The wine industry is facing no shortage of pressure. Demand is softer, costs remain high, tasting-room traffic is less predictable, and excess inventory continues to consume cash. InnoVint’s 2026 State of Winery Health Report looks beyond those challenges and asks a practical question: Why are some wineries performing well while others facing similar conditions are struggling? Based on responses from 541 winery professionals, the report evaluates financial, operational, and cultural health. Its central finding is that winery health depends less on location, size, or sales channel than many might expect. What matters most is how the business is managed. Financial Health Is the Weakest Link Only 42% of wineries rate their overall business health as good or excellent. In comparison, just 40% say the same about their financial health. Operations and culture remain stronger. Sixty-two percent describe their operations as good or excellent, and 69% rate their culture as great or exceptional.

What if your customers don’t actually know why they buy? We’ve had some incredible guests on The Pulse, but we have to say, we’re especially excited about this one! Join us for the next eCELLAR The Pulse featuring bestselling author, TEDx speaker, and behavioral economics expert Melina Palmer. We’ll explore the behavioral science behind why customers buy, stay loyal, and connect with brands, and what those insights can mean for the DTC wine experience. From tasting room experiences and wine club memberships to ecommerce and customer loyalty, Melina will share practical ways to better understand what influences customer decisions and create stronger, more memorable experiences. Wednesday, August 12th 10:00 AM PT | Virtual Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lDjgxA4GQVyy8FEhYbyhyA

IBWSS spoke with Jonathan Frost, MBA, DipWSET, Specialist for NOBILE at LAFFORT USA, ahead of International Bulk Wine & Spirits Show (IBWSS) 2026. He breaks down why more wineries - from premium estates to bulk and private label producers - are moving toward hybrid oak programs, and how "palate mapping" lets winemakers target specific structural gaps in a wine instead of just guessing at toast levels. Key takeaways for wineries: Alternative oak isn't leftover barrel-grade wood - it's selected and seasoned specifically for premium adjunct use Dosage systems vary widely (NBE%, g/L, staves per hectoliter) - most confusion around alternative oak comes down to misunderstanding NBE%, not the oak itself Repeatable wine styles come from deconstructing an oak program into foundational, heads, and aromatic profiles - not from chasing a fixed recipe every vintage The most common mistake is over-applying oak and tasting too early - evaluation timing (6–9 months for staves/inserts, 2–4 for b

The 2026 SVB Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report delivers a message that every winery owner and operator should pay attention to. The headline isn't that visitation is down. Most wineries already know that. The headline isn't that wine club growth has slowed. Most wineries are experiencing that reality as well. The real story is that while the median winery reported no growth, the top-performing quartile of wineries increased revenue by 22%, while the bottom quartile declined by 13%. In other words, wineries are operating in the same market conditions but achieving dramatically different results. So what separates the winners from the rest? The Industry Challenges Remain The report confirms several trends that continue to pressure winery profitability. Direct-to-consumer sales remain the foundation of the premium wine business, accounting for approximately 72% of revenue. Yet the channels driving those sales are under strain. Tasting room visitation continues to decline, reducing opportunit

Outshinery has launched a free Visual scorecard, a self-serve assessment tool that lets beverage brand marketers, brand owners, and image managers see exactly where their visual library stands and what to fix first. The scorecard is live now at outshinery.com/visual-scorecard. The tool runs on six standards drawn from a decade of Outshinery client patterns: library completeness, visual consistency, channel readiness, production process maturity, image type diversity, and a qualitative read on the gaps a score alone cannot catch. Each one is a checkpoint that beverage brands of every size tend to underestimate, the same blind spots showing up again and again across briefs. Two paths are available. The full scorecard takes 20 minutes and walks through 23 questions across five scored sections plus one open prompt. A quick pulse takes 3 minutes and gives a directional read on the same six standards. Both end the same way: a maturity tier and the priorities to fix first. Tiers are named hon

The release of the latest report from Azur Associates provides one of the clearest assessments of the current state of the wine industry. The report’s message is direct: this is not simply a temporary slowdown or another cycle the industry can wait out. The market is undergoing a structural reset.That perspective aligns with much of the data we have seen from Silicon Valley Bank, Rabobank, and other industry sources over the past few years. Demand has softened, inventory levels have increased, and younger consumers are approaching alcohol very differently from previous generations. However, where Azur stands apart is in its interpretation of what these trends actually mean for the future of wine. The report makes a strong case that the industry is moving toward a much smaller, significantly more competitive market. Consumption patterns have changed, and the assumptions that supported growth for decades are no longer reliable or realistic. Consumers are drinking less frequently, explori

Five years ago, running a winery on Shopify meant duct-taping a lot of things together. Great for e-commerce. Okay for DTC. Difficult for wine clubs. Not really designed for tasting rooms. That's changed. The combination of Shopify's platform investments and a handful of wine-specific apps has created something genuinely new: a single operational stack that connects your tasting room, your wine club, your online store, and your loyalty program under one customer record. That convergence has real operational consequences — and it's why an increasing number of wineries are consolidating everything onto Shopify. Here's what's actually different. Your Card on File, Finally Done Right One very frustrating limitation of running a winery business on Shopify used to be simple: Shopify didn't let you vault a customer's payment card and charge it later for anything other than a subscription — not from your POS or your back office or sales team for one-tim

Join Vineyard Team and Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance for a half-day Industry Update bringing together growers, experts, and advocates for a timely pulse check on grape markets, grower resources, and state-level developments shaping our region in 2026. This ticketed* event includes lunch and will feature: Grape Market Update & Industry Outlook – A look at current bulk wine and grape market trends, supply and demand dynamics, and what they mean for your business decisions this season. Grants & Funding Opportunities Panel – Moderated by an experienced grower, this conversation brings together funding and program specialists who work directly with agricultural grants and cost-share programs. Learn what opportunities are available, how to position your operation for success, and what makes a strong application. Policy & Advocacy Update – Michael Miiller of the California Association of Winegrape Growers shares key statewide developments and policy prioriti

Recent-vintage stocks growing tighter The 2026 harvests in the Southern Hemisphere are in full swing – a number are ahead of a typical schedule, in fact – and this month’s Global Market Report provides the latest on conditions, grape quality, and crop-size expectations. With one exception, the bulk markets of the world have been quiet over the past month. The introduction to our March 2025 report applies again 12 months on: “The bulk market can be characterised as slow and steady since mid-February, with the Southern Hemisphere focused on harvest and demand in the Northern Hemisphere dampened by flat or declining retail sales and, in Spain, some elevated pricing.” Wary buyers are waiting to see how the harvests affect availability and pricing before committing, perhaps using the intervening time to take the industry pulse at shows like Wine Paris (growing in prominence; we review its recent instalment here) and ProWein, and generally try to gain a read on

More and more farms are standardizing their use of Lumo across their entire operation.  We’ve seen growers expand from a couple ranches to dozens. From 50 acres to over 2,000. That kind of expansion is built on seeing significant returns on investment season after season.  But everyone needs to start somewhere, so it’s only natural to ask: "If I want to see the highest return on my investment in Lumo, which ranches should I start with?" Here’s a couple ways to think about it: 1. Highest Value Crops Many growers start with ranches where their crop values are the highest because that’s where irrigating with precision pays the most.  It’s part of the reason we’ve seen such good success in Napa and Sonoma with many of the best wine growers in the world, and it’s why we’re seeing increasing interest from berry growers on the Central Coast.  If dialing in your irrigation precision can have a modest impac