By: Virginie Boone

International fine wine researcher Areni Global recently highlighted a Cocktail Trends Report conducted by spirits company Bacardi Limited. Working with strategic foresight consultancy The Future Laboratory, it is the seventh edition of this annual report. The topline is that “Connections, Local Flavors, and Luxurious Experiences” are the key things to think about in 2026.

“Whether it’s enriched connections, unexpected moments to celebrate, or new cultures to enjoy,” the report specifies, “the focus is on delivering value beyond flavor alone.”

“True value for today’s consumers means appearing across the many touchpoints and occasions they inhabit, delivering experiences that mirror and mold their tastes, values, and interests,” summarized Martin Raymond, co-founder of The Future Laboratory.

The report singles out five defining macro trends in cocktails, but there are lessons here too for wine.

The first trend is one the report calls “Afternoon Society,” where it states, “Happy hour is having a cultural renaissance as earlier-day indulgence replaces late-night excess. The rise of ‘daycaps’ (cocktails enjoyed in the late afternoon to close the workday, especially in an era of hybrid work routines) marks a shift toward micro-celebrations that fit modern routines. Across regions, people are heading out to drink, eat, and socialize earlier in the evening.”

It details how “younger Legally Drinking Age (LDA) consumers” are leading the charge with more than one third in the United States (34%) reshaping routines around earlier evenings, summarizing that, “Daytime drinking now revolves around Spritz culture, mood-based cocktails, and small serves that tap into the sweet treat economy. It’s not about escape; it’s about new rhythms and new routines of enjoyment that fit your energy and your calendar.”

Wine fits into all of these angles – it can be part of a Spritz, it can fit many moods, and it can be enjoyed in smaller (lower ounces or lower-alcohol) serves.

Trend two is “Rewilding Connection,” a desire by consumers to “slow down, tune back in, and rediscover the social magic of enjoying a cocktail (or glass of wine) together.”

This applies to people across all ages and walks of life. The report states, “As social life recalibrates away from constant connectivity, drinkers are seeking intentional, offline experiences that prioritize presence over performance.”

The research shows 84% of consumers feel that technology has made social interactions feel less personal and as such, a new wave of “mindful, in-person socializing” is emerging.

“It’s less about being seen, more about feeling seen – and co-creating spaces that foster presence, purpose, and real connection,” Bacardi’s VP of Global Insights Rigoberto Chavez says.

The report clarifies that, “nightlife is no longer about anonymous crowds and fleeting encounters. It is being reshaped into community-driven experiences that give drinkers not just somewhere to go, but something to belong to.”

Smart bars and brands (and this can include winery tasting rooms) are “designing shared, analog moments that feel human again,” whether they be screen-free gatherings, analog entertainment like live music, mah-jongg nights, and trivia, or “rituals that spark real conversation.”

Third is “New Localogy,” which is something wine has always done well. Essentially it recognizes how bars are “evolving into laboratories of local flavor,” where “every sip is as much about terroir and technique as it is about transparency – catering to new consumer preferences to savor not only the flavor, but the place and the process behind it.” Apparently 77% of those surveyed check ingredient origin labels looking for locally sourced ingredients.

The number four trend for 2026 is “The Liquid Experience IP.” This posits that drink brands are increasingly transforming into lifestyle experiences, blending fashion, music, design, travel, and sports; reflecting survey results that show 70% of emotionally engaged consumers invest twice as much in brands they feel connected to. Some of the ways this is experienced is through playlist pairings, traveling pop-up menus, and branded sensory elements like scent, sound, and storytelling.

“Premium today goes beyond price tag – it’s about cultural cachet and emotional connection,” said Natasha Curtin, Global VP of Bombay Sapphire.

Lastly, trend five is “More Is More.” For mixology, this is about glamour and theatrics. A vast majority of the people surveyed value “heightened, memorable experiences” from high-drama glassware to “joyfully excessive design and unapologetic opulence.”

The ultimate conclusion is that “In a world still healing from burnout, people don’t just want a drink, they want a moment… to dress up, show up, and feel transported.”

Wine can do that.

By: Virginie Boone

Once upon a time there was a Prune Blossom Tour that covered 25 miles of the Alexander Valley. Beginning in 1961, and sponsored by the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce, it went from downtown around Fitch Mountain and through Geyserville, the Alexander Valley, Asti and Dry Creek Valley.

For the event, the Russian River Farm Bureau served a full lunch. The menu in 1963, as reported by the Healdsburg Tribune, was ham, potato salad, green salad, Jell-O and desserts like prune cakes and prune cookies made by the local 4-H. By 1964, 1,500 people attended from 19 states and seven countries. The National Association of Travel Organizations named it one of the top 10 travel events in the United States by 1966. At its peak in 1971, some 4,000 visitors came.

Alyce Cadd, whose family was in the drying prunes business at the time, was among the volunteers, telling the paper, “We fed up to 2,000 people on some weekends. They came in busload after busload, and there was even a group of pilots that flew into the airport. It was a big affair.”

As prunes transitioned into winegrapes the tour was renamed the Spring Blossom Tour. It went on until 1995. And Alyce Cadd and her husband Al also made the switch.

In Alexander Valley since 1910, the Cadd family started with hops and prunes before getting into dairy, pears and apples. In the 1970s they planted their first vineyards, which at present consists of 36 acres of grapes, primarily Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

In 1941, Alvin Raymond (who went by Ray) and Zelda Cadd, who married in 1925, bought a 72-acre ranch in Alexander Valley from Mrs. Cadd’s parents, Walter and Marian Leroux. It was planted mostly to prunes and included a home and was four-fifths of what is known as the Leroux ranch.

Ray and Zelda had three children: Alvin (Al), Aryles and Fleurette (who became Mrs. Leland Arnold). Al was born in 1926 and graduated from Healdsburg High School in 1944. His cousins include members of the Rotlisberger family of Rotlisberger Ranch.

He married Alyce Jean Swim in 1946 after serving two years with the U.S. Merchant Marines. Alyce was born in Ukiah and went to Napa Junior College. The two met while fishing on the cliff edge of a beach while camping with their families.

In embracing life at the ranch the year he married, Al became the fourth-generation farmer in his family, moving into a ranch house built by his grandfather in 1919. Alyce embraced farming too, and became known for her good cooking, work with exchange students and as a member of Alexander Valley Ladies Aid.

They traveled widely to camp and fish throughout their life together and had two children, Larry and Cindy, as well as five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Al and Cadd Ranch were given the Luther Burbank Conservation Award in 2012. Cadd was also honored by the Harvest Fair with the Lifetime Contribution to Sonoma County Agriculture award in 2014. At the time, Cadd told The Healdsburg Tribune that his favorite thing had been working with apples.

“We did well in the apple business, until the market went away,” he said. “I really loved my apple orchard; it was a beautiful orchard and it’s fun to grow apples.”

In 1963 Cadd started working for the Sonoma County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, a job he held through 1979, when he went back to full-time farming. In 1991 he leased the land to his son and retired.

“I decided I was going to be a farmer when I was president of the FFA in 1944,” he added. “I discovered agriculture was my spot in life and that’s where I should be.”

Cadd was also one of seven founding members of the Alexander Valley Association, created to protect agriculture from urban development (“a place of residence, relaxation and rural lifestyle) and served with the Russian River Property Owners Association. As a member of the Riparian Corridor Work Group he monitored streams for frost protection. He likes to fish, hunt, do woodwork and photography.

Al’s wife Alyce passed away in 2024 at the age of 96.

“I was born and raised here, surrounded by incredible natural beauty and such fertile farmland,” he told the paper. “It has sustained my family for six generations and I’m committed to seeing that it continues.”

By: Virginie Boone

One of California’s most established, historic producers, best known for its majestic Monte Bello, a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant red blend, has launched a wine club called Lights & Brights.

As Lytton Springs winemaker Shauna Rosenblum notes in the welcome letter, “This club was inspired by a simple observation: our drinking habits are shifting. Many of us no longer start an evening with a glass of red. When I gather with friends, we often begin with a white or rosé, then move into a lighter red… before opening the more structured reds like Lytton Springs, Geyserville or Monte Bello with dinner.”

Rosenblum and Ridge are responding to the world’s increasing desire to drink more whites. And Sonoma County is well-suited to deliver the goods.

There are just over 19,000 acres of white wine grapes in Sonoma County, with Chardonnay very much leading the way with more than 15,000 acres planted valued at $188,048,700 – more than any red variety in terms of acreage, and surpassing every red in terms of value with the exception of Pinot Noir (though just barely).

After Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc is the next big white in Sonoma County at 2,949 acres planted, worth $32,095,200. Pinot Gris is a distant third at 374 acres worth almost 2 million. Viognier and Semillon hover around that same total value. The top remaining white varieties – Gewurztraminer, Muscat Blanc/Muscat Canelli, Pinot Blanc, Roussanne and Riesling – all weigh in much smaller.

There are also measurable plantings of Albarino, Arneis, Assyrtiko, Chenin Blanc, Fiano, French Colombard, Grenache Blanc, Gruner Veltliner, Malvasia Bianca, Marsanne, Palomino, Picpoul Blanc, Ribolla Gialla, Sylvaner, Viognier and Vermentino.

Analyst Rob McMillan noted in the “State of the US Wine Industry 2025” that amidst a worrying trend of general decline in wine consumption, white wine has had positive growth rates by volume and that “white wine now has better growth rates than red wine.” He added, “the varietal shifts may be another indicator that the rotation to younger consumers is underway.”

It’s a global phenomenon. The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) reports that world production of white wine has been rising since 2000, from over 46% of all wine since the millennium, to 49% as of 2021.

But last year, white wine consumption officially surpassed red in the U.S. wine market, accounting for 50% of still wine volume sales according to NielsenIQ data.

Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Chardonnay are particularly of interest, with demand being driven by consumers looking for wines that are crisp, “characterized by acidity, freshness and a light body… playing a big role in the increase in the sale for white wines,” according to research conducted by Metatech Insights, a market research firm that tracks regional and global trends.

It all adds up to real money – the white wine market was worth $47.11 billion in 2025, up from $44.95 billion in 2024. It is projected to reach $79.87 billion by 2035, growing more than 5% between now and then.

“Climate change and the shifts in taste preference have led to an overall movement towards white varieties, which mature earlier and acidify less,” says a study by the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment. “White wine consumption remains constant or even on the rise… the feature of crispness is matching well with health, lifestyle and climatic trends, and white wine is becoming more appealing among consumers who have vast differences.”

The white wine market includes still and sparkling white wines as well as fortified and aged versions. Chardonnay is the most dominant and prominent, the most grown, and produced in places like the United States, France and Australia.

Gallo was ahead of the trend when it bought both Rombauer and Massican in 2023. Jackson Family has long dominated the domestic white wine marketplace with Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay and La Crema Chardonnays. Kistler and Sonoma-Cutrer have long prioritized whites.

Sonoma County knows it can excel with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, two inspirations from France; a 2023 Aubert Sonoma Coast Chardonnay was number two on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list last year. It should be just as ideal for Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Austrian, and even Greek white varieties, wines widely appealing to consumers and are poised to increase in demand and popularity going forward.

By: Virginie Boone

When Catherine O’Hara died, we lost not only a tremendous actress, comedian and human, but also the greatest fictional wine pitchwoman in history, Moira Rose, the indelible matriarch of television’s Schitt’s Creek.

In the series, Moira Rose is a former soap opera star who is always up for making a dramatic turn. She’s all in when asked to be the brand ambassador on a TV commercial for Herb Ertlinger Winery’s fruit wine in an episode called “Wine and Roses.”

It doesn’t go well at first as she panics, requires more takes, rambles drunkenly, then hides in her trailer until her husband talks her off the ledge, sobers her up and she manages one good take for the wine, sort of:

“In the lea of a picturesque ridge lies a small unpretentious winery, one that pampers its fruit like its own babies. Hi, I’m Moira Rose, and if you love fruit wine as much as I do, then you’ll appreciate the craftsmanship and quality of a local vintner who brings the muskmelon goodness to his oak Chardonnay, and the dazzling peach crabapple to his Riesling Rioja. Come taste the difference good fruit can make in your wine. You’ll remember the experience. And you’ll remember the name – Herb Erfling … ger. Burt Herngeif. Irv Herm-blinger. Bing Livehaanger. Live Link. Burt Herkern. Burn- Agh! Bingo Lingf***er.”

Not every wine ad can be so amusing. But over the years, there have been some dramatic and effective winery commercials that have tried to tell the story of wine.

One of the most famous involved an actor/director of the 1940s and 1950s named Orson Welles. While younger generations may not know him or his work, his tagline has permeated popular culture forever – “We will sell no wine before its time.”

The slogan was from ubiquitous print and television commercials for Paul Masson Winery that ran from 1978 to 1981, oft parodied since. The first aired was for a Masson Emerald Dry White Table Wine set to the tune of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in the winery’s effort to rebrand itself as a higher-end producer than it was thought of at the time. The script used the symphony as inspiration, Welles saying:

“It took Beethoven four years to write that symphony. Some things can’t be rushed: good music, and good wine… What Paul Masson himself said nearly a century ago is still true today: We will sell no wine before its time.”

Later ads sold Paul Masson Rhine Castle Riesling, California Champagne, Chablis, Burgundy, and a carafe-shaped bottle with jam-jar top. Print ads were for Pinot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, reflecting the era’s common naming of wines for French regions and not always varieties.

Welles was paid $500,000 a year to make the ads, plus residuals. A large man of significant appetite, Welles enjoyed elaborate lunches prepared for his enjoyment before filming where he was said to also drink plenty of Paul Masson Cabernet. The money and trouble were worth it, though – sales of Paul Masson rose 30% during the campaign.

When combative, drunken outtakes were released later showing Welles as compromised as Moira Rose, the parodied nature of the ads became even funnier. Welles was eventually fired and replaced by British actor John Gielgud.

Gallo produced what many believe to be one of the best TV wine commercials of all time, debuted in 1986 in which scenes of weddings and other celebrations are shown along with bottles of wine as dramatic music plays and a voiceover says “To dreams and hopes and promises and years of happy days. Today’s Gallo: All the best a wine can be.”

These days, TV wine ads are rare, and pack less of a punch, given the disparate way people watch things across various platforms, social media and streaming services.

Brands like Barefoot (the Official Wine Sponsor of the NFL), Stella Rosa, Avaline, and Sutter Home have tried. Closer to home, Decoy Wines Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc have been featured in a recent ad campaign called “Making New Connections,” part of a larger messaging around the slogan, “Pour to What’s Possible.” Sonoma County-based La Crema Winery launched a 30-second TV ad called “Best of Summer” in 2024.

Advertising can be art, it can move people emotionally, same as wine. Until the next memorable wine ad comes along, raise a glass to the late, great Moira Rose and taste “the difference good fruit can make in your wine.”

Photo By: IMDB

By: Virginie Boone

California wines first appeared at the White House in the 19th century. President Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) visited California during his presidency and enjoyed sweet red wines. Franklin D. Roosevelt came to San Francisco during the Golden Gate International Exposition and enjoyed lunch with 33 California wines. John F. Kennedy, while in office, served Inglenook Pinot Chardonnay and Almaden Cabernet Sauvignon.

“As the fortunes of California’s wine industry have risen, so have presidents’ appreciation of the Golden State’s products, with California wines being favored in the White House throughout the twentieth century and into the present day,” writes Frederick J. Ryan, Jr. in Wine And the White House: A History.

It was the Wine Institute in the late 1950s in particular that sought to supply American wine to the White House. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, “eager to showcase America’s accomplishments in the post-World War II era, accepted the offer.”

During his administration, a variety of California wines began to appear at official functions. Kennedy declined the Wine Institute’s offer, but his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, “reinstated the arrangement and built a close relationship with the institute as it grew to become an important organization in the nation’s capital.”

It was such a close relationship that Johnson soon served California’s finest wines exclusively, declaring an All-American Decree in 1968 to mandate that only American wines be served at functions such as State Dinners, of which he hosted 53 while in office. Known famously to enjoy ample pourings of Cutty Sark Scotch with soda, Johnson was an unlikely wine ally yet an important one.

“His decision to showcase California wine at the Executive Mansion proved significant, as it provided a crucial boost to California vineyards’ reputation,” Ryan adds. “By the time Ronald Reagan took office, the number of vineyards in the state was the highest it had ever been.”

Don W. McColly, president of the Wine Institute in 1969 agreed, stating at the time that, “no President has done more to further the interest of the American wine industry than President Johnson.”

This meant selecting the right American wines for each White House occasion. For President Ronald Reagan, who had served eight years as governor of California, this was a chance to showcase the quality and variety of the state’s wines.

“During his time in Sacramento, Reagan had established a close relationship with specialist David Berkley of the city’s Corti Brothers gourmet food and wine shop,” the book details. “Berkley always strived to recommend wines that were excellent, but also that were new or from lesser-known vineyards and may not have been served at the White House previously.”

Berkley continued on as a consultant during the George H.W. Bush years, while Bill Clinton brought on Napa Valley veteran Daniel Shanks. Shanks became the first official food and beverage usher in the White House, a position he held through the Clinton, second Bush, and Obama administrations, and even into the beginning of Trump’s first years, through October 2018.

“All beverages selected for the White House are produced in the United States with the exception of some back-bar alcohols,” Shanks explains. “The wines served are generally full-bodied and easy on the palate with wide appeal. Over the years I noticed that for guests Chardonnay is the preferred white and Pinot Noir the preferred red.”

That was except during President George W. Bush’s time when more beef dishes were served – “those moments cried for the power of Cabernet Sauvignon,” he notes.

First Ladies came increasingly into the mix during Shanks’ tenure as well, with both Hillary Clinton and Melania Trump enjoying wine with meals, “often preferring wines with the character and depth that reflect the world they inhabit.”

It’s interesting to note White House protocol around wine service: only one wine served at lunch, a red, white, and sparkling served at dinner, while white-tie State Dinners required the addition of a fourth wine to go with a fourth course.

“The most general rule on consumption for 130 guests (typical State Dining Room numbers) is four cases (48 bottles) of the white and three cases (36 bottles) of the red,” Shanks says. “Three cases of the sparkling wine is the rule, unless the wine will continue to be offered during the entertainment.”

Presidents also often served California wines while traveling abroad. President Jimmy Carter hosted a dinner at the American embassy in Mexico City in 1979 in which the wines served included a Korbel Extra Dry.

At a dinner Trump hosted in England for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall in 2019, an Iron Horse 2016 Heart of the Vineyard Chardonnay, North Block 2016 Pinot Noir, and Joy 2005 Brut were on the table.

Whether a president enjoyed wine or not, the White House has been a steady venue for showcasing the best America has to offer, including many wines from Sonoma County, from a Van der Kamp Vineyard Pinot Noir to a Freeman Chardonnay, and many, many others in between.

By: Virginie Boone

In the 1928 Crop and Acreage Report of Sonoma County, the first one for which there exists a digital record, there were 20,000 acres of grapes (valued at $1.4 million by the way), unclear whether or not they were wine grapes, let alone varietal wine types.

In the early 1950s, grapes were broken down by Black (the majority) and White, or later, by Common and Premium. By the 1960s, you start to see grapes by type with Alicante Bouschet, Burger, Carignane, Golden Chasselas, Petite Sirah, Sauvignon and Zinfandel making the list.

Eventually, Pinot Noir started to bubble.

“By 1960, Pinot Noir was firmly, if still marginally, established in the production portfolios of California’s premium wineries,” writes John Winthrop Haeger in North American Pinot Noir.

“Louis Martini pioneered Pinot Noir plantings in Los Carneros in the 1940s,” he continues, “when he acquired part of Judge Stanly’s Riverdale ranch. The first trial blocks of Pinot Noir there date to 1946. Martini’s plantings grew to about 70 acres in the 1950s and probably constituted the state’s largest single investment in Pinot Noir before 1960.”

Haeger also mentions Fountaingrove Vineyards and Winery, “long recognized both as one of the county’s most noted scenic showplaces and as one of California’s outstanding producers of choice dry wines,” according to a 1937 article in The Press Democrat, which also described it as “rich in romantic and historic lure… established as a colony by a brotherhood of distinguished men nearly 65 years ago.”

By 1941, it had 400 acres of Pinot Noir on the northern hillsides along the Redwood Highway in Santa Rosa, making it the biggest Pinot vineyard of its time. Purchased in 1875 by Kanaye Nagasawa, the 1,931-acre Fountaingrove at its height had 400 acres of wine grapes, 50 acres of orchards, 175 acres of hay and grain, and the rest in pasture lands. Nagasawa died in 1934, at which time the estate was run by his nephews.

By 1953, Fountaingrove was uprooted and sold for housing.

That same year, Hanzell established itself on the hills of what is now the Moon Mountain District overlooking the town of Sonoma. It would take another decade or so before, “for a tiny band of contrarians, the dismal condition of 1960s and 1970s Pinots was a call to arms.”

Hanzell was among them, so were the owners and winemakers of Chalone on the borders of Monterey and San Benito counties, including a just-graduated-from-UC Davis Merry Edwards. Joseph Swan planted Pinot Noir near Forestville in 1969. Josh Jensen started planting Pinot at Calera in the Gabilan Mountains near Chalone in 1975. Oregon Pinot also got going around this time.

Interest in sparkling wine caused Pinot Noir to further boom in Sonoma County, particularly in Carneros, where Gloria Ferrer and others set up sparkling houses, and cooler pockets of the Russian River Valley/Green Valley of Russian River Valley, where Iron Horse, Piper-Sonoma, J Vineyards and Korbel could be found.

Pinot Noir shows up in the crop reports more steadily during the 1970s, with a scant 265 acres in 1970 nearly quintupling to 1,301 acres by 1975. This is the era of Dehlinger, Davis Bynum, Rochioli and Gary Farrell, among others.

Soon enough, Decanter was declaring California Pinot Noir to have “experienced a rebirth,” adding, “Pinot Noir is the hottest wine type around.” Dorothy Gaiter and John Bucher of The Wall Street Journal wrote about “discovering” good California Pinot Noir in 1981.

“A key feature of the Pinot renaissance was a preoccupation, on the part of winemakers and critics alike, with site,” Haeger stated.

It helped that America during this time was focusing on food and wine in new and wonderful ways, with sommeliers becoming early adopters of American Pinot Noir.

“By the late 1980s, sommeliers were bumping Cabernets to make room for the hot new Pinots, and began to preach the gospel to their customers, praising Pinot and winning some converts,” recalled Michael Bonadies, an international hospitality expert who ran successful restaurant groups at the time.

Sonoma County soon had the likes of Williams-Selyem, Littorai, Peter Michael, Hirsch, Martinelli, Hartford Court, Marcassin, Dutton-Goldfield, Lynmar, Merry Edwards, Siduri, Kosta-Browne, Donum, Flowers, Cobb, Patz & Hall, Scherrer, Failla, Peay and others winning those converts on wine lists across the country.

By 2008, there were 10,000-plus acres of Pinot Noir in Sonoma County. The amount has hovered around 12,000-13,000 acres or so ever since. In 2023, perhaps its most recent height, the 13,024 acres/55,159 tons of Pinot Noir planted here were worth just over $214 million.

Today, no wine grape has as high a total value in Sonoma County as Pinot Noir, whether it sits in the Russian River Valley, Green Valley of Russian River, Sonoma Coast, West Sonoma Coast, Fort Ross-Seaview, Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County portion of Carneros, or any other AVA within the region’s confines.

So it’s important to remember that Pinot Noir has had its ups and downs throughout its time in California, but Sonoma County remains one of its chosen lands, a place where it thrives in sites big and small.

By: Virginie Boone

Sonoma County is well-known for its legacy of Italian families who immigrated to the area around the time of the Gold Rush and beyond. But plenty of other Europeans made their way to Northern California more than a century ago and that includes the Leras family, who are originally from Greece.

Peter Leras first bought property on Woolsey Road in Santa Rosa in 1918, farming the grapes, cows, apples, and prunes on it for many years.

Today, third-generation Nick Leras farms Leras Family Vineyards in the Russian River Valley in Piner soils, not far from the original homestead, which his mother referred to as “God’s Little Acres.” Nick remembers his father having to grow and pick prunes to get through World War II and keep the ranch going.

Nick’s father made wine and Nick learned to blend when he was in high school. The first commercial vineyard was planted by the Leras family in 1978 to mixed reds.

Nick and his wife Vina have nine children and 32 grandchildren. Their son Todd remembers growing up surrounded by pasture, before vineyards were widely planted. He now helps run the vineyard operation alongside his sister’s son Joe, saying family means everything to him as does the family legacy.

Leras’s focus today is on sustainably grown wine grapes, from Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay to Pinot Noir. The Pinot was first planted in the early 1990s to five clones, including Beringer Heritage and Pommard. Leras is known for taking meticulous notes in a thick notebook throughout every growing season.

Ben Papapietro and Nick Leras met over a fence while harvesting different vineyards more than two decades ago. Papapietro asked if any of the grapes were available, but they were all sold. Leras managed to get him a bin (about a ton) of grapes, and that was that.

Leras became one of the key sources for Papapietro Perry Pinot Noir. Papapietro Perry gets about 85% of the Pinot grapes, mostly from God’s Little Acres, taking four different clones from the vineyard. The winery likes working particularly with the Pommard for its earthy minerality.

To meet Nick, Vina and Todd Leras and see the ranch, tune into a three-part video series on YouTube about Leras Family Vineyards. And congratulations to the family for farming in Sonoma County for more than a century.

Photo By: Papapietro Perry Winery

By: Virginie Boone

Around the time you might be reading this, the State of the Industry will be happening live at this year’s Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, a 2.5-hour overview and discussion of what’s being planted to what’s selling.

The participants will be Mike Veseth of The Wine Economist, Jeff Bitter of Allied Grape Growers, Danny Brager of Azur Associates, Steve Fredricks of Turrentine Brokerage and Wine Market Council’s Liz Thach.

A year ago, 10,000 people attended Unified, and many took in the State of the Industry then. Veseth took notes, and these were his observations at the time:

• White is the new red. Stable sales are the new growth. Wine sales are down in terms of both volume and value. The number of wineries in the U.S. actually fell. Most of the decrease was in the category of “virtual wineries,” which sell wine that is actually made by other companies under contract.
• Tough times for the nurseries that supply grape plants. One vendor said that if the best year was 100, the current status is about 20. Vineyard acreage in California and elsewhere continues to fall, with more removals to come.
• Producers are opting for lower-weight bottles and looking to source them domestically. Shipping costs and schedules – and their uncertainties – are big factors.
• Many restaurants highlight their locavore credentials. Farm to table, locally sourced meat and produce, think global, eat local. But how many feature local wines?

Other feedback concluded that the underlying theme at Unified was that being flat was the new up, and that consumers weren’t quitting wine, just drinking it less often, because most wine brands weren’t giving them a compelling reason to stay engaged, but brands that stood for something were winning. Demand wasn’t the problem, differentiation was.

Another takeaway from last year was that the white wine boom isn’t random – white wines are sessionable and perceived to be healthier.

This year, it’ll be interesting to see if the analysis is the same. White wines? Yes, probably still doing well. Brands standing for something winning? Also most likely better resonating with consumers. Restaurants needing to highlight their locavore credentials with wine as much as the menu? Would be nice.

Continuing with data that impacts action, Wine Market Council conducted a 2025 U.S. Wine Consumer Benchmark Segmentation Survey last year that revealed a major shift in the U.S. wine-drinking landscape, finding that Millennials had officially overtaken Baby Boomers as the largest group of wine consumers.

The 2025 sample included 5,000 U.S. adults of drinking age and concluded that 31% of American wine drinkers are now Millennials, followed by Baby Boomers at 26%, whose share had dropped from 32% in 2023.

Gen Z had climbed from 9% to 14% though only half of that group is even of legal drinking age. Ultimately, the largest erosion was in Baby Boomers, who are consumers over 60 years old.

But the study also found that the percentages of non-Hispanic White, Black and Asian Americans drinking wine was up, as was the number of men who reported drinking wine.

The study also unearthed that among the most important message the wine industry needs to hone is correcting the misperceptions that wine has high sugar or unnecessary additives. This continues to be a bugaboo with unsavvy consumers.

Tomorrow, Thursday January 29, aims to add to the dialogue through “The Path Forward: A Conversation with Chuck Wagner and Industry Leaders Across the Value Chain on Rebuilding Demand and Rethinking Wine’s Future.”

As billed, Chuck Wagner of Wagner Family Wines and Caymus Vineyards will talk about today’s wine market with Zachary Poelma, the Senior Vice President of Commercial Intelligence at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, and Adam Teeter, co-founder of VinePair. A look at the mechanics of moving wine from vineyard to shelf given market pressures and shifting shopper behavior is sure to be a lively topic full of insights for the year ahead.

By: Virginie Boone

The year 2026 is the Year of the Horse, a welcome turn of the page from last year’s time of the Snake.

Locally the Year of the Horse also marks the 50th anniversary of Iron Horse Vineyards. As if that wasn’t enough, it will also be matriarch Audrey Sterling’s 95th birthday (co-founder of the winery with her late husband Barry), and winemaker David Munksgard’s 30th Iron Horse vintage.

As second-generation founder Joy Sterling noted in an email, “Fifty years is never a given for any family business. It is especially rare in California wine. Vineyards demand a long view. Markets shift. Families evolve. To remain family-owned, estate-driven, and committed to excellence for five decades takes a deep respect for the land, the people, and the vision my parents set in motion.”

She also highlights how 1976 was such a watershed year for California wine, a year when several families in Northern California started to believe in the ability of American wines to compete on the world stage.

For the Sterlings that was a specific belief in the ability to make exceptional sparkling wines from the colder climes of the as-not-yet-official Green Valley of the Russian River Valley appellation, within the fogged-in folds of western Sonoma County. Here, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay could star.

What we now know as Iron Horse Vineyards was called Iron Horse Ranch and Vineyards when the Sterlings stumbled upon it in 1976, signing the deed to own it only two weeks later. The actual Iron Horse had been a steam engine that stopped at Ross Station long ago. The winery took another three years to build, opening in 1979.

“Warren and Gail Dutton were the first to welcome my parents,” notes Joy Sterling, “setting a tone of generosity that still defines this community.”

That community includes 14 team members who have been with the winery for two decades or more. Winery celebrations are planned for throughout the year, kicking off with a lunar new year celebration in San Francisco’s Chinatown in February. And a new wine has been released, a Brut Zero Year of the Horse Blanc de Blancs.

The Year of the Horse is anticipated to be full of vitality, momentum, and forward motion, as the horse symbolizes in lunar tradition. The Chinese calendar is lunar-solar, consisting of 12 months equal to 12 full lunar cycles in which months are referred to by number within a year and by a series of 12 animals that have been attached to years and to hours of the day, otherwise known as the Chinese zodiac.

The animals are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig, a 12-year cycle of animals that are also each specified by the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. The year 2026 is in fact officially the Year of the Fire Horse and it begins February 17, 2026.

Vogue magazine states that in Eastern culture the horse represents action, freedom, speed, and breakthrough, a stage of life that moves boldly forward without the fear of obstacles, with an emphasis on being in motion rather than standing still – though clarifying that “The Horse is not afraid of slowness, it’s afraid of stillness.”

The fire part of the equation equals energy and dynamism. This is the first fire horse in 60 years. Last year was Year of the Wood Snake, representing a shedding of old stories and habits.

The year 1976, when the Sterlings bought Iron Horse, was the Year of the Fire Dragon. As many know, the dragon holds a significant place in Chinese culture, and is considered an extraordinary creature symbolizing power, nobility, honor, luck, and success.

That fire dragon spirit is on full display when you consider that 1976, America’s Bicentennial, was well before California had much in the way of an appellation system. It took until 1981 (five years after the Judgment of Paris) for Napa Valley to be established as an American Viticultural Area (AVA). Sonoma Valley became official in 1982.

The following year, 1983, saw six more Sonoma County AVAs come to life: Chalk Hill, Dry Creek Valley, Knights Valley, Los Carneros, Green Valley, and Russian River Valley (Green Valley became Green Valley of Russian River Valley in 2007).

Green Valley of RRV includes 19,010 acres. It was the Sterling family who first applied for Green Valley AVA status, inspired by the European wine regions where they had spent time, mostly France.

The rest is now 50 years of history for Iron Horse in this the Year of the Fire Horse. Let that spirit of hard work, bravery, and resilience carry it forward another 50 years.

Photo By: Iron Horse Vineyards