Month: September 2025

You Can’t Market to Everyone

Cyndi

Why demographics still matter in wine

three generation of positive women smiling while looking at camera and hugging isolated on grey

By Susan DeMatei, Founder of WineGlass Marketing

At first glance, it may seem logical to take a broad approach to wine marketing—after all, shouldn’t the goal be to sell wine to anyone who’s willing to buy it? Not exactly.

  In practice, marketing to “everyone” is a fast track to appealing to no one. You water down your message, misfire your tactics, and wind up wasting both budget and energy trying to reach people who were never going to buy from you in the first place. Smart marketing is selective, not scattershot. And that’s where demographics come in.

  At their core, demographics are just the quantifiable details about your customers—things like age, gender, income, education, and marital status. But in the hands of a capable marketer, demographics become strategic tools. They help decode how different consumers make decisions, what cultural cues they respond to, and how best to approach them with offers they’ll actually care about.

  Wine, with all its history, nuance, and ritual, may be universally loved—but not uniformly understood. That’s why understanding the demographics of your audience is one of the most important investments a winery can make. Not in the abstract, but in the applied: how different generations buy, what they value, and how to speak their language.

Age Isn’t Just a Number-It’s a Strategy

  Among all demographic variables, age remains one of the most predictive indicators of consumer behavior in the wine space. Your 67-year-old customer and your 27-year-old customer may both enjoy Chardonnay—but the stories, channels, and experiences that led them to that bottle couldn’t be more different.

graph reflecting results of a 2023 benchmark segmentation stury of wine drinkers vs non-wine drinkers

  So how do you use this knowledge?

  You start by recognizing that each generation brings a unique set of preferences, priorities, and expectations to the table. These differences are shaped not just by age, but by shared cultural context—what technology they grew up with, how they were marketed to as teens, and how they define things like quality, authenticity, and value.

  Here’s a breakdown of how different generations engage with wine—and what your winery should do about it.

The Silent Generation (Born 1928–1945):

The Loyal Traditionalists

  While their presence in the market is shrinking, their loyalty is unwavering. The Silent Generation prefers reliability over novelty and is far more likely to value a long-standing relationship with a winery than to chase the latest release.

  They tend to gravitate toward established varietals, classic packaging, and consistent pricing. Most importantly, they still respond to print. Think newsletters, phone calls, and handwritten notes—not push notifications.

Action Step:  Reinforce value and familiarity. Printed materials, bundled discounts, and a personal touch go a long way.

Baby Boomers

(Born 1946–1964):

The Experience-Driven Collectors

  Boomers are the architects of modern wine culture in the U.S. They invented the wine tasting as vacation activity. They made critic scores a thing. They turned mailing lists into badge-worthy status symbols. For much of the past three decades, they were the ones buying the library vintages and signing up for vertical tastings with religious fervor.

But time changes habits. As they approach retirement, Boomers are buying less and moderating more. They still want quality and ritual—but they also want convenience and value.

Action Step:  Focus on smaller format options, curated selections, and loyalty programs that emphasize connection over exclusivity. They still appreciate prestige—but they now appreciate sensible pricing just as much.

Generation X

(Born 1965–1980):

The Forgotten Powerhouses

  Gen X is frequently left out of marketing conversations. This is a mistake.

Despite their smaller size, Gen Xers are in their peak earning years, and they value quality and reliability in their purchases. They’re skeptical by nature—raised in an era of economic uncertainty and cultural disillusionment—and they’re not easily swayed by flash or trend.

  They also exist at the intersection of analog and digital. They read emails and engage with apps. They’re on social media, but they also like printed tasting notes. They’re pragmatic, fiercely independent, and allergic to anything that feels like a sales gimmick.

Action Step:  Speak directly and respect their intelligence. Offer clear value, consistent product quality, and customer service that rewards loyalty without fluff. Combine digital convenience with occasional analog moments.

Millennials

(Born 1981–1996):

The Values-Driven Explorers

  Millennials are the largest consumer cohort in U.S. history, and they’ve been quietly reshaping wine culture for years. Where Boomers sought status, Millennials seek alignment. They care less about Robert Parker scores and more about soil health. They want transparency, flexibility, and values that match their own.

  They are also deeply influenced by visual storytelling. Experiences matter—but only if they’re worth posting. They prefer inclusive, approachable brands that make wine feel less like a secret society and more like a good party.

Action Step:  Show your work. Be transparent about sourcing and sustainability. Ditch the formality and engage authentically on digital platforms. Offer flexible wine club options and behind-the-scenes storytelling. And yes, your label design matters—don’t let it look like a Word doc from 2003.

Generation Z

(Born 1997–2012):

The Unfiltered Futurists

  Gen Z isn’t just digital-first—they’re digital-only. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, if your online store takes more than five seconds to load, or if you’re still asking people to download PDFs to join your club… you’ve already lost them.

  This generation values fun, flexibility, and visual relevance. They will try your wine if it appears in a trending video. They will buy it if the branding makes them feel something. But they won’t stay loyal unless you earn it—every time.

  And they have no patience for old rules. They like slushies, canned wines, pet-nats, sweet reds, and anything that gets people together. They’re not here for tradition. They’re here for the moment.

Action Step:  Prioritize mobile, visual storytelling, and interaction. Think sampler drops over verticals. Think memes over mailing lists. Your wine club should feel like a community, not a contract.

A Note on the Underage (for Now): Generation Alpha

  Gen Alpha is still pre-legal-drinking-age, but they’re already influencing your customer base—through their Millennial parents. They’re the reason your tasting room has crayons and juice boxes now. And they’ll be of legal age by 2034.

  Smart wineries are thinking ahead: creating family-friendly experiences, building tech infrastructure, and embracing sustainability initiatives now—so when Gen Alpha gets here, you’re already fluent in their expectations.

In Summary:

Choose Your Audience Before You Choose Your Campaign

  Marketing to everyone is marketing to no one. Demographics, and particularly generational cohorts, give you a powerful filter for your strategy. They tell you who your audience is, where they’re most comfortable, what they care about, and how to speak to them in a way that resonates.

  So the next time someone says “our wine is for everyone,” feel free to politely disagree—and then ask them which generation actually signs the credit card slip.

P.S. This blog is based on decades of research, but we’ll never pretend it’s the final word. People are complex. Trends shift. If you’ve seen different behavior from your own customers or cracked the code on reaching Gen Z through interpretive dance and Instagram stickers, we’d love to hear it. Knowledge is meant to be shared—preferably over a glass of something interesting.

  Susan DeMatei founded WineGlass Marketing; the largest full-service, award-winning marketing firm focused on the wine industry. She is a certified Sommelier and Specialist in Wine, with degrees in Viticulture and Communications, an instructor at Napa Valley Community College, and is currently collaborating on two textbooks. Now in its 13th year, her agency offers domestic and international wineries assistance with all areas of strategy and execution. WineGlass Marketing is located in Napa, California, and can be reached at 707-927-3334 or wineglassmarketing.com.

The Heartbeat of the Tasting Room

Cyndi

Why wine education matters

By Rachel Brown, Thirsty Bandit

What makes a great tasting room great? Is it the decor? The view? The glassware? While these tangible items are great for stylistic enhancement of a tasting room, it’s the intangibles that go the distance: the community, the friendships, and the engagement that can only come from deep bonding and the craftsmanship of storytelling. At the root of all of it: wine education.

  Wine education is the pulse point and the heartbeat of the tasting room. It connects the bridge between the product and the experience, parceled prettily for guests that come into the tasting room. It takes casual, laid-back tasters to life-long fans and repeat customers. With so many tasting rooms sprouting up like wildflowers, the education-driven programs and intense staff training separates the extraordinary from the ordinary and keeps customers coming back for more.

  For me, storytelling is everything — the engagement, the connection, the real-life application. Even the most stunning tasting room can’t make up for a team that struggles to articulate the wines or connect with guests. Wine — its artistry, its beauty, its ever-changing nature — should become a kind of love language, a part of your genetic makeup. To truly inspire others, the wines must first become meaningful to the staff, woven into their lives as more than just products, but as personal staples worth sharing.

  This level of storytelling doesn’t come easily, I’ll admit. It takes a lot of time— not just being behind the tasting bar walking your team through the wines, but creating digestible materials for existing staff and new employees coming in. And not just on your wines either, but the wines of your region against the world. Vintage comparisons side-by-side, different barrels and their flavor profiles, blind tastings, roleplaying tasting room scenarios. These training tasks aren’t luxuries, they’re necessities. 

  While programs like WSET have their place and are invaluable certifications to attain, they aren’t wholly necessary for every tasting room. Really, it comes from creating a culture that makes asking questions okay. Fostering that open communication is imperative. Letting people learn and grow in the way that makes the most sense for them. For every staff member I’ve hired and trained, my first question is always: What’s your learning style?

  Being able to create educational programming is one thing but being able to apply it to everyone in a way that makes it stick for them is where I’ve found most of my success. Having multiple sources of information— training binders, educational videos, flash cards, quizzes and customer-based scenarios allow for every member of the team to receive a cohesive training program in a way that suits them best. 

  This level of training fosters both confidence and authority when speaking about your wines. The more knowledge and assurance we can equip staff with, the stronger and more seamless the guest experience becomes. It’s reflected in their dialogue, their ease during tastings, and their ability to handle questions that go beyond the standard portfolio — topics like vineyard management, barrel integration, and bottle ageability.

  When the basis of knowledge is applied, the focus shifts to the guests walking into the tasting room. Now, those within the industry can wax poetic about acid levels and PH and back blending, but for the guest coming into your tasting room— who may be a novice or a pro— those numbers and figures won’t mean the same as they will for the seasoned veterans.

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Rachel and Corey discuss the importance of staff training and development in winery tasting rooms, emphasizing the need to hire people with the right intangible qualities rather than solely focusing on wine experience.

This is where storytelling comes in. Teaching your guests about wine, adding context and information, but not overwhelming them. Real life application travels much farther than any of the technical jargon we study. In my experience, the first thirty seconds of interaction with a guest lets me know the level of information I need to provide. Body language cues are another one of those intangibles that staff needs to be able to pick up on. Some guests will want to know PH and soil composition. Some simply want to know how to hold their glass or what pairs best with their Friday night pizza night. Both of which are amazing pieces of information to know, by the way.

  My staff is trained to begin every tasting with two key questions: “Have you been here before?” and “What do you like to drink?” While simple, these prompts open the door to truly meaningful conversation—allowing us to share the winery’s story, discuss the region’s climate and terroir, and start building a personalized experience. From there, thoughtful follow-up questions naturally unfold: Are you looking for something more fruit-forward? Higher in acidity? A touch of sweetness? This subtle game of twenty questions helps narrow the focus, guiding your team toward two or three well-matched wine recommendations that are tailored to each guest’s palate.

  If your guest loves Riesling from the Rheinhessen in Germany, automatically the staff should be able to guide them to a wine on the portfolio, if you’re not currently offering one. If you are currently offering a Riesling, they should be able to do a quick compare and contrast based on what the guest likes to drink and how it either matches or differs from what you’re currently offering on your portfolio. 

  Often, guests don’t know how different regional nuances can be in wine. For example, Cabernet is not a one-size-fits all sort of wine. French Cabernet is vastly different from that coming out of Napa Valley. Without staff explanation, a guest may be set up for failure and disappointment if they try it expecting something else. It’s a missed opportunity to not only set the expectation early on, but it’s a level of hospitality that often goes missing in tasting rooms. Teach them about your area. Tell them who you are. What you stand for. All these puzzle pieces shape into the guest experience within the tasting room. 

  This is what we, as life-long wine lovers and educators, are here for. To give them the information they want, to make it fun, approachable, something they can take home and use in their everyday life. This is where education morphs into hospitality. It emboldens staff to move around their dialogue and use some key life phrases. For example, explaining tannins to someone who has never heard the term before. Making the comparison to steeped black tea or bitter dark chocolate puts a very real image— and often an experience— at the forefront of their mind. 

  The key is the invitation. To open the dialogue. To let the guest at the bar know that they can ask whatever they want— without fear of judgement or an eye roll. We all started somewhere. This openness, the willingness to take time, to answer their questions and make them comfortable takes a maybe standard experience and makes it remarkable. They know they’ll be welcomed and heard. This, to me, is the highest level of hospitality. What a thing it is to be a steward in someone else’s wine journey. What a privilege to foster the ‘light bulb’ moment of wine. 

  All these things blended together add up to a high-quality visit to your tasting room. Vision, education, ethos, and regionality are things that need to be learned. A guest may forget exactly what malolactic fermentation is, but they won’t forget the uniqueness of a grape that’s harvested at midnight on the shores of a nearby lake, or if the winemaker’s mother makes the bread used for their private tastings. Those details will stick with them long after their visit ends.

  As approachable as we can make wine, the better. The ‘pinky up’ stereotype permeates the wine world and often makes it so that inexperienced drinkers are terrified to dip their toe into the barrel. Staff training, educational documents, supporting videos, and customer roleplay set up any tasting room for success. Foster and nurture your staff. Encourage them to fold the wines in your portfolio into their everyday life with their favorite dishes and foods.

  We’re here to offer more than just a product — we’re here to offer a purpose, an experience. And that experience begins with your people. It’s your staff who make the wine approachable, memorable, and meaningful — and that kind of impact doesn’t happen without education. Yes, the wine may bring guests back, but it’s the staff who shape the experience and give it lasting value. There’s no better feeling than seeing a returning guest light up as they share what they learned during their last visit — how they used that knowledge, and how proud they were to pass it on to friends.

  Developing a strong, well-rooted wine education program can transform every aspect of your tasting room. Its impact will resonate throughout your business — from your team’s confidence to the guest experience. I encourage every tasting room to grow collectively: hold regular tastings, ask thoughtful questions, and invest in ongoing education. That commitment to knowledge and care is something your guests will notice — and remember. Because in the end, it’s not just about what you pour — it’s about what you share.

 About the Author

  Rachel Brown is a Level 2 Sommelier with over nine years of experience in the wine industry. Certified by WSET, ISG, and the Napa Valley Wine Academy, Rachel has dedicated her career to curating exceptional wine experiences — from building tasting rooms and leading educational classes to hosting intimate private dinners. Her passion lies in making wine approachable, engaging, and unforgettable for everyone she meets. Outside of her work in the wine industry, she enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with her husband where they live in West Chester, PA.

More Than Just Wires & Post

Cyndi

Exploring the best trellis systems for vineyards

trellis poles in a vineyard

By Alyssa L. Ochs

For today’s modern, successful vineyards, trellises are much more than just a system of wires and posts. Trellises are crucial to a vineyard’s grape quality and productivity because of their impact on airflow, sun exposure and pest and disease management.

  If you’re starting a new vineyard or thinking of upgrading your current trellis system at an existing one, it’s important to know your options and carefully choose the right setup. In this article, we look at the various trellis systems available to vineyards and their pros and cons. By understanding their installation and maintenance requirements, vineyard owners can make the best decisions while factoring in specific grape variety needs, costs, labor demands and future goals.

Types of Vineyard Trellis Systems

  Alexander J. Wiesen, owner of Empire Trellis, told The Grapevine Magazine about the three main types of trellis systems vineyards use. The family-owned, Empire, Michigan-based company specializes in complete turn-key trellis installations and travels for installations within the U.S. and Canada.

  Wiesen explained that vertical shoot positioning (VSP) works well for quality wine production and allows for mechanization. VSP offers beneficial sunlight penetration and uniform ripening of the grapes.

  However, this type of system isn’t ideal for high vigor vines and requires more canopy management. If you don’t diligently remove leaves and thin shoots, canopies can become overly dense, which limits airflow and increases disease risk.

He shared that high cordon trellis systems are low-maintenance and straightforward. They’re ideal for warm climates and make vineyard work easier for crews, while being affordable to manage after installation.

  However, shading can be an issue, and there’s the potential for lower fruit quality with this type of trellis. You may experience unwanted shading below the fruiting zone, which can lead to muted flavors in finished wine.

  Meanwhile, a T-trellis or single wire system is cost-effective and suitable for mechanized pruning and harvest. This system often only requires a single horizontal wire that’s supported by posts, making installation and maintenance easier than other systems.

Yet, Wiesen advised that this approach gives vineyard operators less control over the canopy and that it may not suit premium varietals adequately. This low-input option is a practical choice but may lead to uneven ripening or difficulty managing grapevine diseases.

Trellis Offerings from Empire Trellis

  Empire Trellis offers various solutions for vineyards to consider for their trellis systems. For example, Wiesen’s company offers VSP trellises, which are among the most widely used systems among vineyards, especially for premium wine grapes. He said that VSP systems are ideal for varieties with upright shoot growth.

  Empire Trellis also offers high cordon systems, which are common in warmer regions and work well for vigorous vines. Wiesen said his company’s high cordon systems offer simplicity and help lower labor costs.

  There are T-trellis and single wire systems available at Empire Trellis that provide economical solutions for certain table grapes and are favored among mechanized vineyards.

  “We also work with growers to design hybrid or adaptive systems tailored to unique site conditions,” Wiesen shared while discussing his company’s customizable systems. “For each trellis system, we offer and distribute options for end posts made of wood, line posts made of metal or wood, tensioners, anchors, and wire.

Trellis Products from Walton Lumber  

  We also connected with Wil Hochstetler from Walton Lumber to learn more about additional trellis options. Walton Lumber is a Millington, Michigan company that goes beyond just selling posts, supplying the backbone of America’s vineyards, orchards, pastures, landscapes, and fences.

  The wholesale lumber company has been in business since 1932 and ships high-quality posts and fencing materials nationwide. It specializes in mill-direct shipments in truckload quantities and is committed to being a one-stop source for fencing and trellis solutions.

  “We offer all wood posts,” Hochstetler told The Grapevine Magazine. “We have an array of different species, including red pine, southern yellow pine and lodgepole pine.”

  Hochstetler explained that you can order the posts in a doweled or tapered form. Doweled means the posts are the same diameter from one end to the other. But with tapered posts, the ends vary in diameter, and the posts taper slightly from one end to the other.

General Installation & Maintenance Considerations  

  According to Hochstetler from Walton Lumber, “The best way to install wood posts is with a vibratory post driver mounted on an excavator.”

  Weisen from Empire Trellis emphasized how essential proper installation is to a trellis’ performance and longevity. He explained how the installation process begins with accurate post spacing and alignment, and then anchors must be properly installed, especially if you’re dealing with sloped or loose soil.

  Correct wire tensioning and spacing are vital when installing a new trellis. Weisen also mentioned the need to factor in drainage considerations to avoid post degradation.

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Regarding maintenance, Weisen said that vineyards should check and re-tension wires each year. They should also inspect the posts for corrosion and damage.

  During these annual inspections, it may be necessary to replace damaged clips or cross arms. Throughout the year, vineyard operators should monitor for signs of stress from wind, machinery, or the vine load.

  “Well-maintained trellis systems are safer for crews, better for vine health and more cost-effective over time,” Weisen said.

Ensuring Your Trellises Last Long-Term 

  According to Hochstetler at Walton Lumber, “Treated wood posts will last 25 to 30 years.”

  Weisen agreed that a well-installed and maintained trellis system can last up to 30 years; however, longevity depends upon the materials used and the environment.

  To extend the lifespan of your vineyard trellis system, Weisen recommended using galvanized or stainless-steel components that will resist corrosion. You can also choose treated wood posts to prevent rot and aim to prevent soil saturation around the posts.

  Additionally, Weisen suggested that vineyards make a point to inspect and replace worn hardware before it fails. It is also important to take steps to protect trellis systems from tractors and other implements you commonly use in the vineyard.

How to Choose a New Trellis System  

  If you are looking to buy a trellis system for the first time for a new vineyard or upgrading from the system you already have, it’s important to consider several factors, such as your climate, slope, and grape varietals.

  “Post size is an important factor when planning a trellis system,” advised Hochstetler from Walton Lumber.

  “Are you planning to harvest the crop with a harvester?” he continued. “If so, you should use posts no bigger than four inches, so the posts do not interfere with the harvester.”

  “The strongest wood posts are southern yellow pine,” Hochstetler added.

Weisen from Empire Trellis said that grape varietals must be a consideration because some varietals need more sun or airflow, while others benefit from shade. He said climate is significant because vigor control and canopy exposure strategies differ between hot and cool regions.

  Soil conditions and vigor are also factors, as well as slope and topography.

“Steeper slopes may require shorter rows, special anchor systems or custom configurations,” Weisen said.

  When choosing a new trellis system, it’s also wise to keep future mechanization goals in mind as some trellis systems are better suited to machine pruning and harvesting. By staying focused on your budget and long-term goals, you can balance the initial cost of a trellis system with the long-term return on investment.

  An additional consideration Weisen mentioned is labor availability.  “Systems that reduce labor inputs, such as VSP with machine assist, are gaining popularity,” he said.

The Future of Trellis Systems  

  At first glance, trellis systems may seem relatively straightforward. Yet, as vineyards evolve with the times, so do the structural designs that support them.

  Trellis systems are seeing innovations and high-tech advances in terms of automation, materials used and data management to help grape-growers run efficient and adaptable operations.

  For example, Wiesen has seen increased automation in the industry and noted that trellis systems will need to adapt to accommodate machine automation with pruning, weeding, spraying, harvesting and shoot positioning.

  There are also new materials being explored for trellis systems, such as composite posts and corrosion-resistant alloys. These materials are gaining traction among forward-thinking vineyards because of their longer lifespan potential and sustainability.

  Meanwhile, planting and trellis design are beginning to be driven by integrating sensors and monitoring systems. An increasing number of vineyards are considering the impacts of climate change and intensifying weather patterns that affect growing grapes.

  “More vineyards are rethinking canopy structure to manage sun exposure, wind and water stress,” Wiesen said. “Sunshades are also becoming more popular.”

  Although technology will never replace the specialized skills and intuition of an experienced grape-grower, these innovations offer opportunities to make vineyard management more efficient and sustainable. By exploring these new tools, vineyard owners can overcome and adapt to changing conditions to spur on the next generation of successful winemaking.

Purchasing a Forklift for Your Winery

Cyndi

When searching to acquire a forklift let’s look at the many factors before you purchase

By Thomas J. Payne, Winemaking Consultant

Most hands-on winemakers praise, cherish, and respect their forklift.  Maximizing the use of the winery forklift is crucial to saving labor and dollars.  Try to take the labor energy and dollar savings and re-invest it into focusing on winemaking’s finer details.  A great deal of thanks is owed to the forklift industry for saving our aching backs with these hugely useful tools. 

Factors to Consider:  Energy source, size, number of wheels, tire size and material, load capacity/size, lift height needed, fork length, options (tilt, side shift, rotating head) turf.

Energy Source:  Electric is recommended for any type of indoor use.  These are quiet and they do not emit carbon monoxide gases that can build to levels of toxicity in an indoor environment.  Make sure the electric power source at your winery will be ample and properly configured to charge the forklift when speaking to suppliers.  Propane and other fuels are only recommended in well-ventilated areas and typically outdoors.

Size:  Do the best you can to get the smallest size forklift possible that will be able to handle the largest jobs anticipated.  This will help conserve space in the winery by limiting the “swing room” needed to properly navigate certain areas.  The smaller the turning radius, the larger amount of space that will be conserved for product storage and that equals greater return for the use of your building(s) floor space and overall utility bills. Look at doorway openings you plan to enter and exit rooms through and make sure the lift will be able to enter these areas.  Look at any ceiling supports and/or free span areas to be confident the storage area can be maximized with the use of the forklift.

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Number of Wheels:  There are four-wheel and three-wheel models to consider.  In general, it can be said the four-wheel models may have a touch more stability while balancing loads at heights.  These, in my opinion, do not seem to have a swing room radius to that of a three-wheel model.   The extra swing room one gets from a three model makes the three-wheel model a better choice for the small winery.  Drive both types before deciding on this feature and review the overall needs before locking in on a choice. 

Tire Diameter Size and Material:  The size of the tires makes a major difference in terms of the terrain it may operate on.  Larger tires may operate on more infirm surfaces, such as gravel dust, while smaller tires get stuck easily when driven off concrete or macadam surfaces.  Pneumatic tires and solid tires are the choices but do keep in mind pneumatic tires may have less stability mostly at higher stacking heights.  Most indoor winery forklifts have solid tires.  The tire material will make a significant difference, especially in the cleanliness look of your winery.  White tires are an option with most companies, and they leave less marking on floor surfaces if that is a concern to you and your operation.  Keep in mind a forklift is often limited by even minor changes in flooring level heights so small edges, even an inch or more, in the flooring will need to be overcome if the winery has them.  The tire size affects this.

Load Capacity/Size:  The load capacity will range greatly with your needs.  The size of the load one can lift will vary with the size and weight of the lift.  Smaller wineries will want to review the following numbers at a minimum.  If handling four standard 60-gallon barrels on racks one must calculate the weight to consider this will weigh approximately 2800 pounds.  Then consider if your building and barrel room program is set up to stack these three, four, five and even six high while full. (Please do your own in-house calculations to generate your own numbers, review with your forklift supplier and winery safety personnel).  The next potential calculation can be the bottled warehouse goods.  Assuming 60 cases per pallet in standard glass one must calculate that load will be near 2600 pounds.  Please remember the load size and fork length can greatly impact the height level of lift.  Larger cumbersome items become unstable while smaller items keep the center of mass more manageable.   [See the Rotating Head section]

photo showing forklift

Photo Credit: ForkliftTrader.com

Height:  Review the above comments to understand the weight of an item factored in with the maximum height it may be stacked will influence the model forklift needed.  The higher one desires to lift heavier items the heavier the actual forklift should be.  Other items to consider are:  Will a side shift feature exist on the lift?  Does the lift have a tilt feature (most do)?  How long are the forks on the lift?  Has an extension to the forks been made, such a rotating head, which will affect the load capacity?  These are all important considerations to keep in mind.  Keep in mind that in most cases the lifting beams are triple recessed masts that extend upward one mast at a time allowing for better navigation while stacking.  Again, the above-mentioned four or three wheel models will factor in greatly due to stability.

Fork Length:  Look at the many variable day-to-day items one may use the forklift for at your location.  Handling bins, pallets, and barrels may be the top needs for the lift.  Size the forks to fit these needs both in length, width, and thickness and that the width may be adjusted between the forks.  There are forklifts with thicker forks that have issues with getting into and out of certain areas.  I prefer the thinnest thickness and width possible in conjunction with the best length.  Most winery’s find 50-to-52-inch fork length ample ( some prefer 42 inches as well ).  Double check to make sure this will manage your needs and your equipment set up.  Wineries also source removable fork extensions that can be used for odd jobs and easily placed on or off the existing forks.

Options to Consider

Rotating Head:  Forklifts also offer options that a winery may find useful.  Make sure that if you think you will select and add an option in the future, that the unit selected will have the space or control levers present for that option and enough capacity, especially hydraulic, to run the option.  The feature that comes to mind the most and perhaps is one of the best adaptations of the forklift to the winery trade, is the dumping option; they dump forward or use a 360-degree perpendicular rotating head feature.  If handling fruit in bins, this feature should be highly considered.  A rotating head is very practical feature for use in the winery. It also helps with other material handling such as pomace, lees filter cakes, tasting room and winery refuse etc.

  Side shift as previously mentioned is a great asset in terms of stacking palletized case goods, barrels and other materials that should have uniform stacking.

  When adding additional options be sure to investigate the actual load capacity of that individual option.

NOTE:  In the past I have been able to obtain forklifts with both side shift and the rotating head feature.  This, however, is becoming difficult to obtain directly from the manufacturer.

  Other options could include a cage roof, lights, capitulating forklifts (hydraulic center swivel), and a host of other items to discuss with your sales representative.

  Always keep safety in mind when having personnel operate the forklift.  Make sure they have taken courses with an emphasis on safety since these units have obvious potential safety concerns.

Also to Consider

•    In the humid east coast region’s summer weather, we notice considerable condensation when taking the forklift from the cooler cellar and warehouse rooms outside.  There are forklifts that are made to resist condensation, resulting in electrical issues, so that feature could be explored as well with your supplier.

•    Longer forks increase the swing room radius needed; make sure the rating of the floor will manage the weight of the lift as well as the items(s) carried.

•    Relate the above into the PSI (pounds per square inch) per tire surface contact point and investigate your flooring. 

•    Watch items on the other side of what is being handled to make sure the forks do not pierce walls etc.

•    Make sure loose items are secure before raising them to certain heights.

•    Know when to get off the forklift and use a pallet jack, walk behind models or other means. 

•    Always, always, always be safe on or around a forklift.

Floor:  In all cases make sure the floor load will manage the forklift PSI rating.   This includes the flooring any tractor trailers may drive into.  While setting up numerous wineries with engineers involved, they have always found the forklift was the single greatest psi rating issue to review when discussing the floor load ratings.  As mentioned before, abrupt surface level changes of an inch and a half or more may be just enough height change to restrict a forklift from going into certain areas.  Review this feature, also, in your building before selecting or sourcing a forklift.   Make sure the flooring has an ample roughness to the floor, so traction is maintained.  A light broom concrete finish is often ample or an epoxy with at least some aggregate.  Avoid slick glazed concrete surfaces and if your winery has glazed concrete floor be especially cautious to keep it dry.  These floors become very slick when wet!

As you can see, one does not just venture out and buy any forklift.  Research must be done taking into consideration what one expects to do with the lift, factor in any building limitations and move forward from there.  Select the smallest forklift possible that will adapt to your building and be able to do the largest job expected. The above is essential to maximize the forklift’s use for your operation, maximize your capital and keep labor costs at a minimum.

Practical Tips

Cyndi

How to Maintain Beverage Inventory Levels in Uncertain Times

man with clipboard counting bottles of wine

By Nick Fryer, Vice President of Marketing, Sheer Logistics

Managing beverage inventory has never been simple, but in today’s environment it’s harder than ever. Geopolitical tensions, climate-related disruptions, shifting consumer demand, and rising logistics costs have all made supply chain management a high-stakes balancing act for wine, spirits, and beverage brands.

  Take the March 2025 tariff scare, for example. When the U.S. threatened new duties on European goods, hundreds of Chianti orders were suddenly grounded in Tuscany. For importers, it was a stark reminder that sales performance alone doesn’t determine success. If products aren’t where they need to be, when they need to be, revenue is lost. Similarly, when President Trump announced a 25% tariff on Canadian whiskey, some Canadian provinces ordered the removal of American-made spirits from retail shelves, causing a 66% drop in sales between March and the end of April.

  So how can beverage producers minimize delays, manage risk, and keep shelves stocked without overcommitting inventory? Below, we’ll break down the most effective tools and strategies to build resilience—from smarter freight partnerships to just-in-time inventory systems that actually work.

How to Forecast Seasonal Spikes and Holiday Demand

  Many reports have appeared in the last year bemoaning customers who are drinking and spending less. Even as some note declines in wine sales, there are still plenty of spikes that businesses can take advantage of.

  Food and beverage consumption has major seasonal variations. So much so that entire studies have been done to determine the environmental and psychological factors at play. Most craft beverage operations don’t need in-depth academic research on the issue, though. What they need is clear and accurate predictive analytics.

  The best way to forecast seasonal spikes is through forecasting platforms. Usually powered by AI and advanced algorithms, this technology uses internal, historical sales data as well as external market, season, and weather trends to determine when certain products will be in demand. The value of this is that it not only improves sales approaches but it helps craft beverage operations avoid supply chain disruptions.

  Businesses can plan what to have in stock, where, and then bolster shipping operations accordingly. Forecasting demand makes it much easier to ensure that inventory and logistics are ready for demand spikes like holiday demand rather than overwhelmed by it. There’s a competitive advantage in this as well.  Businesses that can get ahead of seasonal trends the most from them.

Tips on Selecting Reliable Freight Partners for Your Craft Beverage Shipments

   As e-commerce customers demand increasingly quick and easy deliveries, that pressure invariably trickles back to the businesses targeting those customers. For that reason and many others, having a reliable freight partner is an invaluable part of any beverage manufacturing or distribution operation. Here’s what to look for:

Craft Beverage Experience:  Most wines, if not sold in cans or boxes, are sold in fragile glass bottles that need to be handled with care at every step. That’s why a logistics partner with some experience in this industry is so important.

Proper Compliance and Permits:  Transporting spirits across national and state borders comes with legal requirements that can cause lengthy delays if not complied with. This again is an area where experience helps, as it ensures that logistics teams have better knowledge of permit systems and are up to date on regulations.

Cold Chain Capabilities: The right freight partner needs to have cold chain capabilities that match the needs of your products to ensure end-to-end quality control. In-transit conditions should protect the integrity of your product, not degrade it.

References:  Track-records speak volumes. Hearing from others who have worked with a logistics team is a great way to get a sense of their reliability. It’s also worth checking public records on insurance claims histories, etc., for potential red flags.

Technology and Tracking: Many wineries and beverage makers are shipping their products for delivery over long distances. Freight partners that offer up-to-date technology and tracking can make these journeys far less stressful.

  Tracking ensures transparency and makes it easier to keep customers accurately informed on delivery times. It’s also important that tools like routing technology are in use to keep transit as efficient as possible.

Flexibility:  How would the team respond to a last minute delivery request due to demand spikes? What plans do they have in place to deal with delays? These questions can expose the flexibility and resilience of a freight partner and how well they can pivot in tight situations.

The Trick for Maintaining Product Integrity in Transit: Packaging and Temp Control

  Wine and many other craft beverages are adversely affected by temperature variations. That said, even when temp control has been maintained, damaged packaging can give the impression of a damaged product. Maintaining quality in transit is all about addressing both areas.

  IoT (Internet of Things)devices that track environmental factors can help keep wine packaging and its contents in perfect condition. The devices will automatically flag if temperature or humidity levels go out of range so that logistics teams can quickly intervene. This then prevents condensation from forming that could damage packaging. It also stops chemical reactions from occurring, such as accelerated fermentation, which could degrade product quality or even lead to bursting cans. This is a common problem with wine spritzers transported without proper temperature control.

  Packaging itself also impacts temperature control. In this instance, however, it’s not about whether wine is stored in a bottle or a can but how it’s packed in transit. Insulated boxes, for example, ensure that even if there’s a delay on the road, wine is still kept at a steady temperature.

How to Cut Inventory without Sacrificing Stock Availability

  Shipping delays are often discussed in terms of what goes wrong in transit. It’s the reason why GPS tracking and data-driven routing are so important. However, many delays actually begin in the warehouse with inventory issues.

  Overstocking can crowd storage areas and slow fulfillment, while understocking has its own issues. The last thing any craft beverage operator wants is demand coming in that their inventory levels can’t match. Here’s how to balance both:

Predictive Analytics:  This technology empowers businesses with insights that allow them to cut the inventory that’s unlikely to sell and instead only stock what’s needed. This makes deliveries much easier to manage as stock is easier to find. It also prevents stockouts and the costly shipping delays that come with them.

Inventory Tracking:  Another way to reduce inventory without threatening availability is through better tracking. Here again, IoT sensors can be useful. RFID tags are another tracking option. Either way, these devices can automatically track inventory levels in real time and, when paired with an IMS, help automate restocking to keep up with predicted demand. This prevents businesses from holding onto too much stock while still ensuring that they have enough to meet customer demand.

FINAL POUR:

Key Takeaways for Reliable Shipping & Inventory

  The trick to addressing shortages and delays in craft beverage operations comes down to inventory and shipping management. Here’s a quick overview of how businesses can make these areas more reliable:

•    Track inventory and use predictive analytics to forecast demand and prevent warehouses from being overloaded with stock or scrambling due to shortages. Data takes the guesswork out and puts the balance back.

•    Invest in great packaging and temperature control in order to protect the quality of your products throughout the logistics network.

•    Pick freight partners carefully based on their experience, use of technology, and the kind of flexibility they can offer.

  Nailing the above can help businesses prevent and handle delays. Most importantly, it builds systems that can thrive no matter the season or the directions this industry takes.

Author Bio:

  Nick Fryer is the Vice President Of Marketing, Sheer Logistics with over a decade of experience in the logistics industry, spanning marketing, public relations, sales enablement, M&A and more at 3PLs and 4PLs including AFN Logistics, GlobalTranz, and Sheer Logistics.

From the Sublime to the Ordinary

Cyndi

Art in a bottle and insurance considerations

photo showing rows and rows of barrels on racks in a winery

By Brad Berkman & Louis J. Terminello of Greenspoon Marder LLP

The wine-making experience is often sublime, requiring the best attributes of the artist. Sometimes, however, it is essential to call on the practical among us. In this instance, at least, I am referring to the insurance broker along with the versed attorney who can assist in advising on insurance policies that manage and limit the winemakers (“Suppliers”) risk (it’s worth noting that these recommendations are applicable to all producers of beverage alcohol as well as distributors). Of course, this article is written by an alcohol beverage attorney, so its main objective is to make this publication’s readers aware of recommended areas of coverage for production and distribution relationships and agreements, as well as in the context of the contract packaging relationship.

  In simple terms, business insurance is essential for managing risk and protecting a business against economic loss. Wine is obviously a consumable good, and risk exposure occurs from the production facility through the distribution chain and ultimately, to the consumers’ table. It is advisable that the producer ensure that it, and its partners down the distribution chain, have adequate insurance guarantees that are memorialized as obligations in the various agreements that the Supplier may enter.

General Contractual Provisions

  Insurance terms and their requirements can be confusing to those unfamiliar with them. As an exercise in clarification, below is a sample of insurance provisions that may appear in a Supplier/distributor agreement with terms that may be known to the reader, but little understood. First, read the following:

Supplier Insurance: Producer will maintain: (1) primary products liability coverage totaling at least $1,000,000.00 per occurrence and $2,000,000.00 in the aggregate, on an occurrence and (2) commercial general liability insurance of not less than $1,000,000.00 per occurrence and $2,000,000.00 in the aggregate. Producer will give Distributor at least 30 days’ advance written notice of cancellation, nonrenewal, or material change in the terms of the liability policy. All policies shall name Distributor as an additional insured party.

Distributor Insurance: Distributor shall maintain Commercial General Liability Insurance and Product Liability Insurance in such an amount as is commercially reasonable but not less than the coverage amounts stated in Paragraph above. Within ten days of the effective date of this Agreement, Distributor will provide to Brand Owner an original certificate of insurance evidencing such insurance and these terms and thereafter will provide Brand Owner with each certificate of renewal, within ten days of the effective date of renewal.

What Stands Out?  

  Obviously, the reader will notice that the insurance provisions are reciprocal and that both the Supplier and distributor have insurance obligations. Additionally, both parties are named as additionally insured on the other party’s insurance policy. The additionally insured party is not the policyholder but is added to the policy, and the policy’s protections are extended to the additionally insured, covering them for the risks of the policyholders’ activities. In our example, additional insurance provides the distributor with protection against a Supplier risk event, and the producer is protected against a risk event associated with the distributor. This begs the question, what are the party’s insurance policies covering in the above clauses?

For the Producer-Product Liability Coverage

  Wine producers and Suppliers should have product liability insurance coverage as identified in the contractual provision. This type of coverage covers consumers’ claims against the producer stemming from damage caused by the alcoholic beverage. Such damages may include those resulting from a manufacturing defect during the production process. Ideally, the product will always come off the bottling line fit for human consumption, but sometimes contaminants or other substances may be present and consumed by the end user, which causes injury. Product liability insurance will cover the economic consequences of such incidents. Those entities in the chain of distribution, such as wine distributors, should also consider obtaining product liability insurance to guard against economic loss resulting from the distribution of beverages that may be defective.

  Many insurance policies, including those covering consumables like wine and alcohol beverage, have policy payout limitations. Phrased another way, your insurance provider will only pay up to a maximum coverage amount per occurrence or in the aggregate. Per-occurrence limit is the amount the insurance company will pay for a single claim or incident. The aggregate is the total amount the insurer will pay for all claims covered by the policy for its term.

  It is wise for the Supplier and distributor to include these policy limitations in their agreement to ensure adequate coverage in the event of a claim. Further, it is important to consult with an insurance professional to be sure that the policy limitations provide adequate coverage and protection based on the policyholder’s economic exposure.

General Commercial Liability Insurance

  General commercial liability is also called for in the above reciprocal clauses. As an industry standard, General commercial liability insurance protects against economic loss from claims that the Supplier or distributor caused injury to another person or property. Common areas of coverage include bodily injury, medical expenses, or property damage caused by the wineries or distributors business operations. As an example, this type of coverage may cover damage caused by a distributor’s vehicle to a retailer’s property when delivering the Supplier’s product. As with product liability insurance, adequate amounts should be acquired per occurrence and in the aggregate based upon risk exposure. Again, speaking with an insurance professional is essential for determining sufficient coverage amounts based upon the economic risk exposure to the policyholder.

Additional Areas of Coverage for Consideration

  There are many types of risk coverage available to wineries and other alcohol beverage industry members. Other coverage areas to explore include:

•     Liquor liability insurance: Covers claims for incidents as a result of the consumption of alcohol and for actions brought by claimants under dram shop laws (dram shop laws concern a business’s liability for the service and over-consumption of alcohol by consumers on their premises). This is especially important for Suppliers that have tasting rooms on their premises.

•    Recall insurance: Covering economic loss for the recall of defective alcohol beverage products that made its way into the marketplace.

•    Crop Insurance (for wineries in particular): Protects against losses to the crops from damages due to weather and other factors.

•    Business interruption insurance: Covers losses resulting from an unplanned interruption or temporary stoppage in business due to unforeseen circumstances.

  Risk management and the policy types mentioned here, and the terms defined, are meant to introduce and bring clarity to an often thought of as mundane area of business operations. However, it is extremely important that stakeholders in the beverage alcohol industry, in whatever form they take, bring serious consideration to this matter. Inadequate insurance coverage amounts or the wrong policy coverage could lead to catastrophic consequences for those who labor so hard to create and distribute art in a bottle. The reader should take care to consult with well-versed insurance professionals and attorneys to ensure adequate risk management.

Botham Vineyards

Cyndi

Award-Winning winemakers preserve Wisconsin’s agricultural landscape

owners of botham vineyards in harvesting the grarpes in their vineyard

By Gerald Dlubala

The Wisconsin wine industry is a growing sector that relies on cold-hardy hybrid grape varieties and fruit wines to overcome a cold, humid climate unsuitable for traditional European wine grapes.  We would like to introduce you to Botham Vineyards and Winery.

   “This is very much a family operation, and I have the good fortune to be able to work alongside my mother and father in a wonderful line of work,” said Mills Botham, second-generation winemaker and Chief Operating Officer of Botham Vineyards and Winery in Barneveld, Wisconsin, part of the Madison, Wisconsin, Metropolitan Area.

  Peter Botham founded Botham Vineyards and Winery in 1989, but to get the whole story of this award-winning winery that features spectacular views among its agricultural landscape, you must go back to Mills’ grandfather, Richard Botham, who originally purchased the property back in the 1960s.

  “My grandfather grew up on a farm in Lancaster, Wisconsin,” said Mills. “He was a surgeon by profession, but even with that, he still wanted to be involved in something agricultural. So, it was in the 60s that he bought this farm, which is now the vineyard, along with four contiguous farms around our property. Those other four are now in the Nature Conservancy.”

  Richard Botham converted those farms from dairy operations to beef cattle operations. He oversaw bigger picture duties like buying and selling cattle, but Botham employed families to live on the farms and manage the day-to-day cattle farming operations.

  “In the summers growing up, my dad and his siblings lived in Madison but spent their summers working on the cattle farms helping out with the wrangling, operations, and all related things,” said Mills. “They’d live on the farms during the week and return to Madison for the weekend. That’s how my dad initially got acclimated to an agricultural approach to life. After he graduated from college, he lived on the East Coast, holding different and interesting positions like commercial draftsperson, clothing salesperson, and high-end audio and security systems. He eventually made his way to a vineyard just outside of Baltimore, and the way my dad tells the story is that he was there all of two weeks when he decided that the vineyard and winery lifestyle was what he wanted to do with his life. In the late 1980s, my dad reached out to my grandfather, who had scaled back his beef cattle business dramatically and was renting out most of his farmland for row cropping. My dad worked out a deal on some land and ended up buying what was a run-down farm desperately needing some attention at that time. He converted what was left from the row crop and beef cattle operation into a vineyard. We’ve been here ever since.”

Vineyard Reflects Wisconsin Climate and Consumer Demand

  “Our vineyard is currently about eight acres,” said Mills. “And currently we grow two different varietals, Marechal Foch and Léon Millot. At one time, our vineyard was bigger, but we’ve scaled back a bit in recent years as the demand for French hybrid grown wines has come down a little bit. Additionally, my dad is getting older and is not as vigorous a farmer as he used to be, which makes it a bit easier for us to manage. Our two main varietals are cold-hardy and quick ripening, so they do very well here in the Wisconsin climate. They just fit our shortened growing season, and we still have a good number of our oldest, original plantings from the 80s. We’ve added as necessary, but for the most part, our vineyard is very old and very well established, especially when talking about Wisconsin standards.

  “Dad and I run the majority of the operation and take care of all vineyard duties,” said Mills. “That includes the main agricultural duties, tending to the vineyard, winemaking, and managing the business and grounds. Dad doesn’t have a formal viticultural degree or anything like that. Instead, he learned on the job alongside other winemakers out east and back here in Wisconsin. They taught him the ropes, which he passed on to me. Mom oversees administrative operations as well as marketing, PR, and graphic design. She is instrumental to our business, but she also has other businesses and employment. We also have a wonderful crew of tasting room staff that helps us on weekends, but for full-time employees, it’s just my dad and me.”

Production Fluctuates with Demand and Trends

  “Our production is all on site,” said Mills. “But we can’t grow everything here. Some vines don’t or can’t grow here in Wisconsin. Anything we can grow here, we do, and anything we can’t grow here, we get the juice for working through quality brokers. We do make the wines here, everything from fermentation through production through bottling, putting out 10-12 thousand gallons annually on average. That number fluctuates, however. We meter how much we make based on the previous year’s sales and the estimates we see for the next year, including what we see as industry trends and what is and isn’t selling well.”

  Botham Vineyards and Winery currently feature 13 wines. The volume of each wine produced depends on consumer demand and interest. Big Stuff Red is their flagship, and was Mills’ nickname as a child.

  “Big Stuff Red is a semi-dry red that we have been making for quite a while,” said Mills. “We serve it chilled, which is admittedly a bit unusual for a red wine, but we find that it’s a little more flavorful that way versus room temperature. It’s a blend of Foch that we grow here and wine from the Finger Lakes region of New York.

  “It’s certainly our best seller, and the wine that we’ve been known for the last 20-25 years, but we stand by everything we make,” said Mills. “We believe that our wines are some of the best in the state, and our awards history backs that up. I credit my dad, who is the primary winemaker and vastly more experienced than I am. He’s been at it for 30+ years.”

  Botham Vineyards and Winery have over 150 medals, accolades, and awards that can be seen adorning the walls of their tasting room. Botham believes this is a true testament to the care and artistry that go into crafting their wines. Botham Vineyards is the only Wisconsin winery to have twice earned a double gold medal on an estate-grown wine in international competition. Their Big Stuff Red is a two-time, double gold medal winner at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. And that’s just one example of the exemplary quality of the Botham wine collection. Their top sellers are distributed within Wisconsin, but to experience their whole portfolio, you should visit their picturesque location.

Guests Enjoy the Landscape Views and Personalized Service

  “Our property is gorgeous with a spectacular vibe,” said Mills. “Especially when everything is blooming and coming in. That’s not by accident. We work extremely hard to keep it looking the way it does. Our tasting room is inside the original 1904 agricultural barn. We have tastings, live music, and a robust public and private event business. We offer an excellent, personable staff able to talk and engage with our guests and come up with personalized tastings to suit everyone’s likes.

photograph showing many people at tables inside Botham Vineyard's building

  “We want the visitor experience to be personal and personable,” added Mills. “We don’t just pour you a flight of four or five wines and send you on your merry way. I talk with and engage our guests. I enjoy telling them about our wines. I’ll pour the glasses one at a time, hopefully finding something they genuinely enjoy. It’s rare that someone cannot find at least one or two of our wines to enjoy. All our wines are excellent, but we’ll take the time to find what suits every visitor’s tastes.”

  Mills tells The Grapevine Magazine that Botham Vineyards and Winery does not have an on-site catering kitchen. Instead, they offer premade snacks to supplement their lineup of wines, including Wisconsin’s excellent block cheese and sausage choices.

Host Your Event or Special Occasion Indoors, Outdoors, or Both

  “Although we will never move away from our excellent and storied wines, we are pushing our capacity to host in-demand events, including weddings,” said Mills. “We’re working to be an excellent and viable option for events with the capability and capacity to offer a choice between indoor and outdoor spaces. I’m always on site whenever we have a wedding or something big going on, just in case something weird happens. Fortunately, incidents like that are infrequent, but it’s good to have someone here to work personally and directly with the event organizers and can help when the occasion is warranted.”

photo showing Botham Vineyard visitors enjoying a man playing a guitar outside

  Whether it’s an intimate wedding ceremony, reception, rehearsal dinner, family celebration, or any special occasion, Botham Vineyards and Winery provides a one-of-a-kind vineyard venue with both indoor and outdoor options in their historic barn or beneath their ancient oaks surrounded by a picturesque vineyard landscape.

  “We’ll bring your vision for your special occasion to life,” said Mills. “We also host company retreats, business luncheons and outings, team gatherings, baby and bridal showers, anniversaries, birthday celebrations, and more. We’ll often have a wedding ceremony outside under our iconic huge oak tree, and then a reception in the barn, which is covered and out of the sun and wind, but still able to provide that summer ambiance. It’s a beautiful space in the unrenovated part of the barn with exposed beams, old woodwork, and historical architecture.”

It’s a Wonderful Life

  “It really is a wonderful and fun line of work where I get to meet and talk with a lot of really stellar people and friendly folks who are genuinely interested in our products,” said Mills. “Many times, we become friends, and those friends become supporters of our brand. Our vineyard and winery are really wonderful places to be, and I honestly have no complaints or regrets.”

For more information or to schedule an event:

Botham Vineyards

and Winery

8180 Langberry Rd.

Barneveld, WI 53507

608-574-2162

info@bothamvineyards.com

Vineyard Insurance

Cyndi

When can I sign up for grape crop insurance?

vineyard showing damage from storm

By Trevor Troyer, Agricultural Risk Management

Crop Insurance is unlike most other types of insurance.  There are specific deadlines for signing up, reporting the previous year’s production, reporting acreage etc.  You can only sign up for crop insurance by certain dates.   Since crop insurance is partially subsidized through the USDA these dates, along with premiums, are set by them. 

  All states where you can obtain grape crop insurance, except for California, have the sign-up deadline or Sales Closing Date (SCD) of November 20.  The states where grape crop insurance is available are Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.  Grape Crop insurance is not available in all counties in the above states though.  You may be able to obtain coverage through a special Written Agreement with the USDA, in one of those counties where it is not.

  If you want to amend the existing policy for next year, it needs to be done by the Sales Closing Date.  What changes might you want to make by the SCD or sign-up deadline? 

The main ones are:

1.    Add coverage.

2.   Cancel coverage.

3.   Change optional endorsements.

4.  Increase coverage levels.

5.   Decrease coverage levels.

  What about options that you might not realize are available?  While all crop insurance is the same from one insurance provider to the next, not all options may be added by your agent.  He or she might not have told you about certain ones or they themselves might be unaware of different endorsements that are available.  Contract Pricing and Yield Adjustment are a couple I think can be particularly important. 

  Yield Adjustment is an option that allows you to use a higher yield, in a disaster or in place of a bad year. This would replace your actual yield, in the database that is used to calculate your average tons, with a higher one.

  Here is what the Crop Insurance Handbook, 2023 and Succeeding Years says:

  For APH yield calculation purposes, insureds may elect to substitute 60 percent of the applicable T-Yield for actual yields (does not apply to assigned and temporary yields) that are less than 60 percent of the applicable T-Yield to mitigate the effect of catastrophic year(s). Insureds may elect the APH YA and substitute 60 percent of the applicable T-Yield for low actual yields caused by drought, flood, or other natural disasters.

  T-Yield is a transition yield. These are set by the USDA for each county and variety.  The main point is that Yield Adjustment allows you to use a higher yield to calculate your average.  This can make an enormous difference when it comes to how much of a reimbursement you get on a claim. 

harvester working in the grapevine vineyard

  I have seen many vineyards in California and Oregon that had zero production due to fires and smoke taint.  Their averages would have been significantly worse moving forward without Yield Adjustment (YA).  This would in turn cause them to have less insured value and lessen the likelihood of future claims getting paid.

  Contract Pricing is another valuable tool that allows growers to increase their price per ton.  Prices per ton are set by the USDA Risk Management Agency per county and variety and other counties allow for Contract Pricing.  If you have a contract or contracts with a winery or processor you may be able to get a higher per ton price.  This endorsement – Contract Pricing (CP) needs to be elected at the Sales Closing Date.  Contracts are not due till the acreage reporting date which is later. 

  With Contract Pricing for vineyards, all your grapes do not have to be grown under contract.  You can have part of your grapes grown under contract and your other grapes are not.  Or you can have other grapes grown under different contracts, with different values per ton, with various wineries.  In these cases, a weighted average is used to determine the per-ton price.  Of course, if the value of your grapes goes up so does your premium. 

  Here is an example from the Crop Insurance Handbook:

  Production based contract for 290 total tons at $2,100 per ton = $609,000 total contract value. Non-contracted 72.5 tons at the price election of $1,622 per ton = $117,595. Total value of contracted and non-contracted tons = $726,595. Total value of $726,595 divided by the total expected production = $2,004 weighted average price.

   So, at the time of a claim in the above example any indemnity payment would be $2004 per ton instead of $1622.  Again, using Contract Pricing means your premium will go up.  The higher the dollar value the more the premium will be.  I have seen growers choose not to use CP because of this.

  Another option that growers may opt to use is price election. Normally the price election is 100%. 

  What is price election or percentage? Simply put it is a percentage of the price you are getting per ton.  For example, at 75% coverage you are covering 75% of the value of your grapes.  You would have a 25% damage deductible.   The underlying price election would be 100%.  So, you are getting paid 100% of the value of the grapes covered (75%).  If you had CAT or Catastrophic coverage you would have a coverage level of 50% and a price election of 55%.   You can adjust this price election percentage by coverage level. 

  This can get extremely complicated, but it can make sense for a variety of growers.  You can select different price percentages for different coverage levels.    What if you choose a higher coverage level and then a lower price percentage?  Sometimes this makes more sense.  You would be more likely to have a claim paid but the claim payment might be less.  You would still come out ahead rather than not having a claim paid.

  Here is an example let us say you choose 65% coverage.  If your average is 5 tons per acre, then you are covered for 3.25 tons per acre.  You have a 35% or 1.75 tons per acre deductible.  You must harvest less than 3.25 tons an acre to have a loss.  Maybe you think 35% is too big a deductible.  You might have had a loss last year of 30% and did not get paid anything.  You have looked at 80% with a 20% deductible and that seems good, but the premium is too high for you at 100% of the price.  You could instead choose 80% coverage and then decrease the price percentage.  That way you lower your deductible percentage, making it more likely to have a claim paid while paying around the same premium.

   Decreasing the price percentage lowers the dollar value of what is covered and therefore lowers the premium.  You will get less money per ton, but you may get a claim payment, where in the past you would not have been paid as much or at all.

  This is all very relative to the grower, the state, the county or growing region and the main perils with which you are concerned.  These are just a few examples of available tools you can use to mitigate your risks.  Hopefully, this helps.

Grapes of Math

Cyndi

Howdy! Welcome to grape breeding in Texas

picture of grapevines growing in the vineyard

By Andrej Svyantek, Ph.D., Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, AgriLife Research

Grapevine improvement is a numbers game. One metric ton of fresh wine grapes likely contains more than one million grape seeds (after accounting for variation in berry mass, seed set, rachis mass, and other factors). That’s a lot of potential grapevines. In the wild, grapes play this number game to their advantage, using their sweet sugars, colorful pigments, and delicate aromas to conscript birds and beasts to pick their berries and spread their seeds. When dropped to grow, grape seeds are deposited with a little bit of fecal fertilizer on their way to becoming the latest vine to try their hand against Mother Nature’s Phylloxera, freezes, and foliar diseases. Of all the many billions of seeds sprouting forth each year from compost piles and spread by bird splat, few may have what it takes to shape the growth of our anthropocentric grape and wine industries.

  Intentional crossing, imposed environmental constraints, and an applied breeder’s eye can help improve the odds of finding a vine worthy of training, naming, and growing as a new cultivar. These odds are further increased through the addition of tools that either enhance a breeder’s data collection process, boost selection accuracy, or expand the genetic variation in a meaningful manner.

  As a breeder, my goal is to reduce the amount of time and money spent on developing new grapevines by refining methodologies and technologies. As a grape grower, my goal is to create vines that are productive, durable, and simultaneously both easier and more economical for our farmers to grow. As a parent, my goal is to develop vines that are a delicious component of healthy eating habits. Finally, as a new Texan serving our farmers, my goal is to develop vines that are suited to the needs of our state so we can put food on the table and drink in the glass for our families and friends.

  Texas is graced with a rich and growing viticultural history. Early grapevine introductions date back to the 17th century Spanish missions that brought Vitis vinifera from Europe. This was followed by reciprocity with the exchange of North American Vitis to Europe for use as rootstocks, courtesy of the work of Thomas Volney Munson of Denison, TX. Cumulatively, our state is gifted with just about 171.9 million acres; it is home to many distinct viticultural regions and eight established AVAs. However, growing grapevines in Texas is not without challenges. We can lump our obstacles into abiotic (think drought, heat, and soil or water conditions), biotic (think Pierce’s disease, Black Rot, Grasshoppers or Phylloxera), and chaotic (think hurricanes and tornadoes, extreme temperature swings, and hail). As a grapevine breeder, each obstacle is a new opportunity for work. The open communication of farmers’ struggles helps breeders identify new targets and traits so that future cultivars are better adapted to the on-farm needs of our growers.

Genetic Variation, the Basis of Breeding

  As a diploid organism, bunch grapes (Vitis) have two copies of each of their nineteen chromosomes (one from each parent). Each chromosome contains unique sequences with genetic variation built up through chromosomal aberrations (structural changes to chromosomes) and point mutations (shifts in specific base pairs or their order). These genetic variations are shuffled through the process of meiosis when gametes are formed (pollen and ovules); the combined shuffling and inherent variation from both the seed and pollen parents give rise to seedlings, each drastically different from the next.

  Taking this variation into account, breeding a new grapevine variety is kind of like buying a winning lottery ticket several thousand times in a row. Each individual DNA base pair in a plant’s genome is what drives variation; they can be viewed as individual balls of the lottery where the winning alignment is a desirable expression of a trait contributing to a new cultivar. The genomes of our grapevines are composed of only about 500 million base pairs. This complexity leads to a considerable number of possible lottery tickets. When there is a difference at a single DNA base pair, we call it a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). These SNP differences can shift the state of alleles (think of alleles as the varying forms of a given gene); when alleles differ, it drives shifts in the plant’s phenotype (observable traits associated with things like resistance, resilience, production, and quality).

  As plant breeders, we are playing the lottery with each specific cross we make. After emasculation and pollination, we are gambling that our new seedlings’ DNA will contain impactful SNPs that shape a majority of “winning” alleles across the approximately 30,000 genes of the Vitis genome. More “winning” alleles contribute to a more desirable phenotype for our growers, processors, and consumers. Plant breeders are playing the odds in attempting to align favorable parents, select favorable seedlings, and win the lottery for our growers with the goal of transforming meaningful genetic SNPs into industry shaping sips with each new grape cultivar released.

Fortunately, we are not gambling blindly like a bird plucking and plopping berries along a fence row. After crossing, the tools a plant breeder utilizes on the path to a new cultivar are phenotypic selection, marker-assisted selection, and genomic selection. These tools are critical, and their useful application is dependent on the presence of genetic variation within our crop plant.

Tools of the Trade

Genetic Variation:  For all crops in the U.S. (including grapevines), the genetic variation that allows breeders to serve growers is housed in the USDA Germplasm Repositories. These repositories are our most valuable resource for viticulture’s present and future success. They are our first ingredients when we start cooking up a new cultivar and they are our last line of defense as we battle against pests, diseases, and environmental challenges. Without these repositories’ collections of plant biodiversity, all breeding would be incapacitated and incapable of forging a better future for U.S. farmers.

Phenotypic Selection:  As breeders, phenotyping (measurement of a trait) is the single most important factor in selection and cultivar release. This process is critical for identifying plants that will perform for growers because it is an observation of the plant’s actual performance. For grapes, we have multiple phenotypes of interest. To serve our growers, we need environmental stress tolerance, biotic stress resistance, and yield. However, with grapes we are often as interested in improving chemistry and end-product quality, such as wines. Phenotypic selection is expensive and challenging for many traits due to the cost and time associated with data collection, the time required to wait for that trait to expose itself, the inherent sources of variation that impact plant performance, and the required environmental or biotic constraints for selection of certain traits (we cannot test for drought tolerance during a deluge). Traits that require mature plants (like wine chemistry), traits that require pest and disease pressure, and traits that require extreme climate events (like Winter Storm Uri to test the hardiness of vines in Texas) all can benefit from marker assisted and genomic selection techniques.

Marker Assisted Selection:

Researchers merge phenotype with genetic markers to develop molecular maps for breeders to follow on the path of grapevine creation. This process of associating traits with regions along chromosomes is called Quantitative Trait Loci mapping. The knowledge of which chunks of DNA explain variation in plant response become very important for breeders hoping to use this information for marker assisted selection (MAS). MAS allows a breeder to screen seedlings for things like disease resistance (without exposing them to pathogens) and wine color (without waiting for their fruit). MAS tools require a substantial investment of researchers’ time and effort, but they have a massive time saving impact for breeders in selection.

Genomic Selection:  For crops with many target traits (like grapes) that are under control of many genomic regions (like grapes) where farmers demand whole-plant improvement and high-quality cultivars (like grapes) a technique called genomic selection is necessary to address these highly quantitative traits. Developing an integrated genomic prediction platform for Texas and other grapevine breeding programs is essential to making the most of researchers’ efforts past, present, and future.

  In 2025, Texas A&M University launched a Grapevine Breeding Program into the turbulent waters of viticulture, research, and cultivar development. As a new program, our efforts are geared towards developing methods to rapidly screen promising progeny. This is geared towards increasing the odds of winning the lottery for Texas farmers using Vitis’ natural variation, informative markers, and genomic and phenomic selection procedures so we can deliver environmentally durable grapevines with rugged resistance for our growers. Starting a new grapevine breeding program at Texas A&M University is a challenge, but it is a numbers game that we can win for our farmers if we keep the numbers on our side.

Adiós For Now!

  My name is Andrej Svyantek. You can reach me at andrej.svyantek@ag.tamu.edu for collaborations, discussions, or just to describe your dream grapevine.

Update on Grapevine Red Blotch Virus Disease

Cyndi
vineyard leaves show evidence of red blotch virus disease

By: Judit Monis, Ph.D.

The symptoms of red blotch virus infection become more pronounced and progress in vineyards late in the summer towards the fall season. Therefore, it is timely to provide an update in this issue of the magazine.  In addition, this summer I attended a session on Grapevine red blotch disease at the 76th National ASEV (American Society of Enology and Viticulture) Conference held in Monterey, California.   Here I will summarize information on the biology, symptoms, transmission, and management of the virus responsible for red blotch disease plus a brief synopsis of two relevant ASEV oral presentations. 

Red Blotch Disease

  Red blotch is one of the most important viral diseases in grapevines.  The main symptoms are expressed in red-fruited grape varieties in the late summer/fall season.  It is difficult to distinguish symptoms of leafroll from red blotch disease. Because of this and until 2012 in which the virus was characterized, growers thought that their vines were infected by a yet uncharacterized species or strain of leafroll virus.  Grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV) genetic material is DNA rather than RNA, belongs to the Grablovirus genus  within the Geminiviridae family.   Foliar symptoms include reddening, or yellowing of leaves depending on the grapevine variety.  Very often, Grapevine red blotch virus infection displays leaf discoloration which usually appears spotty or blotchy.   In red fruited varieties, GRBV infected vines may display red veins, but red veins have also been observed in non-infected vines, and many red-blotch infected vines do not display red veins.   In white-fruited varieties red blotch disease displays yellow blotchy discoloration in leaves. genus Visual diagnostics can be complicated by the fact that grapevines often carry mixed infections of viruses and other pathogens.  The most important negative effect of red blotch virus infection is the reduction of sugar in fruit resulting in lower Brix values and delayed fruit maturity.  Two different genetic groups (clades) of GRBV have been reported but no differences in their biology or effect on symptoms in vineyards have been described.  Just as seen with leafroll, the symptom expression of GRBV infected vines is affected by climatic conditions and the author has noted differences in the effect on sugar reduction in sunnier and warmer areas (i.e., California coastal areas with more fog and lower sunshine yield fruit with lower sugar concentration than the same grape clones grown inland with more sun/heat exposure).

Transmission, Spread of Leafroll and Red Blotch Viruses

  Work by researchers at Cornell University and the University of California reported that the three-cornered alfalfa hopper (Spissistilus festinus) can transmit the GRBV in greenhouse and laboratory conditions.  It is interesting that grapevine is not the preferred host for Spissistilus festinus that prefers to feed on legumes, grasses, and shrubs.  Furthermore, the insect is not able to complete its reproductive cycle in grapevines.  Because the virus is spreading in areas where the three-cornered alfalfa hopper is not present, research is in progress to determine if other insects are capable of transmitting the red blotch virus.   Recently, it was shown that Tortistilus albidoparsus (another tree hopper) is a vector capable of transmitting GRBV.  The rapid expansion of this virus in vineyards  in USA and other countries (Asia, Europe, and South America ) was due to propagation and grafting of cuttings from infected vines.  

Virus Diagnosis and Disease Management

  The distribution and concentration of red blotch virus is uniform in infected vines.  In fact, the  detection of red blotch virus can be performed any time of the year.   Further, work performed in my lab showed that red blotch virus can be detected in high titers in any part of the vine.  The work showed that red blotch virus can be detected in any tissue tested, new or mature leaves, petioles, green or lignified canes, as well as cordons and trunks. 

  Keeping red blotch viruses out of the productive vineyards relies on clean planting stock programs.  Because the causal virus is graft transmitted and has biological vectors it is important to implement a monitoring and sampling program at the nursery and production vineyards.  Vines that are symptomatic or that test positive must be removed from the vineyard to avoid spread.  Depending on the disease incidence (I have developed a statistical sampling formula to calculate and help make decisions), the removal of a few vines or the whole vineyard is recommended. The use of chemical control, although might be used to control GRBV vector is not presently recommended. However, the choice of cover crops that are less appealing to its insect vector’s diets might minimize their presence in the vineyards.  

Highlights of ASEV Presentations

Effect of GRBV in Wine Quality:  Raul Cauduro Girardello (University of California at Davis) presented research to determine if the length of time the vines are infected with GRBV have an effect on wine sensorial and grape chemical quality components.  The study was performed with wine produced using grapes grown in an infected Merlot vineyard block located in Paso Robles (California Central Coast).  The parameters analyzed in grapes were: soluble solids, titratable acids, pH, and phenolic composition. The wine produced were analyzed for basic chemical composition, volatile and phenolic compounds. In addition, descriptive analyses provided and evaluation of the wine’s sensory attributes.  The study found no substantial difference in the analyzed fruit and wine parameters regardless of the time since the vines were infected.  Interestingly, wines produced from recently infected vines were affected (not significantly), sensorially.  Furthermore, the descriptive analyses demonstrated that panelists were able to distinguish the wine’s attributes based on how long the vines were infected.  It would be interesting to learn if the results would be different in other growing areas such as Sonoma and Napa Valley vineyards.

Control of GRBV using Spray-Induced Gene Silencing:  Christian Mandelli (Oregon State University, Corvallis) presented research on the application of double stranded RNA (dsRNA) to induce what plant virologists know as RNA interference.  Compared with animals, plants do not have an immune system to defend themselves from the infection of viruses (or other pathogens).  However, plants have developed a gene-silencing mechanism to respond to viral infections known as RNA interference (RNAi).  Pathogen derived resistance has been applied to many plant species including grapevine (i.e., development of rootstocks resistant to fanleaf disease) using genetic engineering methods.  Unfortunately, these rootstocks are not being used due to the lack of popularity and acceptance of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by consumers.  The study presented at the meeting proposes to bypass the use of GMOs by spraying small portions of double stranded RNA (dsRNAs) onto plants.  The researchers report the finding of  “hotspots” in the GRBV genome that can be targeted by the plant’s RNAi machinery to induce viral gene silencing, inhibiting the viral replication, ultimately suppressing viral infection.  If the research is successful, a method for foliar application (spraying) of small interfering dsRNAs  would provide resistance to GRBV replication and therefore reduce the detrimental effects of the virus.  The project is interesting  because the application of spray-induced gene silencing would provide a non-GMO strategy that could mitigate GRBV infection in vineyards.

Conclusions

  Exciting new research is promising and may allow growers and nursery personnel to control GRBV infection.  However, the production of clean planting grapevine stock still remains the number one prevention strategy to keep newly planted vineyards free of viral and fungal diseases.  Presently, there is no clear recommendation on the needed isolation of foundation or nursery mother blocks and production vineyards. A prudential distance and isolation will help avoid infection of clean planting stock from diseased blocks. We know that the lack of symptoms does not correlate with a healthy diagnostic result.  Therefore, it is recommended to test a statistical sample of the nursery propagated material to confirm the material’s health status. Obviously, nurseries and growers must determine the health status of grapevine stock prior to planting to avoid the propagation and/or introduction diseased vines to the vineyard.  But as important is to isolate and monitor newly planted vineyards to avoid the introduction and propagation of disease via insect vectors. 

  Judit Monis, Ph.D. provides specialized services to help growers, vineyard managers, and nursery personnel avoid the propagation and transmission of disease caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses in the vineyard.   Judit (based in California) is fluent in Spanish and is available to consult in all wine grape growing regions of the word.  Please visit juditmonis.com for information or contact juditmonis@yahoo.com to request a consulting session