Italy’s DOC and DOCG labels. (Pava/Creative Commons)

In Wine-Searcher, James Lawrence ponders whether appellations are now more hindrance than help. “Such rhetoric is catching on, particularly in Spain and the south of France. It is becoming almost de rigueur for trailblazing Spanish winemakers to slag-off their appellations, before inevitably announcing a separation. A group of more than 45 wineries in the Rioja Alavesa sub-region are planning to do just that. Producers in the Languedoc are also increasingly sidelining appellation frameworks in favor of supposedly inferior designations…The democratization of information, coupled with the rise of social media, has given less-affluent brands more options. In the ‘heyday’ of European wine marketing, people lived in an era of top-down information, displaying a level of unwavering trust in what they were told from select critics and the trade. But today, there are simply an awful lot of ways to source and share opinions.”

California’s wine industry lost more than $250 million in value last summer because of crushing supply chain disruptions at West Coast ports, a new economic report reveals.

Alison Napjus explores the range of non-alcoholic wine offerings in Wine Spectator.

In Bloomberg, Elin McCoy shares her 2022 wine predictions, including a Champagne shortage, wine NFTs, better non-alc offerings and more.

Zachary Sussman is also thinking about wine trends to watch this year in SevenFifty Daily.

 Jess Lander is joining senior wine critic Esther Mobley at the San Francisco Chronicle as a wine reporter.

“Organics teaches you where you should and shouldn’t grow grapes,” wine consultant Alberto Antonini told the Drinks Business.