Bipartisan Agreement (!) Just when we thought it was forever impossible, a coalition of  House Republicans and Democrats passed crucial legislation to fund conflicts in Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region. It was truly a high-wire act for Speaker Mike Johnson, who some of his outraged GOP colleagues are threatening to “vacate” (meaning fire) because … Read more

“The Aloha State” unwittingly granted us some of the marketing freedoms we now enjoy, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1984 “Bacchus” decision stating the states may not discriminate in favor of their native industries to the detriment of wineries from other states. It had to do with taxation on pineapple wine, but ultimately the … Read more

DC Update This week brought more of the same (i.e., nothing) of interest to the wine industry, but plenty of political drama. The House impeachment of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkis quickly died in the Senate. Speaker Mike Johnson is walking a tightrope on vital defense funding measures (Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan) while his GOP colleagues threaten … Read more

While the country of Georgia is the true birthplace of wine thousands of years ago, the state of Georgia was the sixth largest wine producer before Prohibition and has been growing in recent years. Most wineries are in northern Georgia near the Blue Ridge Mountains where the conditions for growing vinifera grapes are ideal. The … Read more

Farm Bill Blues Congress has returned to Washington after its latest recess, and is scheduled to be there for the next three months or so. But that doesn’t necessarily mean many important things will get done. The Farm Bill is a sad example. In theory, it’s passed every five years, and includes some vital provisions … Read more