This edition of the magazine contains our third annual wine industry finance report. A lot has changed since the first finance issue in 2012 presented a cautious optimism about wineries’ economic health.

While the wine industry accepted then that the recession was over—sales were growing and the supply-demand situation was balanced—the lending picture in 2012 was not so bright. The bigger banks were still recovering from the recession and were afraid of risk. The smaller banks were more actively seeking lenders but may not have been tuned to winery needs.