Article #1: Grape insurance fraud allegations, smoke taint damages to oak tanks, and the perils of handshake deals play out in Lake County courtroom As mentioned in the previous article, this court case hinges on whether or not wine and grapes delivered to Langtry Farms by Torick Farms/Hugh Reimers were smoke tainted and — because […]

Accusations of a proposed smoke taint insurance fraud scheme have been raised in the Lake County lawsuit between Langtry Farms (“Langtry”) and Hugh Reimers/Torick Farms (“Torick”) over wine storage fees, and alleged taint damage to a Langtry’s oak tanks. The legal action also raises caution flags against handshake deals — performing work without a signed, […]

Deadlines and dueling appraisals converge on June 14 when Northern Holding LLC — the insolvent owner of property once owned by Winemaker Erich Russell and Rabbit Ridge Winery of Paso Robles — faces an existential turning point in its Chapter 11 case. Currently scheduled for a June 10 bankruptcy auction are 470 acres of vineyards […]

NOTE: Extensive links to court filings and other documents are available to premium Wine Executive News Subscribers at the bottom of this article. Rabbit Ridge Winery in Paso Robles is facing the bankruptcy auction hammer on its winery property for the second time in two years. And this, after the second Chapter 11 in less […]

This is #6 in our premium, in-depth series about the quest for the Netflix of wine Article #1: How A Netflix-Style Recommender Is Vital to Reversing Wine’s Market Marginalization Article #2: Why solving the “Paradox of Choice” is a major reason Netflix’s recommender is worth $1 Bil/yr. And why wine fails at that. Article #3: […]

Domestic terrorism cases soared to an all-time high in 2020, including wine’s best-known right-wing extremist, Benjamin Jong Ren Hung who, according to the FBI, used his family’s Lodi-area vineyard as a militia-style firearms training camp — complete with human target mannequins — to prepare for engaging in violent civil disorders. As reported by Wine Industry […]

This is #5 in Wine Industry Insight’s in-depth series about the quest for the Netflix of wine Article #1: How A Netflix-Style Recommender Is Vital to Reversing Wine’s Market Marginalization Article #2: Why solving the “Paradox of Choice” is a major reason Netflix’s recommender is worth $1 Bil/yr. And why wine fails at that. Article […]

By Lewis Perdue Publisher, Executive Editor, Wine Industry Insight In December 2020, a $360 million cannabis-oriented Canadian (SPAC) sponsored by a combination of US and London-based executives had looked at (and rejected) more than 100 companies. As the game clock ran down toward the SPAC equivalent of a two-minute warning, the team realized it needed […]

The $690 million (ESG) public offering of Vintage Wine Estates could be an escape hatch for winery owners who would like to sell out for reasons of succession, regulatory hassles, distributor barriers to DTC, wholesaler consolidations and other hassles which have made owning a winery less than satisfying. There are 11,000+ wineries in the United […]