Category Archives: Nota Bene

What’s Up with Wine? The Sky’s the Limit. Nota Bene September 2026

September 22, 2026 By in Nota Bene, wine, wine auctions, wine festivals 2 Comments

Nota Bene is a periodic Wine Economist column that briefly highlights stories that might otherwise escape attention. This month we focus on good news stories about wine and wine markets. This isn’t an attempt to paper over the industry’s troubles and challenges. It is important to be realistic, but it doesn’t hurt to highlight good news when we can. Hope you agree.

Wine is in the Air

Things are pretty turbulent in the air travel industry and one of the most important strategies right now is what wine people would call premiumization. If you are designing seating configurations and setting fares in a K-shaped economy, you are likely to offer fewer cut-rate seats at the back of the plane and more super-premium seats at the front. Low fares in back fill the plane, but high fares up front are where the profit comes from.

Increasingly the competition is about not just routes and seats, but the travel experience itself, so all sorts of amenities come into play. Higher fares get more amenities, while the lowest fares get very few (no carry-on bags, for example, no advanced seat reservations). Is everything an up-sell? Seems like it sometimes.

So where is the good news for the wine industry? Well, the Wall Street Journal reports that “The One Place Where Wine Still Rules: 30,000 Feet in the Air.”   Many airlines are upgrading their wine service as part of their premiumization strategy. More and better wine for travelers, the WSJ reports, which benefits the wine industry directly and positions wine as part of the premium experience and lifestyle.

An industry friend points out that this is a good time for airlines to adopt a wine strategy simply because there is a lot of good wine on the market at good prices.

How far can this trend go? Don’t expect to see magnums of d’Yquem in economy class any time soon! But things are really cooking at the extreme front of the plane. Delta One passengers, for example, can choose among very nice wines in the air, but the wine situation is even better on the ground! Delta One passengers gain access to Delta One Lounges, like the one at JFK airport we were fortunate to be able to visit recently.

Wine was almost literally everywhere, at the main bars, at smaller wine bars scattered around the lounge, and in the bistro restaurant. If Delta One defines an aspirational lifestyle to some folks, wine is clearly at the center. Wheels up, bottoms up.

Washington Wine Picnic

Selling wine isn’t always a picnic, as they say, but picnics can be a good way to sell (and celebrate) wine.

If you want to see hundreds of happy people enjoying wine and each other, you might want to stroll the beautiful grounds of Chateau Ste Michelle during the annual Auction of Washington Wines Winemaker Picnic. That’s what Sue and I did last month and it was an uplifting experience.

The Auction of Washington Wines is a dress-up affair that raises a lot of money for good causes. I’d say that it is serious fun, with emphasis on the fun part. But the event raised serious money, too, more than $4 million this year. Outstanding!

The Winemaker Picnic, which happens the evening before the auction, is more casual and maybe even more fun. Guests are invited to

Join us for our largest wine and culinary event on the beautiful grounds of Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery. More than 100 talented winemakers are on hand to show off the best of WA Wine. Through tasting bars, themed vintner stations, and specialty areas like the popular sparkling wine/rosé bar, you’ll find your perfect pour. Indulge in delicious bites from top Seattle eateries featuring a variety of upscale picnic food while surrounded by the beauty of our state’s founding winery. Get in on the fun with games or bid on future release wines at the live auction. 

The idea is to stroll the grounds, meeting old friends and new, trying new wines and returning to favorites, nibbling on delicious food, bidding on wine packages, and playing games. We didn’t see anyone having a bad time.

The industry friends we talked with were well aware of the market problems (a lot of Washington vineyard acres have been removed in the past couple of years), but they were glad to be surrounded by so many wine-loving guests and did everything they could to make them happy.

Even the venue itself had a special meaning this year. Chateau Ste Michelle has been through its share of difficult times recently, but it now looks set to move ahead under new ownership of the Wyckoff family.

“Ste. Michelle has been the long-term driving force behind Washington’s wine industry,” said Court Wyckoff, CEO of Wyckoff Farms and Coventry Vale Winery. “As partners since the early 1980’s, we deeply believe in Ste. Michelle Wine Estates’ outstanding portfolio of iconic Northwest wine brands. We look forward to working with the Ste. Michelle team to build on its leadership, invest in winemaking quality, and champion Washington’s wine grape growers and Washington wine to consumers across the country.”

That’s really good news for Washington wine. A final bit of good news: demographics. There were plenty of us boomers at the picnic, but there were also many younger people, too, and that is no accident. There was a special “30 and under” ticket program to entice younger guests. It was great to feel that the world of wine is growing again.

There are probably events like the Winemakers Picnic in your area. Check them out and see if your findings are the same as ours.

Wine and Chocolate

There is always wine on the table here at Wine Economist World Headquarters and when some chocolate shows up, we like to have a little fun with pairings. This is often a winter activity just because chocolate and fortified wines go together so well. But that’s not the whole story.

Maculan, the famous Veneto wine producer, makes some very interesting sweetish wines and we decided to try pairing the lightest and brightest of them, the Maculan Dindarello,  with a new line of chocolates from Portland, Oregon’s Wildwood Chocolate.

Dindarello is a Moscato Giallo Passito, the grapes dried on long ropes hung from the rafters for a month after harvest. Aromatic and intense, but light on its feet, if you know what I mean. Our chocolates come from the Wildwood Woodland Collection of personal-sized chocolate bars that invite deeper exploration into the botanical world that defines the brand.

We started our project with two chocolate bar varieties, Orange Confit & Cherry and Yuzu & Roasted Brown Rice. Our hypothesis was that the orange confit of the first bar and the yuzu of the second would link up with the aromas and flavors of the wine. It was a good theory, but how would it work in practice? Would the wine improve the chocolate? Would the chocolate improve the wine? Or would the flavors clash? Only one way to find out.

The results were quite interesting. I liked the orange confit pairing a lot because I think it brought out nuances in the wine. Sue preferred the yuzu and brown rice because (this was a surprise) the texture and slight saltiness of the brown rice really worked. Everyone liked a special pairing that combined slightly salty butter crackers with a jam that Sue made with Cape gooseberries from her garden.

We are continuing our experiments with the Wildwood chocolates. Tawny Port and a Bolgheri red blend both worked in different ways. What next? Wine is supposed to be fun and this tasting was a great way to end the meal.

“The Swirled Cup” Takes Flight! Nota Bene July 2026

July 28, 2026 By in Nota Bene, popular culture, wine 3 Comments

Nota Bene is a periodic Wine Economist column that briefly highlights stories that might otherwise escape attention.

The Swirled Cup Takes to the Air

If you are flying on Delta Airlines now through September, check your seatback entertainment system for three episodes of The Swirled Cup, Andrea Robinson’s documentary series about the rise of wine in the last half century and the people who made it happen. The series was inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Judgement of Paris, but the stories it tells go far beyond that storied event. Click here to view the series trailer.

Andrea writes that

After several years of filming in vineyards, wineries, kitchens, restaurants, and wine regions around the world, I’m so excited to have the first 3 episodes in the in-flight entertainment/DeltaSync system. The series celebrates wine, food, farming, travel, cultural connection, and, especially, the people who give them meaning. In that vein, you’ll see central voices like Danny Meyer, Kevin Zraly, Bobby Stuckey MS, Piero Antinori, and Laura Catena (to name a few!), as well as the architects of the globally transformative Judgment of Paris tasting in their own words from my one-on-one interviews, top culinarians, and many in the industry’s next generations as well.

I’m incredibly grateful that Delta believed these stories deserved a place among the journeys they help people make every day. If you are flying Delta between now and September (thank you!), I’d love for you to search for The Swirled Cup and see the episodes.

Sue and I plan to tune into The Swirled Cup on our next flight. In the meantime we are watching the trailer and imagining where Andrea’s journey will take us next! Andrea Robinson is a wonderful storyteller and the positive story of wine needs telling. Now more than ever.

Did Wine Win the World Cup?

Let’s start with a question. How did Team Wine do at the recent World Cup? Were we even in the game? It depends on how you look at the situation.

Wine-producing countries did very well, as usual. In fact, they dominated the competition.

Spain versus Argentina was an all-wine final match. France and England played for third place in a sparkling (wine) shootout. Wine won the World Cup big time if you look at it this way.

But was the wine industry able to exploit the opportunities that the World Cup created to sell more glasses and bottles or to make strong impressions on global consumers?

The World Cup is a marketing competition as much as a soccer tournament. We all know about the great success of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing. The producers had a plan and executed perfectly, gaining worldwide attention for their product and apparently creating a headache for TSA as international visitors stuffed their bags with ranch dressing. Gooooooooooooooooal for Hidden Valley Ranch!

Beer had a good World Cup, we are told, at least in some locations. Stories are told about loyal fans of the team from Scotland who drank all the beer in Boston and maybe a bit more.

How did wine do? Was much of an effort made to exploit the opportunity? The only wine-related story I have seen is about David Beckham. He was caught on camera sipping a very large glass of red wine in his luxury box in Miami. The English press called him out for unsportsmanlike conduct. An English soccer legend shouldn’t drink wine at a game! Only a pint of beer will do.

Not exactly an own goal for wine, I guess, but not exactly a hat trick either.

Over a Barrel?

Fast and furious. That’s how the stream of wine business news has been coming this year. Many folks in the industry feel that they are “over a barrel,” victims of forces beyond their control.

Most of the reporting has understandably been focused on vineyards, wineries, distributors, and retail sales. Still, the impacts of market shifts extend much further, affecting all sorts of related products and services. In assessing the situation, it is important to take into account the whole product web.

Barrels are a good example, as the “2026 Barrel Survey Report” (download pdf here) in the July 2026 issue of Wine Business Monthly makes clear. The barrel industry is obviously affected by recent wine market shifts, but in ways that are conditioned by the particular nature of the product and the industry’s institutional structure. Here are some highlights of the WBM report.

  • Wine production has fallen across world markets and winery margins are increasingly squeezed. It is no surprise, therefore, that demand for wine barrels has decreased and wine producers have sought to reduce costs. The WBM survey shows that 35 percent of responding wineries plan to purchase fewer barrels in 2026 compared with 2025, a substantial increase over the previous two years’ data.
  • Less wine production means less need for barrels. Then there is the issue of shrinking margins. How do producers economize on barrel expense? You might expect a shift to cheaper barrels, use of less new oak, and longer use of existing barrels (keeping them in service for four years instead of three, for example).
  • Using a smaller proportion of new barrels both saves money and is in tune with some style shifts seen in the market. And extending the useful life of barrels is happening, too. Interestingly, a movement to cheaper barrels is not a trend seen in the WBM survey. Reports indicate that many wineries are using less oak, but are careful to maintain the quality they desire.
  • WBM reports that the challenges that barrel producers face are exacerbated by the failure of H&A, an important Bordeaux-based barrel-leasing and financial firm that works with both the wine and spirits industry. H&A would purchase new barrels when clients ordered them, leasing them back to the clients. There was also a buyback program that saw H&A sell used barrels to the spirits industry. H&A had more than one million barrels in its system, according to WBM, with 2000 clients worldwide and $432 million in annual revenue. These are all big numbers.
  • The sudden simultaneous decline in wine, Cognac, and Bourbon markets threw a monkey wrench in the system leading to H&A’s bankruptcy. Now there is great uncertainty about who will receive payments and when.
  • Tariffs and the ongoing tariff refund process have also had an impact on the barrel business. Some international firms with domestic cooperages have moved final production of barrels to the U.S. to reduce vulnerability to future levies and increase ability to adapt to local demand.

See the WBM report for more analysis and survey results. There are always useful and informative articles to be found in Wine Business Monthly. The wine industry is fortunate to be served by this fine publication. Required reading.

Wine Goes to the Opera: Nota Bene June 2026

June 23, 2026 By in Nota Bene 1 Comment

Nota Bene is a periodic Wine Economist column that briefly highlights short stories that might otherwise escape attention.

Wine Goes to the Opera

A recent Wine Economist column examined the relationship between wine and classical music and worried that wine could become like opera, mainly relevant to a shrinking audience of affluent, aging enthusiasts.  Once upon a time wine was for everyone. What happens if it is mainly for elites?

Given these concerns, we were interested to discover that Festival Napa Valley has commissioned an original opera to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Judgment of Paris. Bacchus and Venus are the opera’s main protagonists, supported by characters such as Steven Spurrier, Patricia Gallagher, Mike Grgich, Warren Winiarski, and others.

It’s an ambitious undertaking. Cheers to a successful premiere performance.

Against the Tide: K&L Opens in NYC

There is so much negative news in the wine press these days that signs of growth and optimism are both noteworthy and welcome. So you can imagine the excitement that has greeted the news that California-based K&L Wine Merchants has opened a new shop in New York City.  NYC wine news has been dominated by closings, not openings, in recent years, with the loss of Sherry-Lehmann Wine & Spirits in particular.

What does K&L see in the NYC opportunity that many others do not? K&L CEO Brian Zucker writes that

My father Todd co-founded K&L in California in 1976 on the premise that careful selection and producer relationships could build a sustainable independent retail business. Fifty years later, that’s the model we’re testing in a market where several other independent shops haven’t held up. We built the ecommerce business in the late 90s and early 2000s, and that multi-channel base is part of why we have a thesis about why ours can work.

According to K&L’s press release, “The expansion follows six consecutive quarters of wine sales growth for K&L, even as much of the U.S. wine industry continues to navigate declining consumption, pricing pressure, and shifting demand. With four California stores, a national e-commerce business, the most active wine & spirits auction platform by bids and users, and now a New York location, K&L is betting that the category’s next phase will be driven by more selective consumers seeking value, access, and expert guidance.”

“There’s a lot more demand out there than the headlines suggest. Customers haven’t lost interest in wine, they’ve gotten more deliberate about it, and that’s something retailers can work with,” said Brian Zucker, CEO of K&L Wine Merchants. “Wine’s bigger problem was where prices went leading into COVID and during the consumption spike that followed. That’s working itself out now. We’ve seen significant growth in wine in each of the last six quarters, and it’s accelerating.”

Second Glass Test Update

Regular readers will be familiar with our “Second Glass” test for non-alcoholic wines. The wines have to remind us of the type of wine they represent and be tasty enough that we would happily drink a second glass. We recently met with research assistants Nancy and Michael to apply our test to a few editorial samples we received.

The news is very good. Two wines passed the Second Glass test with flying colors and we are pleased to add them to our “highly recommended” list.

Missing Thorn Sparkling White was simply delicious, with medium body and bright tree fruit flavors. Michael, who was initially disappointed to learn that we would be tasting NA wine, commented that he would not have guessed that the Missing Thorn was missing alcohol. Second glasses all around. Congratulations to the Missing Thorn team.

The Pierre Chavin Signature Zero Sparkling Chardonnay was an even bigger hit with our tasting panel. They appreciated the body and mouthfeel of the wine and the complete flavor profile. The label notes that nine percent of unfermented grape juice is part of the blend and I think this might have had something to do with the positive response. Grape juice is often blended into NA wines to restore some of the sensory elements that the alcohol removal process takes away. Missing Thorn’s blend includes an unspecified proportion of grape juice too.

Pierre Chavin is widely distributed by Kobrand and, at about $20 per bottle, is more affordable than some NA wines we have sampled.

Port Hits the Cocktail Circuit

Prosecco-based Aperol spritz drinks are everywhere these days, proof that cocktails and wine can be a profitable and delicious combination. Port producers have long encouraged enthusiasts to experiment with cocktails as a way of growing their market by introducing new customers to Port’s many pleasures. At one point a famous producer even redesigned some Port bottles and labels so that they would look more at home behind the bar.

Ruud Scholten (a.k.a. The Port*ologist) has written an impressive new book to help cocktail-curious Port lovers and Port-curious cocktail drinkers discover the pleasures of Port cocktails. The book, The Port*ologist: Crafting Port Wine Cocktails, seems at first glance to be a collection of recipes for cocktails featuring all manner of Port wines. On closer inspection, we found a lot more information about Port, Porto, the Douro Valley, and the fundamentals of mixology, too. The book is beautifully illustrated. An impressive package.

It is clear why a Port lover would want to try cocktails, but what’s the appeal for the cocktail set? Well, there is a taste, of course, but more than that there is also the fact that Port wine  has about half the alcohol of many liquors,  so the book’s Port Old Fashioned drink has less “punch” than the traditional drink. This aligns very well with current market trends favoring moderation.

Sue and I love to drink The Portonic, a white Port and tonic spritz, so we are already on board. Next stop is to experiment with other summery white Port cocktails as well as those for the other seasons and occasions based on Ruby, Tawny, and other types of Port. What fun! (Available direct from the publisher or from Amazon.com.)

Five Buck Napa Cab? Nota Bene for May 2026

May 27, 2026 By in Nota Bene 5 Comments

This week, we introduce “Nota Bene,” a periodic Wine Economist column that briefly highlights short stories that might otherwise escape attention. Use the Comments section to let us know what you think and to suggest future stories.

Five Buck Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon?

I suppose it was inevitable that we would stumble across Five Buck Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. After all, there is a lot of surplus Cabernet out there, even in Napa Valley, and at some point, someone is going to decide that getting next to nothing for the bulk wine is better than getting nothing at all. Still, it was enough of a surprise that we took this photo at our local Grocery Outlet store.

Using the “Rule of 100,” a $5 bottle of wine suggests that the grapes were purchased for $500 per ton. That’s unlikely since the average price of Napa Cab grapes has been hovering around $7000 per ton for a while. Someone suffered a big loss somewhere along the supply chain that produced this wine. No, we didn’t buy any of it. Made me sad to see it on the shelf.

(See Blake Gray’s Wine-Searcher column for more on discount wine today.)

Rediscovering Rex Hill

I guess we sort of lost track of Rex Hill Winery. Rex Hill was one of the pioneers in Oregon wine and it was also one of the first wineries we visited when we started visiting the Willamette Valley in the 1980s. Significantly, Rex Hill was built around its vineyards, specializing in vineyard-designated bottlings and the strong reputation those wines earned.

Eventually, however, Rex Hill was acquired by A to Z Winery when it found itself in sudden need of production facilities. And then A to Z (and Rex Hill) joined Erath Winery as part of Ste Michelle Wine Estates and its Sycamore Partners, which acquired SMWE in 2021. Sycamore Partners sold the Washington assets of SMWE in 2025, but retains the trio of Oregon wineries.

Recently we had the opportunity to taste Rex Hill Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and the Rex Hill Seven Soils Chardonnay. They were both delicious (the heart of Rex Hill is still beating), but the Chardonnay was especially impressive. Sue and I agreed that we’d be very happy to drink it on any occasion.

Diving into Vinho Verde

The folks at Quinta da Aveleda contacted us a few weeks ago in response to a Wine Economist article about Vinho Verde. There’s more to Vinho Verde than the simple, delicious summer wine we all know and love, we wrote. You are right, the Aveleda folks said, let us show you more. So we accepted the offer of editorial samples and have enjoyed discovering that they are right.

We started with two single grape variety Vinho Verde wines, an Alvarinho and a Loureiro. Both are Vinho Verde, but so very different. The varieties and the corresponding blend possibilities make for many potential styles of Vinho Verde wine.

But that’s not all. A second pair of wines, Solos de Granito and Solos de Xisto, highlighted the different of soil types for a single grape variety. Interesting! They were so intense and so different, too, both from each other and from our expectations regarding Vinho Verde and Alvarinho wines, too. The Granito was full of tree fruit flavors, golden apple evolving into pear. The Xisto was all about structure and minerality. What a difference soil type can make! A really memorable experience.

And a final pair of wines, which we hope to taste soon, promise to take our explorations to the next level. Parcela do Convento Loureiro and Parcela de Roseiral Alvarinho are single-vineyard expressions of Vinho Verde featuring the Loureiro and Alvarinho grape varieties. Can’t wait to see (and taste) what’s next.

Wow! There is more to Vinho Verde than we thought. That’s a rabbit hole we’d be glad to dive into!

Canadian Boycott Bites

We started today’s Nota Bene with a story about bargain Napa Cab and we end with a story about bargain Napa Chardonnay. This photo shows the bargain board outside our local Metropolitan Market that recently caught my eye. That’s a pretty big discount on a name-brand Napa Valley Chardonnay from a recent vintage. What’s the story?

The explanation became clear with a quick peek at the back label. It was in English and French with the required Surgeon General’s warning pasted on a separate label. No question in my mind: This wine was bottled for the Canadian market, which is a market that doesn’t really exist in the way it used to because of regional boycotts of U.S. wine and spirits.

First time we’ve seen this situation on store shelves, but I understand ex-Canada market wine is available on discount re-seller websites. Have you seen it? No, we didn’t buy any. Made me sad to see it on the shelf.