The Record
Agendas, minutes, election dates and public safety logs, drawn from Tribune reporting. This page is updated as new items are reported.
Sonoma closes its earliest harvest in years, with a crop 35 to 40 percent light
Sonoma County Winegrowers said on October 19 that the county harvest is complete, ending a season that opened with the first pick on July 16 and produced an estimated crop 35 to 40 percent below average, with growers across five AVAs reporting small berries, strong acidity and whites finished weeks ahead of normal.
Unemployment fell across wine country in September, and so did the workforce
Preliminary state figures released October 16 put Napa County's unemployment rate at 4.2 percent, the North Bay's lowest, with Sonoma County at 4.3 percent, even as both counties counted fewer people working or looking for work than a year earlier. Napa payrolls gained 700 farm jobs while beverage manufacturing, which includes wineries, shed 300.
After 17 years on East Napa Street, Sojourn Cellars buys its downtown Sonoma home
The winery announced on October 14 that it has bought the three East Napa Street buildings that hold its tasting salon and offices, the first property it has ever owned, and unified its hospitality and headquarters under one roof just off the Sonoma Town Square.
Domaine Carneros prices the holidays: sparkling, fondue and a $354 saber set
The Carneros sparkling wine house unveiled its 2026 holiday gift collection on October 14, pairing estate wines with chocolates, fondue, a chateau puzzle and a sommelier saber, with club pricing, corporate gifting for lists of 5 to 500, and shipping deadlines that start November 17.
Silver Oak bets on game night: a $450 backgammon set, a bottle of Cabernet, and only 100 to sell
The Napa Valley Cabernet house has paired with Los Angeles game maker Throwing Doubles on 100 handmade leather backgammon sets, each bundled with a bottle of its 2022 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and on sale October 15, a holiday gift play that sells the occasion as much as the wine.
Sonoma's turn: Aperture's Collage beats Mouton and Screaming Eagle to win Judgment of Napa
Aperture Cellars' 2021 Collage Proprietary Red finished first in the red wine category at the 2026 Judgment of Napa, the first Sonoma County wine to top the event, ahead of Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Screaming Eagle and Dominus.
Paso Robles' Gretchen Roddick named Wine Enthusiast's 2026 Person of the Year
Hope Family Wines' executive vice president and Wine Institute board chair rose from a tasting-room host in 1997 to the top of the California wine trade.
The Petaluma Gap puts up the paddle: first-ever auction joins the Wind to Wine Festival
The alliance announced October 7 that a silent auction at the October 17 festival and an online auction open now will raise money for the trade group's education and marketing work, with lots from a Petaluma River boat tour to a Douro wine cruise.
Delta touches down in Santa Rosa with twice-daily Salt Lake City flights, and a free case of wine for the ride home
Flight 3541 arrived at 10:26 a.m. Tuesday with 52 passengers, restoring a fourth commercial airline at Sonoma County Airport. Delta's new Wine Takes Flight program waives the $45 bag fee for a case of up to 12 bottles from five Northern California airports.
A Windsor winery turns October pink: $30 a bottle for cancer research
Bricoleur Vineyards doubles its Sip with Purpose donation to $10 a bottle of Isla Rose Brut Rose for October, and an anonymous wine club member adds $20 more up to $50,000, chasing a $75,000 month for the V Foundation.
Juggernaut takes the lion to Napa Valley with a $29.99 Cabernet
Bogle Family Wine Collection's Juggernaut brand has added a limited-production Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, blending fruit from St. Helena, Oak Knoll, Atlas Peak and Rutherford. The lineup moved 330,000 cases in the U.S. last year, per Impact Databank.
Has California pulled up too many vines? A St. Helena CEO says the surplus is over
In a 16-page analysis, Spring Mountain Vineyard CEO Peter Ekman argues growers have already removed enough vineyard to match demand, and warns the industry could overshoot into shortage. The growers' co-op's own balance range sits close to his; what lingers is inventory.
The FTC just put America's biggest alcohol distributor on a six-year pricing watch
Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits settled the FTC's 2024 Robinson-Patman suit without admitting wrongdoing. For six years, an independent monitor will watch what it charges small shops versus big chains in 26 states, California included.
Monterey County ends 16 years of waiting: winery corridor plan wins 5-0 vote
The implementing ordinance for the Agricultural and Winery Corridor Plan clears a streamlined path for up to 10 new wineries along River Road, Metz Road, and Jolon Road.
Duckhorn wraps its 50th year with a new sales, marketing, and operations bench
Paul Passaro takes sales on Oct. 5, Chanel Caplan is promoted to CMO, and 19-year veteran P.J. Alviso becomes COO in February. Outgoing COO Zach Rasmuson moves to the board.
September closes on California's earliest harvest in a generation, and one of its lightest
The 2026 crush started in July, is tracking at roughly 80 percent of normal volume, and entered the season with about half the crop uncontracted.
Delta puts Napa in the premium cabin: six California labels headline the new Delta One wine list
Thirteen wines from eleven partners, whittled down from 1,600 candidates with SkyMiles members in the blind tastings, start pouring on October 1.
The hourglass economy: the middle is where wineries go to die
The top quartile grew revenue 22 percent while the bottom fell 13 percent. SVB's verdict: too big for DtC, too small for distributors, is the place to avoid.
Canada's boycott claims a 3,500-acre winery: McManis lists at $22 million
The 36-year-old San Joaquin Valley winery lost its Canadian export business almost overnight, from 75,000 cases to 1,000, and is now selling its main facility and 11 vineyards.
Two Napa estates, two pricing strategies: auction at $9 million, listing at $14.95 million
Benessere Vineyards goes to the auction block with bidding open at $9 million after a $19 million ask; an Atlas Peak winery estate lists at $14.95 million. The fall market is discovering price in public.
Direct-to-consumer shipments fell by 967,000 cases in 2025
The Sovos ShipCompliant 2026 report puts the DtC contraction at 15 percent of volume and more than $230 million of value, even as the average bottle price rose 11 percent.
Harvest runs on visas, and the visa math just changed
Sonoma County H-2A certifications rose from 92 jobs in 2008 to 1,639, a federal court threw out the wage methodology behind a $3-an-hour pay cut, and the 2026 harvest is caught in between.
An auction is not a distress signal. It is a price.
Benessere's $9 million auction open, after a $19 million ask, looks like honesty to this column. The trade should want more of it.
Tariffs cut U.S. wine imports by a quarter in value
First-half 2026 imports fell 16.8 percent in volume and 25.2 percent in value, OIVE customs analysis shows, as the 15 percent EU tariff bit into bottled wine.
Vineyard land is being repriced, and the bid side knows it
California farmland values are falling, U.S. wine cases are down 23 percent since 2020, and the Canada boycott has cost wineries $522 million. Land priced on boom earnings is meeting bust arithmetic.
No-alcohol wine is the trade's only confident growth line
IWSR projects 36 percent volume growth for no-alcohol analogues from 2024 to 2029, and Treasury Wine Estates has put $15 million of steel behind the bet.
TTB wants Alcohol Facts and allergen labels on every bottle
Notices 237 and 238 would mandate nutrition-style alcohol disclosures and major-allergen labeling. Allergen compliance would begin five years after a final rule.
The 2025 crush left a 72-million-case hole, and 2026 is the refill
Statewide, the crop came in the equivalent of 72 million cases below the five-year average. For grape buyers, the question is not price. It is availability.
U.S. wine exports fell 34 percent in 2025, and Canada was the hole
Exports lost $428 million of value, with Canada alone down $343 million, as the United States led the world's wine export collapse.
Napa lodging: 63.5 percent full at $400 a night
STR data through July 2025 shows occupancy at 63.5 percent, average daily rate at $400.73, and RevPAR at $254.34. The luxury tier is carrying the valley.
When the AQI passes 150, the harvest rulebook changes
Cal/OSHA's wildfire smoke standard triggers monitoring, exposure controls, training, and respirators for vineyard crews. Compliance is now a harvest cost.
California's bottle bill now covers wine, and the label clock is ticking
SB 1013 pulled wine and spirits into the CRV system in 2024. Since July 1, 2025, bottles need the redemption marking. Tasting-room pours are exempt; everything else is paperwork.