Sonoma, Calif. -- The discovery of two Light Brown Apple Moths (LBAM) prompted the quarantine of 15-square-miles including prime vineyard acreage in Sonoma Valley this week. Growers in the quarantine zone face the prospect of not being able to deliver their fruit out of the zone for crushing later this year without state inspection.

 

Springfield, Ill. -- After years of lobbying, confusion and legal wrangling, Illinois has approved direct-to-consumer wine shipments from both out-of-state and local wineries. Beginning on June 1, wineries holding an Illinois Winery Shipper's License may ship up to 12 cases of wine annually to adult residents.

 

In-House or Outsource?   Nova Scotia wineries find flexible printing arrangements adapt with them READ »

By now, everyone who follows wine closely has at least a superficial acquaintance with Biodynamic viticulture--whatever they may think about it. I would guess that in the last five years there have been more articles mentioning the idea of burying a cow horn full of dung than articles about many standard vineyard practices. But after the grapes are harvested, and once they're in the cellar, what is the Biodynamic way? Is there such a thing as Biodynamic winemaking, or is it just Biodynamic grapegrowing?

It had been too long since I visited wine country in the central part of the continent, so I welcomed the opportunity to attend the "License to Steal" wine marketing conference on Lake Erie in early April(see Faces & Forums). We coastal dwellers tend to spend too much time talking among ourselves and not enough time discovering what's happening in between the coasts.

In my July 2005 Wines & Vines column, I reported on the formation of a nonprofit organization, the National Grape and Wine Initiative (NGWI), which has the potential to significantly improve support for research, extension and outreach in all sectors of the grape and wine industry in the United States. It is a critical time in our industry in terms of funding for research and extension, and it's a good time to update readers on NGWI's progress to date.

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