late start in 2023. The season was blessed with beautiful weather and little to no pressure to pick until the fruit was showing its best flavors and acid

Come Over October, approaching fast, will be a national celebration of wine as the beverage that brings us together—as family and friends, in homes and restaurants, for occasions large and small, or just hanging out. The kickoff event will occur in Congress on Wednesday, September 25, at a bipartisan wine reception co-hosted by WineAmerica, the national association of American wineries in Washington, DC. WineAmerica has previously hosted receptions in conjunction with its legislative fly-ins each spring, but this is an even better opportunity to bring a divided Congress together over a glass of wine, highlighting the spirit of Come Over October. WineAmerica’s mission involves federal public policy advocacy to protect and enhance the business climate for wine. While Michael Kaiser engages in the normal process of position papers, coalitions, and legislative meetings, we in the wine industry have a unique opportunity to tastefully remind legislators that wine is produced in a