On WineBusiness.com, Lucie Morton offers a review of clones, clonal misidentifications and what that means for vineyard owners. “What I propose here is that the industry follow a similar investigative trajectory when it comes to trueness-to-type in clones. As in the past, clonal identification should begin with physical ground truthing, also known as ampelography, and then perhaps there will be genomic fingerprints discovered that are confirmatory and reproducible.”

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Esther Mobley reports that the owners of Walt Ranch, who received approval last year to plant a vineyard on their rural property after a 17-year campaign, have reached an agreement for the Land Trust of Napa County to acquire the property instead.

Sales of higher-priced liquor and wine are slowing after years of growth, reports the Wall Street Journal.

In National Geographic, Alejandra Borunda looks at how extreme heat and extreme drought in Baja California are pushing some winemakers to explore the Mission grape, a very old—and very climate-adaptable—variety.

In Wine-Searcher, W. Blake Gray explores the wines from Vara Winery in New Mexico. “What do you get if you ship wine from Spain and California to New Mexico and blend it together? That doesn’t sound like a recipe for success, but in terms of quality, Vara winery is breaking boundaries – with an awesome veteran winemaking lineup.”

Steven Lindsey highlights non-alcoholic wines to try in Thrillist.

Meanwhile, Ian Lecklitner has a bone to pick with the whole non-alcoholic drinks movement in Slate.