SommSelect, the brainchild of celebrity master sommelier Ian Cauble has filed for bankruptcy, following a drawn-out legal battle with one of its co-founders. Esther Mobley looks into what happened in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Created in 1987, IGP Pays d’Oc is now France’s leading export designation by volume and it is hard to imagine the Languedoc-Roussillon without it. But when it was introduced there was uncertainty and caution about how well the wines would be received. Fast forward 35 years and the IGP Pays d’Oc has become a success story. In the Buyer, Richard Siddle looks at the big steps it has taken along the way.

In Club Oenologique, David Kermode suggests weighty wine bottles should be a sight of Christmas past, with the hope that we’ll finally embrace newer, greener packaging solutions in the year ahead.

In Vinous, Josh Raynolds says it’s “an interesting time for wineries in the Northern Rhône valley.”

In VinePair, Roger Morris finds out which digital assistant — Alexa, Google, or Siri — provides the best wine advice.

In the World of Fine Wine, Kathleen Burk reviews On California: From Napa to Nebbiolo… Wine Tales from The Golden State by Susan Keevil.

Ohio vineyards picked grapes for ice wine in the midst of a frigid winter storm.