Latest news with #vintners
CBS News
5 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Napa Valley winery committed to keeping it a family business as industry struggles
In Napa Valley, where time is measured in harvests and heritage, the Trefethen family continues to stand firm among a dwindling group of multigenerational vintners. Founded in 1968, Trefethen Family Vineyards remains one of the few independently owned and operated wineries in the region. As industry consolidation accelerates and consumer preferences shift, maintaining that legacy has become increasingly challenging. "Preservation takes work," said Lorenzo Trefethen, a third-generation member of the family now helping lead the winery. "Just because we are preserving something doesn't mean we're not scrambling to keep it that way. It's been interesting to watch Napa Valley change." According to the Napa Valley Vintners trade group, fewer than one-third of Napa wineries today are still owned by the families who founded them. Despite a long-standing commitment to sustainability and quality, the Trefethens have not been immune to the mounting pressures. "There have been times in the last year or so where I've wondered, 'Are we going to make it?'" Lorenzo said. "The idea that this legacy might end has been very personally terrifying but also motivating. If there wasn't something to preserve here, I don't think I'd be so invested in it." For the Trefethens, their winery is more than a business, it's the foundation of their family home and the setting of countless memories. "Lorenzo and Hailey grew up in this winery, playing hide and seek between the barrels. They grew into this," said John Trefethen, the second-generation family patriarch and co-founder. "It's beautiful and it's as wonderful as it was over 50 years ago, and I'm pleased to be able to say that," added Janet Trefethen, John's wife and longtime partner in the vineyard's operations. As wine consumption in the United States declines, dropping in recent years as consumers explore alternative and non-alcoholic beverages, according to 2023 Nielsen data, the Trefethens say they are doubling down on their core values: ethical business practices, sustainability, and community. "Taking care of the land, taking care of our people as well, is something that's really important to us," Lorenzo said. "Making it a great place to work. And all of that comes into the final product." That product is now being embraced by cultural figures beyond the wine world, including former NFL star Vernon Davis. "My favorite thing to do is to share what we make with the world," Davis said. "To see people connect over a glass of Trefethen is really why I do what I do." Still, for the family, it's not the recognition or accolades that matter most — it's the continuation of the family legacy and the community it has built. "I think it's really incredible, the community that our parents have built," said Hailey Trefethen. "That was one of the reasons I knew it wasn't if I would come back to work at the family winery, it was when." In a valley increasingly defined by change, the Trefethens remain rooted, in the land, in their values, and in their community.
Telegraph
18-07-2025
- General
- Telegraph
How ‘sunset wines' are transforming traditional cocktail hour
Orange-wine drinkers used to style themselves as insurgents against the claret establishment. Now this wine colour hasn't just gone mainstream, it's been joined by a dreamcoat array of other shades of amber and rosorange and coral and fuchsia and cerise and vermilion. These sunset hues span variations on the orange and orange-rosé themes. They also exploit a territory once known as clairet: the boundary between a very dark pink and a vibrantly translucent light red. How 'sunset' wines get their colour Orange and rosorange wine get their colour from 'skin contact', a process that has spawned a thousand innuendos and isn't quite as exciting as it sounds. Simply, most wine grapes contain pigment in the skins but have pale flesh and juice. This is why it is possible to make white Champagne from the black grapes pinot noir and pinot meunier, and why it is called blanc de noirs. White wine is made by pressing grapes so the juice is removed immediately from the skins (and other solids), taking with it little of the pigment. In red winemaking, the grapes are crushed and fermented in contact with the skins, seeds and pulp, which results in more of the colour, and other compounds such as tannins, transferring into the wine. Playing around with those norms and with the length of skin contact time, and the maceration temperature, can give you a different range of colours. Fermenting white grapes with the skins brings orange hues into the liquid; removing the fermenting juice of red grapes from the skins sooner can give you different shades of pink through to light red. Combining both approaches gives you rosorange. What do skin-contact wines taste like? These sunset wines are everywhere, but they're not very easy to classify. In restaurants, some wine lists, like that of Bar Valette in east London, have replaced the traditional red, white and rosé taxonomy with red, white and 'Neither red nor white'. Meanwhile Bobo Wines, the bag-in-box company, has called its version from Alsace Vin Blouge (a blend of blanc and rouge). 'The wine world's newest darling… part-white, part-red, maybe even part-orange… boundary-defying but utterly smashable,' goes the blurb. This exactly nails the attraction. In appearance, such wines tempt the Instagram lens. In flavour, they engage aperitivo-hour drinkers, who look for wines with the appeal of a light cocktail; often fruity and chilled, perhaps with a vestige of florality and a tinge of either astringency or sweetness. They're not wines you need to think about. They're not wines you match to food (they go with everything). They're pure social: bar wines, beach wines, festival wines. Here are the ones I think you'll enjoy. The best skin-contact wines
Wall Street Journal
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
California Chenin Blanc Is Back, And Now Is the Time to Buy
Grapes regularly fall in and out of favor among winemakers and growers. Chenin Blanc fell so far in California, it practically dropped off the winemaking map. In 1991 there were just under 31,000 acres of Chenin in the state; by 2024 the total had slipped to just over 4,000. Now, thanks to a band of impassioned vintners, California Chenin is back. The best Chenins I tasted for this column were some of the most memorable California wines I've tasted this year.
Bloomberg
05-06-2025
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
Billionaire Bill Koch on Collecting Wine, Avoiding Counterfeits
Hi, Top Shelf readers, it's Elin McCoy, with the latest on wine. Although vintners in Provence are complaining about the new roadside wine vending machines rolling out across their region, I can't think of a better start to summer than having rosé at the ready.
Wall Street Journal
23-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
What Does It Take to Sell Wine to Millennials and Gen Z? Donkeys, for One.
Will wine drinking end when Boomers and Gen Xers no longer raise their glasses? If you've been reading the same headlines I have, you might think this could happen. Here, a small sample of the bad news: 'Dour Grapes: Why Wine Makers Are Struggling to Attract Gen Z and Millennial Drinkers' (Fast Company); 'Boomer-Centric Wine Industry at a Crossroads as Gen Z Turns Away From Alcohol' (Fortune). But do these headlines tell the whole story? Do younger drinkers truly lack interest in wine, or have winery owners failed to figure out what they want? I talked with vintners all over the country and found a number getting quite creative to draw in millennial and Gen Z drinkers as well as boomers and Gen X.
