In lieu of our normal monthly newsletter, given our home base in Northern California, we at Charles Communications Associates, representing wineries from our own backyard and around the world, dedicate this missive to those affected by the Northern California fires of October 2017
The Napa Valley has recently taken a lot of heat – both literally, due to the serious temperature spike that hit the valley earlier this month, as well as figuratively from those who think the aberrant fluctuation spelled doom for the entire region’s harvest. The media has been eager to report this story, which we can all understand – what’s sexier than a potential climate change story about America’s most recognized wine region? Fortunately for the consumer, cooler heads prevail for those of us on the ground, and I wanted to share the perspective from someone who has been around the vineyard block.
Meet Faith Armstrong, the winemaker behind Onward and Farmstrong wines. As refreshing as the Pétillant Naturel she makes of Malvasia Bianca, many of the words used to describe Faith's wine could be used to describe the winemaker herself. Honest, vibrant, unfiltered, true to her origins, bright, complex.
The date has been set for the fourth annual Women in Wine Leadership Symposium (WWLS) on Monday, October 5th in New York City. The WWLS, a joint production of The Winebow Group and Cornerstone Communications, was created with the mission to empower and educate women in the wine industry through a series of provocative panel discussions and wine tastings.
In honor of 2014’s annual International Tempranillo Day on November 12th, Charles Communications Associates hosted a popular Brandlive virtual tasting featuring top Tempranillo bottlings from the Lodi region. It was illuminating to experience a lineup like this, not only because the wines proved superlative for the category, but also because it made me realize how rare it is to experience a domestic Tempranillo horizontal at all.
The Wine Market Council (WMC) gave its 10th annual presentation of U.S. wine consumer trends in Yountville, California earlier this month. Wine Opinions CEO John Gillespie serves as president of the Council, and he kicked off the presentation with a summary of the WMC’s yearlong research on wine consumer trends.
by Chuck Hayward
Australia is one of the world's most important wine producing regions, yet after more than 30 years in the American market, the facts about Australia’s wine industry remains an enigma for most Americans—easy to understand for a country that has 65 growing regions in a landmass the size of the United States.
