Latest news with #JoshCellars
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Thank you text' trend is warm, fuzzy — but a little cringe: ‘Earnestness through irony'
Gratitude is going digital — and millennials are leading the emoji-packed charge. The latest way to say 'I love you, man' isn't with a beer or a bear hug. It's with a post-hang text — a heartfelt digital love letter sent immediately after brunch, a night out or even just a 15-minute FaceTime. The gist? 'Wow, I needed that. So grateful for you!!!' Affectionate and aggressively earnest, these follow-up messages — dubbed 'millennial thank you notes' — are flooding group chats and inboxes with a tidal wave of feelings. 'You know when someone texts you right after you get home from hanging out with them and they say, like, 'I had a great time, so nice to see you'? What a gift from God,' gushed TikTok user @carlabezanson in a viral video that's racked up more than 850,000 likes. Another mushy user, @tpwkky, chimed in, 'One thing about me is I WILL be sending the 'thank you so much for hanging out with me' text immediately after hanging out. I love telling people in my life they matter to me bc life is short and you should appreciate them while you still can (:' Cringe? Maybe. Cute? Absolutely. And according to a 2023 OnePoll study for Josh Cellars, Americans are on the same sappy wavelength: The average person says 'thank you' six times a day — totaling over 2,200 expressions of gratitude per year. A whopping 83% say they try to practice gratitude daily. Millennials are just choosing to do it with a digital diary entry sent at 9:47 p.m. Even Gen Z is catching feels — sort of. 'Me fighting the urge to text my friends, 'thank you for hanging with me today, it was so much fun :D You're literally the reason I'm gonna see the sunrise tomorrow' every time we finish hanging out,' joked user @thatssorav3n_ in a TikTok dripping with sarcasm (and over 573,000 likes). The generational split is clear: Millennials wear their hearts on their texts. Gen Z prefers theirs with a thick layer of irony — and a wink. 'I feel like it's a very Gen Z thing, earnestness through irony,' 27-year-old Andrew Pattenaude recently told Bustle. 'It's like a layer of protection to say something that you genuinely feel.' Still, licensed mental health counselor Kathryn Lee says millennials might be onto something. 'Millennials would probably prefer more of that face-to-face connection, because that is what they grew up with,' she told the outlet. When they finally get it, 'they're sure to say 'thank you.' ' In fact, gratitude isn't just a warm, fuzzy feeling — it's a full-blown movement. The Post previously reported on the aforementioned OnePoll study, and how 57% of Americans are saying 'thank you' more often than in years past. A surprising 40% even keep a written gratitude list, while others gush about everything from their families and friends to their bosses and baristas. TikTok user @paige_netting summed it up best: 'Trying not to send a 'thank you for hanging out with me, I really appreciate being together' after every casual hangout with friends.' Sure, some people feel closest to their loved ones during the holidays — when 76% in the study said they're more connected. But for millennials, the new season of thanks is year-round and always starts with: 'Hey, that was a lot of fun.' And sometimes, that's more than enough. As @thatssorav3n_ put it: 'You're literally the reason I'm gonna see the sunrise tomorrow.'
San Francisco Chronicle
11-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
California wine executives plead guilty to $360,000 bribery scheme
Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, which produces the popular Josh Cellars, employed two executives who have pleaded guilty to bribery. Esther Mobley/S.F. Chronicle Two California wine executives pleaded guilty to bribing a powerful alcohol distributor and a retailer to promote their products in exchange for approximately $360,000 in gift cards, luxury watches, golf trips and baseball tickets. Prosecutors in February charged Matthew Adler of Walnut Creek and Bryan Barnes of Hermosa Beach (Los Angeles County) with commercial bribery, saying that Adler had given money and gifts to employees of a wine distributor and that Barnes had given gift cards to an employee of a wine retailer in exchange for favoring their company's products. Court documents do not name the companies involved in the scheme. But Adler and Barnes' employer was Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, which produces or imports some of America's most popular wine brands such as Josh Cellars and Yellow Tail, and the distributor was Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, the country's largest alcohol wholesaler, according to a source with knowledge of the case. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Both Adler, who was charged with a felony, and Barnes, who was charged with a misdemeanor, entered guilty pleas in federal court in Oakland in April. Between 2016 and 2021, Adler used a third-party vendor to bribe distributor employees with thousands of dollars in prepaid Visa and American Express gift cards; a $6,750 Panerai watch; a Bentley car rental; tickets to spring training baseball games; custom suits; $2,370 concert tickets; and more. He took four distributor employees on a trip to Pebble Beach, which 'cost tens of thousands of dollars and included rooms, golf and caddie fees, spa treatments, and thousands of dollars in room incidentals,' prosecutors said. Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, which produces Yellow Tail wine from Australia, employed two executives who have pleaded guilty to bribery. Liz Hafalia/S.F. Chronicle Deutsch Family had a marketing budget of $1 million per year, according to the filing, but Adler lied to his company's accounting department about how he was spending his funds: In 2019 he said he spent $47,131.49 attending a wine and food festival, but he actually sent that money to distributor employees. Adler left Deutsch Family in 2021 and began working for Demeine Estates, a subsidiary of Napa Valley's Lawrence Wine Estates, according to a news release. Adler's attorney declined to comment. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Barnes, meanwhile, sent thousands of dollars in prepaid gift cards to the alcohol buyer of a retail chain with 'more than 100 Southern California stores,' prosecutors said. An attorney for Barnes did not respond to a request for comment. Maintaining sellers' independence is a cornerstone of U.S. alcohol law, which has mandated a three-tier system — a separate producer, distributor and retailer — since the repeal of Prohibition. Without this separation, powerful alcohol producers could influence stores to carry their products instead of others, which would diminish competition, particularly at the expense of smaller producers. Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits has frequently been accused of anticompetitive behavior. The embattled company recently settled a major lawsuit with a competitor that complained Southern had illegally boycotted it, and last year the Federal Trade Commission sued Southern for illegal price discrimination. In 2022, the Internal Revenue Service and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau descended on Southern Glazer's office in Union City in what officials described as 'an official activity.' Advertisement Article continues below this ad Adler has a hearing scheduled for September and Barnes for October.
Canberra Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- Canberra Times
A new cruise ship has scored pole position at the famous Monaco Grand Prix
Young people are consuming less alcohol than previous generations, so cruise lines may need to get more creative than selling unlimited drinks packages. A new conference, F&B@Sea, was held in Florida to share the latest food and beverage trends on cruises. Ready-to-drink options are growing in popularity, such as canned prosecco and espresso martinis on tap. Unicorn Distillery demonstrated colour-changing cocktails, which are a popular way to delight passengers. French Bloom introduced the art of pairing meals with premium non-alcoholic sparkling wine. According to California winery Josh Cellars, wine needs to evolve, which is why we just had "the summer of spritz".
