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☆ Vineyards Use AI, IoT Tools to Make Wine Effectively, Sustainably
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Bella Sayegh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The company's president and winemaker, Chris Kajani, wanted to stay connected with customers and distributors amid shutdowns and social-distancing practices. AdvertisementIn March 2020, Kajani started reworking her operations, hosting virtual tastings, keeping in contact with members of the vineyard's wine club, and meeting with distribution partners using a Cisco videoconferencing platform. Chris Kajani, the winemaker and president of Bouchaine Vineyards, is using technology to improve harvesting. Jyotsna Bhamidipati for BIRemy, a former wine technical consultant, said that buying wine without knowing what's good can be overwhelming. AI-powered tools are making headway in the commercial wine market by helping vineyards find optimal wine blends.

Persons: Chris Kajani, Kajani, Vintners, McClenehan, Alexandre Remy, Remy, Jyotsna, Vaughn Walton, Walton, Piper, Pied Piper, Katerina Axelsson, Axelsson Organizations: Cisco, Bouchaine, Atlas Wine, Oregon Wine Research, Oregon, University's Oregon Wine Research Institute, OSU, BI Remy Locations: Napa , California, Bouchaine, Somerset , California, Oregon, California, America, Walton

☆ Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S.—meet 3 who grew their side hustles into successful businesses
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Black women make up less than 10% of the U.S. population, but they've emerged as the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs, new research from GoDaddy has found. The number of Black women-owned businesses in the U.S. was trending upward even before the Covid-19 pandemic, which accelerated entrepreneurship overall. Between 2017 and 2020, the number of Black women-owned businesses increased by nearly 20%, far exceeding the growth of women-owned businesses and Black-owned businesses overall, the Brookings Institution reports. Ofodu's decision to leave Instagram reflects a larger trend of Black women ditching corporate jobs and flocking to entrepreneurship for more freedom, fulfillment and flexibility in their careers. "When I go to industry events, I'm still one of the few Black people or women in the room," says Frelow, 53.

Persons: they've, we're, Joy Ofodu, Instagram, Brianna Doe, Doe, Jessica Juniper, Alexis Rivera Scott, Rivera Scott, Leslie Frelow, Frelow, hasn't, I'm Organizations: Brookings Institution, Universal Service Administrative Company, Federal Communications Commission, Association of African Locations: U.S, Instagram, Phoenix, Boise, Washington ,, Maryland

☆ Californian Vineyard Founded by Lebanese Migrants Sells for Up to $1 Billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Stuart Condie | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Treasury Wine Estates, an Australia-based producer, will buy California-based DAOU Vineyards. Photo: David Gray/REUTERSSYDNEY—A Californian vineyard set up by two Lebanese migrants who got their first break making wines in a garage in rural San Diego has been acquired by Australia’s Treasury Wine Estates, one of the world’s largest vintners. DAOU Vineyards, owned by Georges and Daniel Daou, has agreed to be bought by Treasury Wine Estates for up to $1 billion in a move the Australian company said provides it with scale to potentially launch a luxury wine division covering the Americas. Treasury is among major producers seeking to generate more revenue from premium wines, which can sell for hundreds of dollars per bottle, as data suggest consumers are buying less bulk wine.

Persons: David Gray, Georges, Daniel Daou Organizations: Wine Estates, REUTERS SYDNEY, Australia’s Treasury Wine Estates, Treasury Wine Estates, Treasury Locations: Australia, California, San Diego, DAOU, Americas

☆ Tunisian heatwave hits wine output
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Jihed Abidellaoui | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Estimates of how far wine output has fallen vary, from a roughly 20% drop according to the Agriculture Ministry's Kilani Belhaj, to a reduction of 40-50% according to Vineyard Producers' Syndicate head Salim Chaouch. Winemakers in France and elsewhere in southern Europe have also warned of lower wine output this year due to the heat. "Climate change has impacted both the quantity and quality of production, with a broad effect on the sector. In ancient times Tunisia was a major wine producer under the Carthaginian and Roman empires and commercial-scale output began again under French colonialism, though it has not become a significant exporter. The grapes are picked early in the morning and driven to a modern processing facility at Takelsa in central Tunisia to be turned into wine.

Persons: Kilani, Salim Chaouch, Farmer Wajdi Graya, Hammadi Brik, Latifa Guesmi, Angus McDowall, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Agriculture, Vineyard Producers, Syndicate, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: TUNIS, North Africa, France, Europe, Tunisia, Bon, Takelsa, Coteaux

☆ Only 1% of US wineries are Black-owned. These entrepreneurs want to change that
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Jeremy Harlan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It’s a problem that the guests at the Black on Black dinner, and many others, hope to change. “What we’re trying to do is change what leadership looks like and bring more people into the wine industry. Ikimi Dubose-Woodson leads The Roots Fund, a non-profit working to create opportunities for minorities to have successful careers in the wine industry. “The amount of money and wealth that’s generated in the wine and spirits industry is never talked about,” said Burston. Connection and communicationA lack of communication between the predominantly White-owned wine industry and minority communities has also slowed diversity efforts, several dinner guests agreed.

Persons: Channing Frye, CJ McCollum, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Damian Jones, Marcus Samuelsson, “, Alicia Towns Franken, ” Franken, Franken, Jeremy Harlan, CNN Franken, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, ”, Ikimi Dubose, Woodson, “ It’s, ” Dubose, Donae Burston, Burston, I’m, Dubose, Nathan Lefebvre, Frye, Jay, we’ve, ’, ” Frye, Amir Shafii, you’re Organizations: Aspen, Colorado CNN, NBA, Wine Co, Association of African, CNN, Wine, Roots Fund, Fund, Blacks, La, Cleveland Cavaliers Locations: Colorado, Caribbean, Chicago, Aspen , Colorado, Holstein

☆ An Island Utopia Where Nobody Dies and the Living Is Easy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Chelsea Leu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

THE FERRYMAN, by Justin CroninFor a science-fictional utopia created by a reclusive “Designer,” the world of “The Ferryman” bears a startling resemblance to the well-heeled strata of, say, San Francisco or New York. The art is bad, and no one seems to realize it. There’s something mildly intoxicating, in fact, about entering this utopia, called Prospera, because Cronin’s shrewd world-building allows us to have it both ways: We sink into aspirational fantasy even as we relish the author’s sly commentary on a certain species of coastal elite. (Prospera is an island, after all.) Rather than undergo the indignities of birth and death, old or infirm Prosperans are sent by ferry to a mysterious island called the Nursery, where their memories are wiped and their bodies rejuvenated, so they can return as hale 16-year-olds with new identities.

☆ Cramer says a much-needed Fed pause could ignite a stock market rally like we haven't seen in decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Fed rate hikes: They were so quick that they left any bank that bought too many longer-duration bonds, in an attempt to pick up a little more yield, heavily underwater. The Powell Fed sees the current problems. The fact is, though, we need a strong banking system and without one, you can forget about getting credit without paying too high a price for it. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ 9 startup founders who banked with Silicon Valley Bank share where they're moving their money: 'We will not get caught like this again'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Stephanie Palazzolo | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Silicon Valley Bank's failure has left startup founders scrambling for a new home for their money. Last Friday morning, the startup founder Mang-Git Ng zipped up the interstate before sunrise to a Silicon Valley Bank branch in St. Helena, in California's wine country. Ng's plight is similar to countless other founders following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, who waited with bated breath over the weekend on whether they'd ever get their money back. DiversificationSilicon Valley Bank's collapse could forever change how startups stash their cash, at least two investors told Insider. Silicon Valley Bank had exclusivity clauses with some of its clients, according to a CNBC report, forcing them to use the firm for most or all of their banking services.

☆ Ex-Bon Appétit editor Marissa Ross says the wine world ruined her. Now she's back and ready to give it hell.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +40 min

Her rise was tied to a period of reinvention for the wine world during which natural wine conquered millennial taste buds and became ubiquitous on menus across the US. Marissa Ross, Bon Appétit's wine editor from 2016 to 2020, often posted pictures of herself chugging straight from the bottle — a technique she called "The Ross test." "Natural wine," a nebulous term that generally refers to wine made with minimal intervention and without additives like sulfites, was tentatively entering the American wine world. Many in the wine world took the idea that you didn't have to be educated to know about wine as a personal insult. When she first told BA that she planned to cover only natural wines, Ross said, Rapoport called to try to change her mind.

☆ Margaret Duckhorn Helped Make California Merlot a Hit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( James R. Hagerty | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Margaret Duckhorn was a school nurse before she and her husband, Dan Duckhorn, founded a Napa Valley winery in 1976. His background was in banking and venture capital. At a time when other vintners tended to see Merlot as a supporting-cast grape to be blended into Cabernet Sauvignon, the Duckhorns thought it could star on its own as a varietal wine. Mr. Duckhorn had sampled Merlots in the Pomerol region of Bordeaux, France. He appreciated their softness and velvety character.

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☆ At Chile wine gala, climate change and water use in focus
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SANTIAGO, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Chile's vintners are increasingly thinking about how to adapt to shifts in climate and drier weather that has seen the Andean country gripped by drought for over a decade. "It's something that worries all of us vineyards," said Magdalena Villasante from Vina Undurraga, which won the event's top award for its Syrah Carignan Grenache blend. Chile is the world's fourth-largest wine exporter, but dry weather has pushed vineyards to shift. Land for wine growing dropped some 4% in the five years until 2020, with the central Santiago Metropolitan Region, the country's third-largest wine producing region, seeing a decline of nearly 14%, official data show. "We'll probably see more wines from Aysen and Magallanes (in Chile's deep south) in the future what with climate change," Rojas told Reuters.

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